Moving from Las Vegas to BI (Hilo, Hawaiian Paradise Park: for sale, real estate, 2014)

[MaileinHawaii]

Aloha CDF Ohana -

Our Ohana is originally from O'ahu and we've been in Las Vegas for the past two years. While our intentions were good at the time of moving, we've decided to return home, this time to Big Island. I'll be listing our current property for sale in March 2020.

Originally my thought process was to buy an existing home in the Puna subdivision due to affordability, as opposed to Hilo town. Now I'm open to buying the land plot and building a new home through HPM. For those that have gone this route, what has been your experience? How long of a window should I forecast for renting until the build is complete?

What are the costs/maintenance involved in having a catchment system? Not sure I could get used to that if we were living in other subdivisions other then Hawaiian Shores Recreational Estates since their water is private.
Speaking of HSRE, you folks know how strict their rules are regarding dogs? I have a rescue from S. Korea who is deaf and happens to bark just a little louder then most

I would love your input and bits of wisdom, Mahalo fam.

[hotzcatz]

How about moving over and renting for awhile then picking where to live? You'll get a much better location when you're really familiar with the area. Be kinda bummerz if you move and build somewhere that was picked online and then decide you'd rather have been somewhere else after being there in person.

[MaileinHawaii]

Yeah, can. Just no like spend too much time and resources on one rental.

That's why I wanted opinion on if you folks living in the subdivisions can chime in on what your guys' experience
are in the area. At this point no make sense to live in Hilo because pricey for already existing house.

Mahalo Hotz. 🤙🏼

[harrypritikin]

Aloha MaileinHawaii,

Hawaiian Shores & Beaches has great water that's for sure. I rented a house in there back in the day. Dogs would be no problem; everybody has one. However, the area is in Lava Hazard Zone 2. Back in 2014/15 there was a flow from the Puu'o vent that made it all the way to the solid waste transfer station just behind Pahoa. It was forecasted to wipe out Pahoa, the new grammar school just at the entrance to Hawaiian Beaches, and eventually make it all the way down to the ocean thereby taking out Hawaiian Beaches, Hawaiian Shores, Hawaiian Rec; basically everything. The County went so far as to punch out escape routes on Railroad Avenue and the Beach road between Hawaiian Beaches and Hawaiian Paradise Park. But then the flow stopped. Eventually, in 2018 all the lava emptied out in lower Puna and the rest is history. But the danger is always there; it's just that no one can predict if or when.

My recommendation would be Hawaiian Paradise Park. It's in Lava Hazard Zone 3; no restrictions on loans or insurance like in Zone 2. Most of the homes are on acre lots so plenty of room for dogs. There are 11 homes in HPP under $200K; many more between $200K and $300K. IMO HPP has the best weather in Puna (unless you happen to love rain); especially when you get down close to the ocean. You can google the Hawaii Real Estate Professor, and he will email you a list of available properties. Get over your fear of catchment water. The new, modern, catchment systems produce drinking water far superior to County water; i.e. no chlorine. A company called The Water Works can set you up with a proper system or modernize any system a home you buy would come with.

Best of luck. Mahalo, Harry

[iuki001]

.....

My recommendation would be Hawaiian Paradise Park. It's in Lava Hazard Zone 3; no restrictions on loans or insurance like in Zone 2. Most of the homes are on acre lots so plenty of room for dogs. There are 11 homes in HPP under $200K; many more between $200K and $300K. IMO HPP has the best weather in Puna (unless you happen to love rain); especially when you get down close to the ocean. You can google the Hawaii Real Estate Professor, and he will email you a list of available properties. Get over your fear of catchment water. The new, modern, catchment systems produce drinking water far superior to County water; i.e. no chlorine. A company called The Water Works can set you up with a proper system or modernize any system a home you buy would come with.

Best of luck. Mahalo, Harry[/quote]

My concern regarding catchment systems has to do with droughts and running out of water. I have heard that people have had to truck in water and is costly. Any info on that situation?

Mahalo.
Judy

[hotzcatz]

Trucking in water happens when you set up the system, of course, since it takes awhile to gather the water. It isn't all that frequent since most folks know the water supply is limited and factor that into their water use. FWIW, it happens more in Ka'u and HOVE than in HPP or closer to Hilo.


Should you not want to pay for a truck full of water or if for some reason you didn't want to drink catchment water, there's handy roadside spigots where you can fill a container of water on your way home.


I'd guess that there are lots more places on catchment than on County or private water systems when you're looking at houses on the Island of Hawaii.



Electricity and pavement have spread much further than before as well as communication now that there's the internet and cell phones. Water systems are a bit more tricky, unless it's a single home catchment system.

[MaileinHawaii]

Good feedback, mahalo nui. The homes in HPP are beautiful! To what Judy said above regarding catchment, how much is involved cost wise to maintain?

[terracore]

In 7+ years we've never come close to running out of water. And that's with watering large gardens, livestock, etc. The standard tank size is 10,000 gallons and with a standard home roof size and 150 inches of rain per year that's well over 100,000 gallons of water that will be shooting out of your tank's overflow pipe each year. Most people we know who run out of water have small tanks or unaddressed plumbing problems (leaks) or both. Should you run out of water and need delivery, the water haulers aren't allowed to charge you for the water because they get it for free. They can only charge a delivery fee. I haven't priced it in a long time but I think it's $200 range for about 2,000 gallons.

As far as choosing a neighborhood bear in mind that the largest ones are so big that they cannot be easily characterized. They vary greatly in population density, altitude, weather, the types of homes and people who inhabit them, etc depending on where you are in the subdivision. So one section of HPP may be greatly different than another. We visited all the neighborhoods, owned property in 2 of them and stayed in 3 of them. We eventually found out that Orchidland was the best fit for us. It has a small commercial development that includes a gas station, a few stores (including a hardware store), a restaurant, etc. You wouldn't want to build a house buying stuff from True Value but having a farm I will frequently need things like a single bag of concrete or a 2x4 and it's nice to be able to get it without driving to Hilo. It is also the only subdivision that I would describe as being in both lower and upper Puna. Most of the lots are 3 acres, and most of them are spaghetti lots (9 times longer than they are wide) I think the lots in Hawaiian Acres are 25 feet wider. I don't know how wide the lots are in HPP but it has a higher population density so you are more likely to be surrounded by neighbors.


A quick Puna generalization is that the neighborhoods near the water (HPP etc) are warmer and humid and the neighborhoods at higher altitudes are cooler but wetter. Volcano is essentially the breaking point as it has one side that is extremely wet and one side that is dry. It's also very cool up there so some tropical crops won't grow but some stone fruits will. People on the golf course side have to scrape frost off their windshields once every 7-10 years or so if they need to drive in the morning.

[MaileinHawaii]

Thank you Terra! Good points on the differences in areas of the subdivisions.

[67Cam]

Check out Punaweb Home. On the home page are links with hellful info; Moving to Puna, Shopping, etc. Moving has a handy table that shows different subdivisions info such as county water, paved roads, etc.

Edit -It looks like the table has changed since I last looked at it and there's a lot more n/a, but still helpful.