Moving to Hawaii (high-income family)

[HPP_Since_79]

Have you considered west Maui? Not far from Kihei in the greater Lahaina area Lahainaluna is a good public high school (visually and historically spectacular also), also Kihei public charter school is known as a great school: a relatively good amount of students at ether school would be from families in your families economic situation. They had some issues with the principal last fall which may dominate the search results if looking it up. And as others mention if you consider the North or west sides of the Bg Island HPA is about 20K a year for day students and is beyond question a spectacular school.

I doubt most of the Wailuku/Kahului public schools meet your standards and Honolulu is on a different planet compared to the outer islands on every level although there are good public school on the eastside as many mentioned.

[Ian_Lee]

If you can only afford $1 million -- 2 million range, you may not get the ideal house you desire in Oahu. Neighborhoods like Portlock, Black Point and Hawaii Loa Ridge all ask for $2 million plus and higher. Moreover, there are so many foreign buyers in Hawaii nowadays that many can afford to pay cash. If you need to apply for mortgage, that puts you in a less favorable position.

Like everyone else, I would advise you to send the kids to Private Schools in Oahu. But the problem is that even if you have the wherewithal, your kids may not be able to get in because the competition for admission is very keen. Of course, you can send them to the second tier private schools. But you will be bombarded with all kinds of fund raising campaign year around while the top two won't bother you much.

When people move from Mainland to the island, one thing they have not paid attention to is there are less than adequate medical facilities in the neighbor islands. Many patients have to fly to the hospitals in Oahu to do not-too-complicated surgery. I have seen so many families from neighbor islands get stressed out in Oahu's hospitals.

[Rocko20]

Originally Posted by Ian_Lee

If you can only afford $1 million -- 2 million range, you may not get the ideal house you desire in Oahu. Neighborhoods like Portlock, Black Point and Hawaii Loa Ridge all ask for $2 million plus and higher. Moreover, there are so many foreign buyers in Hawaii nowadays that many can afford to pay cash. If you need to apply for mortgage, that puts you in a less favorable position.

You ain't lying about that. You pretty much have to get lucky and have good timing to get the house of your dreams here with a mortgage. IMO. I'm only renting but I know a few people who have bought a house through a mortgage. They literally had to checkout the house and put the paperwork in right there on the spot before some rich foreign investor offered 50% cash down payment or just cash all together.

[Amelorn]

I am pro-Oahu after moving here from DC.

While my business is interstate/international in terms of the client base/networks I have, I decided to live on Oahu for better networking and potential for entrepreneurial ventures. From the description of your financial circumstances, I am guessing that you own a business, consult remotely, etc. I have found the move to Oahu enormously beneficial personally and professionally due to the diversity and number of people. While Maui might have worked out (my other consideration), 900k on Oahu vs 90k on Maui...my social/professional/intellectual chances were better here.

I've been happily shocked by how quickly I have integrated here and how pleasant it has been. That said, I can pay my bills, I have found a social niche, and the business potential here is promising. I have nowhere to be on the Mainland to pine for (I was in expat in the UK, AUS, NZ for 8 years of my adult life - no roots left on the continent).

This is an interesting place though. One's high school effectively acts as a caste that announces your family's race and SES, often determining on-island job prospects. This is (probably?) why the forum pushes private school hard. I can't exactly gainsay that push. The happiest people here are those who choose to be here. This includes those such as us as well as locals who can compete in the (much more competitive) society/economy of the mainland. The resentful are the poor and stuck. Having the education/means that facilitates hitting "escape velocity"paradoxically seems to be the key to making it here.

[SoCal Hiker]

I love how OP had to declare "high income family" in the title.

[Amelorn]

Originally Posted by SoCal Hiker

I love how OP had to declare "high income family" in the title.

It allows the forum to skip the usual step of telling them that they'll burn through their $5,000 life savings in 2 months and be homeless.

[hotzcatz]

Yup, saves ever so much dialog when it's already known they aren't gonna be home less from the git go. Although 'high income' on Oahu would be worth twice as much on an 'outer' island. Maybe even worth much more depending on which outer island. I'm expecting within a few years most education will be online based and schools will become places where folks learn to interact with other humans, so even if you pick a 'bad' school, your kids can still learn what they need to learn. Also, if you already have a business, then they may want to do that which means they'd eventually be an apprentice more than a student.

[terracore]

I bought mine at www.gsaauctions.gov. Got a 7-year old sedan (at 7-year old prices) with only 8,000 miles on it. Still had that "new car smell".

[nitaworm]

We decided on Oahu over Maui in order to have more opportunities for our family. We visit the other Islands for our vacations and enjoy them more that way. We moved here about a year ago and really love the experience. Finding a job here is challenging if you haven't an established job market you will be supporting while here. I have kids from 12 yrs to 23 that moved with us and they have all adjusted well, mainly because they grew up in the city around diverse cultures and environments. As for school, we decided to homeschool. There are some decent schools here, but the price of private school is VERY high. My younger kids have benefited from being able to learn to sail, surf, fly glider planes, start small businesses, get involved in the techie culture here and more. They all enjoy living here and the friends they've met. We are renting though, since we wanted to make sure this was a good fit. Everything you are told about the rental market and real estate purchase market is true. For some reason it's extremely competitive here and you have to aggressively, yet cautiously investigate.

[TwoByFour]

I will put in a plug for Seabury Hall on Maui for a good private school. It is located up-country, Makawao area. We have friends who sent their kids there and it was a good experience for them; they all played volleyball for the school and ended up with VB scholarships to the colleges they went to.

A word on crime, which you expressed concern about - if you are looking for a house in the 1-2m range, your exposure to crime is going to go way down, not that it would be all that high anyway. There seems to be a lot of car break-ins but I cannot say that it is worse than Seattle where we used to live. I have never felt my personal safety was at risk anywhere on Maui and have never been a victim of crime.

Our neighbor is selling her house for 1.2m, on 2 acres, great views, ohana. And you'd have money left over to send the kids to Seabury which is only 3 miles away.