Family considering moving to hawaii- I am a nurse (real estate market, rental)

[sarah95207]

hello all-

I recently stumbled upon this website. What a great forum for people looking for information and to gain research.

Thanks in advance to all who will answer this.

My husband, 2 kids and I want to move to hawaii. We have been to Kauai. We love it there. But looking at property we can afford on the big island. We know we don't want to go to Oahu.

I am a med/tele RN with 9 years experience. My husband has been a high school chemistry teacher and does tile work.

Any insights on relocating as a nurse and/or teacher? I haven't heard great things about the hawaii health system. Anyone familiar with the Kaiser health system? Where is a good place to start as a travel nurse or registry nursing to get a feel for a hospital? Can anyone recommend a company? What is the pay fo rin hospital nursing?

What about teaching? Is it stable? How do you get started as a substitute teacher?

We are thinking of going for a few months Jan-June next year. Maybe checking out 1 or 2 islands, see how much it costs and how much we can afford. Then move permanently in August when school starts. My son will be in kindergarten in August.
Any suggestions of things to start looking at would be great.

thanks

[hotzcatz]

Don't buy any property or houses until you have a job and have been here for at least six months to a year so you will know things will work out for you. Having a rental instead of owning a house in a falling market would allow you more choices.

Just because there is a nursing shortage doesn't mean there are nursing jobs. There was a huge layoff of hospital staff last summer, I don't know if they are on the re-hire list before new hires or not. However, nursing and hospitals aren't my field of expertise at all, so I could be entirely wrong so don't take my word for it. There was someone who bought a house here last year, moved over expecting to be able to find a nursing job and was alarmed and amazed at the lack of job opportunities. She did eventually find a place teaching nursing at some level but I don't think that was her first job choice nor do I know if it is good enough to pay her bills.

There have been several posts lately about nursing jobs and teaching jobs which would have most of the details you would be interested in. The teachers here are all under one statewide contract with the Department of Education and I'm not sure how often they need new chemistry teachers but they generally always need substitute teachers or he could end up teaching something other than chemistry.

On the less populated outer islands (Kauai, Lanai, Molokai, Maui & Hawaii) it might be difficult finding a location that has the nursing job you are looking for along with a chemistry teaching job near the same location but you can't find anything if you don't look for it. Hawaii island has two hospitals and a medical center as well as some clinics around the place but not that many of them. You could possibly inquire directly with them when you visit next spring.

[whynot?]

Originally Posted by hotzcatz

On the less populated outer islands (Kauai, Lanai, Molokai, Maui & Hawaii) it might be difficult finding a location that has the nursing job you are looking for along with a chemistry teaching job near the same location . . . .

I agree with your whole post, but my first thought was that the OP might be surprised by the commute required to live in an affordable area of Moku Nui and find hospital and school work. (I'm guessing there's no great demand for tile work until the real estate market picks up again.)

There just aren't that many hospitals and/or clinics on the neighbor isles, and as you mentioned there have been recent healthcare layoffs. I don't want to discourage anybody. I'm glad they have a visit planned because the Big Island is really, um, BIG. Especially if you have to drive every day for work.

Best of luck.

[hotzcatz]

True, tile workers are not in demand at the moment and anyone who can do tile is cutting their rates substantially to get any work that still might be available. Plus there isn't as much overall demand for tile as on the mainland or Oahu/Maui since folks aren't as concerned about being upscale as those areas.

"I'm glad they have a visit planned because the Big Island is really, um, BIG." ROTFLMAO!! Ayup, it is!

A hui hou, Whynot!