moving from Big Island to Oahu-- thoughts? (Hilo: fit in, transplants)

[ar1ax]

Hello, everyone. Has anyone moved from the Big Island to Oahu? If so, why did you do it, and how did it go?

There is a lot I love, but some cons about the Big Island (for me):
-- few opportunities for educated young people (20-30s ish) to socialize & meet
-- nice beaches are a long ways away if one lives Hilo-side
-- relaxing lifestyle can sometimes translate to complacent/lonely lifestyle
-- no direct flights from Hilo/Kona to East Coast

Kona MAY address these a bit more than Hilo, but I do not feel like Kona is the "right place" if that makes sense. It's too touristy, and while I don't despise tourists, I'd like a less transient population.

I'm not interested in going clubbing every night or eating out constantly, but having options would be nice. It seems like Oahu addresses these cons, although I am familiar with the cons of Oahu (expensive, crowded, commute, tourist-centric, etc.)

Thoughts? Mahalo for your replies.

[hotzcatz]

A lot of the younger folks like the busier Oahu life, but it's much more expensive there so many of them only go over there for a few years.

How often do you fly to the mainland that a direct flight to the East Coast matters that much?

Oahu is crowded enough that you can be very lonely there. When folks get crowded closely together they no longer 'see' each other in the crowd and just kinda walk around in their own little bubbles. Try that on a small town street and folks will talk to you even if they don't know you.

How about meeting up with all sorts of folks instead of just 20's - 30's folks? The more friends you have the more folks you'll meet, especially if you're open to all age groups.

When sugar went down on this island, I did move to Oahu for a couple of years, but moved back when the economics got workable on this island again. Oahu is too expensive to afford to buy anything without having to work so hard that you don't have time to enjoy it.

[rya96797]

I get friends that moved from the outer island. I noticed outer island people tend to stick together more when they move to Oahu. If you have big island friends here, likely you'll fit in with the group more than you would on the big island. More likely to be closer life long friends when on Oahu. Cause the other friends you connect with equal or better to while you were back home simply aren't there anymore. So if you move here, try reconnect with old BI friends that are here.


opportunity wise, there's much more on Oahu. Although like hotzcatz mentioned, rent/property prices are really high.


I think the drives are crazier on the big island, even though not as much traffic (although BI does have more traffic nowadays). Living in hilo, working in kona or waimea or whatever is crazy. But many BI people do commutes like that daily.


Oahu has tons of beaches.


Many residents on Oahu don't do the clubbing, eating out every day thing, although those options are there. I am one of them. I prefer cooking over eating out. I make food how I like it, and it's much cheaper. Clubbing is overrated. Most of the clubs and "in-bars" are pretty much dead or slow nowadays. The ones that cater to tourists tend to be busier, like Waikiki side.

[whtviper1]

Originally Posted by hotzcatz

Oahu is too expensive to afford to buy anything without having to work so hard that you don't have time to enjoy it.

That seems a bit extreme - while housing is more expensive on Oahu just about everything else is less expensive on Oahu. And most people make more money on Oahu than they would on the other islands.

Back in the mid-1980's, only about 50% of the residents owned a home. (Oahu and the state overall have roughly the same home ownership rates). In 2017, the rate is just above 58% (having peaked around 2005 at 60%) - but my point is despite much cheaper prices in the mid-1980's (Oahu median single family home price in 1985 was $158,000 vs. $675,000 in 2017) more residents as a percentage of the population own homes in 2017

[ar1ax]

Originally Posted by hotzcatz

How often do you fly to the mainland that a direct flight to the East Coast matters that much?

Oahu is crowded enough that you can be very lonely there.

How about meeting up with all sorts of folks instead of just 20's - 30's folks?

We fly enough that a direct flight would be an added bonus. It wouldn't be a deciding factor, but it certainly helps.

I know what you mean about the loneliness of living in a densely populated area-- I have friends who live in cities who feel that way. I think that with a small town, though, that if you don't really "connect" with the people in it-- and I don't mean via small talk-- then, those are the people you're surrounded by. You can't reach out to other people or try to make other connections because who you have is who you have.

I am open to friends of all ages, and a few of my friends (coworkers) are in their mid 40s, but at the end of the day, they are involved with their teenage children and our schedules don't really align, so it'd be great to have friends my age as well.

[ar1ax]

Originally Posted by rya96797

I get friends that moved from the outer island. I noticed outer island people tend to stick together more when they move to Oahu. If you have big island friends here, likely you'll fit in with the group more than you would on the big island. More likely to be closer life long friends when on Oahu. Cause the other friends you connect with equal or better to while you were back home simply aren't there anymore. So if you move here, try reconnect with old BI friends that are here.

I think the drives are crazier on the big island, even though not as much traffic (although BI does have more traffic nowadays). Living in hilo, working in kona or waimea or whatever is crazy. But many BI people do commutes like that daily.

Oahu has tons of beaches.

Many residents on Oahu don't do the clubbing, eating out every day thing, although those options are there. I am one of them. I prefer cooking over eating out. I make food how I like it, and it's much cheaper. Clubbing is overrated. Most of the clubs and "in-bars" are pretty much dead or slow nowadays. The ones that cater to tourists tend to be busier, like Waikiki side.

Do you mean people who are also transplants from the Big Island, or people we already know on Oahu? Because we don't know people who have moved to Oahu from the Big Island.

The drives are beautiful and scenic, but driving a long ways just to have a beach day wears on you after a while. I don't anticipate we'd get stuck in traffic much on Oahu, as I'm a teacher so we'd likely live relatively local to where I teach. Having a relatively short commute is an absolute must for me.

We love the beach & as much as I love the tide pools and inlets and rough beaches of East Hawaii, I do want that white sand. Why live in Hawaii and be unable to enjoy some of its simplest pleasures, you know?

I'm sure that we'd be able to head over to Waikiki when the mood strikes, but even if the mood strikes on the Big Island, there's nowhere to go. Having that option would be nice.

[67Cam]

Originally Posted by whtviper1

...in the mid-1980's (Oahu median single family home price in 1985 was $158,000 vs. $675,000 in 2017) more residents as a percentage of the population own homes in 2017

Whe I read that 2017 median price I wondered 1)what the monthly payment would be, and 2) how much incime should tou have, so I looked it up.

[whtviper1]

Originally Posted by 67Cam

Whe I read that 2017 median price I wondered 1)what the monthly payment would be, and 2) how much incime should tou have, so I looked it up.

Roughly $2,600/month with 20% down. Plenty of 2 income families can do that (and yes, plenty that can't). Given how much rent has gone up it's something that renters should seriously look at.

I can't read your chart on my phone

[davephan]

You sound like your in your 20's. That means about 30 to 40 years left to work for you. How much do you earn now? What kind of work do you do? Currently, how much money do you need to live? How much money do you save each year? What kind of jobs do you expect to get in Hawaii and how much do they pay? What kind of job are you quitting on the mainland to make the move to Hawaii? Have you compared the cost of living of your current location to Hawaii?

I'm not sure why a direct flight to the east coast is needed. If you live in Hawaii, unless you are financially well off, you won't be going anywhere very often. You'll probably need about $20K to $50K seed money for the move and to survive without working for months, till you find a job, or multiple low paying, part time, no benefits jobs. If you look at others that made that type of move, usually they only last a year or two in Hawaii before they return to the mainland. The odds are stacked against you staying long term. But maybe the goal isn't to stay long term, but the venture is going to set you back financially, unless you have a lot of saved money for someone that is in their 20s.

The graphic about the $700K home payments was interesting. I think it's generally a bad idea to have a 30 year mortgage. However, if you don't have a decent fairly high paying job, you probably won't be able to swing a 15 year mortgage. We had a 15 year mortgage and paid it off in 10 years. I think it's also interesting to take the $700K and compare that kind of house that buys you in Hawaii, compared to the what $700K buys you in Florida or some other state. A $700K home in Hawaii usually isn't very fancy. You have to bump up the price to probably over $1M. In Florida, $700K buys you a pretty fancy home.

If the OP doesn't have a high paying job, maybe the OP should concentrate more on improving their job skills so they can improve their standard of living, and saving for the long term.

[pj737]

Originally Posted by davephan

The graphic about the $700K home payments was interesting. I think it's generally a bad idea to have a 30 year mortgage. However, if you don't have a decent fairly high paying job, you probably won't be able to swing a 15 year mortgage. We had a 15 year mortgage and paid it off in 10 years.

Well... I think it's always a bad idea to go with a 15 year mortgage. The difference in interest rate between a 15 and 30 year mortgage is only about 50 basis points. With a 50 basis point savings being the only upside to being forced to pay down the mortgage in 15 years vs 30 years, to me... it's a tough sell. Further, for most people, the additional interest is tax deductible. There could be a million reasons why you'd need to have some extra cash in life (family emergency, illness, loss of job, divorce, etc etc etc) so pigeonholing yourself into making the significantly larger payments every month is irresponsible, IMO.

In reality, you are only paying about 3.5% more in total mortgage payments over 15 years if you elected to go with a 30 year mortgage vs a 15 year mortgage and decided to pay it off in the exact same time (i.e. 15 years instead of 30). To me, it's an absolute no-brainer to pay a 3.5% premium to have the flexibility in case of unexpected financial hardship. It happens to almost all of us at some point in life.