If you are looking for a mortgage broker in Hawaii, here is how I work: I am licensed here, I shop your loan across multiple wholesale lenders instead of one bank’s rate sheet, and I place it with the one that fits. Hawaii is its own market. Leasehold, condotels, escrow closings, the conveyance tax and loan limits above most of the country all change how a loan gets built. Here is what buying or refinancing in Hawaii involves and how I handle it from Milford, Connecticut.
What buying in Hawaii involves: fee simple, leasehold and condotels
Fee simple means you own the land and the building. Leasehold means you own the home or unit but lease the land for a fixed term, pay lease rent, and face renegotiation and expiration dates written into the lease. Lenders care about the years left: conventional lenders want the lease to outlast the loan by years, FHA requires at least ten years past maturity or a renewable 99-year lease, and some lenders decline leasehold entirely.
Condotels, condo units in buildings run as hotels, are off limits to most conventional lenders and to FHA. Portfolio and non-QM lenders finance them with a larger down payment.
Hawaii closing costs: the conveyance tax, not the general excise tax
Hawaii’s general excise tax (GET) is a tax on business income, not a transfer tax on your purchase. The transfer tax is the state conveyance tax, owed by the seller when the deed is filed with the Bureau of Conveyances. It is tiered by price, with a higher schedule when the buyer will not qualify for a county homeowner’s exemption.
| Price band | Standard rate | Condo or single-family home, buyer ineligible for the homeowner’s exemption |
|---|---|---|
| Under $600,000 | $0.10 | $0.15 |
| $600,000 to under $1,000,000 | $0.20 | $0.25 |
| $1,000,000 to under $2,000,000 | $0.30 | $0.40 |
| $2,000,000 to under $4,000,000 | $0.50 | $0.60 |
| $4,000,000 to under $6,000,000 | $0.70 | $0.85 |
| $6,000,000 to under $10,000,000 | $0.90 | $1.10 |
| $10,000,000 and above | $1.00 | $1.25 |
Owed by the grantor (seller), paid to the Bureau of Conveyances within 90 days of the transaction, rounded to the nearest ten cents. Source: Hawaii Department of Taxation, Instructions for Form P-64A (Rev. 2025).
Beyond that, expect escrow and title fees, lender costs, prepaids and the insurance premiums covered below. Hawaii has no mortgage recording tax.
Escrow closings in Hawaii
Hawaii closes through escrow, not with attorneys. A neutral escrow company holds your deposit, orders title, collects documents and funds, and records the deed and mortgage; the day it records is the day you own the home. You can sign with a notary on the mainland or a mobile notary in Hawaii days before recording and wire funds to escrow. I build the timeline backward from the recording date.
Hawaii loan limits for 2026: FHA and conforming
Hawaii is one of four statutory high-cost areas, so its FHA ceiling and conforming baseline run above the mainland’s. Limits are set per county and reset each January. Here are the 2026 one-unit figures; the Hawaii FHA page has FHA limits for two to four units.
| County | FHA one-unit limit |
|---|---|
| Hawaii County | $586,500 |
| Honolulu County | $828,000 |
| Kauai County | $1,110,900 |
| Maui County | $1,299,500 |
Effective for FHA case numbers assigned on or after January 1, 2026. Source: HUD FHA Mortgage Limits lookup, CY2026.
| County | Conforming one-unit limit |
|---|---|
| Hawaii County | $1,249,125 |
| Honolulu County | $1,249,125 |
| Kauai County | $1,249,125 |
| Maui County | $1,299,500 |
Source: FHFA 2026 conforming loan limit values, county list.
In Honolulu, Hawaii and Kauai counties the conforming limit sits above the FHA limit, the reverse of most mainland markets. Above conforming you are in jumbo territory, where lender rules vary most and the broker model earns its keep.
HHFDC, county programs and DHHL in brief
The Hawaii Housing Finance and Development Corporation (HHFDC) runs Hale Kamaʻāina, a 30-year fixed-rate first mortgage for first-time buyers with income and price limits by county. The City and County of Honolulu offers a zero-interest down payment loan, and Maui and Kauai counties run programs when funded. The Hawaii first-time buyer page covers each with current limits.
The Department of Hawaiian Home Lands (DHHL) issues 99-year homestead leases to native Hawaiian beneficiaries as the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act defines them; loans on Hawaiian home lands must be guaranteed, which means FHA Section 247 or HUD Section 184A loans through lenders set up for them. With the military presence on Oahu, VA loans, which carry no loan limit with full entitlement, are a large share of what closes.
Lava zones, flood zones and hurricane coverage
Insurance is a loan question in Hawaii. On Hawaii Island the U.S. Geological Survey maps nine lava-flow hazard zones, with Zone 1 the most likely to see lava; insurers restrict coverage in the highest zones, and no lender funds without hazard insurance, so on a Puna or Kaʻū property I get an insurance quote before ordering the appraisal. A home in a FEMA flood zone needs flood insurance on any federally backed loan, and hurricane coverage is a separate policy the lender requires.
Working with a mortgage broker in Hawaii from Connecticut
A mortgage already happens by phone, email and e-signature, so distance is not the issue. Time is. Hawaii does not observe daylight saving time, so the islands run five hours behind Milford in winter and six in summer. Your afternoon is my evening, and I take those calls. Appraisal, title and escrow are local to Hawaii; the loan is funded by whichever wholesale lender I place it with through my sponsoring broker, Barrett Financial Group.
To start, get pre-approved with Hawaii selected, or call or text me. The self-employed, refinance and DSCR pages carry Hawaii notes.
A recent example
A fee simple purchase in Kailua
A couple moving from the mainland found a fee simple home in Kailua priced above a Connecticut buyer’s idea of conforming but inside Honolulu County’s limit. Two of my lenders priced it as conforming; one called it a jumbo with heavier reserves. We went conforming, they signed with a mobile notary a week early, the hurricane and flood policies were bound before underwriting, and escrow recorded on the contract date.
How I shop this loan
Hawaii is where the broker model shows. Some of my wholesale lenders will not touch leasehold, some take it only with a long remaining term, and a few price condotels as a specialty. For a conforming fee simple purchase I compare pricing the way I do in Connecticut. For anything leasehold, condotel or jumbo, I first ask each lender whether they will do the property at all, then compare rate, reserves and turn time among the ones that say yes. Rates change daily; I quote live. My cell is still an 808 number.
The questions I get most
01Can a mortgage broker in Connecticut do loans in Hawaii?
02What is the difference between fee simple and leasehold in Hawaii?
03Who pays the conveyance tax in Hawaii?
04Can you get a mortgage on a condotel in Hawaii?
05Do I need to be in Hawaii to close on a house?
Start here
Get pre-approved for a Hawaii loan
Two minutes. I read every request myself and call back within one business hour.
Keep reading
- First-Time Home Buyer Programs in HawaiiFirst-time buyers in Hawaii have one state mortgage program, Hale Kamaʻāina from HHFDC, plus county down payment help on Oahu, Maui and Kauai, DHHL financing for native Hawaiian beneficiaries, and FHA and VA loans sized for island prices.
- FHA Loans in HawaiiAn FHA loan in Hawaii is a government-insured mortgage with 3.5 percent down that works on fee simple and leasehold homes and FHA-approved condos, with 2026 county limits that run from the high five hundred thousands on Hawaii Island to just under 1.3 million on Maui.
- Mortgages for Self-Employed Borrowers in CTA self-employed mortgage in Connecticut can be a conventional loan on two years of tax returns, a bank statement loan on 12 or 24 months of deposits, or a 1099 or profit-and-loss program, and the right one depends on what your returns actually show.
- Connecticut mortgage broker: home
Written by
AJ Doerr
Loan Officer, NMLS #2051311. Mortgage broker in Milford, Connecticut, licensed in Connecticut, Florida, Hawaii, Massachusetts. Updated October 2026. About AJ.