Howard Dicus is here with a new segment we're calling "Ask Howard." Ask him anything. Ask everything. "Ask Howard." He may not always have the answer, but he always has something to say.

Part 1:

Question #1: When are we going to hit $6/gallon on gas?

Question #2: How long do you realistically think the rail is going to take?

Question #3: Picture the Hawaii real estate market as a glass. Is it half full or half empty?

Question #4: Parlez vous Francais?

Part 2:

Question #1: With the declining American dollar and Hawaii being the international gateway, which countries do you think are going to be coming to Hawaii, or do you think they'll pass the state by for better deals elsewhere?

Question #2: Would you agree that the statistics we're seeing compared to last year are not really true statistics? The reason being, it has to do with sampling theory. Is it the people in the lower end of the market, because of the credit crisis, have been taken out of the market and because of that, we have a whole new mix of buyers maybe buying ostensibly higher-priced properties and artificially making it look like our prices have maintained themselves better than actuality?

Question #3: Where do you see the real estate market going for this year?

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