Need honest advice on moving to Oahu... (Honolulu, Ewa Beach: rent, insurance)
OahuIncludes Honolulu
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Good day, I am new to this site, so forgive me, if I do not "get things right"
I vacationed recently and fell in love with the place, beaches, and the people.
I too have similar questions regarding moving to Oahu, I will be seeking employment as a RN and plan on moving to Oahu in January/February of 2016 with my family (wife and 2 children).
I was referred to a local realtor, who is suggesting we buy in Ewa. It seems the traffic is awful, but if I work nights 7pm-7am, maybe I can avoid the rush?
I would appreciate any honest advice any member could give me.
I was referred to a local realtor, who is suggesting we buy in Ewa. It seems the traffic is awful, but if I work nights 7pm-7am, maybe I can avoid the rush?
I would appreciate any honest advice any member could give me.
In my opinion, the vast majority of people who live in Ewa don't want to live in Ewa - but do it out of necessity because they can't afford anything else.
Besides some truly awful traffic - plane noise is also an issue - it isn't terribly scenic - and if you aren't Filipino it may make you feel even more out of place.
I can't imagine any reputable realtor would recommend Ewa unless you conveyed a poor financial position.
The honest advice: Wait until the kids are out of school and reassess if you can afford to live in Hawaii at that time.
OP, you are planning on moving in a month or so, and have no employment leads? I think that I'd wait to find out about getting jobs first before jumping into the move.
There are many threads here about nursing jobs on Oahu. There are many threads here on pros and cons of living in different neighborhoods on Oahu. There are also many threads here about schools on Oahu. And, there are threads here about comparing the realities of living in Hawaii versus the dream you experienced as a tourist. You have a TON of reading to do before planning such a big move.
I would recommend that you do a year's worth of research before deciding to move, especially since you have two children. It's very expensive to move and to live here, and it really is not like being able to just drive to another state on the mainland.
How about visiting some of the other islands before selecting Oahu? It's the most expensive as well as the most crowded, so you'll have the hardest time relocating to there. If you can find employment on one of the other islands, you can still move to Hawaii without the traffic and horrendously expensive houses.
These are all excellent advice!
Read them over a few times and then do some research.
Hawaii is not like it use to be many many years ago.
The traffic alone is something to consider big time...even if you work from home. It seems the weekend traffic is worse than the weekday traffic.
They have what is called a Zipper Lane which is an HOV lane for 3 or more and services cars coming from the Leeward side where Ewa Beach is located, to the Airport area.
However, if there is an accident in the Zipper Lane, or should the Zipper Mobile break down, it will become a Velcro Lane for everyone coming or going to the Leeward side.
Your dollar will be stretched to the limits for just about everything you need/want.
It hurts me to say this, but IMHO, Hawaii is an excellent vacation spot, but not very good to actually live there.
Here's an example of the traffic problems that keep coming up in addition to what I mentioned above:
They are building a "Rapid" transit system and charging the taxpayers to build it, yet just a very small portion of the population in the State will use it.
And the cost keeps going up, and the duration for completion keeps getting longer (another H3 in the making).
To add salt to the injury, the DMV of Hawaii passed a law as of 1.1.16 to have a "limited" DL.
They expect this will allow another 40k drivers on the road.
The reason for this, is to allow people who cannot obtain the documents (Birth Certificate, SS etc.) needed to obtain a Hawaii Driver's License...which includes poor people, immigrants and homeless.
This license will only be used for driving and nothing else...oh and they get to have insurance too!
You can check this info out on Hawaii News Now...online.
So, the taxpayers will now have to ante up for this Limited DL, and the insurance needed to drive a car.
Who knows, the taxpayer may some day need to ante up for the gas, maintenance and the car for these drivers...Great move DMV!
IMHO, it would be best to check out the neighbor islands as a place to live however, take the advice of the other posters and secure a job here first, then rent to see if you like it.
If you own a home now, don't sell it just yet.
"...fell in love with the place, beaches, and the people."
What you mean is you fell in love with the places you went as a tourist, the beaches you went as a tourist, and the people you encountered as a tourist. Those things have very little relevance to living and working on Oahu
Yeah, we were an official tourist once when we were flying to the mainland from Hawaii island with a layover in Honolulu. The planes were too full so we opted to get bumped. As part of that getting bumped from the flight, they put us in a taxicab, we went to a nice hotel on Waikiki beach, had a paid for breakfast, lunch and dinner and then a cab ride back to the airport. A whole day to do whatever we wanted in Waikiki with a lovely hotel room, no cooking, no cleaning, it was great. It's really, really good to be a tourist, it wasn't like the Waikiki experience I'd been used to when I lived there. At all. Not anything like living there.
Actually, it might be worthwhile for Hawaii folks to occasionally go on a Hawaii vacation, although I suppose if you live in Honolulu or on Oahu, it's kinda difficult to actually feel like you're on vacation when you can drive home to get whatever you forgot or folks at work can call you while they're in the same time zone.
Lived there a year, stayed in Ewa. Traffic sucked on day shift. Nights would be much better. Combined income was around $100K. Rent was about $2K and that was cheap for the 3/4 br 2ba, 1200sf duplex. LOUD AS HECK flight path for the airport but also for the weekend warrior fighters at Hickam. Had a non-paying third person living with us most of the time. (one started HS there - what a disaster) We spent all we made/didn't save anything. Didn't live it up by any means. No real night life. Mostly beach time. We did pay for a couple of flights back and forth for a funeral and to have a kid or two visit. We had $20K in savings getting there and had the same when we left. Broke even. Had a blast.
We paid our relocation both ways and sold everything and started over both times, rather than trying to pay for moving our junk.
Would not do it without a job. Would not do it with school age kids.
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