A Local Who Wants To Help New Residents and Visitors

[hawaiidreamin]

Hello,
My husband and I are planning to move to the Big Island. I have heard good things and bad things about living there but so far, the good out ways the bad.
Cons: drugs, traffic, cost of living, schools
We are in our 30's and my husband is a painter. I can do anything administrative. We have been looking at house prices and found nice ones around 300,000.00 which is about what we would get for our home her in Salt Lake. We have been to Maui 3 times and the Big Island once, so we have some idea of the cost of living. My husband is going to stay out there for a month or so to make sure this is what he really wants to do. My question for any one that lives there would be.... ANY ADVICE?
We have two kids, 14, and two large dogs. Do you know anything about the dog quarantine rules? Leaving them behind is not an option. I would really apreciate any info you could provide.
Mahalo

[maui08]

Originally Posted by kaimuki

Ha! Wow! BTW, I'm local, educated, employed (stay-at-home dad working out of my home office raising, not babysitting, our 3-year-old daughter). As for our daughter's future, we work hard on it daily! I can't remember the last time I sat around at the beach all day getting liquored-up, but a haircut, what's that. Maybe the haircut thing you got right. GL to you!

Sounds great...wait till your daughter turns of school age. My comments were directed at families with school age kids 5+. When my kids were growing up here it was a perfect place because they did not yet go to school. Each week that my kids were dropped off at school at least one teacher per day did not show up for class and the kids simply sat in the classroom waiting on direction from a staff member! I don't mean to sound harsh about Hawaii but we spent a lot of money coming back here for the third time and it is sooo frustrating to imagine putting ours kids through years of this stuff and to sacrifice and good education that is sound and safe all for the simple fact of living in Hawaii....I guess we just want to see ours kids have a fighting chance at obtaining an education and going on to college, etc......

The kids here tend to be quite rough and lack any guidance or direction which comes straight from the parents. -This is true with the majority here.

Aloha