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We'd been looking into smaller cities that are more like Portland used to be. Hood River, Eugene, and McMinnville, OR; Bellingham, WA; Lexington, KY; and Chapel Hill, NC were on our short list. Hilo checks off most of our boxes, and I always feel at home there. Kailua-Kona is great for when we'd need something a bit livelier...
You should look into some of those other places too. Bellingham, in my opinion, has also become too overcrowded.
Kona lively? Not really.
As for the vehicle, I'd ship your car over and try to make due with it alone. Low mileage for that make, so it could last for decades more. Also, a friend who has lived in the Puna boonies for 40+ years has never felt the need for a pickup, so it can be done.
It depends on your lifestyle. We have a small farm and frequently need to haul lumber, livestock, feed and supplies, free county mulch, and at least twice monthly dump runs to the transfer stations. It took us a long time to find a pickup truck we could afford. It's a junker in every sense of the word but I couldn't imagine trying to get by on a sedan.
You should look into some of those other places too. Bellingham, in my opinion, has also become too overcrowded.
We have looked into them, but the problem is that none of them are in Hawaii. My wife is as culturally Hawaiian as they come, and she's been homesick for the past 20 years. For most of that time, our moving there just didn't make sense. Aside from jobs and kids keeping us here, Hawaii real-estate prices (even in Hilo) were significantly higher than Portland's. After the crash of 2008, they evened out -- and, in the past couple years, Portland's prices have surpassed Hilo's in some cases. We still didn't think it made sense overall to move to Hawaii, though, and we figured we'd stay in the PNW and just visit Hawaii more often. Financially, though, we discovered that we wouldn't save much money unless we moved way out to the boonies, which we don't want to do. Hood River is nice but has gotten quite expensive. Eugene and McMinnville are marginally cheaper than the Portland suburb where we currently live. We love the San Juan Islands, but high real-estate prices and the prospect of having to take the ferry for so many necessary off-island trips dissuaded us from moving there. Bellingham seemed like a good compromise, but we haven't been there in many years, so we haven't experienced the overcrowding.
We finally realized that any move we might make in the PNW would be lateral from a financial standpoint, so it would have to be to a place that spoke to us emotionally, or we might as well just stay in our current house. Also, the gloom of the last couple winters got to us, after we'd been fine with the gloomy season until then. That's when we began looking into the South. I lived there for 25 years and couldn't wait to leave, but time, maturity, and some good recent visits convinced me I could live there again. My wife surprised me by being open to the idea. We loved Lexington when we went to visit her son, but we aren't fond of the in-laws, and we didn't want to be too close to them. Several people we know have moved to the Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill area and love it. It ticks off most of the boxes on our wish list, and we'd pretty much settled on that area. From a purely logical standpoint (lower cost of living, being able to afford our dream house, access to first-rate healthcare, and being able to drive to so many great cities), it's the best choice we could make. But after three recent visits to Hawaii, weighing the pros and cons, and determining that we wouldn't be putting ourselves at financial risk, the Big Island has the emotional edge.
As for the vehicle, I'd ship your car over and try to make due with it alone. Low mileage for that make, so it could last for decades more. Also, a friend who has lived in the Puna boonies for 40+ years has never felt the need for a pickup, so it can be done.
We need two cars for now, but I'm sure we could get by with one in Hawaii.
We moved here from Portland, Oregon a few months ago and don’t regret it. We sold both cars but wished we kept the Tacoma. We just have one vehicle now but it suits us just fine. We are still researching healthcare and are doing without for now. I do not miss the crowded city or homelessness that was increasing everyday.
The cost of living is about the same depending on how much you spend eating out, groceries, going out. It’s the loss of my steady job that is a bummer for me. I have some remote work to help me thank god! As far as adjusting to this life, I’m getting used to the slow pace and longer distance to stores.
Just got back from our trip to the BI. Spent 1 day in Kona just to unwind after the flight, then 4 days in Ocean View looking at properties there and in Discovery Harbor and then 4 days in Hawaiian Paradise Park looking at properties in HPP, Hawaiian Beaches, and Ainaloa. What really surprised us was that for our relocation, it will be significantly less expensive on the Big Island than where we live now in So Cal. I here all the time how expensive it is in Hawaii, and I think that is true for Maui and Oahu, in terms of real estate. As far as groceries, with the exception of a couple of things, prices were pretty much equal to what we pay now. Going out to eat was a wash also. Gas was slightly higher but not significantly. The real savings is the price of real estate and the property tax savings when you factor the homeowner exemption. In Hawaii, it's huge compared to the paltry $7000 you get in California.
We are in escrow on a property in Ocean View and hoping to close in October. Planning on being moved over by December, just got to get the dog thru the process - which is insane!
We moved here from Portland, Oregon a few months ago and don’t regret it. We sold both cars but wished we kept the Tacoma. We just have one vehicle now but it suits us just fine. We are still researching healthcare and are doing without for now. I do not miss the crowded city or homelessness that was increasing everyday.
The cost of living is about the same depending on how much you spend eating out, groceries, going out. It’s the loss of my steady job that is a bummer for me. I have some remote work to help me thank god! As far as adjusting to this life, I’m getting used to the slow pace and longer distance to stores.
Glad you made the move and are happy with your decision. Where on the Big Island are you? Sorry about your loss of a steady job. My job involves working at a computer all day, and I'm fortunate that my company actively supports telecommuting. I think it saves them money on office space.
Last year, the online cost-of-living calculator said that Hilo's COL was 20% higher than Portland's, but I just checked, and now Hilo's is only 3% higher. My wife and I are homebodies and don't go out a lot, and we both love to cook. We checked out grocery prices at KTA, Safeway, and Cost U Less in Hilo, and they were comparable to what what they are in Portland. Housing is about the same. Property taxes are much less in Hawaii, but electricity costs about three times what we pay in Portland.
Please post when you figure out what you're going to do for healthcare.
Mahalo Grassyknoll! It has been 14 years in the making. Now I’m just hoping there are no snags to closing escrow. My biggest concern at the moment is obtaining homeowners insurance that’s not going to cost me an arm and a leg. I just got a quote from Atlas insurance I about had a coronary. $3800 per year and that did not include hurricane insurance. I tried calling other companies this week however due to hurricane Olivia, all of the insurance companies have a moratorium on quoting policies till Monday.
Location: Southernmost tip of the southernmost island in the southernmost state
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Amadrid
Mahalo Grassyknoll! It has been 14 years in the making. Now I’m just hoping there are no snags to closing escrow. My biggest concern at the moment is obtaining homeowners insurance that’s not going to cost me an arm and a leg. I just got a quote from Atlas insurance I about had a coronary. $3800 per year and that did not include hurricane insurance. I tried calling other companies this week however due to hurricane Olivia, all of the insurance companies have a moratorium on quoting policies till Monday.
Yikes, that's steep!
We pay $1,400 annually for our home and umbrella (1mil) portion. Lava zone 2.
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2) If I recall correctly, Hotzcatz, you raise rabbits. We have a pet rabbit we'd want to move, but I can't find any information on the specifics. I've read that some airlines let you take a rabbit with you in the cabin, or that they did but they don't anymore, or that they stopped but started allowing it again, etc. The Hawaii government site has plenty of information on bringing dogs, cats. birds, livestock, horses, and turtles, but rabbits are lumped into the "other animals" category, with almost no information provided. I've seen what you have to do to bring a cat, and how much it typically costs (ouch!) (yes, we have a couple of cats), but nothing about rabbits.<SNIP>
Yup, we have rabbits and I was just looking at shipping in some more. Hawaiian Airlines won't ship rabbits. Alaskan Airlines will, but only as cargo. American Airlines will also ship them in as cargo.
Terracore had a great answer with most of the things you need to know. The tricky part is that rabbits get shipped to Honolulu and have to be ag inspected before going any further. The airlines drop them to the agricultural inspection desk and then SOMEBODY (not the airlines, nor the ag folks will do it) has to take them back to an airline to get any further. Aloha Air Cargo will ship rabbits inter-island or you can take them with you on Mokulele.
For health insurance, if you can get Kaiser health insurance you don't have to worry about finding a doctor. They have lots of them and they've got an extensive computerized system so all the doctors communicate with each other and their patients really well. They've got a big medical facility (well, big by island standards, I don't know how they'd compare to mainland ones) in Hilo and Kailua-Kona with smaller clinics on other parts of the island. There's a clinic in Waimea and maybe one in Pahala? Far as I know, the Kaiser here in Hawaii is not quite the same a the one on the mainland. As far as sharing records anyway. But this was from a decades old experience with a mainland Kaiser not talking with a Hawaii Kaiser so maybe they've changed since then.
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Originally Posted by Lapaki
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5) Housing: We probably will get a small foot-on-the-ground house in or near Hilo, but our eventual dream is to buy some acreage anywhere between Hilo and Kamuela (we like the wet side of the island, and there's plenty of land for sale at the moment) and build something around 1,500 square feet. Honsador and a couple other builders have some plans we like. I've read on their websites that the average cost to build is between $130 - $170 per square foot for modest furnishings. That's cheap compared to Portland. Does that include everything but the land, assuming the lot is ready to build on and utilities are ready to hook up? I realize that many variables are involved, but we'd at least like to get a general idea of what might be affordable for us. Our current budget is $350-400K.<SNIP>
We're preparing to build something around 1,300 sq ft with a walk out basement (new and strange idea for around here) and possibly a loft so the actual sq. ft will be around 3K, I guess. I'm figuring about $200 to $250 per sq ft if a contractor gets involved. We're probably going to 'owner-build' it and do a 'time and materials' or just time only and hire crews for the different phases of the work. I'm really hoping to get it built for less than $125K, but that's dreaming most likely. Right now I'm drawing up the plans and making a materials list as I go so we should have a fairly extensive parts list to price out before talking to contractors. Usually I don't do materials lists when drafting, but for our own house it's getting more details.
For the Honsador houses and such, I think that price only includes the house from the foundation up. The kit house may not even include the foundation but assumes you've got a concrete slab to set it on, you'd have to ask the kit house sellers for details.
Last house I drew up was a small house of 1,120 sq ft and he said his lumber cost $18K for all of it. Framing and siding, I don't think that included the tin for the roofing. That house is on a concrete slab for the first floor, has a small upper floor and covered exterior lanai. Open beam ceiling and lots of 4"x 12"s, so that seems a reasonable price. Built to 2006 International Residential Code as amended by Hawaii County, so it's got all the proper braced walls and extensive foundations that are now required. Dunno if that $18K included the Simpson fittings or not. He was happy, though, so that's the important part.
There's some nice building lots right above Honokaa town behind Tex Drive Inn. In town lots, but living in town is good. Much more sociable than twenty acres up the hill and a lot less relentless yard work to do. The guinea grass around here never stops growing and if you don't have critters to eat it, all you're gonna have on twenty acres is six to eight feet tall grass.
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Seriously, I have a very low liveliness threshold. Downtown Kailua-Kona is rather touristy, which isn't a bad thing in moderation. It reminds me of some West-Coast beach towns. Watching the sun set from Huggo's, sampling a flight of beer at Kona Brewery, waking up to the sound of the ocean from one of the seaside hotels, eating breakfast at Big Island Café, swimming at Hapuna -- life doesn't get any better than that to me.
