Honolulu has continues to have least affordable housing in US (apartment, HOA)

[Phanos9999]

All I can say to this is housing is very important when it comes to living everywhere but it is not the end all be all. I read in this article that it ranks detroit,livonia,warren area as the most affordable............ LOL LOL LOL.
All I can say is that if you move from Honolulu to this area get ready for some huge shocks! First of all, unemployment is absolutely horrible! It is a depressing 10.8% last reported! Higher than the national average.
So have fun looking for a job to afford that nice cheap housing......LOL.....
Detroit-Warren-Livonia, Michigan Metropolitan Unemployment Rate and Total Unemployed | Department of Numbers
Let hope you don't move into your nice cheap home when a lot of people are around. If you do, then don't be shocked that your house is robbed within 2 weeks and if you drive a nice car, expect that to be gone or stripped also. And while you are angry and calling for the police to come and investigate who robbed you.....expect about a 5 hour wait time. If you happen to get hurt or shot during the robbery, expect a 2-3 hour wait time for ambulance and police to come so I hope it's not fatal.
And once they are there....they will file a police report...tell you welcome to detroit with a laugh....ask where you are from and you say hawaii. Then they will laugh harder and tell you that you moved in the wrong direction....
Read this woman's story.......after 12 break ins this past summer!
Metro Cops: Detroit woman moving after enduring 12 home break-ins; millage proposal to add 500 Detroit police | MLive.com
And let's hope you don't have intelligent, street smart, or beautiful children. They will be eye balled by the drug dealers who are selling drugs right up the street to be recruited as soldiers or hookers. If you try to call the police all they will tell you is to keep an eye on your children or maybe not even answer since they have cut the police department funding....
Detroit Police To Visitors:
And best of all........Crime and violence....... You are in an area with high amounts of drug dealers, pimps, and desperate people willing to kill you over just $10.00! And the crime and violence is getting worse!
Homicides in troubled Detroit up 9 percent in 2012: officials - Yahoo! News
And let's hope there is no fire, because due to budget cuts....they cut the fire department too.
Cuts in fire protection leading to deaths in Detroit - World Socialist Web Site
But hey, it's ok.........You have the most affordable housing in the nation...........LOL!

So you know what you are going to do now. You are going to ask everyone you know for money to help you move back to hawaii and then be happy paying super high house notes or rent and think to yourself.....it can be so much worse.
I have met people who are from detroit and were born and raised there like me and when we ask each other if we are ever going back, we both ALWAYS just start laughing.

My main point in all this is don't base life changing things like moving to another state based on things you read. Little articles like this usually don't reveal the devil in the details. And believe me, you are going to want to know ALL the details.
Go there, ask or talk to people you know that have been there. Watch programs about moving to hawaii, there is a good one that started up on the travel channel. Read books about hawaii or where ever you want to live, and then go there for a week and talk to people who live there in person, experience and knowledge are you best friends when it comes to moving to another state.

[OpenD]

Originally Posted by khyron

Finally, there's always the possibility that the person making the comparisons is planning to purchase a home outright and therefore doesn't consider a mortgage to be part of their monthly "expenses" (even though obviously it's still an expense, and taxed, etc).

Anybody with any sophistication at all about money knows that paying cash for a house is only one of the possible ways one could use that money, and other uses include investing it in various ways that could return a profit. So that lost opportunity cost has to be factored in. And you don't get the tax breaks, your cash is tied up, etc. So the statement "we paid cash for our house so our Cost of Living is low," is a fallacy. The cost of housing is still high, you just paid it upfront. It would be more accurate to say "we paid cash for our house so our ongoing cash needs are low," if you feel they are.

[whtviper1]

With interest rates so low people with high incomes don't typically pay "cash" for a home even if they have more cash than they need. They'll mortgage at a minimum the 1 million dollar deduction limit so they can take the tax deduction which for a high bracket earner is quite a bit of money - and they'll invest the cash in something that is earning better than the 3.5% mortgage interest.

[d2snow]

Originally Posted by OpenD

There are a LOT of rich people in Hawai'i, and they skew the figures on everything.

There is a lot of military here, and THAT definitely skewers the figures. Those that live off-base get a housing allowance so they can spend 3 times as much on rent that a civilian would; it's off-set by their BAH. I've seen units advertised at higher rent for military than for regular folks on Craig's list.

IMO, it also contributes to the lower salary scales. Military get paid low salaries, but most everything else comes to them free or at very low cost.

[whtviper1]

The military don't drive housing prices. If that were the case Waikiki would be cheap as little to military live there.

[d2snow]

Originally Posted by whtviper1

The military don't drive housing prices. If that were the case Waikiki would be cheap as little to military live there.

I think it does indirectly; I know some that can afford to pay $2,000 rent and half of that is from BAH.

I had some landlords that wanted to charge me higher rent because they thought I was military.

[whtviper1]

It's an island and driven by supply and demand. To few units and to many people.

The military is shrinking yet housing still going much higher.

[20yrsinBranson]

Originally Posted by whtviper1

Lots of dreamer posts this week - article in today's paper that Honolulu remains the least affordable in the US. Sorry for the typo in the thread title.

Honolulu housing remains the least affordable in U.S. - Hawaii News - Honolulu Star-Advertiser

doesn't look too bad to me.

Single Family for sale at 369 Hobron Ln Honolulu, HI 96815 - MLS# 1206129 | Hawaii Island Homes - Your complete listing of Hawaii real estate

20yrsinbranson

[whtviper1]

Originally Posted by 20yrsinBranson

doesn't look too bad to me.

Single Family for sale at 369 Hobron Ln Honolulu, HI 96815 - MLS# 1206129 | Hawaii Island Homes - Your complete listing of Hawaii real estate

20yrsinbranson

Yes, the sadness of leashold - less than 10 years ago they were going for triple the price - when the leashold is up they'll demolish the building and build another high rise or something as fee simple.

[WaikikiBoy]

Originally Posted by 20yrsinBranson

doesn't look too bad to me.

Single Family for sale at 369 Hobron Ln Honolulu, HI 96815 - MLS# 1206129 | Hawaii Island Homes - Your complete listing of Hawaii real estate

20yrsinbranson

Sometimes things aren't always as good as they seem on the surface. For example, a few things that listing does not tell you is the unit is a Leasehold Property, not a Fee Simple property.

This means in addition to the purchase price, and in addition to the $215 monthly HOA Fee, you pay a "lease Fee". In this case, the Lease Fee is $485/month. The Lease has an expiration date. The lease on this unit expires 2021 ... in just 8 years. At the end of the Lease, the leasor can take the unit back if they so choose. They are not under obligation to renegotiate or extend the lease.

Leasehold values drop the closer you get to the end of the lease.

So basically you are paying $48,000 (you'll need cash because a bank won't loan on a leasehold property that close to the end of the lease. And then on top of the $48,000, you'll need to pay $700/month in HOA's and Leae Fee's. Then at the end of 8 years you'll likely lose your condo to the leaseholder.