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Don't rent until you are actually on island and can see the place along with the surrounding area. There are vacation rental places where you can stay for the first month while you are looking around for a place as well as while you are waiting for all your stuff to get shipped over. The housing on Oahu is not homogenized, you will have a nice place in the middle of an area you'd really rather not live in and online you can't tell. It might look good on Google Earth, but GE doesn't pick up the sounds of the rooster farm next door, the highway two houses over or the airplanes taking off overhead.
Don't rent until you are actually on island and can see the place along with the surrounding area. There are vacation rental places where you can stay for the first month while you are looking around for a place as well as while you are waiting for all your stuff to get shipped over. The housing on Oahu is not homogenized, you will have a nice place in the middle of an area you'd really rather not live in and online you can't tell. It might look good on Google Earth, but GE doesn't pick up the sounds of the rooster farm next door, the highway two houses over or the airplanes taking off overhead.
+1. Having made the move myself, this is the best thing to do. The place we had picked out from Craigslist looked great. When I actually went there, it was not even something I would consider living in. If I had more time to effectively search while on Island it would have helped. Instead we moved into a place that was too small for us, and had to deal with it till we found something better. With the lease break fee to get out of the tiny place, we would have been better off staying comfortably in a vacation rental.
I am 34 married with a son 2 years of age. My husband just got offered to relocate to Oahu for a 3-5 year contract. I have a few questions if anyone can help me out..
1st- regarding money from what I have read we should be a little bit higher than ok. What is the job market for someone with 10+years experience with data entry, customer service, and billing & collections background? What would the average pay be for a full time position? Sorry but $45k is rather high, unless you actually have an accounting degree, office admin positions are in the high $20's - low $30's. The good thing is there are a lot of jobs out here in Honolulu (compared to the mainland).
2nd- what communities would be good family areas for a single family rental?
Depends on you and your husband's salary. Cost of rent = quality of neighborhood, there are no magical, secret deals hiding for you to discover, you get exactly what you pay for in Honolulu, which is ALOT. http://www.staradvertiser.com/s?acti...y&id=135643248
3rd - How are the day care facilities in the areas? would be looking for a child center more than an in home daycare. $1000 a month at minimum, especially for such a young child. Many rooted people here depend on their retired parents to save on daycare costs. Its much more difficult for transplants. If your husband's job is a federal job their may be benefits to help out like cafeteria plans or federal care centers.
4th - Is there personal property tax for vehicles? Prop tax is separate from vehicle tax which gets paid IF you are required to register your car here. If you can tell us more about your husband's job it would help. I believe there are federal military exemptions for having to register your car in honolulu.
We will be pretty much leaving everything mainland or selling it as we dont think it would cost effective to move it twice. buying secondhand from craigslist is very cost effective and easy and environmentally friendly (to a degree)......but don't buy mattresses or couches secondhand, you don't know what nasty microorganisms are cultivating in the cushioning.
Any additional information would be great as well. THEBUS sucks. Too bad the rail won't finish before your husband's contract expires.
Thanks
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Last edited by lost_traveler1; 12-17-2011 at 07:48 PM..
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