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Hello all,
I've been lurking these forums and even posted a few things because I was very interested in relocating to Hawaii.. currently I'm living in Seoul, Korea and my wife works in Finance and I work in the video game industry and we were thinking of just making a clean break and moving to Honolulu...
We spent about 10 days there.. our mission was 2 fold.. one was to relax and enjoy a great vacation in Hawaii... second was research housing, jobs, and lifestyle...
I'll start with Housing:
We looked at a bunch of high rise condos near Waikiki.. prices ranging from $350K to $1million... some build in the 70's while others built very recently... I'm originally from Southern California.. and now I live in Seoul, Korea now (considered one of the most expensive cities to live in).. and the prices seemed reasonable to me.. I know alot of folks flip out at the price of housing in Hawaii... and it's not like we are millionaires... but a nice condo overlooking the ocean or bay for about $650K is a deal in my book.. We looked at the Watermark, Kapiolani, 909, just to name a few... We also looked at some single family homes around Diamondhead.. and they seem to be inline with prices in nicer parts of Socal... only thing that concerns me is that prices have not gone down at all as compared to the mainland.. and I can't imagine that staying true for long... I know alot of folks in Honolulu assures me that the prices won't go down.. but I have my doubts... so I would wait to buy anything... but overall: housing in Hawaii is good!
Jobs:
Video game jobs are non existant.. so I'd have to change my field... My wife might have been able to get a job at a private hedgefund or something.. but not in this economy.. we really coudn't find too many finance jobs... we would definetly have to downgrade our jobs... but I think we would manage okay... maybe when the economy gets better there would be more options... but I noticed most jobs are in hospitality... so job market for us was not so good
Lifestyle:
Wow.. great... sunny weather, beaches, kayaking, hiking, surfing... what more could you ask for? well coming from the city I could kind of imagine things getting kind of old... I couldn't help but think we would get bored after a little while... it's was a fear that both of us had about Hawaii.. Could we really live here long term? Lifestyle wise: Not sure...
Conclusion:
Hawaii is a great place, friendly people, loads of great restaurants and bars, beautiful scenery.. but for us.. maybe not now.. we're still in our early 30's and we really enjoy the city life.. we've lived in Seoul, Tokyo, NY, Paris... maybe when we have kids and settle down... I know lots of folks complain about crime, bugs, racism... but I felt none of that... in fact Hawaii was so diverse.. and everyone was so open to different cultures.. I saw 2 old white ladies dining at a local vietnamese restaurant.. now that's multiculturalism right there!... You wanna see crime.. try going to Riverside or LA.. gah~
We really enjoyed our time in Hawaii.. and we will definetly go there again on vacation... (a bit far though from Asia: 8 hour flight)... but as for relocation.. maybe in 10 years or so.. for now we are seriously considering buying some property there... just so that we can prepare for our move out there later on... but only if the prices go down a bit more.. hehe I did notice that housing prices are going down and alot of people are having a hard time selling their condos (at least harder than before)... so we'll see....
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