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Ok, I have been reading for awhile now and still need help. I am moving from Houston to Honolulu area. School and my boyfriend are there so the change will be good. MY biggest concerns are finding an affordable place to live and a job. I am not worried about racism, look where I am living now, so please no responses of that nature. I am a very open minded person when it comes to people, culture, and living. I would like to know what to expect, the best way to go about finding living arrangements and employment. Should I look into a temp place for a week or so and do it all out there, or is there anyway to get it taken care of before arriving. I have pets and pet friendly places are few and far between. What are your thoughts about craigslist housing post? Best place to find employment? Anything you have would help. Thank you.
Ok, I have been reading for awhile now and still need help. I am moving from Houston to Honolulu area. School and my boyfriend are there so the change will be good. MY biggest concerns are finding an affordable place to live and a job. I am not worried about racism, look where I am living now, so please no responses of that nature. I am a very open minded person when it comes to people, culture, and living. I would like to know what to expect, the best way to go about finding living arrangements and employment. Should I look into a temp place for a week or so and do it all out there, or is there anyway to get it taken care of before arriving. I have pets and pet friendly places are few and far between. What are your thoughts about craigslist housing post? Best place to find employment? Anything you have would help. Thank you.
Have you asked your boyfriend to find you a place?
He is currently underway...and won't be back on shore till about November. He is one source that I have, but with him being in the Navy, he is gone a lot of the time or works very late, it is VERY hard to even have a conversation. He is one person, here I have plenty of voices that I haven't heard.
1) Start now getting your pets' arrangements taken care of so that they can avoid quarantine.
2) Watch out for rental scams on CraigsList. (Not the List's fault, but common.)
3) Try to visit first if you can; if not, save as much as possible so you can take some time to find your place (to work and live) after you get here. (Unless, as sevenofsix says, your boyfriend can help.)
Hey there!Good luck and I will be following your post. My husband and I will be leaving Dallas December 31st to head to Honolulu. We sold all our belongings and have a healthy savings account. We have our flight booked (a second time as the first airline went under) We have a rental car and hotel for a week while we look for somewhere to stay. We plan on trying to find a month to month maybe until we get to know the area. We are leaning towards a condo/studio in a highrise like the Hawaiian Monarch maybe. Just the two of us so at least we do not have kids. We know we will not be able to afford the quality of life we have here and we are good with that. We are 39 and 44 and we just want to experience Hawaii and other places while we are young enough to enjoy it...lol
I would try to secure temporary housing in a vacation rental by the week before you go. That might be a little more reasonable than a hotel room. Places you can look:
You can protect yourself from scams by checking how long each of the places you find have been listed with the above listing portals. The listing portals will drop anyone that is scamming, so if a place has been there for a year or more, you are pretty safe.
You will probably be dealing with the owner of the places you are considering, so ask for references from past guests, and look at Guestbook comments.
As soon as you are there, you can look for more permanent housing on Craigslist, and can actually look at prospective places before handing over any $$$.
If you do a search on VRBO on the travel forum, you will see some first hand experiences.
Don't rent anywhere without looking at it first. Find a weekly place or wait until your BF gets back and then stay with him for a bit first if possible. Bringing pets along makes it a lot harder, can your pets stay with family on the mainland and then come over later with them when they visit?
Hawaii (as well as the rest of the country) is in the middle of a contracting economy and jobs are a bit hard to find. Jobs that pay enough so you can afford to live on your income are even harder to find, especially if you need to rent a place with pets. More than likely the only place you will be able to afford will be a room in a house and pets make finding those harder.
As far as finding work, you didn't mention what type of work you were looking for but Oahu mostly has service and retail jobs. No manufacturing, not much agricultural. They also don't hire folks who have just arrived from the mainland by preference. Generally you will only be offered a job if nobody else's family wants the job AND after you have been around for six months or so. Too many folks come over from the mainland "to live in paradise" get a job and then leave within a year so employers don't want to go through the bother of hiring someone who is going to leave so soon. Even your boyfriend is transitory since the military only sticks around for a couple years and then they get deployed somewhere else. You could try some temp agencies, by definition the folks who hire their employees are looking for temporary workers.
Bring enough money for six months of living expenses or have a return ticket available in case you need it. Round trip airline tickets usually (unless things have changed) are not all that much more expensive than one way - get an open ended return date or as long of a return date on your return ticket as you can and then if things don't work out you'll be able to escape.
Pretty cheap subscription (I got one month), and a good number of listings every day, plus tips like "This has been listed for two months, so the landlord may be willing to negotiate!"
However, I had a friend willing to do the legwork, going to look at places for me. It made a big difference both in terms of landlords taking me seriously (having a local contact is a big plus) and in terms of her ruling out places that were just awful but didn't sound that way on the listing. Plus, I had sent her money for first & last (max I was willing to pay), so she could write a local check and hold a good place for me (which she did).
If you can't visit to find yourself housing before you arrive (I couldn't), does your boyfriend have any friends in town? Beg and bribe them to do you this favor. It was soooo valuable to me.
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