Puna/hilo Friends: This Is For Those Who Live In/will Be Moving To This Area (Pahoa: buyer, estate)

[alaskanites]

We have a lot on road 3, Hawaiian Acres, we want to leave part of it natural forest and yet have an acre or two for housing and gardening. Do you have any suggestions on how to proceed? How much will a dozer disturb the ohia trees? Can you recommend someone to look at the land and give us ideas, we want to do it right. We have lived in Alaska forever and know all about permafrost and neverending sun in the summer but Hawaii is a new challenge.

[hotzcatz]

Dozers squish tree roots, so keep them away from the drip line of the trees. Where ever water can fall off the branches, there is probably roots below so keep the dozer off that area. A small dozer might be better than a big one and instead of flattening the ground, you could add more cinder to level it.

Many folks will have a dozer cut a road and a house pad and then spread cinders around and then do the rest of the forest area by hand or with smaller machinery. It is a lot more work but it retains a much more natural feel. If you are pouring a concrete slab under your house, then don't put any cinders in that area or they will have to be removed before pouring the concrete.

The Volcano Community Association is very pro-active about preserving the forest, they have a lot of information on how to have a house AND a forest. They have a brochure about it available at http://www.volcanocommunity.org/imag...i-F-W-2009.pdf or you can google "Volcano Community Association Hawaii" and find the brochure from their main page.

[kani-lehua]

[quote=hotzcatz;7389849]

Most elevations in Mountain View are good for bananas and gardenia. You may also like the jasmines, too, as well as the puakenikeni. Oh! And my personal favorite, tuberose! Most any lot below 2,000 feet or so is good for bananas. I'm not sure what the requirements for gardenia are, I have some at 400' although they aren't as enthusiastic as I'd like. Lavender might grow at Mountain View, I don't have the elevation for it here.

our banana trees are doing quite good at the 2400' (app. might be higher) elevation. they were planted well before we got here and we've had 4 bunches. we're in fern forest (glenwood).

Oh, the thing to look for when buying property around Mountain View - especially for gardening purposes - is to look for property which has dirt on it. You can grow things in pure cinders, but a bit of soil with the cinders is better. If the lot has nothing but tall skinny ohia trees or no trees at all, then it is probably lava in layers so there's no room other than a crack in the lava for the tree's roots. If you see big wide spread out trees with many branches, then most likely there is soil there.

this is quite true. we have many hapu'u fern and 'ohi'a trees and of course, the ever invasive guava. we've had to find holes in the lava rock and add soil/cinder to get things to grow.

[TexasCasey]

Wow... It is Friday Night in Dallas & I am getting real excited about my first trip to Hawaii! Monday morning needs to hurry on up & get here!

I am going to Visit BI for 2 weeks. Not exactly sure how it is going to all end up, but I do know as of June 1st, Hawaii will be my new home. I am coming to check out the Puna District & H.O.V.E as extensively as I can in two weeks. Hope to try to get to Kauai for a couple of days too, but not sure how my time is going to work out.

The past few months I have met a number of y'all on here and others in the area, not on CD... hopefully, after I get moved in June I can meet a few of you in person to say Mahalo for all the help again. It just hit me, Have any of you (Hawaii here, but I guess any CD neighborhood), ever thought about a live "block"party or something of the type? hmm...

[IntoTheMystic]

The OP got scammed out of the lot that she thought she bought.

[hotzcatz]

How can one be scammed out of a parcel of land? Buying and selling land is extremely regulated, it should have been a registered transaction and filed with the bureau of conveyances? She's also not a member of CD forum anymore?

Good luck on your trip, TexasCasey, hope the rain slows down before you get here! It's been a bit damp lately.

Good for your bananas, Kani-lehua! What's the upper elevation for 'nanners to grow? I've not lived above 2,000 feet myself. Have you been doing much with your landscaping? Is your house renovation finished?

[IntoTheMystic]

Well, she was paying the note for a parcel of land that she understood to be hers but apparantly wasn't. The devil is in the details I'm sure.

[hotzcatz]

Frequently folks aren't sure exactly which parcel is theirs, but generally they have a parcel. These "sub-divisions" are frequently nothing but a rock/gravel road cut through the jungle/forest with nothing to mark the individual lots. Sometimes the roads aren't marked or even exist even though they show up on a map. If there is electricity or phone, then you can at least count the telephone poles to figure out where your lot is. Some folks have built on the wrong lot, others have built over their property lines not quite knowing exactly where they were.

[mdand3boys]

Originally Posted by hotzcatz

... Some folks have built on the wrong lot, others have built over their property lines not quite knowing exactly where they were.

Ouch!

I guess that is where paying for that professional surveyor would have come in handy!

[cynmkolohe]

The OP, if I remember correctly from her posts on the "other" forum, was doing some kind of owner-financing arrangement that went wrong. There are recorded and unrecorded Agreements of Sale and then there are PMMs (Purchase Money Mortgages). Anyone considering purchasing property in a situation where the Seller is offering financing should carefully research the differences between the Agreement of Sale and the PMM and be sure you understand all the terms of the contract.