How Do People Pay Those Rents On the B.I. (Hilo: apartments, lease)

[smarino]

Every now and then I reminiscent about Hilo and think of moving back, but then I look at the rent prices people are asking now....yikes! How on earth do people do it? I see about the cheapest apartments are still over at Waiakea Villas (unless you wish to live at the Riverside or Val Hala, and trust me, you don't), and they're over $700 for a small studio. By the time you get your phone, internet, elect, etc it must be up to nearly $900 a month. Then your groceries, gas if you drive, insurance, monthly spending money, credit card bills if you have any, it all adds up to a pile of money for a noisy, small, studio apt. The last time I was over there a lot of students were living in the place. So how does a student come up w/ that sort of money? I just don't get the reasoning for the rents they're asking. Good jobs in Hilo are not that easy to find. Everyone wants to hire people PT so they don't have to pay their insurance benefits. I guess you have to have enough money up front to buy something outright, and/or be retired to make any sense of living there. Or, like my wife's son, be willing to live in a room in someone's home.

[hotzcatz]

Exactly, folks rent rooms in houses, have multiple wage earners in one house and have more than one job. It's the way it's done all over Hawaii although it's a lot worse on Oahu. Two people share a studio apartment and then the $700 rent becomes $350.

Kids live with their parents sometimes their whole life. They get married, have kids and then take care of their parents when they get old and then inherit the house and their kids follow the same pattern.

[GraceKrispy]

Multiple jobs.

Most of my friends also live with extended family and there are a lot of people in small houses, and/or they have owned those houses forever and no more mortgage.

[smarino]

Makes sense. Guess there's really no mystery to it. A lot of my stepson's friends from school still live w/ their parents, and they're 25 to 30 years old! Very different than the old South I was raised in, where you were shown the door at 18. Not that you weren't loved, but it was time to go out and live in the real world. If things don't work out, then by all means come home (you can always come home to mom, but it's up to dad how long you stay). But, get out and get a job, get your own home, then come and visit. Different culture, very different economy/cost of living. I never once felt that I didn't have a loving extended family, but they had their place and their lives, and I had mine. In my mind, two people sharing a studio is a bad idea (and I've done it and it was a disaster). Everyone needs their own personal space and privacy.

I know a lot of people try to buy some undeveloped property way out in Puna and "live off the land" on the cheap. Lord, I must have seen this a hundred times, and it never worked out. Oh, it was cheap, but you need a reliable car w/ insurance, it's very isolated, and there's no sense of community. It's not how people think it will be. Then, unfortunately, they have difficulty selling the land, and it turns into a liability. Well, if it's any solace, it's far worse in San Francisco (where I used to have a monthly hotel room in a bad neighborhood for $140 a month. Now, that same hotel room is over $800 a month, and the neighborhood is even worse).

You could always be living here.....the stripper pole is a nice, homey touch. By the way, lower Nob Hill is realtorspeak for upper Tenderloin.

http://sfbay.craigslist.org/sfc/roo/4623013968.html

[1freespirit]

We rented our 3 bedroom 1,000 sq ft home for $850 month and included Dish TV, internet and phone plus fully furnished.

We barely broke even I think depends on what the homeowners expenses are on the place. Mortgage, insurance, taxes etc.

Plus we had a 6 month lease and tenants decided the island was not where they wanted to live, so they are moving out this weekend and we are left with an empty house until we return in 9 weeks. Anyone need a nice place to stay while they are visitng the island or checking out different areas to possible live? Not sure if we are even going to bother trying to find someone for a couple months, but if your interested private message me we may consider.

[scottinpdx]

Originally Posted by hotzcatz

Kids live with their parents sometimes their whole life. They get married, have kids and then take care of their parents when they get old and then inherit the house and their kids follow the same pattern.

I have heard that is quite common in Hawaii.

[Mark.ca]

I was looking to buy a house in Orchidland last year. There was an ohana house on the lot which had an illegal kitchen making it an one bedroom house of maybe 500sqft. They were renting that for $350
They had an advertisement for it at the gate of the property. You may need feet on the ground to find some of these places.

[winkosmosis]

Are you serious? On Maui a studio is about $1200

And it's not like Maui has real jobs either. It's the same jobby job McJob nonsense as BI.

I have no idea how anybody can complain about $700. That's cheap for ANY market.

[terracore]

Originally Posted by winkosmosis

Are you serious? On Maui a studio is about $1200

And it's not like Maui has real jobs either. It's the same jobby job McJob nonsense as BI.

I have no idea how anybody can complain about $700. That's cheap for ANY market.

Agreed. But location, location, location. I was surprised to find out that a modest house on a tiny piece of land wedged between your neighbors can go for $600,000 above Hilo. Especially since you can get a huge tract of land with a bigger house 25 minutes away for $150,000.

[winkosmosis]

Originally Posted by terracore

Agreed. But location, location, location. I was surprised to find out that a modest house on a tiny piece of land wedged between your neighbors can go for $600,000 above Hilo. Especially since you can get a huge tract of land with a bigger house 25 minutes away for $150,000.

Are there really $150k houses?

The very cheapest you will see on Maui are $400k