moving to maui and nervous... (Kahului, Kihei: real estate market, leasing, condo)

[lifedream]

Hi! My fiance and I are getting ready to move to Maui in early July 2007. He already has a position but I am still looking. Not sure if it's smart to move together before I am employed. We hear it's crazy expensive! We have a 6 y.o. daughter. We are debating rent vs buy, ship furniture or not, and what's the best school in the Lahaina area. Any thoughts on these topics?

[lawiii1]

What kind of job are you looking for? Lots of retail/hotel/restaurant work. It is expensive ( I pay $1300 for a one-bedroom in Kahana) and gas is $3.75. Depending on how long you are going to live here is key about shipping possesions. My suggestion is to buy when you get here (look in the Maui Bulletin)The Maui Bulletin: Admarket for whatever you want. Best school in Lahaina area is Maui Prep. It is expensive but do the following: Buy a Costco card (bulk mo cheapah). Buy things when they are on sale. Kihei/Wailuku/Kahului are cheaper to live. Where is your husband working? Real estate market has seen some price decrease. Call a Realtor. Renting is expensive (why pay someone else's mortgage?) But then again so is a $450,000 one bedroom condo. Also look at the Mauinews.com classifieds. Your kid will be fine, but schools in HI are not the highest ranking Home school is an option, or pay the price for private school, the regular schools aren't that bad--many smart kids in HI. Traffic is getting more congested...

[vsimmons1988]

Originally Posted by lawiii1

What kind of job are you looking for? Best school in Lahaina area is Maui Prep. Kihei/Wailuku/Kahului are cheaper to live. ..

How far is Lahaina from the Kihei/Kahului? What kind of commute would one be looking at with traffic?
Would you recommend a private school in the Kihei/Kahului area? If so, which one?

[tolmom]

You can count on commute from Lahaina to Kihei or Kahului to be about an hour. There are problems though whenever there is a fire getting back from the west side. Having children myself, my husband used to work on that side, I always tried to get work close to home and my kids. If you live in Kihei try to live north of Lipoa, Kamalii is a great public school. In Kahului area there are several choices. Just get really involved in your child's education. With the no child left behind act it is getting harder for the teachers to truly teach. We supplement with reading and websites like Cosmeo.com. My older children get Time and Smithsonian.
Please note, Kihei is closer to great beaches and has a very California feel to it. Kahului is local. We live in Wailuku and I love it. I have 3 kids at home and we live walking distance to the high school, middle school and elementary school. We also live close to the library and shopping. There are many new developments going up in this area. when we first moved we paid about $1450 for rent. You can get cheap deals through the maui news (look online), but some are real dumps. Be wary of the cheap deal. Ask on this column for complexes. We live in Iao Parkside (we own) and love it. Yes, it is close to an industrial area, but it is clean and close to everything.

FYI I work for a realtor. We have a listing in Kihei at Kihei Villages. 2/2 Nice, completely furnished. Even has a flat screen TV. $350K. We also have a 5/3 house close to a park in Kihei for $645K.
You might want to go to the Maui Real Estate Book web site.
That will be a great guide for you.
Hope this helps!

[vsimmons1988]

Originally Posted by tolmom

We live in Wailuku and I love it. I have 3 kids at home and we live walking distance to the high school, middle school and elementary school. We also live close to the library and shopping.

We have a listing in Kihei at Kihei Villages. 2/2 Nice, completely furnished. Even has a flat screen TV. $350K. We also have a 5/3 house close to a park in Kihei for $645K.
You might want to go to the Maui Real Estate Book web site.

Thanks for the information. It helps tremendously. Although we are not interested in purchasing a home, we are interested in leasing an unfurnished home for 3 years. If you know of any, let me know. We will be there in less than 3 weeks. We would like to be settled before the children begin school.

How far (commute time) is Wailuku from Kihei? My husband will be working at there. What is the name of the high school in that area?