Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Aloha! I'm new to the forum and looking for advice. My wife and I both got offers for a transfer to Honolulu. We will be moving in 3 months from Arizona. We will both be working at the airport and our combined salaries will be about $100k per year before taxes. Is this enough to realistically survive in Honolulu? What will be a good area to live in to avoid traffic during our commute? We were looking into the salt lake area since it is near the airport. Is this a decent area? We're planning on taking a 4 day trip to Honolulu in May to look at apartments and explore. We don't have any kids and both our cars are paid off. The downside is that we will have to sell our dream home in Arizona and that our mortgage is less than what we'll be paying for a 1 bedroom/1 bathroom in Honolulu but we know paradise doesn't come cheap. Any advice you can give would be greatly appreciated. Mahalo!
The Salt Lake area is primarily condos, so if you don't mind apartment living it's about as convenient and a decent neighborhood to the airport as can be. Unless you have furnishings, etc. that have emotional attachment, I might suggest you ship as little as possible (unless your move is being paid for) and buy new once on Oahu. Shipping a car costs about $1200 per vehicle, or maybe more from Arizona, and, again, unless that's being paid for, I'd want to make sure there's enough value in either vehicle before sending them over.
The primary price shock to living on Oahu is housing, transportation and eating out. So you MUST be willing to accept much less in housing than what you may be used to. Licensing and insuring a car is about a $1,000 per year proposition, and gas is currently running about $3.30 per gallon. Cutting out one car will, of course, also cut your transportation expenses, especially if you can commute by bus. Eating out costs from about 30 - 60 percent more across the board, from fast food to five stars, so cooking at home will also save money. As for grocery prices you save big bucks by shopping at Costco or Sam's Club, where prices are pretty equivalent to the mainland. Clothing costs can be less than the mainland, because you pretty much hang out in shorts and T-shirts, and there's generally less formal/work wear to purchase as most office dress is business casual. And, of course, there's absolutely no winter wear to purchase!
Finally, a $100K salary (even before taxes) should be plenty fine if neither of you is a spendthrift, your recreational needs are all about the beach and just being outdoors, and neither of you gets island fever, necessitating the racking up of airline fares.
Hope this was helpful.
Aloha!
Parking may be your biggest issue. Many apartments/condos include just one parking space. (Some have tandem spaces.) Extra spaces can be expensive to rent and difficult to find. If you can get by with just one car it may be easier. The price to ship a car is cheap compared to selling a car there and buying another here. If you have to have two cars, bring them. You probably already know this but you aren't allowed to leave anything in your cars during transit. A container the size of a car ships for about 5X as much as a car. Don't bring "stuff". I moved here with two suitcases and a carryon. It's cheaper and easier to buy new stuff here unless it is very special to you.
Best of luck!
Since that's your dream house in Arizona, would it be possible to rent it out while you're deciding if you like Oahu? There's such a high percentage of folks who permanently move to Hawaii and only last a year or two. If you were able to rent out your Arizona house, you'd be able to get back to where you were if Hawaii didn't work out. If you can rent it for more than the mortgage, then it will even create some cashflow.
Anyone paying $3.30/gallon for gas on Oahu at the time of this posting would be getting ripped off - regular is running $2.50/gallon or less.
Food does not run 30-60% more expensive - more like 10-20% compared to the West Coast.
$100K is fine - try Aiea, Pearl city, Salt Lake......
I agree on the gas. While I pay about $2.10-$2.15 per gallon on base, I see prices in the $2.40-$2.50 per gallon range off base. And I live in Pearl City. Pay $1,300 a month for a one bedroom unit with a similar salary. The OP should be more than fine.
As far as food goes, food does seem to be around what the other poster said. At least compared to what I was paying back in NYC at my discount markets. Heck, even the commissary is even 25-35% more than what I'm used to at commissaries and other markets back east. Coming from Arizona, the differences may even be greater for on island grocery shopping for the OP.
Have you done a quick and simple cost of living comparison between the two locations? It's easy to get a rough comparison using a cost of living comparison web site. Are you currently living below, at, or above your means? How much are you saving for retirement? If you didn't start saving 10% in your 20s, you'll need to save much more than 10%. You should be maximizing you 401K and Roth contributions each year. That money comes off the top, before spending the money on anything else. You might need to save about $1M to $2M for retirement to be financially secure. If you haven't saved much yet in life, you won't be able to save anything in Hawaii, since the cost of living is very high. You could have a train reck in your financial future. If our family income was only $100K, there's no way we could ever afford to live in Hawaii, and we don't live extravagantly. Maybe you could drastically lower your standard of living to make the numbers work. Don't forget about your long term financial future.
Well, over-the-top is nice if you can manage it. However, if they have a rental house in Arizona adding to cash flow, that would be a useful thing. It seems to me that a lot of folks only figure on passive savings for retirement and leave out all sorts of active cash flow options. Rents, royalties, commissions, etc., can contribute more than interest off of savings or increases in other financial venues. Small kid time, my grannie made a good living off of interest on savings, but that was up in the double digits. Now, interest rates are really low, so folks need different methods. But, that's just my opinion and I'm not a financial person.
The Salt Lake area is primarily condos, so if you don't mind apartment living it's about as convenient and a decent neighborhood to the airport as can be. Unless you have furnishings, etc. that have emotional attachment, I might suggest you ship as little as possible (unless your move is being paid for) and buy new once on Oahu. Shipping a car costs about $1200 per vehicle, or maybe more from Arizona, and, again, unless that's being paid for, I'd want to make sure there's enough value in either vehicle before sending them over.
The primary price shock to living on Oahu is housing, transportation and eating out. So you MUST be willing to accept much less in housing than what you may be used to. Licensing and insuring a car is about a $1,000 per year proposition, and gas is currently running about $3.30 per gallon. Cutting out one car will, of course, also cut your transportation expenses, especially if you can commute by bus. Eating out costs from about 30 - 60 percent more across the board, from fast food to five stars, so cooking at home will also save money. As for grocery prices you save big bucks by shopping at Costco or Sam's Club, where prices are pretty equivalent to the mainland. Clothing costs can be less than the mainland, because you pretty much hang out in shorts and T-shirts, and there's generally less formal/work wear to purchase as most office dress is business casual. And, of course, there's absolutely no winter wear to purchase!
Finally, a $100K salary (even before taxes) should be plenty fine if neither of you is a spendthrift, your recreational needs are all about the beach and just being outdoors, and neither of you gets island fever, necessitating the racking up of airline fares.
Hope this was helpful.
Aloha!
A bunch off in this post, but primarily someone is ripping you off for gas.
__________________ ____________________________________________
My posts as a Mod will always be in red.
Be sure to review Terms of Service: TOS
And check this out: FAQ
Moderator: Relationships Forum / Hawaii Forum / Dogs / Pets / Current Events
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
