Why Do So Many People Finally Move to Hawaii Then Move Back Shortly After??? (Honolulu: mobile home, luxury)

[mogon]

Originally Posted by jmlowman

My wife and I are seriously considering a move to Volcano Village on the Big Island for retirement. ...do have some chronic issues (allergies and asthma) that need attention occasionally....

Given the vog right now, I would urge you to think about delaying this.

It's pretty bad.

Originally Posted by Ellwood

I think you are correct, a part of island fever is missing your family and friends on the mainland. On the mainland you can decide to visit friends in another state for the weekend, or spend time with your grandchildren and be part of their daily lives.

A wise friend once told us "Wait until that first grandchild is born on the mainland; your perspective will change."

Another frustration for some would be the fact that at the times family can visit -- or when you might want them to visit or you visit them -- the airfares get usurious. Lately you've been able to find last minute deals for shoulder seasons (mid-September through early December and January-February) you have to be able to jump. But if you want to have family come at Christmas or you go to the mainland at Christmas, my experience is that the fares go up by a factor of 3 to 6 (!) between December 15 and January 5.

Originally Posted by big daryle

I have heard that the natives are not at all friendly to whites........Is this true?

That is much too simplistic. As I noted on another post, Hawai`i, particularly the neighbor islands, are very culturally conservative and highly extended family-oriented places. It is very hard to "break in" unless you come with a ready-made network.

There is also no question that there is some justified, imo, resentment of mainland Baby Boomer haoles who have bought land and gated it, have run up the prices, have blocked what have been "community use" trails and roads for generations. (All of that has happened a lot near me).

Originally Posted by Ellwood

This is an important consideration that when people choose to move to the islands. The medical care is not nearly what people who live on the mainland are used to. Although you may just require basic medical care, you never know. My spouse, who has never been sick a day in his life, had a pain in his back and it turned out to be cancer. Luckily it wasn't the time of the year we usually spend on the islands.

There is a terrible doctor shortage on the neighbor islands. There have been many stories about folks on the Big Island who moved here with jobs that gave them excellent insurance and could find no PCP who was willing to take on new patients.

[Becca8377]

I've been here for just short of 2 years and I'm moving back to the mainland. I graduated college and got a job out here. I knew I wasn't going to be here forever just because there's no way I could afford Hawaii in the long term. So I bit the bullet, accepted the job, and I've been barely scraping by for 2 years. My student loan payments are almost the equivalent of my rent payment, so I've had to do some serious budgetting. All of my family is on the east coast of the US, so I knew I'd be heading back east at some point. I was young and fully capable of making this work for short term and it's absolutely been the experience of a lifetime. I can tell you what though, being a tourist in Hawaii and living in Hawaii are 2 completely different things.

[k-sol]

I just stumbled over this post because I am working on leaving. People from Hawaii will probably get pissed because of my words, but I don't care.

The number one push factor from Hawaii is PRICE. To quote Gordon Gekko, "it's all about bucks, kid."

Gas is presently $3.19. Until last Wednesday it was 12 cents cheaper, but the state is so strapped for cash that they scrapped the ethanol rebate program to make $40 million for the state.

Milk is $7. A *NORMAL* electricity bill on O'ahu (NOT the outer islands) is usually between $150 and $200, and that's for a small house on an eighth or sixteenth of an acre of land. With a girlfriend/boyfriend/spouse and just one child, you can easily spend over $500 in one day just on food and utilities. $50 at Safeway gets you MAYBE 5 bags of food. I did better than that in California!

There is a real scarcity of jobs, especially now. Understand that Hawaii's economy is based on three weak pillars: construction (which no one is doing now), military spending (no one is doing now) and tourism (not enough people are coming now). When all the chips are down, like now, making the rent goes from something easy to something you may lay awake at night about. I feel bad for some of my friends that are newlyweds ($$$) and have young children, especially girls, which require oodles of money. Some people in Hawaii like to claim that this "isn't America", but the kids want the same thing as all American kids.

Tourist Hawaii and resident Hawaii are not the same thing. If you enjoyed it on a trip and that makes you want to live here, take a second trip. Rent a place and pay some bills first.

I personally don't believe that things have to be like this, but when pigs get used to wallowing in mud and filth, they aren't going to change. You can lead the horse to water but you can't make him drink. It is also hard to really make inroads with a lot of locals because basically, you aren't like them. Contemporary local culture is vastly different from contemporary mainland culture no matter where you are from, even the hood. They have language, slang and concepts that are foreign to you and if you weren't born here or spent some of your "coming up" time here, you're going to be left out. You have a much better chance of joining a Blood or Crip set in Los Angeles.

You will notice that the only Hawaii-born President of the United States promptly got the hell out of here when he could and he has not been back. Think about that.

Some people, though, Hawaii is good for: nature lovers, country rats, the very rich, the well connected, marijuana users and those with time to kill. If you are a city lover, city rat, musician or seeking to make it in any entertainment industry or part of the "grammar police" or if education is important to you in any way, shape or form, STAY AWAY. Education is an absolute joke here and disdain for education is totally engraved in local culture.

Honolulu is the largest city and is about as fast paced as Texarkana. I'm a young guy and it's 10:10PM right now and look what I'm doing. In the past year, we've lost a lot of night spots. I think we're down to a handful of bars and 4 or 5 strip clubs (939 is the best).

It's so tragic that such these conditions are found in such charming and picturesque islands. Maybe one day things will change, but I wouldn't bet on it.

One good survival tip, though: get an 808 phone number immediately. People will not dial 3 extra digits to reach you even if you are giving away $100,000,000,000,000,000.00. And if you go to the beaches, especially Sandy's, do as the locals do: if you see them not in the ocean, DON'T GO IN! Good luck.

[survivorqt]

Originally Posted by k-sol

I just stumbled over this post because I am working on leaving. People from Hawaii will probably get pissed because of my words, but I don't care.

The number one push factor from Hawaii is PRICE. To quote Gordon Gekko, "it's all about bucks, kid."

Gas is presently $3.19. Until last Wednesday it was 12 cents cheaper, but the state is so strapped for cash that they scrapped the ethanol rebate program to make $40 million for the state.

Milk is $7. A *NORMAL* electricity bill on O'ahu (NOT the outer islands) is usually between $150 and $200, and that's for a small house on an eighth or sixteenth of an acre of land. With a girlfriend/boyfriend/spouse and just one child, you can easily spend over $500 in one day just on food and utilities. $50 at Safeway gets you MAYBE 5 bags of food. I did better than that in California!

There is a real scarcity of jobs, especially now. Understand that Hawaii's economy is based on three weak pillars: construction (which no one is doing now), military spending (no one is doing now) and tourism (not enough people are coming now). When all the chips are down, like now, making the rent goes from something easy to something you may lay awake at night about. I feel bad for some of my friends that are newlyweds ($$$) and have young children, especially girls, which require oodles of money. Some people in Hawaii like to claim that this "isn't America", but the kids want the same thing as all American kids.

Tourist Hawaii and resident Hawaii are not the same thing. If you enjoyed it on a trip and that makes you want to live here, take a second trip. Rent a place and pay some bills first.

I personally don't believe that things have to be like this, but when pigs get used to wallowing in mud and filth, they aren't going to change. You can lead the horse to water but you can't make him drink. It is also hard to really make inroads with a lot of locals because basically, you aren't like them. Contemporary local culture is vastly different from contemporary mainland culture no matter where you are from, even the hood. They have language, slang and concepts that are foreign to you and if you weren't born here or spent some of your "coming up" time here, you're going to be left out. You have a much better chance of joining a Blood or Crip set in Los Angeles.

You will notice that the only Hawaii-born President of the United States promptly got the hell out of here when he could and he has not been back. Think about that.

Some people, though, Hawaii is good for: nature lovers, country rats, the very rich, the well connected, marijuana users and those with time to kill. If you are a city lover, city rat, musician or seeking to make it in any entertainment industry or part of the "grammar police" or if education is important to you in any way, shape or form, STAY AWAY. Education is an absolute joke here and disdain for education is totally engraved in local culture.

Honolulu is the largest city and is about as fast paced as Texarkana. I'm a young guy and it's 10:10PM right now and look what I'm doing. In the past year, we've lost a lot of night spots. I think we're down to a handful of bars and 4 or 5 strip clubs (939 is the best).

It's so tragic that such these conditions are found in such charming and picturesque islands. Maybe one day things will change, but I wouldn't bet on it.

One good survival tip, though: get an 808 phone number immediately. People will not dial 3 extra digits to reach you even if you are giving away $100,000,000,000,000,000.00. And if you go to the beaches, especially Sandy's, do as the locals do: if you see them not in the ocean, DON'T GO IN! Good luck.

i live on oahu and get milk for 4 dollars
Obama came here this past christmas for 2 weeks
i agree about the school system, lol

[k-sol]

Originally Posted by survivorqt

i live on oahu and get milk for 4 dollars
Obama came here this past christmas for 2 weeks
i agree about the school system, lol

Safeway Manoa $7
Foodland Kaimuki $8
Costco? You need a membership card first. $35.

Both are with their respective cards.

When I said Obama never came back, I mean he never came back for an extended period. He went to Harvard, Harlem, lived in Chicago, Springfield -- Illinois and Chicago's black community are what made Obama what he is, unless there is a Harvard, Harlem, Chicago, Springfield and a large poor black community that is here on Oahu. If he had stayed here, Hillary Clinton would be president right now. Obama owes Illinois infinitely times more than he does Hawaii.

EDIT: I met a parent and she stunned me. Students have to pay for parking, workbooks, even the school bus ride to school here! That defies belief. Where does that happen on the mainland or in any other First World country? I went to mainland public schools and never paid a cent except for lunch.

[survivorqt]

walmart-3.88
foodland ewa-5.49

[nwcountrygal]

OK not another Milk show ..........

I agree with K-sol to the most part ... if you are looking for night life - lower cost of living because it is warm - etc.... again I say if you can do it and want to with $$ -- you can. When I say with $$ I would never come over with no ticket out. That would really suck... if ... and ifff... you can adapt into culture around you whatever you want to catogorize it - be healthly - be friendly - bring potluck - take your shoes off - enjoy simple it can be done be able to visit mainland friends.... you can do it..or look at it if I just enjoy it for a couple of years...go from there....

I know I can't live without major river streams freash water fishing lakes and then friends on the mainland - did I make new ohana yes - miss them terriblable on the the mainland.... I don't know how someone can be year round either? Yes I am lucky today to be able to say that but as I get older and question how long I can do back and forth. I choose the islands but in the long run I propable will choose mainland... that is sad....and I don't even believe in conventail health care.

[k-sol]

Originally Posted by survivorqt

walmart-3.88
foodland ewa-5.49

Ever heard about the deleterious effect Wal-Mart has on the economy? And why would I drive from the east (north or west) side all the way to Ewa for milk? Better yet, since the world is reading this, if a reader is on the Big Island, Maui, Lanai or Kauai, why would they go to Ewa for milk? Food is a necessity and it's too high. Even Love's now has to fly their fresh baked goodies to the outer islands. It isn't expensive enough to operate a bakery (the grain has to come from somewhere), but now it has to be flown elsewhere since out omnipotent government decided we can't have the SuperFerry anymore.

Even seafood is pricey despite the fact we're in the middle of the ocean. One of Hawaii's largest commercial fishing companies pulls in 80,000 pounds of fish per day (used to be 100,000 pounds) and yet seafood is astronomical. My friend was eating a container of poke and was shocked to see that the fish in poke came from Peru. Why Peru? Because these fish distributors are charging some exorbitant price and so to save the consumer that money, they use frozen fish from Peru. Yet, we are surrounded on all sides by water that is teeming with fish.

All this just proves what I said: it's all about bucks. I'll be even more succinct: it's all economics. If someone is going to fight with me over the price of milk, buy my groceries for me or just go bury your head in the sand, pretend the problem doesn't exist and vote for Mufi for governor.

EDIT: Now that I think about it, they just raised the price of parking meters, bus passes, land taxes and fuel as of July 1, and a certain agitator is trying to get the GET raised again since they raised it for the rail. Here it is straight from the horse's mouth:

Oahu Hikes
- Honolulu to raise taxes to offset city budget
- Bus fairs now $0.25 up to $2.25 and will be hiked again in 2010
- Admission to the Honolulu Zoo, $6 for locals. $12 for visitors
- Zoo parking raised to $1 an hour
- Parking at Kapiolani Park raised to $0.75
- Golf at municipal prices = $19 and $20 in 2010
Oahu Property Tax Hike - Honolulu city council raise property tax by $0.20
- homeowners now must pay $3.42 per $1,000
- On a $600,000 home, that will be $106 more next year, raising the property tax to $1,716
- A homeowner with a $1 million house will pay about $3,043, or a $117
City Motor Vehicle Hike - State gas prices go up $0.12 a gallon. Now people must pay $0.72 a gallon
- Motor vehicle weight taxes are going up 67 percent
State Price Hikes That May Be Vetoed (information provided by state House)
- Transient Accommodations Tax (TAT) increase:
This bill increases the transient accommodations tax by 1 percentage point (from 7.25 to 8.25%) beginning on July 1, 2009 and another percentage point (to 9.25%) beginning on July 1, 2010 and requires the additional revenues to be deposited into the general fund.Conveyance Tax
Raises conveyance tax for sales over $2 million and second or investment house purchases.
Breakdown per amount of real estate transaction:
- Between $2 million and $4 million, owners will pay 20 cents more per $100 of value
- Between $4 million and $6 million, owners will pay 40 cents more per $100 of value
- Between $6 million and $10 million, owners will pay 60 cents more per $100 of value
- Greater than $10 million, owners will pay 70 cents more per $100 of value
Income tax increase
There will be no tax change for:
- Individuals with taxable income less than $150,000 - Head of households with taxable income less than $225,000
- Joint filers with taxable income less than $300,000

[k-sol]

Originally Posted by nwcountrygal

Yes I am lucky today to be able to say that but as I get older and question how long I can do back and forth.

Good point; as you get older, that flight takes longer and longer, and it gets more and more expensive. The shrinking number of airlines doesn't do much to help either neither do the fees on top of fees on top of fees.

[mdand3boys]

Oahu (Honolulu) is the 25th most expensive city in the world and number 2 most expensive in the US, right behind New York City.

We didn't move to Oahu because of this - we moved to the Big Island where there is open space and cheaper everything.