Torn between the where's and the hows, help please (Honolulu: real estate, apartment)

[ck2007]

Hi all,

First I will apologize in advance, I scan these boards all the time and see similar questions being asked but I feel like I'm drowning in all of these threads! Lol. My fiancé and I want to move to Hawaii, but are torn between which island is best for us, and how to get jobs there. Before you run (lol) please let me give you more detail. Here are some details about us that may help you help me.

We currently live on the mainland (South). I grew up in a military family, and have lived several places. I was so lucky to have spent my pre-teen/teen years growing up in Hawaii (Oahu). It's been 10 years since I've left Hawaii, and every day since I've left I've felt "home sick". I've never missed a place so much! I cried the day we left. And on some occasions I've found myself deeply saddened because I just want to be there so badly. I truly love Hawaii and it will always be a part of me. I love where I live now, I really do. It's a great place, all my family is here. But I would give anything to be in Hawaii again!

My fiancé on the other hand, has lived here his whole life, and has never even traveled outside of the South. So this would be a huge change for him, but it's something he wants, he is ready to travel and explore new places. We have a few places we would love to move to, but in the end Hawaii is number one.

He has a good job, in the marine/shipbuilding industry. I have a job in property management.

We've been searching all over the web for job listings, and have not found anything in his line of work, much less anything pertaining to the shipbuilding industry. I know with the budget cuts that has affected jobs everywhere, but is it really that limited in Hawaii? Or are we not looking in the right places? We have searched Indeed, Monster, USAJobs, About 20 different marine repair or building yards (almost all do not even have a career section on their site) We've even looked at Matson, shipping companies and maritime companies. But as I said, majority of them do not have an employment section. We've even searched Craigslist. Is there somewhere else we should be looking? I've found plenty listings for myself, so there's no issue there, and if I could not find a job before we got there it would not be that big of a deal.

Another question, are there unions in Hawaii? Like I know some places in the country (mostly up North) have trades unions that trade workers must be a part of. This is not the case where we live. My fiancé is not a union worker/member, he just works for a subcontractor at a major shipyard (they build military ships and also barges, he is currently building a barge for Pasha Hawaii!) but back to my question, are tradesmen required to join some type of union? And how do you do that? Will it help the job process? I did see on a job listing that one of the requirements is to be a member of the Labor Union, whatever that may be lol

So the only jobs we've really found (not very many) are on the island of Kaui. I have been to Maui and the Big Island, aside from living on Oahu. This is where being torn of where to go comes in.

I love Oahu, so many things to do and beautiful, and probably still the most affordable then the other islands (I know their all expensive). The only cons I can think of is the traffic, and how crowded it is.
I love Maui, and I would love to move to this island, but I don't think it's the perfect match for his career.
Right now the Big Island is not a place that jumps at me, I loved the big island when I visited, but I just don't see this being the island for us. I have never been to Kaui, so I have no idea what it's like there.

We are in our mid 20s, we enjoy some nightlife every now and then but we are past the partying every weekend stage. We enjoy having cookouts with friends and things like that vs going to a club. But we do enjoy going out every now and then for a couple games of pool and some drinks. We enjoy being outside and nature trails and swimming and outside sports so anywhere we go would be great in that aspect. "Going out" to us means going to dinner, or to a movie or something like that as far as "date nights" go. We're really torn between Oahu and Maui, we're leaning more towards Oahu because better job opportunities though. So I don't know, and it's been years since I've been there. I just us to make the right choice! I'd love to be on Maui though. I am so indecisive! Lol.

As far as budget and money and making it there, we know what it takes to get there, have enough for emergency plane ticket if something happened, enough money to pay our bills for atleast 3 months, and have enough for a deposit and rent, money to ship our vehicles and other belongings, plus extra money. I've tried looking on Craigslist at housing on Oahu, Maui, and Kaui, it is such a mess on that website lol. We would really like a house and not interested in an apartment or condo. Atleast a 2br home, budget being under 2,300 a month, not including utilities. I say a 2br because I'd love the extra space when family comes to visit. We don't need a huge lavish space, we are hardly ever home now and being in Hawaii I don't see us spending all our time at home. I've found several nice homes on Maui and some on Kaui within our budget, looking through the Oahu listings kind of gave me a headache lol so I only saw a few there.

SORRY this is so long, but I just wanted to make sure I gave as much detail as I could so I could get some good feedback. We just need to know how to jump start the job search for him? And which island (and where on the island if you'd like to suggest) would be best for us?

Thank you so much for your time!

[OpenD]

A few quick responses...

Your teen memories of Hawai'i are probably not very accurate. Before thinking seriously about moving to Hawai'i you should plan to take a trip here to see it all over again with fresh eyes.

The state is quite small, there is really only one city, and there's very little manufacturing or industry. Military spending and tourism are the two big economic drivers for the state. Most of the shipbuilding/marine repair is clustered in Oahu. Unions are very strong in Hawai'i, especially around marine industries, transportation, hospitality, and government. What this means to a non-member is that you won't get a job until there are no available members left to fill the open position, and then you'll have to join the union. But you'll get better pay and benefits than non-union work, which is why it is that way.

In terms of cost of living, Honolulu is roughly as expensive as New York or San Francisco. Maui actually has the most expensive real estate, but few jobs. Kauai is generally considered third for COL, while the Big Island is the least expensive.

Atleast a 2br home, budget being under 2,300 a month, not including utilities

How can you say that when you don't know what your incomes will be if you do find work? Generally jobs in Hawai'i pay less than on the mainland. Have you factored that in? Also, having only three months expenses in hand is risky. Six months would be better, with a solid exit strategy in case it doesn't work out for you. We had a poster not too long ago who shared that it took him nearly six months just to find a part-time job, and 10 months to find a full-time job.

Be sure to do some reading here of previous threads, using the search function to zero in on areas of specific interest to you. Scanning may leave you dizzy, but a focused search will help ground you.

Good luck!

[hotzcatz]

There is/was a place in Hilo that makes Force boats, but those are small fiberglass fishing boats. I don't know how big of a crew they have to build boats, it might be a family sort of a business. Other than that, I don't know of any boat building places on Hawaii Island. There really must be some sort of marine repair services somewhere over on the Kona side and one would suspect there must be some sort of boat repair facility in or near Hilo, but I can't think of where it is.

Oahu has the big shipyard in Pearl Harbor. That is the biggest ship repair/building facility in the state, I believe. There is also a smaller shipyard over in Kakaaako, although that may have been gentrified out of existence by now. There's also some ship repair going on around the edges of Honolulu harbor. I suspect the only island that is going to have ship building employment is going to be Oahu. It wouldn't surprise me to find out they don't advertise jobs, either.

Since you are both employed where you are and have family there as well, would staying there and just taking some long vacations in Hawaii be a good compromise? Or take a vacation and look around for employment while on vacation?

In the past ten years, Oahu has gotten even more densely packed than it was before.

[khyron]

Originally Posted by ck2007

First I will apologize in advance, I scan these boards all the time and see similar questions being asked but I feel like I'm drowning in all of these threads! Lol. My fiancé and I want to move to Hawaii, but are torn between which island is best for us, and how to get jobs there.

Look, seriously, what you both need to do is travel to Hawaii. You need to visit several islands, perhaps several times each, and explore to get a feel for what it's like (as an adult) to be there let alone live there. If that sounds like it would be some great financial/logistical hardship then, honestly, even thinking about a move is silly.

Once you've done some exploring, you should come back and post detailed questions you have about what you've experienced...people here will be very happy to help.