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I got a job offer with the salary of 80K per year. But my husband can not find anything at present. We have two kids (4 year and 18 month). Can we get by with my salary?
you will be just fine, if you have some savings and decent credit you should consider buying. 80k a year is not easy to obtain here in Hawaii.
I suggest buy or rent in Manoa Valley as its close to work and a nice neighborhood.
Welcome to UH Manoa! I'm also a new professor at UHM. The faculty housing is hard to get into. Most of my dept. colleagues live in Hawaii Kai. I agree with the other poster that you'll probably spend at least $1800 for rent for an apartment. It's not just the cost. The quality of housing is lower than what you're probably used to on the mainland. Properties tend to be more run down, less well maintained. Manoa is a nice neighborhood, but not many apartments, and most houses are too expensive for junior faculty. Electricity is very expensive here, another $100-200 a month.
Two answers, yes and no.
Yes, if you don't mind lowering your standard of living from the mainland, and I mean lower it allot.
No, 80K is not much here. I made 110K and had a home in Mililani, and life was okay. We didn't have new cars, just the house, bills (cable, electricity etc). It is a stressful place, traffic,, food costs, racism, and education sucks in Hawaii and has a lot to be desired. Dont be fooled by the pretty pictures and aloha spirit crap on Oahu, its a metropolis, no different than any other city stereotype.
I work at the UH right now as a postdoc. Like people say, 80K is okay to make ends meet if you don't want a lot of things, eat cheaply, and can be comfortable in a run down place. For what I want and where I am in life, Hawaii is too expensive for my family of three at 110,000 dollars a year, and if I did get offered a job at UH (I did apply for an open position last month), I don't think I would take it though it would bump the family income to 140,000. I just want a better standard of at-home living and am willing to give up the natural beauty of the island and weather for that. Though, many people would rather take the Hawaii lifestyle and have a lot less and are quite happy here. I would suggest you look for housing within a few miles of campus though, traffic around UH is quite congested.
Yes, you can, but you need to adjust your standards and be HAPPY with it. Case in point, you can probably find a $1500 apartment but it's going to be a walk-up dive that you probably would find going for $500 in your home city. Do a little homework first, by visiting some of these $500 rat shacks in your neighborhood, close your eyes and think "Same place, but it will be in Hawaii". If the pros still outweigh the cons, then go for it!
I got a job offer with the salary of 80K per year. But my husband can not find anything at present. We have two kids (4 year and 18 month). Can we get by with my salary?
You'll be fine, just watch your budget. Consider shipping over your car if it is already paid for and reliable. You've got a year or two before you have to consider a school for your oldest child, that gives you some wiggle-room.
Wow -- I remember when $80K/Year was a top salary. In Hawaii, it's still a wow -- except here the roof over your head costs so much. Utilities are outrageous and will get even more so as we rebuild our water and sewer systems -- something the Democrats neglected to do for the last 40 years. Taxes are on a level with California -- high. If you can get your kids into decent schools without paying tens of thousands of dollars a year, you should go for it. Your husband can work at a Korean bar or someplace.
Location: not sure, but there's a hell of a lot of water around here!
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Yep,, too bad the Glades on Hotel Street closed down... Kind of miss Prince(ss?) Kalani.. Think that was his/her name..
Aloha
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