Seven months living here and... (Kapaa, Lihue: sale, rent, how much)

[Sweetbeet]

... OMG, if I ever have to leave I'll cry so much! I love this place. Everyone we've met is so nice. Maybe I'm just high on the sunshine, we've just had a week of rain and today the sun was out and I took the kids (12 & 15, not really keiki anymore!) for a bike ride, we stopped and walked out on the rocks to watch the waves crashing and feel the sea spray, played with a dog on the beach, had a shave ice, ran into a friend who was selling huli chicken with his motorcycle club and insisted on buying us some (what a sweetie - must have him over for dinner soon), now hubby is out on the lanai with some friends playing around with some of his musical instruments. Life here is just SO good (oh, and BTW, I've never paid $10 for a gallon of milk, usually it's $4.99). I'm actually looking forward to going to work tomorrow, I LOVE the kind of work I'm doing here and being my own boss. I do hope for some new clients, but I think that will come - people seem pleased with my work and I've been told that "it takes about a year" and word will spread, I just hope the dinero holds out that long - like I said, if I have to leave this rock I'll never be happy again in my life.

So that's my brief synopsis of how life is for one person who relocated to Kauai in August 2008. I'll try to drop a line in another 6 months or so! And Frangi914, are you Frangi808 yet?? I'd love to hear some more of your story, if you're lurking out there.

[SkyBob]

I'm currently in New York so I have no need for your services, but I was just wondering, what areas do you specialize in?

Bob

[Sweetbeet]

Hey, I'm licensed in NY too! :-)

I do estate planning, probate and trust law; guardianship/conservatorship; and some general civil litigation. And currently, "food law" - that is, whatever kind of law puts food on the table! (But I don't do criminal, I really know very little about it and I'm not desperate enough to venture that far afield yet.)

[Jungjohann]

Haven't found that elusive $10 a gallon milk over in Lihue yet, have you???

Aloha and okolemaluna

[TexasBlonde]

Originally Posted by Jungjohann

Haven't found that elusive $10 a gallon milk over in Lihue yet, have you???

Aloha and okolemaluna

Can someone please explain this $10 a gallon for milk thing? I'm getting such mixed opinions. My family and I are getting ready to move to Hawaii, and we're doing all the research we can. We have a few friends that live out there, all that claim they have never seen milk for $10 a gallon. I've also visited there (not in the past year or so though) and I don't remember ever paying over $5 for a gallon of milk. But, then when I read these city-data forums, I keep seeing (typically it's the same 1 or 2 posters) that milk is $10 a gallon.

I'm so confused.

[Frangi914]

Hey Sweetbeat!

I'm still here, lurking, and your right I should change to 808 but I'm a sentimental fool.


I haven't posted in a long time, but I still like to look at what everyone is saying none the less. I, like you, am truly in love with Hawaii and moving to Maui was the best thing hubby and I have ever done. My neighbors are awesome and I love up country - golf course living is great! We are only 15 minutes from the major stores/beaches and far enough away from all the tourists. I am getting involved with the community and I got voted onto our home owners association. We are getting to know everyone in our little community. It’s been a fast four plus months and time has really flown. We have been exploring Maui and the beaches and have found several that we just love. We try and get our exploring hats on several times a week and than take care of house stuff the rest of the week.


To all a FYI….We have been inching our way up Hana Hwy and last week we went to see Puohokamoa Falls and according to the “Maui Revealed” guidebook you can get to the falls by going over a fence by a telephone poll near mile marker 11. Well what we found out that day from talking to people was that you can no longer access through this point. There is some dispute with a private land owner. Well it also appears that people just don’t care about this and continue to go on through this way so someone (the private land owner I’m guessing) has scattered guts all over the access point, Oh my lord it was one of the nastiest things I have seen or smelled. I haven’t seen anything about this on the web so I wanted to mention it here. According to the people we spoke to the rocks surrounding the falls are mossy and very slippery and flash floods are an issue if the weather has been rainy, so it’s my guess the private land owner doesn’t want to be sued if someone gets injured or worse! Just be careful where you venture folks. Also the guide book says a visit to the Garden Of Eden botanical gardens is $7.50 but it’s really $10.00 a one time visit for me for sure! The best thing I saw there was the view used in the opening scene to the movie Jurassic Park. The gardens are beautiful too.

The people here in Maui are AWESOME especially the Hawaiians, they are just full of grace. Coming from New York I probably see it more because we are used to such low standards of how people treat one another and we are so grateful it's not like that here. Anyway we are more or less settled in and loving all the rainbows that seem to pop out all the time. Prices here are high, but if you shop smart it can be done so everyone just needs to do their homework and exercise common sense. I couldn’t imagine ever wanting to leave here, this is now so much my home and, aside from the strange weather of the past few weeks, everyday is sunny, warm and just what I imagined it could be (or I was hoping it would be). We just love Maui.

[KoaHawaii]

Originally Posted by TexasBlonde

Can someone please explain this $10 a gallon for milk thing? I'm getting such mixed opinions. My family and I are getting ready to move to Hawaii, and we're doing all the research we can. We have a few friends that live out there, all that claim they have never seen milk for $10 a gallon. I've also visited there (not in the past year or so though) and I don't remember ever paying over $5 for a gallon of milk. But, then when I read these city-data forums, I keep seeing (typically it's the same 1 or 2 posters) that milk is $10 a gallon.

I'm so confused.

not sure who has been getting milk for $10 a gallon, must have gold or something in it. i've NEVER paid that much for milk, not at costco, kta or anywhere. Though I do think it is important to note that the biggest factor people don't understand who are relocating to Hawaii is that while the cost of living is high and even comparable to California. some things are more expensive than others since we do have to ship everything. The main point however is that wages are far less than those found in say California or anywhere else that have similar prices to build a home or rent etc. It's like trying to pay for a home in San Diego on a wage found somewhere in the midwest. This is the biggest and most important thing I think people need to understand, yes things are expensive here but it becomes even more difficult to pay for these things when you still arent making enough money to support a family even with multiple incomes. I really wish more people would understand this, it isn't just the cost of things it's also how much money you are actually able to make here and then when you have to divide up that small wage for food, gas, utilities, house or car payments etc. it gets tight. Hope this helps people who aren't familiar with this before considering a move to Hawaii

[Sweetbeet]

Originally Posted by Jungjohann

Haven't found that elusive $10 a gallon milk over in Lihue yet, have you???

Aloha and okolemaluna

Actually, my hubby says he's seen it for about $8.99 or maybe even $9 something. But we don't buy it at that price - it's always available for $4.99 somewhere! Usually at our usual store, Kapaa Safeway. Costco too, but they for some reason don't carry 1%, only skim, 2% and whole. ??? So if we can't get our favorite 1% for $4.99 we get 2% at Costco. Big deal, a little more fat for one gallon. Another weird thing is that whole milk is usually less than 1% or 2%, I guess the lower-fat choices are more popular.

You have to deal with the fact that if you go to Safeway they might be - gasp! - out of gallons of 1%, so maybe you have to come back in a couple of days or buy it at Foodland (next door) for $1 more or get 2% at Costco.

Does anybody know what a gallon of milk costs on the mainland? I never paid attention when I was there.

[Heiwos]

Originally Posted by Sweetbeet

Does anybody know what a gallon of milk costs on the mainland? I never paid attention when I was there.

It's consistently $3.50 / half-gallon for organic 1% at Safeway in WA.

[TexasCasey]

Originally Posted by Sweetbeet

Does anybody know what a gallon of milk costs on the mainland? I never paid attention when I was there.

Dallas, TX (suburb): different brands on the shelf are marked at $3.50 to $4.29 per gallon, but almost always can find one of the brands on sale at 2 for $5.00. (This is for 2%, I don't even really look at the others).