Contemplating a move to HI

[davephan]

Originally Posted by Joliefille

Hahaha, what? Waikola resort, a couple of over priced restaurants, ABC store and 1 gas station. Waikoloa village, one overpriced grocery store, a couple of lame restaurants and one over priced gas station.

We visited Waikoloa Village, and liked that area. We only stayed there for a week, because we also visited other islands for a week. We also stayed near Honokaa for a week. The mosquitoes were very bad in Honokaa and the noise at night made it hard to sleep. Waikoloa Village and Honokaa are both at about 1,000 feet elevation where we stayed. Waikoloa Village was cool at night and was pretty quiet at night, except for the sound of the wind blowing thought the pine trees. We stayed near the golf course, which was a little noisy in the early morning hours when the old fashioned impact style sprinkler heads ran. Modern sprinkler heads are much quieter. They also used noisy gasoline powered carts instead of quiet electric carts. But overall, staying near the golf course was nice, even though we don’t golf, because of the nice green buffer area near the condos.

We rarely go to restaurants, since it’s so easy to gain weight eating at restaurants, plus restaurant food is not particularly healthy to eat for numerous reasons. The one grocery store was nice and clean, but definitely not cheap. Sometimes it’s handy to have a nearby grocery store when you only need to pickup a couple items. Major shopping is more cost effective at Costco or Food 4 Less. It was an easy drive from Waikoloa Village to Kona to go to the stores or the airport. Some people have complained about the traffic, but we never found that to be a problem. The drivers aren’t reckless, like you’ll find in Chicago or Houston. The traffic is nothing when compared to LA, Chicago, Houston, Atlanta, or any other major city.

We drove through Waikoloa Village several times on later visits when staying in another area, and it was quite hot and windy during the daytime hours. Central AC would easily fix that problem. But you need enough income, and the will to spend that income to run the AC whenever you feel uncomfortable. The other nice thing about Waikoloa Village was the lack of mosquitoes. Once in awhile we had a fly that got into the condo, that needed to be killed. We didn’t experience any VOG in Waikoloa Village during our visit there, whereas Kona, and south of Kona had a lot of VOG, which made my throat sore, and reminded me of Gary, Indiana over 50 years ago, when that was a cesspool of air pollution.

The Cost 4 Less Store is a long distance from western Big Island. We never made it to Cost 4 Less on the Big Island, but stopped at the Cost 4 Less on Kauai. Overall, we found the climate in Hawaii is hard to beat. You do need to have different clothes with you when driving around the island. There are some elevated areas that can be nasty cold, and some areas that are a little too hot at times. If you have kids in school, that’s a huge negative. Public schools are really bad, if you believe many of the posts about the schools. It also sounded like harassment against Caucasians is prevalent in the public schools. I’ve also read many times that a C student in other states is an A student in Hawaii’s dumbed down school system. The healthcare system in Hawaii is also bottom of the barrel. But at least the weather is great!

If your a millionaire, it would be pretty easy to afford living in Hawaii, although you need to be willing to spend a lot of the wealth that you accumulated. Most millionaires didn’t become millionaires by spending a lot of money. The isolation might become a problem. Air fares will be much higher to go places in the mainland or globally. Friends and relatives might say they will visit, it might happen once, or never.

You should visit Hawaii many times to make a better decision if it’s right for you. If you can’t afford spending $15K to visit Hawaii a few times, staying at vacation rentals, not hotels, then you won’t be able to afford living in Hawaii.

[Arktikos]

Originally Posted by Joliefille

Hahaha, what? Waikola resort, a couple of over priced restaurants, ABC store and 1 gas station. Waikoloa village, one overpriced grocery store, a couple of lame restaurants and one over priced gas station.

Costco! So many on island worship at the altar of Costco, and it's not that far. Nor is airport, or nice beaches, and ya don't have to drive through fawkin' Kona to get there!

Fairly close to Waimea, no Vog....There are advantages.

[Grassyknoll]

Originally Posted by Blind Cleric

Costco! So many on island worship at the altar of Costco, and it's not that far. Nor is airport, or nice beaches, and ya don't have to drive through fawkin' Kona to get there!

Fairly close to Waimea, no Vog....There are advantages.

Until they finish the highway improvements from the airport into town, I would do everything possible to not have to drive from Waikoloa to Costco. Seriously, you catch that stretch of road during commute times and you would think you were on Oahu.

[Dreaming of Hawaii]

Originally Posted by Joliefille

Hahaha, what? Waikola resort, a couple of over priced restaurants, ABC store and 1 gas station. Waikoloa village, one overpriced grocery store, a couple of lame restaurants and one over priced gas station.

When was the last time you were in Waikoloa Village? Pueo's Osteria is a great Italian restaurant!

[steiconi]

Originally Posted by davephan

If your a millionaire, it would be pretty easy to afford living in Hawaii, although you need to be willing to spend a lot of the wealth that you accumulated. Most millionaires didn’t become millionaires by spending a lot of money. The isolation might become a problem. Air fares will be much higher to go places in the mainland or globally. Friends and relatives might say they will visit, it might happen once, or never.

You should visit Hawaii many times to make a better decision if it’s right for you. If you can’t afford spending $15K to visit Hawaii a few times, staying at vacation rentals, not hotels, then you won’t be able to afford living in Hawaii.

surprisingly, most of us who live here are not millionaires. It is much cheaper to live here than to vacation here.

But I agree about visiting many times. And it doesn't have to cost $15K each time.