Family of 5 Moving from AZ to Maui June 1st (Kahului: power lines, rentals)

[KauaiHiker]

First of all, I do have to say there has sort of been a reset (for the better) on this forum after the outage :-) Problem is, that is going to make me look like the person who is full of negativity:

- It's not clear whether the April trip is round-trip (scout out for a few weeks and then head home) or one-way (stay and prepare for family arrival 2 months later). I once did the latter (going to CA): move over 6 weeks before the family, find a house and a car (all on craigslist), then some furninture (a bed), then go back home 1 week before the move to help with the packing and load the container. I did get lucky and stay with friends (house-sitting) instead of needing to rent a place for myself.

- I agree about the car: if you have a paid-off, rust-free and reliable car that you like, it makes more sense to ship it. Oh, and good mileage (25 mpg or better) would really help. You do have to drive it to the port in California to keep it cheap, and depending on when you do that, you may still need a rental for 7-10 days.

- Sounds like you're planning to sell a lot, but still keep enough to need a PODS to move. Those are expensive, so maybe you should consider other arrangements. If you're going to move enough for a PODS, you can probably save money be doing a container move: twice the cost but you can move 4 or 6 times as much. So then you don't have to sell and rebuy so much stuff, saving you time and money. However, container moves are only cheap if you do them yourself: pack and load them on one end, and unload on the other. It's great to downsize, and you can find plenty to buy again in HI, but if you have to ship anyways, you should look at all the options.

- A lot of places rent or sell with the fridge, washer, and dryer, so no need to worry about that.

- I agree with the craigslist suggestion: because you still have a few months, selling things off on craigslist to people who are searching for those things (as opposed to the random people who go to garage sales) should get you higher prices.

- I'm not sure that 10K for the entire move is realistic. You're looking at 5 (or 6) tickets so 2K minimum, plus another 1K for the 2 pets (vet+tests+airline). Then you have temporary lodging, wheels and meals (say 1K), deposits and first month (3K easily), so that leaves 4K for move. A container is 3K just for the rental and the boat port-to-port, and 1K for the car if you go that route. But you still need to pay for the trucking from AZ (maybe to AZ as well, not sure how they originate them)--as well as in Maui.

- Same for the 10K for the first 3 months. Maybe the first months rent counts here, but then you're looking at 4.5-5K in rent alone. At $500 minumum a month for food, you only have 4K left for all the other things you wanted to buy (assuming you don't ship them).

- I think 12K for both of those is more realistic, and even that would be a minimum. Be prepared to have a little cushion over that that just in case.

[winkosmosis]

You should consider selling your stuff and starting new in Hawaii. Pods are incredibly expensive... I'm pretty sure the cost is more than the value of the stuff you'll be putting into one. Ship clothes etc with USPS parcel post.

BTW the rain and cloudiness in Pukalani and Kula will probably be a big shock for you coming from Arizona. Don't be surprised if you get SAD.

[oregonwoodsmoke]

Originally Posted by KauaiHiker

.................
- I'm not sure that 10K for the entire move is realistic. You're looking at 5 (or 6) tickets so 2K minimum, plus another 1K for the 2 pets (vet+tests+airline)............ .

I don't think you will get 2 pets moved for $1,000. There is airfare, which is high, plus the state of Hawaii has a high cost import fee. Then you must pay a veterinarian to receive them at the airport. The rabies shots and blood titres add up. Then there is another vet fee for health papers for the airline, and flea treatment and vermifuge must be done at the vet's and certified.

Then they can not be out of their crates until you are well away from customs and the airport, so you need a vehicle large enough to fit the entire crates inside without breaking the crates down.

If you can do it for $1,000, good for you, but I think you had better budget more, just in case.

[trinity1111]

Greetings!!
I am also making the move to Maui with two pets[dogs].
I've been jumping thru all the hoops with our veterinarian
to follow the State of Hawaii Agriculture Animal Quarantine check-list on the website.
It does require an acceptable
tick treatment, but does not make mention of a flea treatment/vermifuge......
My veterinarian did just make mention
of flea treatment last visit, but wasn't sure where to clarify if this is something new or what.

Could you, or anyone please clarify at what point is the flea treatment required? Thank-you...!!

[HiloDiver]

The fipronil required per the HI DOA website treats fleas and ticks.

5-Day-or-Less Quarantine Program FAQS — Hawaii Department of Agriculture

[trinity1111]

Good reference, Mahalo!!

[mauidude]

Is there any way you can postpone your move over here to save more money? With that many dependents, no job and only 10 thousand dollars I feel your odds of success are slim. If you had 25 thousand liquid when you got here (after all moving expenses) I think you would do much better.

We just moved to a new rental. 4 bedroom $2400 a month and the landlord had 20 applicants the first 3 days. So just first month rent, water deposit, security deposit was $5300 and I hadn't even moved in yet.

[Dthraco]

Originally Posted by FBlack2

At this moment we are preparing our massive "Everything Must Go" yard sale for mid May. This includes creating an inventory, and marking things based on keep/sell/donate/discard. My wife's biggest issue is how soon we'll be able to repurchase the things were selling here.

We did that, sold off everything we thought we would not need. We shipped the rest in flat rate USPS boxes or brought it on the plane in plastic bins. Look at the stuff you intend on getting rid of and consider if you could ship it and how much it would cost to replace. I shipped my tools in a flat rate box as well as our silverware. I wish I would have shipped the really nice knife set I had, as I still have not gotten a good set because they want too much for them. Also, we had nice towels and pot holders, etc. would have been best to ship that stuff than replace it.


Take a good look at everything and imaging buying it all back. Go to the store and see what the prices really are these days. The prices here are not that incredibly inflated, but just furnishing a place from scratch is crazy…broom, toilet bowl cleaner, dust pan…all that stuff we pick up over time is a big chunk when you have to get it all at once.


Your wife’s concern on how quick you can replace things is a good one. The stores to buy things are pretty limited so if she is picky like we are, it takes a while to get the place furnished the way you like it.
+1 on shipping the car. We haven’t regretted shipping our car for one second. It has 181,000 miles on it, is paid for, and is going strong. The process of getting it registered in Hawaii is pretty easy and quick.

Originally Posted by FBlack2

Any suggestions for pulling off a high-yield / wildly successful yard sale?

We listed it on Craigslist with items in the sale. Seems there are scores of folks who watch for garage sales…seriously, it’s like a whole team of people who go to them. We had a total of 4 garage sales and the same crew was there before we even started. Cool that you can accept Credit Cards, I would mention that in the CL ad.


We also brought pets (3 cats). Because we had all the necessary items done, the process was pretty easy once we arrived. We brought copies of all the paperwork, and this helped the airlines. They flew under the plane and we had 0 issues. I came out 2 weeks before my wife so we could take the pets directly to their new home.


BTW - High speed internet is not so high speed here. I’m now getting 6Mbps on average at home for regular internet service. The mainland service I had was already at 24Mbps back in late 2010. Probably not an issue for you, but worth mentioning.

[trinity1111]

[mod snip-- reference to deleted duplicate post]
I was asking if anyone else heard if Oceanic Time Warner
was upgrading from 10mb to 15 mb, at least available in Kihei.

Also, how strong is AT&T cell phone service in Kihei and across Maui?

[MitchTempo]

I'm about 8Mbps down, .98 Mbps up in Maui meadows which is right above Wailea with Time warner cable. They have 3 speeds to get, I pay for the middle one which is $10/month extra.

Using Speedtest to dreamhost in LA