Excited to be living in Honolulu soon for about 6 months....list of points to consider as a mainlander (rental car, extended stay)
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Due to a job assignment upcoming I'm very very fortunate enough to be going there for 6 months from late 8/2017 to about late 2/2018. My company will also help pay for a significant portion of the apartment costs (in addition to rental car as well) and so for that the housing portion is not going to be as stressful as many who ponder or is planning to move out to the islands.
Given my OCD I've prepared a small list of things I need to be aware of/check up on once I arrive. And I wanted to be sure that this essentially covers the basics. I'm coming from Missouri. And just for more info if it's helpful....the job site is in an office building right next to the Ala Moana shopping center.
Housing - Will be able to have a generous sum reimbursed (up to $3000/mo, any additional is out of my pocket) regularly. One thing I read is that it is impossible for a mainlander to secure typical apartment/rental home if you're not physically already on the island as too many people flake out and never make it out there. My plan is to find an extended stay hotel or AirBnB/VRBO for about 2 weeks while apartment hunting. This will also help me get some pay stubs from my new job to help secure apartments as well. The only requirement is that it has to be furnished as I will only be there for about 6 months. I've seen several options on CL and PadMapper which has some longer-term vacation-like rental units that seems nice. The absolute max budget will likely be in the 4000-4500/mo range and I think from this angle there will be quite nice units to be had (without going into true super rich territory of the ultra high end places). I'll see if I can find units within walking distance to Ala Moana so as to save on time (traffic) and gas costs.
Utilities/Internet/etc. - I'm not a cable/TV watcher but the only thing I truly need is reliable and fast internet as this is my main source of entertainment. Looks like at least in my work zip code is Hawaiian Telcom and Spectrum (Time Warner). I haven't looked too much into this but any help is appreciated. Obviously I would prefer something that is not a 12mo contract and would prefer faster internet only service and would hate to bundle TV and all that in...
Public transportation - Not much knowledge in this area. THough I will also have reimbursed rental car so it's probably not super relevant.
Health insurance - I'm actually going to be under a 1099 emplyee so no employer sponsored health plan. I'll have to basically choose between options on the Obamacare/ACA market place vs my former employer's COBRA. Since I'm still in missouri I'm not able to input any address to shop for plans ahead of time. Calling Obamacare rep on the phone said to simply start looking when I have a more residential address on Hawaii. A quick search on this forum shows that Hawaiian health insurance can be quite limited in number and expensive if you are not under an employer plan.
Banking - Looks like after some reading major mega banks are actually not having any branches on site (aside from ATMs). Such as Chase /Bank of America / US Bank / etc. I bank with a regional bank here in Missouri. But it appears there are several good local Hawaiian banks and credit unions that seem to have nice reviews. I'm looking at just opening a small savings/checkings account with HawaiiUSA Federal Credit Union. Mainly this is so I can have access to free ATMs/Cash when I need it.
Personal car / Gas - My job is generous enough to also provide significant reimbursement for monthly car rental as well. SO that will be taken care of. I have a Costco membership and am VERY happy to see Costco does have a presence in Hawaii and has many Costco gas stations as well!
Mail/shipping - Only costs 1 stamp to mail a regular letter from HI to other US addresses...but other than that it appears shipping and receiving things of more package-sized are going to be headaches for Hawaiian addresses. I do have Amazon Prime but it appears Prime will do free 3--7 business day deliveries to HI and some items I've read may not be eligible for even shipping to hawaii or it may cost lot longer time/costs. SO looks like I'll just have to minimize any Amazon shopping spree while on island!
Time zone difference - The main issue with contacting and skyping with friends on the mainland. Hawaii is 5 hours behind CST it appears. And given I am also NFL fan it will be fun waking up super early to catch noon-time games. Evening computer gaming will also be very difficult as when I get home around 6pm it will be 11pm-12am for most of my friends on the state-side.
Groceries/food - Expected to be of higher price. Obviously need to temper expectations and not live like a tourist for 6 months. Costco will be a huge help but if I don't need giant crate-full of things I presume there are nice local grocery stories for small things.
Recreational activities - I have a National Park Pass for this year so I'll definitely use that to visit the NPS in Hawaii. Otherwise the standard fare of activities I'm sure I'll partake in: (beach, hiking, learn to surf, etc.). I assume there are the standard fare of movie complexes and arcade areas and myriad of restaurants. Not a shopping guy and love the outdoors. I'll have to see if I get tired of the island life.
I assume there are plenty of inter-island flights from Oahu to Maui/Big island/etc. for weekend visits. I'll look into other water-related activities on the weekend as well such as boating and maybe small cruises on the weekends.
Many co-workers are jealous of me going to Hawaii but I have to let them know that living in Hawaii is a much different day to day style than vacationing in Hawaii for a week or two. We often view Hawaii living through a vacation-lens which can distort things and the day to day difficulties are overlooked.
Any advice/comments/questions is greatly appreciated. Aloha!
utilities/internet - normally month to month basis, the companies normally already have all the connections set up, so it's pretty much like flipping a switch, so to speak.
banking - likely not going to be free unless you direct deposit something into your account.
with most of your living cost subsidized, living here fore a while should not present an issue, and probably actually be more relaxing because of this.
shipping cost via usps is the same within the 50 states.
you will need to get used to the time zone differences for stuff that happens at a set time on the mainland. For NFL games, I think before the time change, the early games start at 7 or so AM. After the time change, it gets easier because the start time is 1 hour later.
Sounds like a job opportunity that most would love to have!
From what I've read, a parking stall is not always provided when renting an apartment and may not even be available for an extra fee. Keep this in mind when you begin apartment hunting. Finding a place within walking distance to work is really smart! If you don't need a car for work, you may find that renting one just when you want to go exploring is more cost-effective than having one sit around full-time.
Best of luck! I'm sure you will enjoy Hawaii!
Time zone difference -- don't forget that Hawaii does not go on daylight savings time. This can get confusing when trying to coordinate meetings, SKYPE calls, etc.
When I lived on a boat which didn't have mail delivery I used A-OK Business Services which had mail boxes available to be rented. My address was 350 Ward Avenue Apartment #222 or whatever number of post box they had available. It looks like a residential address so folks will mail things to you. You could call them up and ask if they have mail boxes available for six months and then you'd have an address to start with at least. They're about two blocks from Ala Moana shopping center.
Parking and driving is miserable on Oahu, see if you can rent an apartment within walking distance to work. If you're working near Ala Moana shopping center, that will also be within walking distance to the beach, too.
shoul;d try to work near where he lives and also make sure get parking. having to attempt to find street parking in town every day after work sucks. Not to mention the higher risk of the car getting damaged, broken into, etc
utilities/internet - normally month to month basis, the companies normally already have all the connections set up, so it's pretty much like flipping a switch, so to speak.
banking - likely not going to be free unless you direct deposit something into your account.
with most of your living cost subsidized, living here fore a while should not present an issue, and probably actually be more relaxing because of this.
shipping cost via usps is the same within the 50 states.
you will need to get used to the time zone differences for stuff that happens at a set time on the mainland. For NFL games, I think before the time change, the early games start at 7 or so AM. After the time change, it gets easier because the start time is 1 hour later.
Great, it's always very nice to have utilities all bundled together and makes it so much easier as well.
From what I was reading very briefly regarding local credit unions, it looks like I'll just have to put in some money and open an account and hopefully no monthly service fees: https://www.hawaiiusafcu.com/Banking/Personal/Checking
And definitely it feels very nice to have large part of housing subsidized and again I do feel very grateful/forunate to be in this situation. Though it did take a long time to get to this position and there's quite a bit of sizeable student loan that still needs to be paid off.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Futuremauian
Sounds like a job opportunity that most would love to have!
From what I've read, a parking stall is not always provided when renting an apartment and may not even be available for an extra fee. Keep this in mind when you begin apartment hunting. Finding a place within walking distance to work is really smart! If you don't need a car for work, you may find that renting one just when you want to go exploring is more cost-effective than having one sit around full-time.
Best of luck! I'm sure you will enjoy Hawaii!
Haha, indeed. It took quite a long time in school (medical school to be exact...and now you know my job!) and I do have a sizeable debt to pay off now. Though yes the job is very nice indeed with its benefits. Albeit it is only a 6 month gig and no other employer benefits (ie, have to fund my own health insurance and I'll need to setup some kind of a Solo 401k/SEP-IRA....)
Thanks for the parking reminder. I'll definitely have to keep that in mind when I'm looking around for places. I'm too used to the midwest where basically parking for any housing comes essentially free unless you're in the middle of the popular downtown hotspot.
With Hawaii being such a land-limited place I can see how parking can be a premium and may cost extra or potentially not available at all!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Dreaming of Hawaii
Time zone difference -- don't forget that Hawaii does not go on daylight savings time. This can get confusing when trying to coordinate meetings, SKYPE calls, etc.
Huh interesting. You know I wish all states would go do this...daylight savings time is such a useless thing in the modern day now.
But this makes it easier as there's no need to change clocks....just the mainland may change an hour.
Quote:
Originally Posted by hotzcatz
When I lived on a boat which didn't have mail delivery I used A-OK Business Services which had mail boxes available to be rented. My address was 350 Ward Avenue Apartment #222 or whatever number of post box they had available. It looks like a residential address so folks will mail things to you. You could call them up and ask if they have mail boxes available for six months and then you'd have an address to start with at least. They're about two blocks from Ala Moana shopping center.
Parking and driving is miserable on Oahu, see if you can rent an apartment within walking distance to work. If you're working near Ala Moana shopping center, that will also be within walking distance to the beach, too.
Nice! THanks alot for that suggestion. This can be very helpful as I'll be in a temporary/hotel/vacation rental place for a couple of weeks. Thanks a ton! I'll have to keep that in mind.
I'll definitely see about living very close to Ala Moana, and from the budget it seems like it is doable. I've read others about the horror story that is traffic in Honolulu/Oahu so I'll need to minimize that as much as possible.
With walking distance to the beach...now that is another huge plus! I'll need to stock up on lots of sunscreen!!
Quote:
Originally Posted by rya96797
shoul;d try to work near where he lives and also make sure get parking. having to attempt to find street parking in town every day after work sucks. Not to mention the higher risk of the car getting damaged, broken into, etc
Thanks. You know I'm not sure if my work has free/designated parking but I'll need to clarify this. I'll be working in an office building next to Ala Moana so maybe they'll have an underground thing but this can be very frustrating.
Ala Moana Shopping Center is one of the major bus hubs in Honolulu. If you can find a place somewhere near Ala Moana, if you didn't want to walk to work, buses would be easy enough. Waikiki and Kakaako are both very close to Ala Moana Shopping Center. Since you're only going to be there for six months, living in Waikiki might be fun. Everyone else there is usually only there for ten to fifteen days, so pretty soon you'd be an 'old timer' as far as Waikiki counts things.
Check Craig's List to see how many rentals would be available in the area. There's tons available near Ala Moana and if you've got $3K per month to spend on rent, that's a great thing. You'll still be priced out of the nicest ones, but you'll be able to find something within walking distance and save the car for weekend trips perhaps?
When looking at apartments, remember that the ones that face the street can have a lot of traffic noise. Higher is better as far as traffic noise goes, but if it's facing the road, there's noise. The traffic in Waikiki goes pretty late into the night, too, since it's full of folks who don't have to get up in the morning.
Here's a Craig's List ad for an apartment in Discovery Bay, which is a condo just inside of Waikiki on the Ala Moana end of things. https://honolulu.craigslist.org/oah/...228752681.html They don't mention A/C and it does face the traffic. If it's high enough, the traffic noise may be lower or if there's A/C, you can shut the windows. It is furnished, has parking and utilities are included. Right across from the boat harbor there in Waikiki and within easy walking distance to the beach. You might even be able to see the Friday Night Fireworks from there. But, there's tons of them available on Craig's List. Just check them out in person and don't give anyone any money until you've seen the unit.
only 6 months, far easier just to find a place near ala moana and walk everywhere. If there's an option for it, take some sort of transportation stipend instead of a rental car. if you do something that requires driving, uber, taxi, bus.
Ala Moana Shopping Center is one of the major bus hubs in Honolulu. If you can find a place somewhere near Ala Moana, if you didn't want to walk to work, buses would be easy enough. Waikiki and Kakaako are both very close to Ala Moana Shopping Center. Since you're only going to be there for six months, living in Waikiki might be fun. Everyone else there is usually only there for ten to fifteen days, so pretty soon you'd be an 'old timer' as far as Waikiki counts things.
Check Craig's List to see how many rentals would be available in the area. There's tons available near Ala Moana and if you've got $3K per month to spend on rent, that's a great thing. You'll still be priced out of the nicest ones, but you'll be able to find something within walking distance and save the car for weekend trips perhaps?
When looking at apartments, remember that the ones that face the street can have a lot of traffic noise. Higher is better as far as traffic noise goes, but if it's facing the road, there's noise. The traffic in Waikiki goes pretty late into the night, too, since it's full of folks who don't have to get up in the morning.
Here's a Craig's List ad for an apartment in Discovery Bay, which is a condo just inside of Waikiki on the Ala Moana end of things. https://honolulu.craigslist.org/oah/...228752681.html They don't mention A/C and it does face the traffic. If it's high enough, the traffic noise may be lower or if there's A/C, you can shut the windows. It is furnished, has parking and utilities are included. Right across from the boat harbor there in Waikiki and within easy walking distance to the beach. You might even be able to see the Friday Night Fireworks from there. But, there's tons of them available on Craig's List. Just check them out in person and don't give anyone any money until you've seen the unit.
Thanks a TON for your very helpful insights and advice!
Looks like I'll definitely be looking near the Ala Moana area and I'll be ok with probably spending a bit more than 3000 for a nicer place. The suggestion for units on higher floors or away from street is very appreciated! Something that I hadn't thought about and I think you're very right in that given this location (Hawaii in general, and this place in Honolulu in specific) that there will be PLENTY of tourists who will be up late night as you say they have no need to get up early in the morning!
That CL listing looks gorgeous!!! Love that it has in-unit Washer/Dryer...this will be a huge point that I'm going to look at as well as hauling loads of clothes to and fro laundromats can be very annoying.
Thanks again!!!
Quote:
Originally Posted by rya96797
only 6 months, far easier just to find a place near ala moana and walk everywhere. If there's an option for it, take some sort of transportation stipend instead of a rental car. if you do something that requires driving, uber, taxi, bus.
Indeed. Looks like this is the consensus and I will definitely look for a place like that!
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
