Our move to Kaua'i (Wailua Homesteads, Wailua: rental car, fit in, rentals)

[ChezAloha]

After nearly three years of planning, saving, downsizing, etc. we are within one month of our family's move to Kaua'i. My husband and I are finishing up a successful house-hunting trip here and will be heading back to Portland tomorrow to finish up the school year there as well as the last bits of business that need to be done on the mainland, like getting our car up to Seattle at the end of the month to be shipped over.

First, credit where credit is due: We have been following this forum for nearly all of those three years, and learned much that has helped make our move go more smoothly. Mahalo nui loa! There is great information here if one is willing to look for it and take it into consideration.

We set a budget of $20,000 for our move, and when all is said and done I think we will come in about $500 over, give and take a few dollars. I know it could have been done for less, but we wanted to bring our stuff, we didn't want to pack our own container, and we included the expense of a pre-move house-hunting trip (which could have been a wash). Some parts of the move cost more than expected, some were less. If there was a lesson to be learned it was to be flexible. The extra cost of using Royal Hawaiian to move our household goods was worth it to us. Not only did they pack up everything for us, but they have arranged the shipping of our goods so as to avoid the increase in shipping fees coming in June as well as avoiding storage fees on the Kaua'i end of the move. We were able to save big bucks on our airfare over here by leaving two days earlier than originally planned. Not only were the airline tickets less ($338 per person less!), but we also ended up getting a better deal on a rental car which also saved us several hundred dollars.

We are still pinching ourselves over the house we were able to rent here on the island. It's a nice, well-maintained house in a nice neighborhood (Wailua Homesteads), with more than enough room for our family and our stuff. It comes with an almost brand new front-loading washer and dryer, and nice appliances (no dishwasher, but that's OK - we don't mind hand washing). There are 7 different types of fruit trees on the property. But, best of all, all utilities are included in the rent! The rent is still at the bottom of what we budgeted, so we will be saving $$$ every month. The owner seems to be a genuinely nice person to deal with too (our own opinion plus that of the current tenant). We did place an ad in the "Housing Wanted" section on Craigslist before heading over, but didn't get any responses (which may be because there are so few rentals here - YMMV).

We got our daughters enrolled at the high school, an easy task as we had their physicals and other requirements done before coming over here. All that's left to do is have their official transcripts sent over when the school year ends in Oregon. We have been surprised by the number of people we've met since we've been here who either go to the school (and love it) or who have children who went there. Shockingly, many of these students went to college or have plans to go to college, either in Hawai'i or on the mainland, and many actually graduated and have successful careers. Hard to believe I know since these kids are the product of a Hawaiian public school.

Hawai'i originally appeared on our list of possible retirement locations as a joke, but it turned out to have everything we were looking for other than the high cost of living. So, the last three years have been a process of figuring out how and if we could make it work for us, and what trade-offs we were willing to make in order to live here. We've been downsizing for nearly three years, we changed how and what we ate, we got a smaller and more fuel efficient car, and so forth. We are excited about our upcoming move, but won't be wearing rose-colored glasses. We expect it to take a good while to fit in and find our place in the community. We know it will take a while to make friends here. We expect to go through some degree of culture shock. In just one more month we will see how it all plays out!

[LaVerne51]

Thank you for posting! Please keep in touch here and keep us updated. My move is at least a year away but i'm learning a lot here on these boards. Good luck!

[KauaiPono]

Thank you for posting. Please keep us updated.

[OpenD]

Yes, your follow-up will be very interesting.

[Loriandrandy]

ChezAloha, did you find your rental on Craigslist? Or are there other resources for locating a rental property?

[ChezAloha]

Originally Posted by Loriandrandy

ChezAloha, did you find your rental on Craigslist? Or are there other resources for locating a rental property?

Yes, we found our house on Craigslist. We saw the ad in the morning, called & emailed right away, but by the early afternoon the ad had disappeared. We assumed it had been rented, but the owner said he had gotten so many calls/emails that it wasn't worth it to keep it posted any longer. We got a call back from the owner that evening, toured the house the next day and signed a lease the day after.

During the two weeks we were in Kaua'i to look for a house, there were all of three ads on Craigslist that might have worked for us. It would have been depressing except that we got chosen for the first house (we were one of three "finalists"). One place wanted us to fill out a full application with SS#, credit info, etc. and send it in before they would let us see the house. No way.

We brought along our credit report, paperwork from our mainland home sale, the flyer from our home sale, and had a list of five references. I know it helped to have all of that to show the owner (we knew to bring it thanks to information from this forum )

We called/wrote to property management companies on the island before we came but did not hear back except from one, who told us we had to be on the island before they would work with us.

[whtviper1]

Originally Posted by ChezAloha

We called/wrote to property management companies on the island before we came but did not hear back except from one, who told us we had to be on the island before they would work with us.

I think this is a good teachable moment for folks moving to Hawaii.

All the property management companies in Hawaii market rental properties via Craigslist. There isn't a way to avoid Craigslist in Hawaii to get a rental.

You may hope - but hope is not a strategy. Craigslist is the only game in Hawaii.

Another thing to point out - very few rentals in Hawaii have a property management company. I'll take a guess - but I'd say less than 10% of rentals, probably far less than 5%.

[creativelytaylored]

An additional note to those looking for a rental. Hold landlords to the law! Here is some helpful info. It is ILLEGAL to discriminate against someone for race/sex/religion/FAMILIAL status. That means they cannot tell you that you have "too many children". They can refuse to rent to you and not inform you of why, they can give you arbitrary reasons, but they cannot outright discriminate.This is against the fair housing act. I am a landlord AND my husband has a realtors license. It also means that every add that says "looking for a professional couple" is NOT ok. O ... you mean you want two quiet people who work all day and have no pets or children?... (cough). They can decide that is who they would chose but they cannot advertise thier discrimination.

ALSO in Hawaii! If you own a property you can rent it out yourself ONLY if you live on the island. If you live elsewhere you MUST have a property management company. It is required by state law. SOOOO if you are looking to rent and your potential landlord lives on the mainland but doesnt go through a property management company feel free to report that. We did.

[whtviper1]

The housing market is tight. Unless there is something in an ad, most rentals have multiple applicants. With multiple applicants, those with a lot of kids and similar income and credit scores are going to lose out to those without a large family. Simply because less kids, more income available to rental income. You may not like it but it isn't discrimination.

[creativelytaylored]

Indeed, it IS. As stated in the fair housing act. Can we advertise that we prefer whites over blacks? Or only straight couples? Or only Christians or muslims? No.

Your right, in a tight rental market "large" families loose out. My " large" family of 3 children. However its not the same as those with low credit scores and not enough income. Thats a financial risk. Not liking children is just discrimination. And whether you agree or not it IS discrimination as stated in the fair housing act. Familial status discrimination. I wont rent to you because your single. Or old. Or your divorced. Its illegal. Im a landlord myself and would never advertise discrimination.

If you think you should be able to openly discrisminate based on familial status please write your congressman. In the meantime lets hold all landlords to the standard of the law.

If you report those breaking the law maybe, just maybe, they may start abiding by it.