Possible move to Hawaii (Honolulu, Hilo: rental, condo, high crime)

[ARTabone]

I am currently waiting because my husband is in the process of interviewing for a position in Hawaii. There are actually 2 positions.
1 position you must live in Maui and the other you must live in either Kona or Oahu.
Now for the millions of questions that I have
1. What's the difference between the locations I mentioned? I don't know how they compare and I need all the details

2. I do prefer to be located in an area that is not totally rural although doesn't have to be the major metropolis area. Do any of these locations fit?

3. Are there any areas to totally avoid because they have high crime?

4. Which of the locations have the most affordable housing? We are looking for either a 2-3 bedroom place and it could be a condo or house. My biggest priority is safety.

5. How long does it take to travel from one side to the other on each of the islands I mentioned? (Just trying to get an idea of how large they are and travel times)

6. I've heard the public schools are fair to poor throughout Hawaii. Are there any recommended public schools? Are there any recommended non-religious private schools? I am a teacher and I'll need to get a job. My husband and I don't have children.

7. Are car dealerships located everywhere or are they mainly confined to one location? My husband works in the car industry.

8. Are season tix sold for Hawaii's football games?

9. Oh yeah, is Kona a city? Island? Part of another city? Area? etc? I'm so confused!

If you think of anything else that I may need to know, please let me know.
Like I mentioned, my husband is in the car industry. Should he be aware of any quirky habits of island living and cars?

[whynot?]

Wow. I can answer some of your questions, but you might want to use the forum "search" tool to read back through good answers in many similar threads. I live on Maui, but I'll do the best I can. I read the papers every day, too, and their web sites [Honolulu Star-Bulletin, Honolulu Advertiser, The Maui News, West Hawaii Today (recently recommended by someone on this forum)] are helpful for getting a "read" on neighborhoods, schools, violence, and other things (like UH football tickets).

1. Maui, Kona, and Oahu are very different. You might also, oddly, want to buy a Fodor's, Frommer's, or similar travel guide just to get a better grasp of the state in general. Maui and Oahu are ENTIRE islands, each with their own cities, towns, lifestyles, and vibes. Kona is one large-ish area on the Big Island, with the principal town of Kailua, but many smaller areas to live and work in.

2. There is only one "metropolis" in the entire state, and that is Honolulu, on Oahu. Other "cities" are mostly glorified towns that have expanded, sometimes pleasantly, and sometimes in practical-but-not-appealing ways.

3. I read (mostly here) that violence can be a problem, but it will not be your first impression, and any decent realtor will steer you toward a place where you will be reasonably safe and comfortable. (As in most places, a great deal of crime between unknown people is quite random.) I would visit the places first, then research the comparative violence of each.

4. Each of the islands you mentioned (Maui, Oahu, and the Big Island) have tremendous ranges in home values and rental prices, all of which are a good deal higher than the average city on the mainland. The Big Island is generally known for having lower home prices (but fewer jobs); Oahu has higher home prices (but the most jobs); and Maui is somewhere in the middle. But in addition to the cost of your home, the cost of your commute can be considerable -- gas is over $4/gallon.

5. The best place to try to understand this is via a travel guide, oddly. The Big Island is, um, really BIG. So driving "from one side to the other" can be quite a number of miles, but you can mostly go the speed limit as the roads are not crowded. Oahu is smaller, but many parts are congested, and you can sit in traffic in/around Honolulu literally "for hours" if there is a crash. Maui is in between -- more congested than you might expect with bad roads in some areas, so it might take longer than it looks on a map. (Travel guides usually list approximate driving times from place-to-place.) One other note since it doesn't sound like you've visited Hawai`i, since all of the islands are volcanic, the central parts are quite mountainous, with roads principally around the perimeters, which increases point-to-point driving times.

6. This is a good topic for you to use the "search" feature for more thoughts. It is frequently and ably discussed here. The newspaper sites also have good ongoing information about individual schools and educational policies and progress. I have no children in the school system, and I prefer to have better informed members (of whom there are many) respond.

7. Because we live on islands, car dealerships tend to cluster around the areas closest to ports. There are, of course, dealerships in other towns, but I would not say they are "located everywhere," as the islands are quite large and the dealerships relatively few with the possible exception of Oahu.

8. Others will know a great deal more about this than I, but my understanding is that UH tickets are rather hard to come by. They apparently are "working on this." I would not expect any immediate relief. I am sure tickets can be obtained; "there's always a way."

9. This is kind of answered above. Kailua Kona is a town on Kailua Bay, where the Iron Man triathalon is run. Many people just call the town Kailua. "Kona" means leeward in Hawaiian, so it's literally the dry side of the island. It's also the name for the administrative district at state government level. And it's "an area."

I hope this will get you started on your quest. There are many posters here who are more knowledgable than I, and many with good advice on neighborhoods and schools. I strongly suggest you visit any island you think you might live on. Each has its own personality and all are beautiful.

Good luck with your adventure.

[ARTabone]

Thanks for your help. I'll search the forum.

[goldenplover]

well...I can't really speak much about maui or the big island of Hawaii (where kona is), but I lived on o'ahu for a couple years. IF you are interested in tickets to the football games, you can buy season tickets, BUT you will only be able to attend the games if you live on o'ahu (where the stadium is). If you have to move there, stay clear of waimanalo, and ewa. I would recommend kailua, kaneohe, lani kai, kaimuki, koko head, hawaii kai, manoa, and st louis heights for housing. Pearl City and Mililani are also nice. Schools are okay, and even the religious schools do not focus on religion so much (st mary's for example) because of the diverse culture in hawaii. Car dealerships are plentiful on o'ahu because it is the major island and supports the capital city, honolulu. It takes three to four hours to drive around the outer rim of o'ahu and maybe a half hour to get across the island via the likelike, pali, or H3 highways. and "metropolis" is very very relative on o'ahu- honolulu/waikiki is about as metropolis as it gets- I wouldn't want to be near the warehouse district by sand island, BUT as soon as you get away from it, the neighborhoods all have a quaintness to them.

[TERRIE]

i can help you with the "car industry" questions you have (my hubby worked in that industry for two years there)...it will depend on what he's used to making and how much you'll need to live on. is he in management or sales? this will make a difference. i can say, the only island we could consider was oahu beacause of the volume of people, to be able to make decent money. pm me if like and i can go into more detail with you.....good luck!

[dudelbug]

I haven't seen much about specific schools. Can anyone address the the original question 6, not only for possible teaching, but also for kids attending? We may be moving from the Houston area and have also lived in Detroit. Both very diverse. I've worked in schools in Dearborn, MI and and have 2 kiddos. Would love to see some advise on the schools, too, from both sides, working and attending. My son's teacher is from Oahu and taught there before moving to Houston. If he has any sage advice on the schools, I'll repost.

[hotzcatz]

Just from wanting season's tickets to the football games and not wanting to be rural, I'd guess if you can choose Oahu, then you'd probably prefer that one. If what your husband does involves customers and quantity of anything, then he'd have more on Oahu.

Oahu is an island and it is fairly geographically small although it has the most stuff on it. It has Honolulu which is the closest thing to a city the entire state has. It also has Pearl Harbor, Waikiki Beach and Diamond Head on it. Most of the old Hawaii 5-0 and the Magnum P.I. series were shot on Oahu. It is a bit more expensive, but it is probably more like the mainland in what is available than the other islands.

Maui is the next most populated island although it isn't nearly as dense as Oahu. It has Lahaina and The Road to Hana as well as Haleakala on it. It has loads of white sandy beaches, too. Oahu also has white sandy beaches.

The island of Hawaii aka "the Big Island" is the one with the volcanoes on it. It is about 100 miles between the town of Hilo and the town of Kailua in the Kona district. The highest posted speed limit is 55 so that will be a minimum of a two hour drive although frequently folks drive slower than the posted speed limits. Generally you can figure two and a half to three hours to get between Kona and Hilo. Hilo is an older town and very quaint and has a LOT of rain. Kona is newer and is trying to grow but has issues with roads and things. The big island is best defined by what it doesn't have so it probably wouldn't suit your "not rural" list. Kona is also having some vog issues these days what with Pele being so busy. (Vog is volcanic fog and Pele is the volcano goddess.)

All the public schools are under one statewide administrative system so they should be all the same as far as pay scale and all that goes. There may be some differentiation between islands, although I don't know for certain.