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Old 07-24-2006, 06:34 PM
 
Location: Belleville, NJ
5 posts, read 19,908 times
Reputation: 21

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hi im 24 yr old black female, married with a 9 mo old son. my family and i are from NJ and thinking of relocating to hawaii. could you please tell me the best, most affordable, and diverse cities in hawaii. We are lookin for a great/safe place to raise our son with warm weather, lots of sunny days and places to rent for 1300/mo or less. thanks
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Old 11-03-2006, 08:49 AM
 
Location: Kaneohe, HI
4 posts, read 23,591 times
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No place in HI is really affordable. Most of the jobs are in the service industry (Tourism) that do not pay well and rent 1300/mo or less will get you a one-bedroom apt that feels more like a studio. If you move to O'ahu and live out on the Ewa side of the island expect to wake up at 4 am to start your commute into town at 5am (traffic is bad). Yes, the weather is great, property tax is reasonable, sales tax is low, but income taxes are high. I have lived here all my life (still love it), but with two fulltime jobs, a family and still barely able to keep my head above water (no pun intended), we have considered relocating to a part of the country where the middle class is still the middle class and not a pay check away from living on the beach. If you are a professional with the possibility of making a great income (at least a 200K/year) by all means, HI is a great place with the diversity (mostly Asian/Polynesian), great weather (only Aug and Sept are questionable - Kona weather can be hot and humid) and relatively safe as compared with similar sized states in the mainland US.

Last edited by langerhan; 11-03-2006 at 08:59 AM..
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Old 11-03-2006, 10:18 AM
 
331 posts, read 1,539,990 times
Reputation: 178
Default ?? for langerhan and others HI folks

Hello,
Could you please tell how difficult it is to get a $10-15/hr FT job(any kind is fine) in Oahu(Honolulu area) or maybe even Kona.

Are qualifiactions, race, origin equally factor in the employer's decision? I'm 30, originally from southern part of eastern Europe, but when thoroughly sun-tanned been misjudged for a southern european or even hispanic by some. I speak English with a slight accent - is that a big problem there? Also I can communicate in some basic Japanese(can learn more if necessary) and speak fluent Russian.

Have spent the last decade in Chicago working in the IT industry. I was planning to move to a warmer part of the country. But California and Florida don't seem appealing because of crime and gangs among other things. Is there a lot of violent crime in Honolulu metro area, and are there gangs?

And most importantly - can you survive on the kind of my projected of income? I don't expect anything fancy - a small studio apartment in a safe area, nothing special in terms of groceries(I can cook for myself and I don't eat meat. And know how to catch fish. Also would love to use a safe public transportation if such a chance exists there.

Thanks in advance!
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Old 11-04-2006, 04:16 PM
 
Location: Kaneohe, HI
4 posts, read 23,591 times
Reputation: 21
Last answer first: You can get a room in a house for $600/month, but anything more private will start to cost you somewhere around $1,000/month. If you move to Kona, you will need to purchase a car, since public transportation is not so reliable. On O'ahu, living actually in town would be your best bet, rather than having to deal with long transports on public transportation. Gas in Kona will still run you about $3.00/gallon whereas on O'ahu it is down to about $2.85/gallon. There should be no expectation that the price of gas will drop much below that price. Public transportation is relatively safe (buses). Generally speaking HI is relatively safe overall, just as with any large city you need to use some common sense. We do have our share of crime, but current statistics show us to have less violent crime but we are high in property crime (thieves... we have a large population of 'ice' addicts).

Being an outsider (if you are white; a little hard to hide even with a tan) you may find yourself to be more of a target for crime, but even then the statistics are lower than they would be in Chicago. You don't have that much to worry about. Again just be smart.

You can pretty much get a job regardless of you ethnicity (as long as you qualify to work in the US), especially in the service industry. It is a little more difficult to get the 'good' job unless you know someone. We have the lowest unemployment rate, but that just means there are a lot of low end service jobs out there. At $10 to $15/hour wage you will either need to supplement your income with a second PT job or be content with living on a very tight budget.

Although living in Kona is nice and more like living in HI than on O'ahu, there are less opportunities. If you budget you can always take a short 40 minute flight to visit Kona from O'ahu.

I hope that this helps.
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Old 11-04-2006, 07:22 PM
 
331 posts, read 1,539,990 times
Reputation: 178
Langerhan,
Thanks you very much for a complete, detailed answer! Very helpful!!

Well, looks like it's not a pipe dream after all. It could be possible indeed!! I was leaning towards Florida's Gulf coast(Sarasota in particular), but now I'm gonna give Honolulu a very serious consideration.
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Old 11-28-2006, 03:16 PM
 
Location: Weymouth, MA
31 posts, read 125,147 times
Reputation: 22
Default Hawaii Public Schools are the worst in the nation!

Hi, if you plan on staying in Hawaii for a long time, I would reconsider. The education system here is one of the worst in the nation. Private school is very expensive and is probably on the same level as public school there. I'm moving out of state so that my children will get a decent education; if not, they will be complete idiots compared to the rest of the nation. And, on another note, milk costs $7-8 per gallon when it's not on sale. Hope this helps.
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Old 11-28-2006, 03:40 PM
 
Location: Kūkiʻo, HI & Manhattan Beach, CA
2,624 posts, read 7,223,207 times
Reputation: 2416
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ronda51 View Post
hi im 24 yr old black female, married with a 9 mo old son. my family and i are from NJ and thinking of relocating to hawaii. could you please tell me the best, most affordable, and diverse cities in hawaii. We are lookin for a great/safe place to raise our son with warm weather, lots of sunny days and places to rent for 1300/mo or less. thanks
You might want to consider the Hilo side of the Big Island of Hawai'i even though it probably rains there a little more than you'd like. It's relatively affordable, diverse, and safe.
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Old 11-29-2006, 04:46 PM
 
23 posts, read 312,245 times
Reputation: 56
I lived on Maui for 5 years. YOu will need to work 2 jobs to affird to live there. Schools are the worst. I'm a former teacher and i wouldn't teach there. Service industry jobs are low paying. Housing costs are very high. You would have a much better standard of living on the mainland. Most families leave after a short while. The culture is oriental. Many people do not adjust. i loved it but was single. i left because I wanted to be able to buy a place and there is no way I could buy housing anywhere in Hawaii. It is also expensive to fly bacj=k to the mainland and very time consuming. it took 2 days of travel to fly back Esat form hawaii. I couldn't afford the flight or the extra travel time much.
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Old 01-28-2007, 11:39 PM
 
259 posts, read 1,914,580 times
Reputation: 123
Default Job In Honolulu

I'm Not Trying To Be Sarcastic, But.....i Can't Live Conservative On $90.000 A Yr.....i Would Rethink The Idea Of Surviving On $10-15 An Hour....the Only Way I Could See That Is If You Move Into A Studio With A Roomate (not Kidding)....keep In Mind...it's A Landlords Market Out Here, Rentals Go Very Fast,usually By Word Of Mouth Or Knowing The Right Person....can Be As Many As 30 People Trying To Get The Same Place....unfortunatly, Because Of The Competition The Landlords Can Pretty Much Ask Any Price For Their Rental......wish U The Best!! I Wish I Would Have Been Able To Visit For An Extended Stay Before I Moved Here...had I Known What I Know Now, I Would'nt Have Moved Here....just My .2 Cents For Whatever It's Worth...
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Old 01-29-2007, 08:25 PM
 
Location: Honolulu, HI
7 posts, read 41,871 times
Reputation: 16
Default Rentals

As far as what Terrie said, the rental market has actually slowed down a wee bit. I know when we first looked for a rental (December '03) there were probably 30 people who showed up but it was a 2 bedroom house for $980 a month (granted not the nicest, we had lots of cleaning/repairs to make it liveable) but that's one reason why so many people tried to get it.
For our current place (a 3 bedroom with a nice-sized enclosed courtyard for $1950/mo) I don't believe we had any competition at all. Perhaps because it is a little more expensive (this is minutes from downtown Honolulu too).
Yes, our first landlord WAS a nightmare but now we have a decent landlord and my opinion of renting in Honolulu has changed. . .some. I still hope for our family to be in a home of our own within the next 3 years but it's going to be a challenge.

On that note, as for the cost of living - if you don't have children $10-15 an hour can provide you with a fairly decent lifestyle. We have 3 children & even with our income (according to our W2's we made over $125,000 last year although I have no idea where it went, ha! ha!) we struggle. Private school/daycare, housing, food, etc. really adds up fast.
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