Leaving the life of a mainlander

[HankDfrmSD]

Originally Posted by hotzcatz

I would suggest to either visit first or get a vacation rental for several weeks while you decide where to live. Vacation rentals are an easy first step since they usually come furnished.

And right now, many vacation rental owners have some serious vacancies, as I do. If you find an owner-managed VR that looks like it would suit you, look at their calendar. If you find an open time frame when you could come, talk to the owner about renting their place for a couple of months. Say their weekly rate is 1600. Occupancy rates may be as low as 50%, so perhaps they would rent to you for 8 weeks at fifty percent of eight times sixteen hundred.

It doesn't hurt to ask.

Hank

[HonuMan]

My wife is from Hilo, and I've visted with her several times. The east side of the BI is beautiful, and to my knowledge is the least expensive area in the state in which to live. (Kaua'i is also beautiful, but more expensive.) Hilo is a small, friendly, charming town. There are a number of small farmers in the area, and a twice-weekly farmer's market in Hilo where people sell produce. I believe you can get agricultural subsidies on some properties if you grow a certain number of crops. The volcanic soil, rain, and sun make for great growing conditions.

We eventually want to buy a small piece of land on the BI for vacation and possibly retirement, so we've done a lot of research. The cheapest land (and it's really cheap) is between the area south of Hilo and the town of Volcano. There's a reason, though: it's in the highest-risk lava-flow zone, and the state probably will never build infrastructure there because of that. So you take a risk by buying there. We've also seen reasonably priced land in the volcanically safer areas of Mountain View and Orchid Land Estates. (If you search on line, you can find a map showing the various lava risk zones.) Also check out the Hamakua Coast and the wet side of the Kohala peninsula. Land prices got ridiculously high there during the real-estate boom, but they're coming down. If you prefer your temperatures a bit cooler, wet-side Kohala is perfect.

You won't find sandy beaches on the east side, just lava rock, but the beaches on the Kona side of the island are stunning. And yes, it rains a lot on the east side, but a lot of it falls at night, a lot of it comes in the form of heavy downpours, and there's plenty of sunshine, too.

From your description of yourself and what you like, I think you'd be happy on the BI. It's slow-paced and friendly. And it really is BIG. On Oahu and Kaua'i, I had the sense of being on small islands. The BI felt more like the mainland. (It takes two hours to drive from Hilo to Kailua-Kona.) The drawbacks are the healthcare crisis (doctors have left the state in droves because of low insurance-reimbursement rates and high malpractice insurance), vog from the Halemaumau eruption (although it's usually worse in Kona due to the prevailing wind direction), and lack of jobs (although you plan to create your own job).

Check out this website: Affordable Hawaii: moving to and living in Hawaii on a budget. Skip Thomsen has a lot of great advice about living on the east side of the BI. I recommend his book (and no, I have no vested interest in his sales).

Good luck to you!