Loren Graham

15/10/2026

Cheee! 🤙 Big mahalo to Jeff Char and Taryn (Loo) Char for hooking me up with this ulu. Fresh breadfruit from friends just hits different.

I usually fry these in coconut oil like chicken nuggets but I want to ask, what’s the best way to cook ulu? Drop it in the comments. I’ve got three of them so I’m gonna try a few 😂

hawaiikitchen

12/10/2026

21/04/2026

Yesterday I posted a video about SB 3028. Some of you had corrections. They were right. So I read every version of the actual bill. Here’s the full picture.
If you’re selling a home you live in for under about $2.1 million, your conveyance tax would actually go down under this bill. At $1.2 million, the tax drops from $3,600 to about $2,700. At $1.5 million, from $4,500 to about $4,050. I should have said that in my first video.
But above $3 million, the rates jump hard. And who buys your home matters. A $3 million home sold to someone who will live there: about $26,000. Sold to an investor: about $59,000. Same house. Same seller. The rate depends on the buyer, and you can’t control who makes an offer.
There’s also a provision buried in the bill for vacation rentals. If your property was used as a short-term rental at any point in the last two years, it gets taxed at the higher investor rate. Even if the buyer is going to live there.
And there’s no exception for hardship. If you’re selling at a loss because of a job loss, a divorce, or medical bills, you still owe the full conveyance tax. Even if you walk away from closing with nothing.
Not everything in this bill is bad. But families deserve to understand it.
Link in bio at grahamgrouphawaii.com/sb3028. Read it yourself. Make up your own mind.

This video is for informational purposes only and is not legal or tax advice. The views expressed are my own and do not represent the views of eXp Realty.

20/04/2026

Senate Bill 3028 is moving through the Hawaii legislature right now.
The conveyance tax on a $1.5 million home in Hawaii today is about $4,500 to $6,000. Under this bill, that could jump to $90,000. That’s 15 times what sellers are paying now.
But here’s the part that really bothers me.
Not every seller is making money. Some families are underwater. They owe more than the home is worth. They’re going through a job loss, a divorce, a medical crisis. They’re already walking away from the closing table with nothing.
Under this bill, they’d still owe the state up to $90,000 in conveyance tax. On a home they lost money on.
That’s not a tax on wealth. That’s a tax on hardship.
And $1.5 million is not a mansion in Hawaii. In a lot of neighborhoods, that’s a regular family home.
After 20 years in this market, I think this bill puts too much on regular Hawaii families. But I want to hear from you. Where do you stand?
If you want the link to take action, comment below and I’ll send it to you.

20/03/2026

Final piece of EO No. 2 — this is where the real numbers hit.
(Watch EO No. 2 Part 1 first if you haven’t — this is a continuation of the mortgage access executive order signed March 13, 2026.)
The order kills the wet signature requirement. No more driving across town to sign 50 pages. E-signatures, digital notarization — the entire closing process finally enters the modern era.
And the big one: the FHFA director said this could bring mortgage rates down by up to half a percentage point. On a $1M home — basically median single-family in Hawaiʻi — that’s $100K+ saved over the life of a 30-year loan. That’s a real number.
Every local bank in Hawaiʻi benefits from this. More lending options, lower origination costs, faster closings, potentially lower rates — across the board.
One thing worth watching: Territorial Savings Bank used to be one of Hawaiʻi’s best local mortgage lenders. They kept loans in-house instead of selling them off. But they got acquired by Bank of Hope in 2025. That’s exactly what happens when heavy regulation makes it too expensive for small banks to survive. This order is trying to reverse that — so we don’t lose more local lenders.
Changes could start rolling out within 6-12 months. If you’ve been on the sidelines — things might be shifting in your favor. Questions about how this affects you? DM me.
Sources (for the full EO #2 series):
* White House EO fact sheet (whitehouse.gov) — 3/13/26
* FHFA Director Bill Pulte — rate impact statement (via WSJ)
* NAHB statement (nahb.org) — 3/13/26
* FDIC/SEC filings — Hawaiʻi bank asset data
* OCC community bank definition (occ.gov)
* UHERO Housing Factbook 2025

19/03/2026

If you got denied for a mortgage in Hawaiʻi — this executive order is about you.
This is EO #2, signed March 13, 2026 — focused on mortgage access. (If you haven’t seen the EO #1 series on construction, go watch those first.)
After the 2008 crash, Dodd-Frank regulations made it so expensive and complicated to issue mortgages that a lot of smaller banks scaled back or got out of home lending entirely.
Here’s what’s wild about Hawaiʻi: this order targets “community banks” — defined as under $30B in assets. Every single bank headquartered here qualifies. First Hawaiian (~$25B), Bank of Hawaiʻi (~$24B), American Savings (~$10B), Central Pacific (~$7B), Finance Factors, Hawaiʻi National Bank — all of them. We don’t have a Chase, Wells Fargo, or Bank of America here. Every bank you do business with is a community bank under this EO.
The order loosens compliance rules so local banks can offer mortgages without drowning in paperwork. It also excludes 1-4 family construction loans from concentration limits — meaning local banks can fund small builders again.
And it modernizes appraisals — desktop appraisals, hybrid models, and AI-assisted valuations on low-risk loans. Faster appraisals, faster closings, lower costs for you.
Part 2 drops next — digital closings, the potential rate impact, and what happened to Territorial Savings Bank.

19/03/2026

Part 2 of the FIRST executive order - this is where it gets controversial and where it gets real for Hawaii. (if you haven’t seen part one, go watch that first - this is a continuation of the same EO sign March 13, 2026 targeting construction cost and red tape.)
The second big change in this EO pushes back on prescriptive green building mandates - mandatory solar, PV panels, heat pump, water heaters, specific insulation R value, air leakage, testing, EV ready wiring, and battery storage requirements. The council of economic advisor says that these add $30,000+per home. Whether you’re for them or against them, that’s what the order says. I want to hear where you stand, drop it in the comments..
Third - And the one I’m watching the closest - Federal incentives for states and counties to speed up permitting and open the door to manufactured, modular, and container housing. Honolulu‘s permitting is so slow. It’s crushing small local builders who can’t afford to sit idle for 8 to 12 months. They get squeezed out and your left with big national developers at their prices. This is probably why we’re seeing such a movement towards shipping container and prefab steel homes here - People working around the system because it isn’t working for them.
Also on January 20, Trump signed a separate EO blocking large institutional investors from buying single-family homes. That one is already in effect. Hawaii is projected to be 25,000+ home short on Oahu by 2027. We got a straight f on realtor.com‘s national housing report card. The federal government is pushing. The question is whether our counties follow through. That covers EO #1. - Construction. EO #2 is about mortgage access and how you get your home loan. That video is coming soon. If you ever felt like the lending system in Hawaii was stacked against you, you’re gonna wanna see it. Follow so you don’t miss it.

18/03/2026

Did Hawaiʻi just get an answer to the housing crisis? Maybe.
On March 13, 2026, President Trump signed an executive order targeting the red tape that makes building homes so expensive.
Nationally, regulations add ~$94K to every new home. In Hawaiʻi, where construction costs run 30-44% above mainland, that balloons to $122K–$141K per home in regulatory burden alone.
UHERO found Hawaiʻi builders wait 3X longer for permits than other states. In Q1 2025, Honolulu’s median residential permit took 252 days — over 8 months. In recent years, single-family permits have pushed close to 400 days.
The first major change in this EO: streamlining federal environmental permits. If you own a lot near a waterway, drainage channel, or wetland area and want to build a home or add an ADU, you could be waiting months or years for federal sign-off before you break ground. In Hawaiʻi, with our streams, flood zones, and drainage systems across every island, that affects way more properties than people realize.
This order tells the EPA and Army Corps to simplify those reviews — and expands NEPA exclusions so regular families aren’t stuck in the same process as a massive commercial project.
Part 2 drops next — green building mandates, modular/container homes, and the Wall Street investor ban.

23/02/2026

Thinking about buying in Hawaii? 🌺 Don’t wait for rates to drop! 📉 Homes are appreciating, and competition is fierce! Lock in a deal now and plan for the future! 🏡✨

09/10/2025

I went to Japan and did a thing. 🤭
Welcome to Japan ! Excited to see what the future has in store for this awesome company! Congratulations to for a successful launch party. 🎉

Interested in joining eXp or want to learn more? Check the link in my bio. 🤙