Waikoloa Village Hawaii (how much, houses, to buy)

[HonaunauLove]

4 Months in Waikoloa Village? That lone gas station would bankrupt me.

[davephan]

Originally Posted by ChinaWishChild

Waikoloa Village, Hawaii. How is this area on the Big Island? Planning to organize ownership a vacation home. Four months out of each year stay.

Have you ever been to the Big Island or anywhere in Hawaii? From your reading your post, I have the impression that you haven't visited the Big Island or Hawaii. If the reason you haven't visited is because it is too expensive to visit, then you cannot afford to buy a home or even rent a home to live there. Staying 4 months a year in a vacation rental is going to be pretty expensive. A typical rental would be about $3K ato $4K per month, or $12K to $16K for 4 months. You might be able to find something cheaper, or more expensive. You haven't mentioned pets. If you have to move pets back and forth between the mainland and Hawaii every year, that could be pretty expensive, maybe about $2K per pet each time they are brought to Hawaii. What are you going to do about your car? Renting a car for 4 month would get pretty expensive. Maybe another $1.2K per month or about $5K for the 4 month time period. You might be able to find a cheaper car rental if you could rent a broken down, dented up, 'Cheeck and Chong' beater. Groceries are another matter, very expensive, roughly $100 per 2/3 of one paper bag of groceries. Gasoline, about $1 higher per gallon than the mainland. Electricity is about 35 to 37 cents per KWH, which could be triple what you are used to paying. If you rent or own, you'll end up paying that cost indirectly or directly. If you add all those expenses up, plus many more expenses, it could easily cost you $30K or more for the 4 month time period per year. If you have the financial resources, maybe $30K isn't that much money to you. We've contemplated renting for few months at a time and snowbirding, so we've thought about spending $30K, $40K, or more per year. We could afford to do that. However, that doesn't mean that it is the best decision.

We rented a Condo in Waikoloa Village for week. We've considered buying and can afford to buy and live there. The homes in Waikoloa Village are more consistent to each other in each neighborhood. You tend not to see any run down trashed out homes with 6 junk cars, plus a half dozen broken refrigerators and broken toilets in their back and front yards. You can see that type of thing in other areas of the Big Island where people live their lives in a very 'low level' manner, creating their own 'mini' ghetto-like environments. Waikoloa Village can be pretty windy at times and is sometimes called Wai-blowia for that reason. We liked the nice breezes when we visited there. Some people don't like the breezes.

If you are still working and can work remotely, living in Hawaii could work for you, if you can make enough money and already have enough money. If you need to work there, jobs are hard to find for newcomers and jobs don't pay much. You'd end up working 2 - 3 part time jobs with no benefits. I assume you don't have children. If you are retired, you need to have saved a lot of money, more than a million dollars to snowbird and live like that over the long term.

The grocery store in Waikoloa Village isn't cheap, but it it a very nice store and is well stocked. We visited that grocery store many times. We always filled up in Kona at the Costco, where the gasoline is about 50 cents cheaper per gallon, but you have to wait in line about 10 to 15 minutes, unless you are lucky and don't have to wait that long. Sometimes the traffic backs up some on the drive from Waikoloa Village to Kona, but the traffic is absolutely nothing compared to a major metro area at rush hour or a city like LA at any time of the day or night. Driving to Hilo takes a little over an hour, but is an easy drive on the new Saddle Road extension. You can be on Hapuna beach, which is probably the best beach in Hawaii, in about 20 minutes. It will cost you $5 to park there, unless you are a resident, then parking is free.

The first steps you need to do are to visit the Big Island several times. Your impression will change of the Big Island when you are there in person, flip-flops on the ground, and exploring the island. You may not like what you discover, you might really love what you discover. Like any area you'd think about living, there are positives and negatives. It's tough to beat the nearly perfect climate in Hawaii when you compare it to other areas of the United States. It also depends on which micro-climate you choose to live in. There's also the isolation factor from your friends and extended family. If you have chronic medical conditions, or have medical conditions in the future, that could be a problem which could cause you to have to return to the mainland.

Start with a visit for a week or two. If you like it, visit more times for longer time periods. If you determine the Big Island is right for you, rent for a few months. Renting for months is expensive, but it will help reduce the risk of making a very bad decision, rushing into buying a home.

[HonaunauLove]

Originally Posted by davephan

We rented a Condo in Waikoloa Village for week. We've considered buying and can afford to buy and live there. The homes in Waikoloa Village are more consistent to each other in each neighborhood. You tend not to see any run down trashed out homes with 6 junk cars, plus a half dozen broken refrigerators and broken toilets in their back and front yards. You can see that type of thing in other areas of the Big Island where people live their lives in a very 'low level' manner, creating their own 'mini' ghetto-like environments.

You obviously didn't look around near the elementary school. Those mini ghettos are in full swing.

[davephan]

Originally Posted by HonaunauLove

You obviously didn't look around near the elementary school. Those mini ghettos are in full swing.

Actually, we did drive by the elementary school several times while driving around the area. In general, we found the housing more consistent than other areas. There might have been a little of the 'mini' ghetto homes, but not as many as some other areas of the Big Island. I don't remember seeing a lot of trashed out homes near the elementary school. However, it's been a couple years since we stayed in Waikoloa Village. We stayed on a different area of the Big Island during the last visit. Our next visit might be in Waikoloa closer to the coastline, maybe in a gated community. The housing in that area is more expensive. Along with the higher cost, you probably lose the 'low level' people who want to live their lives and maintain their property as if they were residents of a ghetto.

[Dreaming of Hawaii]

Davephan, these "ghetto" people you keep talking about are the locals who either (1) live like they have always chosen to live, or (2) live like they do because that's all they can afford. Where I live near South Point, a lot of people lost their jobs when the sugar industry closed down. Not many available jobs here, although the coffee and mac nut industries do hire some. The emphasis on industry here is more on the mom and pop operations. The only other way for people here to find work is to make the looong commute to Kona or Kohala. So a lot of people are just struggling to make ends meet.

It looks like you are looking down your nose at people who do not have perfect homes and perfect yards (calling them "low level"). You are being very judgemental of people's chosen lifestyles. Perhaps the Big Island is not the place that you want to call home some day.

[Buckeye77]

Note to DavePhan - The OP has popped up before buying a home in Sedona, traveling to Alaska, moving to Hilo to start a surfing magazine, claims authorship of a movie script, etc. I'm sure he/she is harmless, but remember, "on the internet no one knows you're a dog".

Mahalo!

[hotzcatz]

Eh, no worries, the rest of us can just chat along and let the OP pop in when ever they show up or who ever they are.

Waikoloa is the world's biggest cul-de-sac as far as I'm concerned. They do have nice yard sales even if you can get lost in there.

Let's see, twisty streets, all pretty much the same time frame for construction, hot, dry, dusty, occasional burros eating your lawn if you irrigate, not really close to anything in particular but not really far away from Waimea or the big coastal resorts.

Hey, if you don't like ghetto, don't visit me! All the cars out there are legal and run, although there's probably one or two too many. We get choke junk although most times it's somewhat organized. It fills up the carport so the cars have to stay outside. Oh wellos! We could clean it all up, but then we'd have to clean it all up. There's many more fun things to do.

[McFrostyJ]

Originally Posted by Hoot N Annie

Note to DavePhan - The OP has popped up before buying a home in Sedona, traveling to Alaska, moving to Hilo to start a surfing magazine, claims authorship of a movie script, etc. I'm sure he/she is harmless, but remember, "on the internet no one knows you're a dog".

Mahalo!

The question is, did he ever get that basement built on the Big Island?

[davephan]

Maybe the OP is just trying to get responses for no apparent reason, or it is someone just asking for attention. Catz, I know you have cars being repaired over there. That's different than someone with 6 dead cars, 3 old washing machines, 2 old water heaters, 4 old toilets, a pile of garbage in their front and back yards, and they are too busy guzzling beers every day to ever clean up the mess! Some places look like they are living in a mini landfill!

Waikoloa Village looks a lot different than anywhere else on the Big Island. It sure does look more like typical mainland suburban area with winding roads and cul de sacs. I like the condos by the golf course. Although I don't play golf, but it's nice and green over there. I didn't know about the burros eating the lawns.

[leilaniguy]

dave- I think you're getting a little up tight about a little. To the first postulations, yes, and yes, absolutly. There are many people living here with all of their "treasures", but it's an island, everything is in short supply, and you never know when you might need a pink toilet tank or a left fender off an '88 Old's. '98.