Is the grass greener in Maui? Contemplating relocating from Saint Paul. (Kahului: big house, to buy)

[Sherwoody]

Originally Posted by Irish Eyes_Mrs. Z

Could you please tell me what moa are? I googled it, and came up with some sort of non-profit organization and the extinct moa birds. Is that what you're talking about? If not, could you please educate me? Thanks :-).

Try this... er er era errrr! Island Breath: Kauai Flora & Fauna - Moa

[Irish Eyes_Mrs. Z]

How cool is that ?!? I'd love to have those beauties hanging out in my yard if I lived in Hawaii. I was raised on a small farm, so the sound of crowing roosters doesn't bother me in the least. In fact, I find their crows rather comforting :-).

Thanks for linking me to the info I'd asked for :-).

[WaterSafari]

You will LOVE this book about relocating to Hawaii . . . it has many interviews with people who have relocated from the mainland. It helped me a lot in my decision and brought forth a lot of realities that I didn't know (or maybe I was in denial about them). It's called The Real Hawaii Life, True Stories of Relocations to Hawaii (by Kat Varano). You will hear exactly the peoples' experiences before, during and after their move, and if they stayed or left. It'd be worth the investment. Hope you make it!

[Loriandrandy]

Both my husband and I had great, solid job offers on Maui that would give us about $150k/year in income, with potential for growth. All looked good.
We had been there several times and were 90 percent committed to a move there in Oct. 2015. Last February, we went for a two-week visit to house hunt and just be on the island with a "living there" attitude rather than a vacation attitude.
We spent a day with a nice realtor, who showed us about 10 homes in our price range, all over the island. A very discouraging day, to say the least.
At the end of that day, we determined that the only way we could ever buy a home on Maui was if we upped our max price by about $100k, and bought a home with an Ohana so we could have rental income. No such home existed while we were there, but we hoped it would come available. We figured we would rent for a year, and be on the lookout for the perfect home that we could actually afford. We were willing to lower our standards by a lot to live in Maui, with the only requirements being a small yard, and a safe, relatively quiet neighborhood.
We have a golden retriever, a golden doodle, and two cats. We payed the $1000 last year to get them through the quarantine process. We started looking at rentals on Craigslist and found that there are literally none in decent areas that will rent to you if you have even one dog, let alone two. That is, unless you have about $3k a month+ to spend on rent.
We came home very discouraged. I still wanted to give it a go, but my husband backed out. We gave up our dream (or maybe it was just MY dream) of living on Maui because of the harsh reality of the housing situation.
The high cost of gas, food, etc. could all have been worked around. But housing? Not so much.
Sorry to be a Debbie-downer.

[hothulamaui]

so sorry lori, I know how much you wanted to be here. housing is a bit*h for sure. maui will always be here, perhaps in a few years or if there ever comes a time when you don't have pets. we waited until our kid was off to school and the pets were gone. come take long vacations until you can stay awhile.

[MitchTempo]

Yea, February is pretty empty for inventory Lori. Its our real estate high season too. Right about this time of the year thru Dec. or so you will start seeing homes stay on the market a little longer, or some even coming down in price.

[JustForYOu]

Originally Posted by Loriandrandy

Both my husband and I had great, solid job offers on Maui that would give us about $150k/year in income, with potential for growth. All looked good.
We had been there several times and were 90 percent committed to a move there in Oct. 2015. Last February, we went for a two-week visit to house hunt and just be on the island with a "living there" attitude rather than a vacation attitude.
We spent a day with a nice realtor, who showed us about 10 homes in our price range, all over the island. A very discouraging day, to say the least.
At the end of that day, we determined that the only way we could ever buy a home on Maui was if we upped our max price by about $100k, and bought a home with an Ohana so we could have rental income. No such home existed while we were there, but we hoped it would come available. We figured we would rent for a year, and be on the lookout for the perfect home that we could actually afford. We were willing to lower our standards by a lot to live in Maui, with the only requirements being a small yard, and a safe, relatively quiet neighborhood.
We have a golden retriever, a golden doodle, and two cats. We payed the $1000 last year to get them through the quarantine process. We started looking at rentals on Craigslist and found that there are literally none in decent areas that will rent to you if you have even one dog, let alone two. That is, unless you have about $3k a month+ to spend on rent.
We came home very discouraged. I still wanted to give it a go, but my husband backed out. We gave up our dream (or maybe it was just MY dream) of living on Maui because of the harsh reality of the housing situation.
The high cost of gas, food, etc. could all have been worked around. But housing? Not so much.
Sorry to be a Debbie-downer.

Whoa, something does not add up. I'm quite Did the job offers fall through? If not, you are telling me you couldn't live in Maui on $12,500 per month "with the only requirements being a small yard, and a safe, relatively quiet neighborhood." Also a bit that living in Maui would be force one to "lower our standards by a lot..." Geez, then, why move here?

[CasualEntrepreneur]

Originally Posted by Loriandrandy

Both my husband and I had great, solid job offers on Maui that would give us about $150k/year in income, with potential for growth. All looked good.
We had been there several times and were 90 percent committed to a move there in Oct. 2015. Last February, we went for a two-week visit to house hunt and just be on the island with a "living there" attitude rather than a vacation attitude.
We spent a day with a nice realtor, who showed us about 10 homes in our price range, all over the island. A very discouraging day, to say the least.
At the end of that day, we determined that the only way we could ever buy a home on Maui was if we upped our max price by about $100k, and bought a home with an Ohana so we could have rental income. No such home existed while we were there, but we hoped it would come available. We figured we would rent for a year, and be on the lookout for the perfect home that we could actually afford. We were willing to lower our standards by a lot to live in Maui, with the only requirements being a small yard, and a safe, relatively quiet neighborhood.
We have a golden retriever, a golden doodle, and two cats. We payed the $1000 last year to get them through the quarantine process. We started looking at rentals on Craigslist and found that there are literally none in decent areas that will rent to you if you have even one dog, let alone two. That is, unless you have about $3k a month+ to spend on rent.
We came home very discouraged. I still wanted to give it a go, but my husband backed out. We gave up our dream (or maybe it was just MY dream) of living on Maui because of the harsh reality of the housing situation.
The high cost of gas, food, etc. could all have been worked around. But housing? Not so much.
Sorry to be a Debbie-downer.

We are considering the same but without the pet. What was your price range & sq ft requirements? And what areas were you looking?

Single Family Home yes?

[Kokoleka1]

Sorry to hear that you are not going to make your dream fly.... I think both in a couple really have to want it (even if it's with an extremely generous budget like yours), otherwise things can get rough... You can always come back to vacation...

[Irish Eyes_Mrs. Z]

I'm glad that you, like us, believe that non-human family members aren't "disposable". Once, when I got a Special Ed teaching position in "the big city", I almost had to give it up, because I couldn't find a place that would accept our pets. Luckily, someone came through at the last minute, and I didn't have to quit the good job and return back to the small town I was living in.

I wish you the very best with your dream to live on Maui. Hopefully, you can still give it a go at some point. I'll tell ya what, though, we'll never move where we have to rent. We'll buy or we won't go, for the very reason of the reluctance of landlords to accept pets (dogs and parrots for us). And, if we ever decide to move to Hawaii, we'll undoubtedly purchase a home on the Big Island, as real estate is much more affordable for us in certain parts of that particular island.

Originally Posted by Loriandrandy

Both my husband and I had great, solid job offers on Maui that would give us about $150k/year in income, with potential for growth. All looked good.
We had been there several times and were 90 percent committed to a move there in Oct. 2015. Last February, we went for a two-week visit to house hunt and just be on the island with a "living there" attitude rather than a vacation attitude.
We spent a day with a nice realtor, who showed us about 10 homes in our price range, all over the island. A very discouraging day, to say the least.
At the end of that day, we determined that the only way we could ever buy a home on Maui was if we upped our max price by about $100k, and bought a home with an Ohana so we could have rental income. No such home existed while we were there, but we hoped it would come available. We figured we would rent for a year, and be on the lookout for the perfect home that we could actually afford. We were willing to lower our standards by a lot to live in Maui, with the only requirements being a small yard, and a safe, relatively quiet neighborhood.
We have a golden retriever, a golden doodle, and two cats. We payed the $1000 last year to get them through the quarantine process. We started looking at rentals on Craigslist and found that there are literally none in decent areas that will rent to you if you have even one dog, let alone two. That is, unless you have about $3k a month+ to spend on rent.
We came home very discouraged. I still wanted to give it a go, but my husband backed out. We gave up our dream (or maybe it was just MY dream) of living on Maui because of the harsh reality of the housing situation.
The high cost of gas, food, etc. could all have been worked around. But housing? Not so much.
Sorry to be a Debbie-downer.