Is the grass greener in Maui? Contemplating relocating from Saint Paul. (Honolulu: apartment, rent)

[Mikala43]

Let's keep on topic please.

[maui-intoxicated]

Ahh back to topic. I will be going to my dog's vet tomorrow to get there professional opinion on if I should be moving Buddy to Maui. He might be too old for this to happen.

He is scheduled for a routine checkup so I wanted to give my vet the 5-day or Less Program Checklist also known to some as the "Direct Release" method of getting an animal to Maui.

We shall see how that goes. In the meantime still waiting for the #'s on my house...I've driven the neighborhood, looked at the local market, and I don't think I will be surprised when those come back...

[HiloDiver]

Direct release is easy enough to do if you follow directions to the letter. The receiving vet on this end will be VERY helpful to you ahead of time. You will also find HI Dept. of Ag employees to be exceedingly helpful on the phone.

Basically we walked off the plane with our dogs, the vet met us and gave them an extremely thorough going-over. Then she signed the paperwork and we were on our way.

Best wishes to you. You're far more well-planned than most.

[MauiPartTimer]

Originally Posted by maui-intoxicated

This is good forward thinking. Best case scenario is I find vacation housing that accepts my Golden prior to the move. Being a landlord myself I can somewhat understand the risks of renting to pet owners. I've rented to both responsible and irresponsible pet owners, they do make a mess but we clean after our pet. In a year 2kids can do more damage to a property than my dog could do in his life lol...at least in my humbling landlord experiences.

Next scenario would be to leave him at the folks until I find suitable housing and then begin the 90day process...with the downside being he would arrive no earlier than 4months after I arrive *assuming I find housing within the first month. This would be a tough option, as leaving your kid behind for 4 months isn't easy for anyone.

The thing with vacation rentals is that they are mostly condos and many of them have rules against pets, so even if the owner of the condo was willing to let Rover stay with you, it might not be allowed by the Owner's Association. We own a 2 bed/2 bath condo in in Kihei (Maui Vista) and pets are not allowed, for tennants or owners.

As I said in the post prior, the 2nd option you listed might be best. You'd be away from the dog for a little while, but then you could have one of the joyous reunions like we keep seeing with returning military troops and their dogs.

[OpenD]

Originally Posted by TwoByFour

And that is exactly the reason I told another poster to "take your current cost of living in the mainland, and add 20% to determine what you need to live on in Hawaii". Your cost of living is totally dependent upon your lifestyle... ...So there is no magic number for income level needed to move to Hawaii, it is just 20% more than what you had on the mainland.

No, there is no magic number, and "mainland +20%" could be a very high or a very low guesstimate, depending on a person's specific circumstances. Which island one chooses has a lot to do with it, and which area within the island, since housing is such a huge variable across the state and such a large part of one's Cost of Living. And where you're coming from and what you're used to also has a huge impact, as does whether you are working or not. It really takes a detailed budget analysis of specifics to get to the truth.

Consider the very different circumstances of someone moving from a major city like New York or San Francisco to the Big Island, vs someone moving from a small town in the snow belt to Honolulu. In the first case the person's total cost of living could be cut in half, while in the second the total cost of living could double. And if the first was a retiree, while the second was still working, the spread between them could be even wider, since wages are generally about 20% lower in Hawai'i than they are on the mainland.

Originally Posted by Big Island Cat

One thing I noticed about us moving to Hawaii, our cost of living actually dropped significantly, and I attribute that to the change of lifestyle Hawaii allows. We are outside more, also we don't find ourselves with lights all the time. Also I love hanging out the laundry to dry. It is all those little things that make a big lifestyle difference. Our house is much smaller here than it was on the mainland, so way less time running that vacuum, which once again translates to more play time.

Yes, precisely. I had the same experience, and I appreciate your use of the word "allows," because one can take the opportunity or not. There is a very wide range of lifestyles available in Hawai'i, and it is a fundamental choice one needs to make in deciding whether to move, and where to. There is no such thing as a generic "move to Hawai'i" equation or even rule of thumb that works for everyone. It all depends on the choices you make. Even looking at a single island there are broad choices available. Living large in Wailuku, for example, is completely different from the simple life in rural Maui.

[maui-intoxicated]

Did some searching for Electric actual s but I couldn't find anything. I was hoping someone might be able to give me some #'s here so I can try and guess my electric/gas costs. Something tells me with our Super hot summers, and our super cold winters, hawaii's higher electric costs will be surprisingly offset nicely. This is for a 2300sq ft house.

I currently pay $.09827/ kwh with avg winter usage of 21 kwh/day for a total of 608kwh at $81.62 /month including taxes and state tax of 6.875%.

Now my gas is combined in my bill in MN and I would presume in Maui, my usage would drop.

I currently pay $.64736 / therms with avg winter usage of 5.6 therms /day for a total of 161 therms at $113.22 /month including a $9 monthly service charge.

[whtviper1]

Originally Posted by maui-intoxicated

Did some searching for Electric actual s but I couldn't find anything. I was hoping someone might be able to give me some #'s here

You probably won't have a gas bill in Hawaii - most don't have it although it is gaining some traction.

You'll pay 36 cents+ kWh on Maui, here is an article the average bill is $225 month - if you work at home or use air conditioning, expect to potentially pay $400+. If you use gas for cooking at home, you'll need to factor that in as electric on Maui. The article is from last year - but ironically the news this morning says electric on the way up this month as well.

Electric bills up in March on all islands - Hawaii News - Honolulu Star-Advertiser

[Dthraco]

*another "rare" hawaii resident poster under 50 chiming in* lol

When we moved, I came over two weeks prior to the pets and my wife. I stayed in an inexpensive hotel till I found a place to live. The idea was to go directly from the airport to their new home. It was also less expensive going this route since I didn't have to get a temporary place that allowed pets.

Gotta love Starbucks free internet till you get your service hooked up.

One thing that helped with the direct release was to have a fully copy of all the documents with us on the plane. This made things faster for the airline. We used Hawaiian, they were GREAT. By the time we walked to the pet release area they were ready to go.

+1 on wink's outlook. Not very positive.

[maui-intoxicated]

Originally Posted by whtviper1

You probably won't have a gas bill in Hawaii - most don't have it although it is gaining some traction.

You'll pay 36 cents+ kWh on Maui, here is an article the average bill is $225 month - if you work at home or use air conditioning, expect to potentially pay $400+. If you use gas for cooking at home, you'll need to factor that in as electric on Maui. The article is from last year - but ironically the news this morning says electric on the way up this month as well.

Electric bills up in March on all islands - Hawaii News - Honolulu Star-Advertiser

I can relate to this fully. So it looks like the difference would be minimal in the overall scheme of my annual expenses.

Thanks again for the very relevant and helpful info!

Mahalo!

[maui-intoxicated]

Originally Posted by Dthraco

*another "rare" hawaii resident poster under 50 chiming in* lol

When we moved, I came over two weeks prior to the pets and my wife. I stayed in an inexpensive hotel till I found a place to live. The idea was to go directly from the airport to their new home. It was also less expensive going this route since I didn't have to get a temporary place that allowed pets.

Gotta love Starbucks free internet till you get your service hooked up.

One thing that helped with the direct release was to have a fully copy of all the documents with us on the plane. This made things faster for the airline. We used Hawaiian, they were GREAT. By the time we walked to the pet release area they were ready to go.

+1 on wink's outlook. Not very positive.

Good info Dthraco! Buddy is getting micro chipped next week just because we are taking care of some minor surgeries before we get too deep into this. Our local vet knows all the needed transport info for more than just a Maui relocation so I am in good hands there.

So its the blood sample from the U, and a quick rabies shot and we should be good to go in a month.

I will be using Hawaiin as I've heard the most about them. I also like your idea of coming 2weeks earlier and renting an inexpensive hotel to get the dog / car transport squared away.

Its tough to plan this but I am shooting for a September arrival with all of the logistics involved in this relocation it should give me enough time to do enough planning.

My XCEL Spreadsheet has grown to 6tabs now

I got good news from my realtor (home should sell for more than enough in less than 30days MPLS market is up 1% for a few solid months now I believe), I got good news from my company (LOVE THEM), I've run all the hard numbers and relocation expenses, my wife is on-board and excited for our new adventure as a young married couple (we've been together for 7years so all the skeletons are out of the closet by now lol)... things are getting real real!

Fun fact, wind-chills were in the -20degree f today... and it won't be above freezing (36) until Saturday. I won't miss this climate.