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I agree, Detroit would not be the answer, unless you were an investor. If some place is really cheap, there's a reason, as the poor folks out in the lava flow area are finding out.
I think the only way to "stabilize" your housing costs is to own your place outright, or own a long term lease that runs 10 or 20 years, similar to a Hawaii land lease. Even if you own your place outright, you still have to deal with rising property taxes in many instances, and rising insurance rates. You also have to deal w/ any and all maintenance/repair issues, so if you're not handy w/ that, it could add up.
The main reason the islands are seeing such dramatic increases in housing costs is that the population continues to increase, while the available housing does not. There really needs to be more housing built! Over here in our part of Florida there is so much housing available it's not funny, and the housing costs are very low. In other parts of the world, like San Francisco, Miami Beach, etc, where the land has limited ability to build on, housing costs are sky high. There are other factors of course, like weather, availability of good paying jobs, political climate (I don't care if you give me the land, I ain't moving back to Texas), and on and on.
Im here to learn too like alot of malahini are. Your from older times in Hawaii smarino housing shortages was nothing new. Remember joking in the 70s about the new state bird being the construction craines building new housing to keep up with demands? So i often wonder about the argument of supply and demand being the ultimate reason the cost of housing is so high. I believe it contributes but personally i suspect the building of more high end condos and redeveloping communites to higher income has more to blame for the high cost then anything else.
Part of it is also the building codes. The new code increases construction costs significantly. It also requires certain sizes for minimum housing such as the "efficiency dwellings", which mandates how small they can be. I'd guess the code was made to keep from having really tiny houses, but some folks want really tiny houses.
Another thing that would help would be rooming houses, but you don't see those anymore.
Part of it is also the building codes. The new code increases construction costs significantly.
You can build a nice brand new 1,800/sq ft. house on Oahu for only $350,000 or so, not much at all - it is the land in desirable areas that is the expensive part of the cost.
There is no specific stats on who is migrating off oahu and you know it. But you do have a few on here who have fled oahu because of the changes and cost of living. I believe that problem is far worse then you chose to acknowledge.
This has a map of who is migrating in and out of different cities/counties/states/locations/etc.
No the map is great but it doesn't say if its locals, the poor and/or native hawaiians leaving oahu or if its malahini, foreigners or etc moving. Thats the problem with the current stats it doesn't really say anything except things like there are more home owners now or more money on oahu genericly which really says nothing. The rise of home ownership can be from foreign investors using the condos or home for investment purposes or second homes. How much of the current population of Oahu is locals born and raised or multigenerational vs The past? The rise in wealth on oahu is it the local economy or local business or international economy or international corperations that are getting wealthy? Etc etc etc none of the stats truely give you a true picture.
The rise of home ownership can be from foreign investors using the condos or home for investment purposes or second homes. How much of the current population of Oahu is locals born and raised or multigenerational vs The past? The rise in wealth on oahu is it the local economy or local business or international economy or international corperations that are getting wealthy? Etc etc etc none of the stats truely give you a true picture.
Thr US census defines home ownership as a resident of the state and the primary residence.
Thr US census defines home ownership as a resident of the state and the primary residence.
Being a hawaii resident doesn't make you local. How long does it take to become a hawaii resident or the requirements?
A) A Hawaiʻi driver’s license, voter or automobile registration, the appearance of a person’s name on a city or town street list, and rent, utility, mortgage or telephone bills normally provide tangible proof of residence. However, please keep in mind that individual public or private agencies or institutions may have their own requirements for proof of residence.
It takes less then 60 days to get your name on a rent recipient or phone, utility bill etc. It takes less then 60 days to get a hawaii drivers licence. Which is my point.
It doesn't matter. For census purposes you can only be considered a resident of ONE state.
And everyone follows the rules? You do understand that of all america 3 million per year are polled for the cencus? Thats only 1% of the 320 million population? And out of the ten year cycle of the polling only 30 mill are interviewed being less then 10% of our 320 million estimated population. Then how do you explain people who have one home in Hawaii and one in another state? That live pt in Hawaii but stay long enough to be considered residents and get resident status? None of the stats reflect this which is common for a foreign or mainland investor.
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