Where on the big Island? (Honolulu, Hilo: real estate, to rent, crime)

[seafairy53]

I am new to this posting so be patient. I was born in Honolulu and want to come back home. I can't afford a home on Oahu so have chosen the big island and am pretty sure the Hilo area. Can any one give me some advice. I am a single woman and my main concern is safety. I guess I have watched too much of Dog the bounty hunter!! Lol
I want to return to paradise, slow pace, peaceful people, glorious flowers, fruit and loving people. I have searched on realty sites and have no idea what areas are good. I don't think I want to deal with water tanks for my water supply and am also wondering about the lava flow. Any and all help or comments will be greatly appreciated.
Seafairy

[cwm]

Hilo is a wonderful place to live. It has the slow pace of life, wonderful people, incredible food, and lots of opportunities. Check out Living in Hilo, Hawaii

[Haoleman]

I lived in Kona for 15 years. I don't know about your ethnicity but Kailua Kona is Haole land It has a good mix of people and as a Haole, I never felt unsafe on the streets at night. Most everyone there gets along there. My biggest issue ( I lived in Kealakehe) was the fact that we were at the end of a dead end street. I constantly had to roust the kids doing the nasty (boom boxes late into the night) and drug deals. I approached them with a bat and that was always enough to get them to leave. I never once felt threatened by them. In fact most apologised and left with their tails between their legs . It was a constant nuisance. That's why so many people want to live in gated communities there. On Hilo, it's much like Japan. We used to love going there as it was like traveling to a foreign country and great local restaurants. Real sushi too! Great farmer's market, flowers, fruit, fish, etc.
Waimea reminds me of Palo Alto, Calif with all the techies and Einsteins there that discover the universe, extraterrestrals, global climate change, etc. The Big Island will always be the place I call home. It's like the whole world wrapped up in a 100 mile square box. Good luck and Aloha!

[hotzcatz]

Well, it does rain a bit in Hilo and some folks aren't real pleased about that. It is slow and quiet, though, which is good. At the moment the economy isn't so good so if you need employment to live here, you may want to make sure you have a job before moving if possible. Maybe come on a long vacation and get a job then move over? Then if there are no jobs available you can still have your job on the mainland and wait for the economy to improve. Do you have any ohana to help? Then it would be easy, you could live near them.

Don't buy a house until you have lived here for a year so you will have time to look around to find the place you should be. There are so many different areas that are all different from each other and depending on where your job is (if you can find one) will be important to the selection of a place to live. I think locating a job will be much harder than locating a place to rent, so find the job, then rent nearby.

I looked at the moving to Hilo website which CWM has the link to above. On the "businesses to look for jobs" portion, two of the companies went bankrupt this year and two of them that I know of have a hiring freeze at the moment. All this happened pretty much in the last several months and it looks like it might get worse next year.

Na Moku Nui is a pretty safe place. It is still real small town and everyone knows everyone. Visit and look around, you can tell where you should be.

[PukaFace]

You need to talk with "CYNMKOLOHE" here on the forums, she is very helpful with all things real estate related, particularly on the Big Island, and even in the Hilo area. Look for her previous posts as well. I recently spent a few weeks in HPP (Hawaii Paradise Park) and had a great time. Drove into Hilo for breakfast at Ken's a few times, and had to do the farmers market too. I used to live in Waimea (Kamuela) years ago and really liked it there, but I would probably prefer Hilo/Puna/Volcano
at this time in my life. And I don't think "Dog" has ever done a show on the Big Island, but it's possible ! The crime is nothing like Honolulu. There are problems with petty crimes and car theft particularly in the Puna area related to Ice/Crystal Meth from what I've read here on the forums, and in the Hawaii Tribune Herald. You can subscribe and view the paper/classifieds online by the way. (Hawaii Tribune-Herald :: Hilo, Hawaii > Front). There are also lots of people here with first-hand knowledge about local crime. If you have specific questions, just ask !
Jobs are scarce just about everywhere in the country now, and da Big Island is no different, but hopefully things will turn around in the next few years. Good luck with your search !