Is Puna safe?

[whtviper1]

Originally Posted by Heyitsdeb

I am planning on moving to the big island and thinking have it narrowed down to pahoa. It seems the purchase prices are pretty good there and my realestate guy thinks I will like it. Any suggestions on anything lol and what is kapu?

Here is Kapu - it ofen meant death if you broke it

Kapu - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Regarding real estate - there is a massive glut of real estate on the Big Island. Your real estate "guy" may like it for the commision.

[hotzcatz]

Shall we say it yet again? "Do not buy anything until you've lived in the area for at least six months!!!"

You'll get a much better house if you live there while you are buying it. House prices aren't rising like crazy which would be the only reason you'd have to rush to buy one. You really can't buy a house long distance and end up with the best house for you. Hawaii neighborhoods aren't homogenized like the mainland ones. You can't just buy in one area and expect a certain type of house, the areas will have all different types of houses in them. Also, when they say things like "sub-division" it may not translate to what you think a "sub-division" should be. (Some of our "sub-divisions" have 4WD rocky roads, no mail service, no water, no trash service, almost no houses, rooster farms, foliage so dense you can't walk through it yet no soil, coqui frogs and vog) Move here for at least six months first. Put your stuff in storage on the mainland if you have to. Once you move here you probably won't want most of the stuff anyway.

[HiloDiver]

Originally Posted by hotzcatz

Shall we say it yet again? "Do not buy anything until you've lived in the area for at least six months!!!"

Good advice no matter WHERE on the planet you are relocating.

There's nothing wrong with renting for a while. If you don't like it, you don't have to stay once your lease is up; if it's that bad you can break the lease and you won't lose all that much*. OTOH if you buy a home and end up detesting the area, you're stuck with a huge responsibility and liability until you can sell it, probably at a substantial loss.

And that advice is for anyone, anywhere.

*Edited to add that I know some will chime in with "I can't afford to even lose that" but losing a little there is a lot less painful than losing your butt on a piece of property you own and can't stand and can't sell.
**Edited a second time to add that if you can't afford to lose that, you probably can't afford to move to HI anyway. Not directed at the OP, just in general.

[OpenD]

Originally Posted by Heyitsdeb

I am planning on moving to the big island and thinking have it narrowed down to pahoa. It seems the purchase prices are pretty good there and my realestate guy thinks I will like it. Any suggestions on anything lol and what is kapu?

Read lots of back posts... notice the date of the post in the upper left corner... a lot of the questions here get asked over and over, but it pays to get a lot of different perspectives.

One popular perspective you'll get in endless variations is to spend as much time as you can living in the area before you commit to buying something. It's easy to buy and hard to sell, and in addition, the attrition rate among newcomers is horrendously high, because actually living in Hawai'i is very different than most people imagine.

Good luck!

[CyberCity]

Originally Posted by Heyitsdeb

I am planning on moving to the big island and thinking have it narrowed down to pahoa. It seems the purchase prices are pretty good there and my realestate guy thinks I will like it. Any suggestions on anything lol and what is kapu?

Advice? Ask your Realtor to sign a "buy-back" contract, that he/whe will buy back the Pahoa house if you end up not like it there.

There are reasons that Pahoa has lower prices. You need to really investigate those reasons, and see if that area is a fit for you, even with the lower prices. It might be your dream area, and maybe not! I would NEVER recommend buying there without your first seeing it and staying there for awhile. Four letter recommendation: RENT.

[hawaiilady46]

The aloha spirit thrives on the BI. Wherever you go there will be crime.

[CyberCity]

Originally Posted by hawaiilady46

The aloha spirit thrives on the BI. Wherever you go there will be crime.

Yes, there is crime just about everywhere. But some areas have way more crime. [This is a general statement, not an indictment of Puna.] A careful consumer (buyer/renter/visitor) knows to do research before leaping.

[OpenD]

Judge for yourself...

The Volcano Community Newsletter, published monthly by the Cooper Center, always includes a Crime Stats section, which lists crimes reported to HPD for the village area, and compares them to those for the entire Puna District. This is from the most recent edition, spanning the dates from 5/22/13 to 6/14/13.

The village area encompasses about 2,700 residents, while Puna has about 46,000. The first figure and notes is for Volcano, the second figure is for Puna.

Criminal Burglaries 1 / 24
5-30 Unoccupied vacation rental entered through unlocked window and items removed.

Criminal Property Damage 2 / 30
5-23 Unknown individual shattered front door glass
6-12 Unknown person cut bike lock

Robbery 0 / 5

Thefts 3 / 62
5-29 Neighborhood Watch sign removed
6-1 Generator removed from vacation rental home
6-4 Neighborhood Watch and other signs removed

Vehicles Stolen 0 / 11

Unauthorized Entry of Motor Vehicle 1 / 10
6-11 CD player removed from motor vehicle

Assaults 0 / 22

Drugs 0 / 14

[Robin Rossi]

Originally Posted by OpenD

Judge for yourself...

The Volcano Community Newsletter, published monthly by the Cooper Center, always includes a Crime Stats section, which lists crimes reported to HPD for the village area, and compares them to those for the entire Puna District. This is from the most recent edition, spanning the dates from 5/22/13 to 6/14/13.

The village area encompasses about 2,700 residents, while Puna has about 46,000. The first figure and notes is for Volcano, the second figure is for Puna.

Criminal Burglaries 1 / 24
5-30 Unoccupied vacation rental entered through unlocked window and items removed.

Criminal Property Damage 2 / 30
5-23 Unknown individual shattered front door glass
6-12 Unknown person cut bike lock

Robbery 0 / 5

Thefts 3 / 62
5-29 Neighborhood Watch sign removed
6-1 Generator removed from vacation rental home
6-4 Neighborhood Watch and other signs removed

Vehicles Stolen 0 / 11

Unauthorized Entry of Motor Vehicle 1 / 10
6-11 CD player removed from motor vehicle

Assaults 0 / 22

Drugs 0 / 14

Maybe the "lava" from Volcano has a chilling effect on crime!!!