Looking for Informaton about Buy in Puna District (Hilo, Pahoa: rent, buying a house)

[arizz1]

Hi,

I have been reading most of the Post here. My partner and I are looking to buy outside Hilo about 10 minutes from Pahoa. We may buy the land first in the next 3 years. Then build a retirement house, Possible rent it until we are ready to move from the mainland. This is a 10 year plan. My partner will be 62, I'll be 57. He will be ready to retire, I have to work until 70.

I would be looking for work maybe in Hilo, I already have 30 years of Customer Service, experience as well as 12 years od Banking, a few years of marketing, and 7 years of Retail Pharmacy (CVS & Walgreens).

I would be open to almost any customer service job. I currently drive 1-2 hours each way for work now, a commute is no problem for me. (Prefer a smaller car that get good mileage.)

I have seen lots online any where from 5,000 - 20,000. Some with cottages already built(50-. I would want to build my own house, and a Guest Cottage for when we have family or friends visiting from the mainland.

I know food is more expensive, (Plan to have a garden) But it was really not the much more than where I live now. (Currently very Rural Deep East Texas) Nearest small corner store is 10 minutes driving. The nearest grocery store is about what I have been able to look up online in some of the local flyers.

I would install solar panels, and maybe 1 or 2 small wind turbine. It looks like about 20,000 to have installed.

Would it be cheaper to buy and existing cottage, get it permitted, just easier to build a new place

Thanks for the information

[smarino]

I would strongly suggest that the two of you rent somewhere out in that area before you buy anything, anywhere. I'd figure a way to do that for at least a month or two before you make retirement plans and move everything to the Big Island. Take a leave of absence from work, advance vacation days, whatever it takes.

There is lots and lots of information on the matters you mentioned here on this forum, and it's all good to know, but what you actually should do is come and live in the area for a while. It will be real at that point. Don't make plans on retirement and working and all that in a place you've never even lived in before. That's my take on it, anyway.

[OpenD]

Originally Posted by smarino

There is lots and lots of information on the matters you mentioned here on this forum, and it's all good to know, but what you actually should do is come and live in the area for a while. It will be real at that point. Don't make plans on retirement and working and all that in a place you've never even lived in before.

Exactly. Underlined, and bolded!

Being concerned about what kind of work you might find in 10 years is a complete waste of time. Nobody even knows what the area will be like by then. If the area population continues to increase the way it has, without anything being done about the single access road in and out, you might not even want to live there.

Buying a house in Puna, right now, is generally considered to be cheaper than building one. Regardless, if you buy or build you MUST have someone living in it full time or everything will walk away. Solar panels and wind turbines will be first to go. So if that means rental, then that also means having a local person who can manage it for you. Buying an empty lot now and just sitting on it makes less sense than it used to, because if invasives like albizia trees get established, it could cost more to remove them than the lot is worth.

And NONE of that even matters unless you spend some serious time in the area seeing if it really suits you or not.

[hotzcatz]

Not enough consistent wind in Puna to really bother much with the wind turbine. Go for the solar panels instead. With a grid-tie system, you'll put in enough during the summer to cover your electrical usage for the whole year. You'll have $20 a month electrical bills to cover the connection costs.

Well, you could buy the lot now and sit on it for ten years if you wanted. But it's hard to predict what the area and neighborhood will be like in that amount of time. Although, if it's just a vacant lot, you'd be able to sell it and buy a different vacant lot since the prices would be similar, one would think, whatever that would be ten years from now.

Do you really want to be building a house at 62? It takes a year or so to build a house and then another year or so to get settled into it, more or less, maybe you can do it quicker.

There is a new CVS in Pahoa, isn't there? Can you transfer your job now and move out now instead of waiting for ten years? Then you'll have more time to make friends and get settled in instead of waiting for ten years before you retire.

But if you can get your job transferred, then move over and rent for awhile. It's really hard to find the right spot right away and almost impossible to do it from a distance or on a quick several week's reconnaissance trip.

[imagtek]

You can get older houses here cheap, but they tend to be termite infested. Do not buy any house more than 30 years old if it has not been tented for termites within last 5 years. Crawl underneath it and whack support solidly with a hammer. If hammer penetrates support, do not buy the house. Any visible termite damage in living area is a reject. It means the subframe is almost totally gone. Termites are a serious issue.

You can find extreme deals on 'unpermitted' homes if you are willing to put up with the hassel. Some of the unpermitted homes are built much better than permitted homes. Some are ramshackle shacks. Unpermitted does not mean reject. It means make low offer. Do the research.

The permitting process here is a hassel and contracting a home is very expensive, especially for a custom home.

Avoid slab homes in low elevation puna. You will be living down in the damp and bugs. Go for post and beam homes that are several feet above the ground. That couple of feet make a huge difference in comfort, etc.

Puna area has coqi frogs and little fire ants. You will need to adjust lifestyle accordingly, but it is a minor annoyance for most.

You will probably love Puna if you do not mind a daily alternation of sun and showers.

[arizz1]

Thanks for all the information,

We will plan to visit the area before we buy anything. I thinking more buying the land first and then building is more how we are going to go.

Thanks

Tony