Transferring to another island... (fit in, rental, condos) - Hawaii (HI) - City-Data Forum

mangococonut · 02-10-2010, 09:58 AM

Have any of you lived on one of the islands, and then after some time moved to a different island ? If so, which one were you on initially, and which did you move to - and for what reasons ?

Did you have a difficult time moving all your belongings with you ? Did you find the move beneficial ? Did your kids (if you have them) prefer one over another ?

hotzcatz · 02-10-2010, 12:47 PM

Moving from island to island is cheaper and easier than moving from the mainland, I'd imagine. However, it is still a huge hassle and most folks don't do it unless there are some pretty compelling reasons. Frequently moving from island to island is because of work - or rather the lack thereof on the outer islands. When sugar went down there was a huge migration from the Big Island to Oahu because there were more jobs on Oahu. That was in the mid-90's though. Currently, there is a new increase in unemployment taxes taking effect this year. Instead of approximately $90 per employee per year, employers now get to somehow cough up over $1K per employee per year. This is not going to help employers hire more folks or even help them keep the ones they have. But still, Oahu has the most population so it has the most jobs if any.

By the time you get to the islands and have been here awhile, you get a feel for what is readily available and what isn't so you will know what to hang onto and what can be easily replaced. Shipping from island to island is generally done via Young Brothers barges. They have several different options, either a full container, a "G-van" (which is an 8' x 8' cube) or "mixed freight" where you put your stuff on a pallet or boxed up in a G-van with other people's stuff along with it. Shipping a G-van is less than several hundred dollars as of last year. Cars are also shipped inter-island on the barge, but I don't know the prices.

To ship stuff inter-island, you can either have a full 20' or 40' container dropped at your house so you can load everything into it. Usually you get it for about a day so all your stuff had better be already boxed up and ready to load. Then they haul it to the port, put it on a container and then several days later it is taken from the ship to your new place where you get another day to unload it. This works if you have a place on each island to move stuff to and from. Some folks unload the container into storage lockers, but that can be expensive if you have too much stuff.

A cheaper method is to load up all your stuff at the dock. Shuffle it to the docks with either a rented cube van or a lot of friends with pickup trucks and load it into either a container or G-van there. You've got basically one day to load the container. Then it gets shipped and you get to unload it on the other island.

It is a lot easier to just not have a lot of stuff if you are going to move around much. Can you store your stuff on the mainland until you've figured out where you want to be?

mangococonut · 02-11-2010, 12:23 PM

Wow, what a procedure !!!! I will have a 40 foot container shipped over from the mainland - but reading all of the inter-island stuff is equally exhausting ! I would rather not shuffle from island to island, especially with so much stuff - therefore I would rather choose the right one from the start !

But I am curious if there are those of you whom after living on one island for a bit, decided to move your home over to another and what were your reasons to do so....

hotzcatz · 02-11-2010, 01:26 PM

Jobs. After sugar left, there were none so we had to move to Oahu to find work. Then we got a job which could be relocated and got back to the Big Island.

A 40' container is too much stuff, IMHO. It won't all fit into your house and it takes way too much time to keep clean and tidy. Get rid of half of that amount and you will have twice as much time to spend at the beach. Be lazy! It's a lot less work.

hothulamaui · 02-11-2010, 02:56 PM

sometimes people move to another island just for a change of scenery. if money is not a problem or getting a job, it isn't that much trouble. most higher end condos and homes are sold furnished so really all you need are your clothes.

hotzcatz · 02-11-2010, 11:46 PM

We shipped a twenty foot container from Oahu to the Big Island, but fortunately it had a bunch of work related stuff in it as well so it wasn't all our house stuff. We shuffled the stuff into a house I'd had before sugar went down, then had to reshuffle it to the rental house closer to where the job was then we had to reshuffle the stuff yet again when we bought a house even closer to where the job was. It is much easier to just not have all that much stuff!

mangococonut · 02-12-2010, 11:56 PM

I was wondering if anyone changed islands because they were not happy with living on the island they had been on ? I know there are job related transfers, but I am just wondering if any of you have lived (not just vacationed) on more than the island you are on, and if so - what were the pros/cons of both, and which do you (did you) prefer, and are you happier now being where you are now.

hotzcatz · 02-13-2010, 12:18 AM

There have been some folks who have relocated to one of the other islands because of the vog on this island. The volcano has increased the amount of emissions these past several years so a lot of folks who have breathing difficulties have relocated to islands further from the volcano.

Other folks have relocated to be closer to "civilization". At least that's what they told me at their garage sale. They didn't have anything to do here and wanted to go to Oahu where there are "things to do". I think they wanted to shop, but I didn't inquire closely.