Vacation Counting Down....

[hotzcatz]

Pack clothes that you don't want to take back home with you, wear them here then donate them to a thrift store before you go. That will give you room in your luggage for taking things back.

As for moving to the island: don't buy a house for the first year you're here. It is almost impossible to find just the right house when you don't live here and even though renting is a complete PITA (having to move your stuff to the rental and then again to the house you buy), IMHO you'll end up with a much nicer house and location if you choose it after having lived here awhile.

Folks generally really downsize on houses when moving here, too. A lot more time is spent outside so your yard is frequently part of your living area. No need for seasonal clothing or other seasonal supplies, so that cuts down on needed space, too. Our current house is really roomy at 1,120 square feet on a third of an acre, however it has a lot of storage space under the house (the house is raised up on post and piers) which isn't included in that square footage. Our previous house is 1,024 square feet on a quarter acre with much less accessible space under the house and it felt much smaller. The house before is 875 square feet on a half acre and it had plenty of living space since there was a lot of yard furniture and such. But, until you're used to it, Hawaii house sizes will seem very small.

So, IMHO, moving and renting for at least a year first will give you enough time to get acclimatized and figure out which area is best for you.

[hothulamaui]

Hoztcatz great advise above.

the other reason to rent the first year you have more time, flexibility and ability to travel to other spots on island. you may find you like Kona side better. it would be great if once settled you can go to Maui and Kauai to look around, both islands are far different than BI in a lot of ways. what you want there may be harder to find but it is doable with time.

try not look at real estate here the same way you do on the mainland. the expectations of the value you get for the money is different, and it's hard to grasp it because you'll be used to looking through your local values.

narrow down your must have's. is it land, nice bathrooms? the kitchen? find the value in that part of the house you will be living in. find the value in what works best for you.

my sq. footage is now down to 540 sq. ft. for 2 of us and a small dog. it lives remarkably well. as Hotzcatz said you don't need many clothes, you "nest", live, outside unless you actually need the room for kids or a growing family. maximize the space you get. we use one set of dishes, have just enough towels. you'll find you just don't need stuff here other than what you really need.

if you're looking for the investment to vacation rental until retirement take in a few open house condos too, just so you can really compare. the return for the money may be better than a house?

how exciting, you are gonna love BI it is a magnificent island!

[Irish Eyes_Mrs. Z]

Originally Posted by hotzcatz

Pack clothes that you don't want to take back home with you, wear them here then donate them to a thrift store before you go. That will give you room in your luggage for taking things back.

MOST excellent advice! Thank you for it. We will go that route with most of our clothing, although most of my carry on will consist of cameras and equipment (DSLRs), so it may not be all that much of a difference, space-wise, when all is said and done.

As for moving to the island: don't buy a house for the first year you're here. It is almost impossible to find just the right house when you don't live here and even though renting is a complete PITA (having to move your stuff to the rental and then again to the house you buy), IMHO you'll end up with a much nicer house and location if you choose it after having lived here awhile.

Moving to the the island(s) won't happen any time soon. My husband works for a regional health and services non-profit, and we can only live in states where his employer has a presence (hospitals, clinics, etc.), even though he's low level management in IT, and is never in a hospital for his job. That would be anywhere on the west coast from AK to CA, as well as MT. No presence in HI, unfortunately. So he can't even telecommute to his work from HI. That kind of limits us to when 1) we win a lottery and he can quit his job, 2) he retires, 3) the employer changes their policy (unlikely), or 4) he decides to change employers (again, unlikely)

Folks generally really downsize on houses when moving here, too. A lot more time is spent outside so your yard is frequently part of your living area. No need for seasonal clothing or other seasonal supplies, so that cuts down on needed space, too. Our current house is really roomy at 1,120 square feet on a third of an acre, however it has a lot of storage space under the house (the house is raised up on post and piers) which isn't included in that square footage. Our previous house is 1,024 square feet on a quarter acre with much less accessible space under the house and it felt much smaller. The house before is 875 square feet on a half acre and it had plenty of living space since there was a lot of yard furniture and such. But, until you're used to it, Hawaii house sizes will seem very small.

We currently own and live in a house with approx. 650-ish of useable sq. ft., on a 5K ft. lot. House has NO closets. We have 9 dogs (all chihuahuas or pomeranians except for one old border collie) and several large and medium sized parrots living with us. It is truly extremely crowded, especially as one of the 2 bedrooms is chock-full of my art supplies. We survive here easily enough, but I would love to have more storage, and be able to have a large aviary for the parrots, outside, so that we could make better use of whatever space we DO have, indoors. But as long as the house is comfortable and has at least 2 bedrooms (one for us, and one for my art supplies--many of which I suspect I'd leave here if we ever move to HI), we'd be happy enough :-). I'm guessing that just about anything would be a step-up in useable space for us, especially as we'd love to have a bit of property (1-5 acres).

So, IMHO, moving and renting for at least a year first will give you enough time to get acclimatized and figure out which area is best for you.

Good advice, but I suspect it would be problematic because of the animals. I will NOT give them up, nor leave them behind. They are just as much "family" as my husband and (grown) children. Dog knows how many will still be "with us" if/when we ever decide to move (all but 4 are at least 5 y/o, and a couple of them are 10 y/o), but I'm guessing we'd NEVER be able to find a rental that would accept several small dogs AND several noisy parrots in what seems to be generally pet-UNFRIENDLY Hawaii! So renting first would probably not be an option. More likely, we'd have to purchase a rural place (with no CC&Rs or restrictions on parrots or dogs), and sell it, later, if we should decide we'd want to live in a different home or on a different island, while waiting until we lose most of our dogs through attrition before moving elsewhere.