Moving from NJ to HI (Honolulu: sale, real estate, apartment complex)
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This is my first post. I created an account here to get some good valued feedback on moving from New Jersey to Hawaii. I am 24 and have been living in New Jersey my whole life. I attended college for four years and received my Bachelors degree. I have been working full time in an office as well as serving on the weekends for the past two years following my graduation. My lease will be ending at the end of the summer this year and my boyfriend and I would really like to experience living in Hawaii.
1. We both work for a major chain restaurant which has a location in Honolulu where we can possibly be transferred to. With that being said, hoping we can transfer our job location, what kind of rental should we be looking for, anywhere specific for two 24 year olds?
2. Also, living in Honolulu, is a car necessary? We both have cars but would like to live there without them. If we do not have a car, what is the popular means of transportation? My sister lives in Florida and motorized scooters are popular, are they in HI?
3. We are looking to stay for about 6 months to try it out first before we commit to a year. Does anyone know off hand of any apartment complex or something of the sort that will do a 6 month lease? We both love the beach and want to be as close as possible to it.
4. Lastly, my boyfriend just graduated college and received his elementary teaching certificate. He would be interested in substituting in Hawaii for the time we are there. Is it hard to get into substituting at the elementary level?
I know these questions are all over the place but we are both very unfamiliar with Hawaii and just need some start-up help.
Any feedback at all will be so greatly appreciated.
Thanks!!
I'm actually not in Hawaii yet, preparing for my move there as well. I have checked Craigslist and contacted real estate brokers to find apartments. I really didn't find anything under $1,500 per month for a reasonable place for two people. Probably more like $2k. Of course if you are will to share to with other tenants that could be knocked down. I am planning on using Airbnb or VRBO to get an immediate place to stay while looking for more long term apts.
Honestly, the fact that you work full time and also wait tables on the weekends probably doesn't indicate that you really make enough. How does that work schedule and income compare to your cost of living now? Even though you are young, you should have some concerns about health and ability to retain health insurance. I had a friend get cancer at 26 years old. Had he not lived in a country with socialized medicine, he would've gone bankrupt.
Others will say and you can see the threads posted before. Incomes are less and general expenses like food and rent are more. Given those rents, it'd probably be wise to have the 6 months worth of expenses saved in cash to be safe.
Oahu, which is mostly covered by the city of Honolulu is a pretty diversified area, so housing isn't really segregated by age or race of much of anything else, except perhaps income level. Live as close to work as possible is my usual advice. Traffic on Oahu is horrendous and the less distance you have to travel, the better. If you can transfer your jobs, that would be a huge plus. What area is the restaurant in that you might be able to transfer to?
A car is not necessary in Honolulu, in fact, if you're living downtown, it's almost a detriment since parking is expensive and hard to find. Mopeds and scooters are common, although lock them securely to something that can't be moved or the moped lifted over to get the lock off. Also, get a long lock cable and thread it through the tires as well as the frame so you don't come back to find half a moped. Bicycles are also popular in Honolulu although the traffic can be tight so be careful while riding. That goes for mopeds and scooters, too. Other than mopeds, scooters, bicycles and motorcycles, The Bus is a popular way to get around. You can get a monthly bus pass for unlimited riding.
You probably don't want to advertise that you are only planning on being in Hawaii six months. Having to retrain new employees and folks losing new friends is one reason why short term folks are not especially sought out by employers and residents. You could possibly find a month to month rental or see if you could rent a room in a house to share, those are frequently done without formal leases.
Oahu isn't that big that getting to the beach is difficult. You may as well live where it's convenient to work since you'll be going there more often and you may not want to go to the same beach all the time. On Oahu, you kinda pick and choose your beach depending on the reason for going to the beach.
Hawaii's schools are all administered on the state level, so look at the State of Hawaii's Education page for details on teacher and substitute requirements. If you're gonna be here anyway, why not just have him get a teaching job? I think for starting teachers Hawaii isn't so bad, it's the more experienced teachers who are usually not happy with the way things are.
Seoulja, fortunately I make enough at my restaurant to pay all of my bills and have a little extra cash to save away. Having the full-time job, I would say, is a perk for me. Getting a paycheck every week deposited into my account has really helped me to save money. All the money from my second job goes straight toward savings Plus, it’s a good resume builder for the field of my interest.
Hotzcatz, thank you! The restaurant is in Waikiki so we would definitely want to live close to that. Any suggestions? We are a couple, so a one bedroom apartment would be fine and splitting rent between both of us will be beneficial.
Not advertising that we only plan on 6 months is definitely a good idea. We just don’t want to commit to a year lease until we know that Hawaii is for us, so a month to month lease would be great if we could find one. It makes me happy to hear that a car is not necessary. Trying to get my car so far away or buying a new one there would be way too much.
I will definitely have him start researching Hawaii’s school systems and look for any teaching job available. My full time job is at a state college so it would also be beneficial to be in close proximity to a college. It’s probably a lot to ask for but if there happened to be a college in my area of residence it wouldn't hurt to submit my resume as well.
We just don’t want to commit to a year lease until we know that Hawaii is for us, so a month to month lease would be great if we could find one.
Most places are going to require a minimum 6 month lease unless you get into a vacation rental situation. 6 month leases are going to run you a lot less money.
I mentioned in a different thread a couple buildings I like because they are nice buildings with a large population of long-term residents (verse Tourists) and are secure building with good amenities and reasonably priced in Waikiki. Discovery Bay and Villa on Eaton Square are two I would recommend and a 1 bedroom in those building should run about $2,000/month or a little less and include some utilities and possibly even parking. you can search them on Craigslist to see what's available and google to see where they are located.
Most places are going to require a minimum 6 month lease unless you get into a vacation rental situation. 6 month leases are going to run you a lot less money.
One of the factors affecting this is that rentals under 6 months are subject to different rules and taxes in Hawai'i.
All housing rentals of any length in Hawai'i are subject to the state's General Excise Tax, which is assessed on landlords, but which they are allowed to pass on to their renters. On Oahu this tax is computed at 4.712% and on neighbor islands at 4.166%.
But on rentals under 6 months* an additional Transient Accommodations Tax (TAT) is charged at 9.25%. It also requires a separate permit from the GET registration to collect and submit and file returns for. So a short term rental on Oahu should be taxed at 13.962%
There are also HOA rules in many condos that limit or prohibit short term rentals, and there are some areas where short term rentals require a special permit, so many owners just aren't interested in short term rentals, even at a higher rate.
On the other hand, some owners ignore the rules, don't collect the taxes, or may even be illegally renting ohana units, and enforcement is weak, so exceptions are not uncommon.
Good luck
* The exception to the TAT is for people who are renting short-time while they look for permanent housing, and they have no other housing elsewhere. To get this exemption from a hotel or landlord, you may need to sign a declaration to that effect.
Check the apartment for road noise before you sign a lease. Waikiki consists of mostly tall high rises and if they face a busy road, there's road noise all night long.
There's loads of buses going through Waikiki so you'll not have transportation problems. Your closest grocery store will probably be Foodland at Ala Moana, at least, I think it's still there. Ala Moana shopping center is just outside Waikiki and is walkable from one end of Waikiki and is a major bus hub in case it's too far to walk with groceries. You'll be going there a lot to transfer to other buses. Somewhat near and just behind Ala Moana is Don Quixote, what used to be Daie store. That's another good grocery location along with housewares.
For stocking your apartment, though, the best bet is yard sales. Those happen on Saturday mornings, just go to a busy intersection in the Diamond Head area just outside of Waikiki and look for signs with arrows. Diamonad Head/Kahala is a great garage sale area since the folks there have more money to buy better stuff. Follow the arrows and you'll be able to furnish an apartment for almost nothing. Folks are so transitory that they are always selling stuff off and moving away. Or they ship over a forty foot container just to find out their Hawaii house is a twenty foot container sized house.
The University of Hawaii at Manoa is just above Waikiki and easily accessible by bus or moped. It's a bit uphill for bicycles, but you'd probably be able to get there easy enough anyway.
Waikiki is fun to live in, although it's hard to find folks that will stay put to become friends with. Of the folks who sleep in Waikiki, I think it's something like 80% are there for less than ten days. Of the remaining 20% it's like 80% of that will be there for less than three years. It's a very transitory population in that town, but it is fun. Got lots of fantasy land lala going on but if you're into restaurants then you probably already live with the vibe.
You'll need to bring as many swimsuits as you own as well as clothing made of natural fibers. Synthetic fibers such as polyester and nylon are nasty to wear in our climate. Cottons, silks, linens, etc., are much more comfortable to wear. Men don't wear suitcoats or ties, so no need to bring more than maybe one of them if even that many. Folks don't dress up much in Hawaii so that saves on the wardrobe. More comfortable, too. Still, Waikiki does have a lot of nightclubs, so some folks dress up for those.
The restaurant is in Waikiki so we would definitely want to live close to that. Any suggestions? We are a couple, so a one bedroom apartment would be fine and splitting rent between both of us will be beneficial.
Try Kaimuki. One of my classmates lives in that area, but works in Waikiki. She has a car, but on a good day she can actually walk. It's even shorter on Da Bus or by scooter. Don't live in Waikiki unless it's on the edge. If you look at a map, you'll see a street called "Hobron". That area is very quiet. Waikiki is very touristy, so you rarely meet people who actually live here and the prices will be too high. I lived there for 6 months and hated it. Very noisy, hookers meandering about after dark (they don't both anybody, but still), drunk tourists...and more noise. I didn't feel like I really lived into Hawaii, until I moved away from there.
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