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It's not the price of Costco food or crumby rental units that get ya. It's the little things you don't ever think about.
Examples.
You find out you have a lump that needs examining by an expert. Guess what no expert on Maui, you get to fly to Oahu.
Want to take your kids to the zoo? Guess what no zoo on Maui. It costs a family of four, $900 to go to the zoo on Oahu for one day.
Electric and water rates are quadruple the mainland. You can spin it any way you want but but its atrocious here for utilities.
You want to buy something online, they don't ship USPS, they only ship UPS. You pay $30 to ship a $2 item.
You want to go out to eat. We went to Ruby Tuesday last week. Ordered the two least expensive items on the menu, no drinks (just water). Bill with appropriate tip was $37 for lunch. EXPENSIVE.
4% tax on EVERYTHING. You want an apple to eat pay a tax, need medicine, you pay a tax. It's equivalent to a 13% sales tax because in many cases the same dollar gets taxed over and over again.
Car registration has gone way up. The average car on Maui is $200 a year to register (plus the $15 for the safety check every year).
Home/apartment rents have gone way up. If you want to live in an old chicken coupe or cleaned out shed then you will be fine. Otherwise anything decent is at least $1300 for a nice one or two bedroom. PLUS utilities.
I'm not telling anyone not to come to Maui, I'm just tired of hearing about it's the same price as mainland. IT'S NOT. Especially if you are coming from a cheap area like Vegas. Everyone seems to think they can move out here, live in a 400 sq/ft shack and eat at costco everyday. It's not realistic at all.
It's not the price of Costco food or crumby rental units that get ya. It's the little things you don't ever think about.
Examples.
You find out you have a lump that needs examining by an expert. Guess what no expert on Maui, you get to fly to Oahu.
Want to take your kids to the zoo? Guess what no zoo on Maui. It costs a family of four, $900 to go to the zoo on Oahu for one day.
Electric and water rates are quadruple the mainland. You can spin it any way you want but but its atrocious here for utilities.
You want to buy something online, they don't ship USPS, they only ship UPS. You pay $30 to ship a $2 item.
You want to go out to eat. We went to Ruby Tuesday last week. Ordered the two least expensive items on the menu, no drinks (just water). Bill with appropriate tip was $37 for lunch. EXPENSIVE.
4% tax on EVERYTHING. You want an apple to eat pay a tax, need medicine, you pay a tax. It's equivalent to a 13% sales tax because in many cases the same dollar gets taxed over and over again.
Car registration has gone way up. The average car on Maui is $200 a year to register (plus the $15 for the safety check every year).
Home/apartment rents have gone way up. If you want to live in an old chicken coupe or cleaned out shed then you will be fine. Otherwise anything decent is at least $1300 for a nice one or two bedroom. PLUS utilities.
I'm not telling anyone not to come to Maui, I'm just tired of hearing about it's the same price as mainland. IT'S NOT. Especially if you are coming from a cheap area like Vegas. Everyone seems to think they can move out here, live in a 400 sq/ft shack and eat at costco everyday. It's not realistic at all.
While I think this is true, you kind of have to look at it from multiple views as well:
Why go to the zoo when you can go to the aquarium, its better than Oahu's anyway.
Electric is high for many, but its not high everywhere alot of people have the $17 dollar/month electric bills from solar.
Shipping is expensive, but Amazon has alot of things that ship free to Maui. Just have to read the fine print or ask. Takes us an extra step, but many places online do have free shipping.
Ruby Tuesday's is overpriced for an okay meal, most plate lunches are $6-10 bucks. Cafe O Lei is alot better food in my opinion, and only costs $8-13 /person just food for lunch.
Taxes expensive? lol Hawaii is the 7th LOWEST sales tax state, 6th if you include county taxes. We have extra taxes on items for visitor industry related, for example rental cars, transient accomodations like hotels, and any rental home under 6 months. Vegas is 8%, so I don't really see how that's cheaper. I don't know where you get 13% from. Whole sale taxes are .5%, and Hawaii's sales tax is actually a straight 4%, but all business take out 4.1667% since they pass on the extra to the consumer: 4% of 4% is .1667%.
Our car registrations are expensive. I think second highest in the Country next to florida.
Rent is higher, the good deals under $1300 get snapped up fast, and people don't usually leave them unless they buy a house or upgrade to a bigger rental. There's $1000/month utilities included rentals every now and then, but usually in town Kahului/Wailuku, and as part of an attached Ohana(in-law quarters).
Taxes expensive? lol Hawaii is the 7th LOWEST sales tax state, 6th if you include county taxes. We have extra taxes on items for visitor industry related, for example rental cars, transient accomodations like hotels, and any rental home under 6 months. Vegas is 8%, so I don't really see how that's cheaper. I don't know where you get 13% from. Whole sale taxes are .5%, and Hawaii's sales tax is actually a straight 4%, but all business take out 4.1667% since they pass on the extra to the consumer: 4% of 4% is .1667%.
WRONG.
First of all, Hawaii doesn't have a sales tax. They have a general excise tax, it is NOT the same thing.
From one of the articles below.
Our 4% rate may appear low, but a big chunk of the tax burden is hidden in the prices of goods and services. For example, suppose you buy a loaf of bread for $3.00. The store adds 4% tax and charges you $3.12, so the “visible” tax is twelve cents. In reality, however, the State is collecting a lot more than that. The $3.00 price has to cover the store’s costs, which include the GE tax added on by the bakery when the store bought the bread at wholesale, the GE tax added on by the landlord when the store paid its rent, the GE tax added on by the seller when the store bought its shelves and display cases, and the GE tax paid by the store to a number of service providers, ranging from repair and building maintenance to accounting services. When you add it all up, the State is eventually going to end up with a lot more than twelve cents out of the $3.12 you paid.
In fact, our “four percent” GE tax is equivalent to approximately an 11% sales tax – if we actually had a sales tax that worked like the typical mainland sales tax, the rate would have to be about 11% in order to generate the same tax revenue that our “four percent” GE tax produces now. (This is based on a study done for the 2005-2007 Tax Review Commission of the State of Hawaii.) If you compare apples to apples – instead of apples to oranges – then we effectively already have an 11% sales tax (and that’s before considering the extra tax on Oahu). A “one percentage point” increase could put us at the equivalent of about a fourteen to fifteen percent sales tax rate, measured on an apples-to-apples basis.
To put this in perspective, if we compare sales and excise taxes across all 50 states, on a dollars-per-capita basis Hawaii is number two – second highest out of all 50 states (based on US Census Bureau statistics from 2005, before the rate on Oahu went from 4.0% to 4.5%). The only state ahead of us was Washington State, where they have no state income tax.
To be fair, having just gone thru this process - solar is not cheap - expect $20,000+ after tax credits for a decent system.
Exactly, only $17 a month (plus a small $20,000). And if you rent a place that has solar the landlord is not gonna charge you $17. lol
Also, Amazon doesn't have everything you could ever need. There are many times in my line of work I have to order something that is only available from a company that ships UPS.
Location: not sure, but there's a hell of a lot of water around here!
2,682 posts, read 7,579,782 times
Reputation: 3882
Quote:
Originally Posted by mauidude
It's not the price of Costco food or crumby rental units that get ya. It's the little things you don't ever think about.
Examples.
You find out you have a lump that needs examining by an expert. Guess what no expert on Maui, you get to fly to Oahu.
Want to take your kids to the zoo? Guess what no zoo on Maui. It costs a family of four, $900 to go to the zoo on Oahu for one day.
Electric and water rates are quadruple the mainland. You can spin it any way you want but but its atrocious here for utilities.
You want to buy something online, they don't ship USPS, they only ship UPS. You pay $30 to ship a $2 item.
You want to go out to eat. We went to Ruby Tuesday last week. Ordered the two least expensive items on the menu, no drinks (just water). Bill with appropriate tip was $37 for lunch. EXPENSIVE.
4% tax on EVERYTHING. You want an apple to eat pay a tax, need medicine, you pay a tax. It's equivalent to a 13% sales tax because in many cases the same dollar gets taxed over and over again.
Car registration has gone way up. The average car on Maui is $200 a year to register (plus the $15 for the safety check every year).
Home/apartment rents have gone way up. If you want to live in an old chicken coupe or cleaned out shed then you will be fine. Otherwise anything decent is at least $1300 for a nice one or two bedroom. PLUS utilities.
I'm not telling anyone not to come to Maui, I'm just tired of hearing about it's the same price as mainland. IT'S NOT. Especially if you are coming from a cheap area like Vegas. Everyone seems to think they can move out here, live in a 400 sq/ft shack and eat at costco everyday. It's not realistic at all.
If you would have asked me that question 11 years ago before I moved here then all those things would have surprised me yes. They are the little things that add up that you don't think about when ur watching tv in Bakersfield eating your $2 cereal with your $1.50 milk, thinkin about movin to Maui.
WRONG.
First of all, Hawaii doesn't have a sales tax. They have a general excise tax, it is NOT the same thing.
From one of the articles below.
Our 4% rate may appear low, but a big chunk of the tax burden is hidden in the prices of goods and services. For example, suppose you buy a loaf of bread for $3.00. The store adds 4% tax and charges you $3.12, so the “visible” tax is twelve cents. In reality, however, the State is collecting a lot more than that. The $3.00 price has to cover the store’s costs, which include the GE tax added on by the bakery when the store bought the bread at wholesale, the GE tax added on by the landlord when the store paid its rent, the GE tax added on by the seller when the store bought its shelves and display cases, and the GE tax paid by the store to a number of service providers, ranging from repair and building maintenance to accounting services. When you add it all up, the State is eventually going to end up with a lot more than twelve cents out of the $3.12 you paid.
In fact, our “four percent” GE tax is equivalent to approximately an 11% sales tax – if we actually had a sales tax that worked like the typical mainland sales tax, the rate would have to be about 11% in order to generate the same tax revenue that our “four percent” GE tax produces now. (This is based on a study done for the 2005-2007 Tax Review Commission of the State of Hawaii.) If you compare apples to apples – instead of apples to oranges – then we effectively already have an 11% sales tax (and that’s before considering the extra tax on Oahu). A “one percentage point” increase could put us at the equivalent of about a fourteen to fifteen percent sales tax rate, measured on an apples-to-apples basis.
To put this in perspective, if we compare sales and excise taxes across all 50 states, on a dollars-per-capita basis Hawaii is number two – second highest out of all 50 states (based on US Census Bureau statistics from 2005, before the rate on Oahu went from 4.0% to 4.5%). The only state ahead of us was Washington State, where they have no state income tax.
In 2006 Hawaii rated FIFTH in the nation for the highest percentage of state and local tax burden as a percentage of the 2006 state income. ... FIFTH.
Interesting articles, I guess if you think about it that way its a higher rate. We residents accept it currently as a 'cost of business' or 'cost of living' since we're just used to it. I'm not a business accountant or anything, but do they actually count the cumulative costs of the tax paid, and then figure out the exact amount to pass on to the next person? If we think about it as an '11% sales tax', but in the end we the consumer paying $3.12 for that loaf of bread, we just think of it as hey the bread's going for 2.80 at the store today +tax.
IMHO at the end of the day people on the forums want to know how much they are going to pay for a gallon of milk after taxes, and where to get it from for the best value.
Although I wasn't aware that other states you don't pay sales tax on medical like the article mentioned. That'd be a nice exemption to have out here especially with our elderly population.
To be fair, having just gone thru this process - solar is not cheap - expect $20,000+ after tax credits for a decent system.
No its not cheap now, but it'll pay off in the long run I would hope. Its still an option for you, as well as when you sell your home it has that much added value to it. So its not like your investment goes away.
As for the landlord with $17/month electricity, why wouldn't he pass on that bill to you. Many tenants pay their own electricity anyways, unless they live in ohanas or condos with electric included in their maintenance fees. If your not doing your own due diligence when picking out a rental; that you pay a certain amount for electricity without having access to view the monthly bill. Are you sure you really want to stay in that rental?
To be fair part 2. Most apartments and condos don't have solar.
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