Shopping/Entertainment-If Oahu is a 10, What is Maui

[azdr0710]

please tell us that "malls" aren't the most important thing in your life.....especially for such an important thing as moving/retiring.....

[Lisa From Maui]

To the original poster: I thought the same thing as other people who have posted. Where you can shop is your biggest concern? If that's what's important to you, you really might want to consider another state. Lisa ;-)

[thrillobyte]

Originally Posted by azdr0710

please tell us that "malls" aren't the most important thing in your life.....especially for such an important thing as moving/retiring.....

Malls aren't the most important thing in my life.

Here, in somewhat order of importance:

1) weather
Note: I've read several earlier threads here and elsewhere comparing Miami Beach (which we're also considering) and Honolulu. Honolulu has a more temperate climate than Miami, but gets less rain. We love those sudden quick afternoon showers.

2) health care: nearly zero on Maui according to Julia.

3) bugs: Miami and Honolulu are notorious, which is why we'll probably go condo near the beach.
Note: for those who want a virtual tour of Honolulu go to goggle maps, zoom to street level, and then put the little "golden man" on the street to go up and down the streets like you're walking or driving (absolutely the most phenomenal thing goggle has ever come up with) Checking the UH district the area was so dumpy (probably roach infested as well) I thought I was in East Los Angeles. Honolulu proper is nothing to brag about, house-wise.

4) availability of health food store: lost in Waikiki (our preferred destination now)

5) fresh air: Honolulu's notorious traffic right under our noses. Hopefully the breezes will take care of most of that.

[Calico Salsa]

While it's true that Maui health care may be less than more developed urban cities, I strongly suggest you search out Julia's other posts. It will give you a feeling for Julia's perspective. She was pretty unhappy with Maui and Hawaii in general.

If I had a friend thinking of moving to Hawaii and they had any kind of specialized regular medical treatments needed, I would suggest Oahu over Maui. For some operations one would need to travel to Oahu.

Think of any of the outer islands as a more rural type community, as far as choices, and Oahu as the 'big city'.

If your current preferred destination is Waikiki (over all other areas of Oahu), then Oahu is definitely the island for you.

[dianer29]

Aloha:My husband,daughter and I currently live on The Big Island. We are looking ahead for when husband will retire at 62 ,just a few years from now. Our son is at the University currently working towards his masters. We hope that he remains there with us ,should we move over to the island to live out the rest of our lives as family is very important .If he takes a job offer elsewhere we will be sad but will still want to move over to Oahu if this is a place for us. we need so much information about Oahu .We do fly over to shop at times ,yet we are limited in time to really look around. We are not sure if after we rent to buy a small place next to The Bus lines. We will need medical services as we age and wsant to use the bus for 99% transportation to do errands ,visit,etc.
I love The Big Island and all of its contrasts and know I will be very sad to leave this beautiful vibrant land that we are so lucky to be able to live on even if for such a short time. It cannot meet our needs and wants at the retirement time of our lives so we need to go. We have no interest in returning to the mainland as it is not an option we will accept.
Should there be anyone out there that wants to share with us as knowledge,we will continue to seek knowledge on our new path that will be taken soon. We appreciate your input on housing areas that do not have much crime,etc. If costs are out of touch we will probably have to stay renting somewhere on Oahu.

[thrillobyte]

If costs are out of touch we will probably have to stay renting somewhere on Oahu.

I've been checking the prices on condos in Waikiki. A lot of variation as you can imagine. Range: $150/sqft all the way to $1200/sqft. Taxes are $10 per $1000 so a 500k condo would cost 5k in property taxes. But the real eye-opener (though not a surprise) are the astronomical HOA fees: $500/mo on the low end all the way to $1250/mo on the high and these are for condos priced below 1M. Yes, when they say Hawaii is expensive you don't have to look any farther than condo heaven on Waikiki to see that an average 2+2 750 sq.ft could run you 6k-7k/mo for PITI + homeowner fee.