Hilo, a good place to live? (Waimea, Kurtistown: real estate, lease, buying a house)

[babysteps09]

Our family is considering accepting a job in Hilo. I hear it's a remote area. Not sure what that means but we are looking to buy a home and make it our permanent home. I'm looking for a 5 bedroom maybe even a mother in law set up for around $300,000. Is Hilo a good place to raise a family? I heard that beach access is poor. How far to a decent beach to spend the day with the family? Do you like living in Hilo? I look forward to hearing from someone, thanks!

[smarino]

Shouldn't you actually go and to see it before accepting a job offer and relocating an entire family to a place that you personally know nothing about? Especially to an island?

[Irish Eyes_Mrs. Z]

Hilo real estate prices are probably not going to allow you to get a 5 bdrm w/or w/out an ohana. Although I don't live in Hawaii, from what I can see by looking at daily updates via Harry Pritikin's updates, you'd probably have to invest at least $400-$500K, if not more, for a house that size, unless you want to purchase a major fixer. When we visited in February for 2 weeks, I personally didn't care for Hilo. Too much rain (and I'm used to rain, living on the Oregon coast!), expensive real estate, and the whole town looks like it needs power washing and a new coat of paint. Hilo is the biggest town on the Big Island, though, and it has an airport and most amenities, including an international airport, a WalMart, a Safeway, and a few decent grocery stores in the area. There are plenty of estaurants with most every kind of cuisine you can think of--especially if you love Asian-inspired food :-). You'd have to hit up the other side of the island if you want to visit Costco for groceries and cheap(er) gas, though.

I don't know what qualifies as "remote" to you, so I can't say whether you'd think it was, or not. I don't think it is, but I grew up a country girl, so anything bigger than $2K people is not remote to me.

From what I saw, the whole east side of the island had only a little in the way of beach access. There are, however, warm ocean "ponds" a half hour or so's drive south of Hilo. Those can be great for snorkeling, and they're protected from the rough ocean surf, so just about anyone who can swim would be safe enough from most ocean dangers. There are beaches in/near those places. There are also a few more beaches on the east side that we checked out while we were there, and enjoyed several of them, although neither of us swam anywhere but in Champagne Pond and some others in that general area that I can't think of the names of, atm. Hilo, itself, sits on a bay, and I have no idea if there are any good beaches in that area.

My word isn't gold, of course, since I'm not a resident of Hawaii, yet, and have only spent 2 weeks on the BI. I'm sure locals will be able to suggest other options if there are any, though, and correct anything that I may have incorrectly stated.

I would highly recommend visiting first before making up your mind, though. We love it, there, but it wasn't really anything like what we envisioned before arriving :-). Good luck!

[trinity1111]

[quote=smarino;44859257]Shouldn't you actually go and to see it before accepting a job offer and relocating an entire family to a place that you personally know nothing about? Especially to an island?[/quote

Excellent advice. Do a recon/research visit.

[hotzcatz]

As far as the island of Hawaii is concerned, Hilo is about as 'big city' as it gets, but it's more of a big town than a big city. Hilo is a great town, though.

Yes, it does rain in Hilo. But it's a warm rain and Hilo has great drainage. It's on a crescent bay, but the beach isn't very good, it's kinda half dirt/half sand so it's not the big white sand beach like on the Kona side.

Hilo has museums, a zoo, a nice bay front area, lots of soccer fields, golf, several shopping areas, canoe clubs, etc. etc. The University of Hawaii at Hilo is there so there's lots of university influence. There's botanical gardens, waterfalls, etc. etc.

For housing, the prices may be higher than you're used to, but they're much less expensive than some of the other islands around here. It's usually best if you can rent somewhere for at least six months or so to get a good feel for the area before buying a house. Here's the Hawaii MLS listings: Aloha Living.com . Put in Hawaii island, and then either North or South Hilo and add in how many bedrooms you want. When looking for houses, you want 'fee simple' and NOT 'leasehold'.

[terracore]

"I hear it's a remote area."

If by remote, you mean thousands of miles away from any other major land mass in the middle of nowhere in the North Pacific, then yes, Hilo is in a remote area.

If by remote, you mean the largest population center on an island with nearly 200,000 people, then no, it's not remote.

But it sounds like you DEFINITELY need to come here and experience this island first hand before considering this decision any longer.

[leilaniguy]

Well, you asked on CD about Ft. Greely AK and Farmington NM on your 2 posts before Hilo HI, so you are scattered way up in the air, why don't you come back down and decide on an actual place to land?

[GraceKrispy]

I agree that you really need to visit to help you make that decision. Sounds like you're looking at some very different areas across the US. I know Hilo and I know Farmington, and they are super different places. (I don't know Ft Greely).

WRT towns on Hawai'i island, I prefer Hilo to Kona in many ways-- weather (I like rain, but even in Hilo it's not often full-on raining during the days), less tourism, University influence, lush lands and waterfalls nearby. I used to prefer the shopping in Hilo, but then Kona stepped up the game a bit in that area. Housing is a little cheaper in Hilo, but there is an awful lot of leasehold land and it's harder to get away from being in lava zones. One of my best friends lives in the Hilo area, and she was forever taking weekend trips to visit Kona because she generally preferred it. I agree that "remote" has different meanings to different people. Coming from a small Arizona town, Kona seemed less remote people-wise (and Hilo is bigger than Kona), but living on an island in the Pacific is pretty darn remote in general. In Arizona, I could drive other places and feel more connected. In Kona, I could only drive to Hilo or Waimea.

My good friend thinks Hilo is an ok place to raise their family, but she's lived there for 25 years and her kids and husband know no other place as home. If she could choose and her family would be ok with it, she would move somewhere else.

[babysteps09]

Thank you all for these insightful words, ideas and feedback regarding my current question about Hilo. We were a military family who moved around a lot but now civilian government employees so hubby is always searching for that certain place to call "home." We've lived in Various places and loved aspects of each location but it wasn't "home" when thinking about a place to settle for the long haul. The other places I had asked about were because hubby was being considered for a job offer but it turns out he was not offered for those positions so we are not moving there no matter what. Hilo is the most current opportunity that is open to us to decide. I have friends who have lived there and others who I'm currently corresponding with to gather information about the area because this job opportunity is most likely going to work out this time. We are eager to settle down and "land" as someone mentioned. Thank you again for the feedback! Aloha

[mikereilly]

You can find real estate in your price range outside Hilo either around Kea'au, Kurtistown or Pahoa.