Hawaii

Anyone here ever live on the Big Island?

No, but I was born and raised on Oahu. Why?

Trail is the Boss ... but I've been to them all. Got money ... they are all very pretty

Trailrunner wrote:No, but I was born and raised on Oahu. Why?

We were watching a property show featuring the Big Island and it looked liked it was getting pretty competitive retirement wise. Some decently priced properties.

My perspective comes from being part of an old Hawaiian (by bloodline) family. The Big Island is gorgeous, so incredibly varied, and deeply spiritual in the old ways. But, caveat emptor: Kilauea is responsible for significant air pollution (volcanic ash). In many areas, outsiders are not as welcome as the tourist and realty industries would have you think. Land titles throughout Hawaii are often clouded because of legal complications arising from the manner in which the government was overthrown back in the 1890's.

I lived there for 2.5 years, back in the 80s. There are many parts of the island where realestate is cheap. There is 1/2 of the island where it rains and rains all the times. The bugs are HUGE! Spiders the size of the palm of your hand. The other side of the island is dry and you can get snow on the highest elevations. You can drive around the island in a day, easily. Meat and fish are not too expensive, and a lot of fruit grows there.... but you need to know where to get it. Otherwise groceries are really, really expensive. The salt water is hard on cars. There is an active volcano and I have seen entire towns wiped out by lava. Like anywhere, you need to go and rent before buying to see if you fit in. Lots of personal property crime. Absolutely beautiful, though. And great food.

Yep. What they said!
The only thing I'd add is, there have been many slick land scams selling "property" sight unseen to people far away. Because of Kilauea (and Kilauea Iki?) new land is being formed daily by the lava flows and these lava beds are what are being sold as "good deals". Which is fine, if you don't want a road into your house, a yard or garden, or underground plumbing and utilities. . .
Kip, check with ExHawaiian on TOB as, she has returned to the Big Island from here and can give you good insight. The first thing she wrote back was "Hilo is expensive!"

Would recommend you get involved in some discussion forums there for realistic input from real folks. Try this place:

http://www.konaforum.com/

They have separate sections for talking about real estate, and another about relocating to Hawaii. Lots of good info!

If you go there, even to visit for a bit, good idea to get a Safeway discount card, which can help quite a bit with the cost of groceries. We did that on one of the other islands... I assume it's the same on the BI.

Heather

BTW, a real estate guy who seems to be pretty well respected by locals is Robert Ferrari. Check his website and get a copy of his "West Hawaii" newsletter for some good info:

http://www.ferraripacificrealty.com/default.aspx

Thanks guys!

Which part of the big Island are you interested in? The Hilo side or the Kona side? They are two different worlds.

There is nothing inexpensive about either side although Hilo used to be somewhat cheaper but very wet had lots of very religious people who loved sticking their noses in your life, just what you need!

Hal used to live on the Kona coast... eons ago...but he liked that side best.

hkrause wrote:Would recommend you get involved in some discussion forums there for realistic input from real folks. Try this place:

http://www.konaforum.com/

They have separate sections for talking about real estate, and another about relocating to Hawaii. Lots of good info!

If you go there, even to visit for a bit, good idea to get a Safeway discount card, which can help quite a bit with the cost of groceries. We did that on one of the other islands... I assume it's the same on the BI.

Heather

Thanks Heather.

I lived on the Big Island in 2001-2002. First, I lived in Kona. Definitely more expensive than the Hilo Side. We did an incredible amount of long-term housesitting which sometimes allowed us to get paid a little. Some of it was work trade, but kept our expenses down so that we didn't have to go into our savings. That was a good way in which we got in on it so we could discover what and where we wanted to buy. My son bought in Hawaiian acres, people call it "the acres". In the years mentioned land was cheap. The building permits can be complicated and cumbersome. We bought in a strictor section of the Hilo side, but never built due to the restrictions you have to deal with in those kind of communities. A few years later we quadrupled the money reselling the land.
Many people state that Hawaii is expensive. I never had so much free fruit in my life, the farm markets were good, and we always bought fish directly off the boats on the side of the road. We supplemented that with the many health food stores. Yes, the food chain stores are the most expensive. But we rarely shopped there.
We bought a very new Wrangler jeep for only 5K when we first arrived. When people bail from the island, they usually don't ship their vehicles, so if you keep eyes open, you can usually find good deals.
It was a fabulous time, my X still lives there, he'll never leave and I don't blame him. If you want to get in on the less expensive options, it is Hilo side off grid do-it-yourself, and keep the food supply natural.

Thanks, but after checking all of the available info... having as many critters as we do makes it pretty much undoable.

Kip, ever since I've "C.com met" you you were coming to Mexico, and that was 10 years ago. What happened? Where are you now? Are you moving to Hawaii now?

Yes, they have rabies quarantine for 180 days. I once had to do it with one of my dogs way back then, it was HELL!

Kip has horses as well, a little more difficult and costly to move than chihuahuas and cats.

We have a French saying that says that the most enjoyable part of a brothel is the stairs...

brigitte wrote:

We have a French saying that says that the most enjoyable part of a brothel is the stairs...

What does that allude to Brigitte?the anticipation?

Yes and then reality hits you when you get there...

Trailrunner wrote:Kip, ever since I've "C.com met" you you were coming to Mexico, and that was 10 years ago. What happened? Where are you now? Are you moving to Hawaii now?

Yes, they have rabies quarantine for 180 days. I once had to do it with one of my dogs way back then, it was HELL!

Yup...that was the plan. If we'd had a house in town and no big critters... we may have made it. Our cash is tied up in our 50 ac horse farm. Until it sells and this area is looking better all the time...Hal can't retire. Originally I though I could sell it with projects started and an explanation of how they were to be completed to look WOW! Wrong. I know now that the majority of people cannot visualize .... and most of them aren't dumb like me and take on huge projects. Most of the projects are completed.. or almost. I'm hoping another 60 days will do it. No sense in advertising when things aren't perfect... in this price range people don't want projects. So back to the grind stone.

Our critters are our family. The logical thing to do would be to cut down on the number. So much for logic. We love them all. 15 horses (most of which I was their for their births) 7 dogs... four of which were born here and three were rescued from dire situations... and I could never abandon them. The cats would probably be OK with someone else... but we love them.

So.... moving this mess to Mexico would be a nightmare. Looks like it will be Florida...that's just a 12 hour drive..four trips... horse farms are cheap and the fruit and seafood is great. Still there's the damned humidity, but with any luck we can find decent house sitters so we can stay in Mexico for longer periods of time. Maybe when we're older....

Kip, I can't figure out why you want to leave where you are. It sounds like an ideal life. I'd LOVE to have a 50 acre horse farm. Why do you want to move?

If it is any consolation, we took a number of American President Lines ocean liners with a stop in Hawaii returning to or from the Orient and never had a passenger fall overboard to my knowledge!

Trailrunner wrote:Kip, ever since I've "C.com met" you you were coming to Mexico, and that was 10 years ago. What happened? Where are you now? Are you moving to Hawaii now?

Yes, they have rabies quarantine for 180 days. I once had to do it with one of my dogs way back then, it was HELL!

Just so you know, Hawai'i has had a 5 day quarantine programme for years now....

http://hdoa.hawaii.gov/ai/files/2013/01/aqsbrochure.pdf

That is excellent news! Thanks for posting. And, for the record, it was 120 days not 180 as stated. It was awful for both of us.