Is It A Good Idea, Wise, Practical etc to Swap Rather Than Rent, Buy? (Honolulu: live, airport)
OahuIncludes Honolulu
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Thrillobyte, I understand what you want to do, I just don't think it's done much because it's near impossible to find compatible people with compatible properties and compatible timelines. You should look at the rental market in both places, because the rental value will essentially determine what is equivalent, not the floorplan. After that, I would just make a post on craigslist, renew it every week and hope you get lucky. I think you will need to be very lucky to get a serious candidate, and even luckier to get one that you would consider, and even then, you both still need to work out all the details and finalize a deal. I tried something similar when moving to the Bay Area, and gave up after a few weeks. Most people who replied wanted a vacation exchange, not long term.
If it does work out, I would still ask a lawyer what kind of contract you should have between the 2 parties. There are so many things that can go wrong with a regular lease, and they would be similar in an exchange. Just imagine one party wants out, and needs to move back home. Do you go home as well? If not, you have to deal with renting out your property remotely, and at the same time, finding a new rental yourself. It may not be worth the hassle in the end.
Here is an ad from craiglist that is similar to what I want to do:
Quote:
I will be on O'ahu to visit with relatives from **** to ****. I prefer a place located anywhere from East to Windward O'ahu. My place is located in San Luis Obispo, California which is the California Central Coast Area half-way between Los Angeles and San Francisco. San Luis Obispo is a great town 40 minutes south of the Hearst Castle and nearby to world class award winning wineries. The Central Coast offers the most scenic and beautiful ride up on Hwy 1 to Big Sur and Monterey (a slow winding 1.5-2 hour ride) or south to Santa Barbara (about a 2 hour drive on Hwy 101 or better yet take a train ride south).
My cottage is a one bedroom with small office, a fair size living room surrounded by a large patio area with a small yard near to the Cal Poly campus. I have wi-fi, a desk top Mac mini, cable TV, iPod station, grill, and a tangerine tree with sweet fruits. A car isn't available but a bicycle is, (this is a green town so there are a lot of bicycle enthusiasts that live here). This will be a temporary swap, I prefer your place located anywhere from East O'ahu to the Windward side because it will be near to my O'hana but will consider other locations. Mahalo nui loa.
So a few people are still mistaken that I want to actually trade ownership of my house for someone's in oahu and in that context I get that values are vastly different. My ideal candidate would basically be saying: "I want to get out of hawaii for awhile. I want to keep ownership of my house; I just want to use someone's house in los angeles for a year (variable) while they use mine for an equal time. Then we'll connect via phone and talk about extending the time or calling it quits. I want to continue paying taxes and insurance on my property while they do the same thing. I'll have a property management company come around periodically to check out if the LA person is keeping up my house and they can do the same thing. The hills of LA look to be pretty safe and I know it's safe here in Kaneohe."
But as one poster noted there don't appear to be many ads from people wanting to get out of hawaii. This puzzles me because when i read the hawaii forums I read so many posts from people desperate to escape hawaii. Apparently, those who got as far as actually buying and owning a house for many years are happy as larks there.
Thrill, I think we all "got it". You really want to try it, so please do and then let us know how it works out for you. I sincerely wish you the best of luck.
Thrill, I think we all "got it". You really want to try it, so please do and then let us know how it works out for you. I sincerely wish you the best of luck.
Thank you, hilo. The point of my OP got lost in all the explaining that folowed: to find out if anyone here has done this, knows of someone who has, and how it worked out for them. I guess judging from the replies that would be a "no." I'm hesitant to actually venture out and do something this huge without hearing some success stories.
BTW, as i said i was there in April of last year doing a five-island cruise. It seemed that the heat and humidity had inordinately risen since i was last there in the 90's. I think the April mean temps were in the low 90's, very unusual for April. Has anybody noticed an uptick in the climate? I desperately want to live in Hawaii but year-round heat like that could be a deal-breaker.
Last edited by thrillobyte; 09-07-2012 at 06:40 PM..
BTW, as i said i was there in April of last year doing a five-island cruise. It seemed that the heat and humidity had inordinately risen since i was last there in the 90's. I think the April mean temps were in the low 90's, very unusual for April. Has anybody noticed an uptick in the climate? I desperately want to live in Hawaii but year-round heat like that could be a deal-breaker.
I don't think the high termperature in Honolulu (one of the warmest places in Hawaii) has hit 90 this entire year - and definitely didn't in April. Hasn't seemed any warmer or any more humid this year than any other year at least to me.
I don't think the high termperature in Honolulu (one of the warmest places in Hawaii) has hit 90 this entire year - and definitely didn't in April. Hasn't seemed any warmer or any more humid this year than any other year at least to me.
There is a large clock tower at the port dock in Honolulu where the cruise ships pull in that shows the weather digitally and when we pulled in about noon around April 25 or so I was astonished to read 91. It really felt it too.
It seemed that the heat and humidity had inordinately risen since i was last there in the 90's. I think the April mean temps were in the low 90's, very unusual for April. Has anybody noticed an uptick in the climate? I desperately want to live in Hawaii but year-round heat like that could be a deal-breaker.
I'm laughing at this (no offense), we moved to the Hilo area a couple of weeks ago and I've been freezing ever since. The weather is awesome for sleeping, but I'm starting to think that shorts and t-shirts are soon to be a distant memory. We're only at 700 feet and I have to put a coat on to walk the dogs in the morning and at night.
DISCLAIMER I moved here from a hotter and far more humid climate, so it's all relative, but still...it sure is cccccold here. The nice thing I have to say about that is that I can wear makeup again...I couldn't get my face dry enough to apply it while living in the Caribbean.
This is not true. You just need a representative on island. could be a friend or relative.
Quote:
Absentee Landlord's Agent. An absentee landlord shall designate an agent to act on the landlord's behalf. The agent must reside on the same island as the rental unit.
True. All the OP needs now is a friend or relative on the island ... or they can hire a professional.
There is a large clock tower at the port dock in Honolulu where the cruise ships pull in that shows the weather digitally and when we pulled in about noon around April 25 or so I was astonished to read 91. It really felt it too.
86 on April 1 was the hottest day - most of the month was low 80's. Looks like a faulty display at the port dock - on the flip side, the HNL temp display when you pull into the airport is always about 5+ on the low side.
Another problem with your swap idea: you're sensitive to heat and humidity (and you're getting more sensitive over the years--people's perceptions and memories change more than the climate, even with global warming) and yet you have no idea about Oahu's windward-leeward climates, let alone ridge and valley microclimates. It appears you've been to Oahu on a cruise (so 2-3 days?) and now you're "desperate" to live there?
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