Moving From Bay Area - Easier? (Honolulu: rental car, middle-class, apartment)

[towngirl]

Hello,

My fiance is currently being interviewed for some jobs at Hickam (he's a civilian contractor) and so we're seriously considering a move to Oahu. We currently live in Oakland and love it, but realistically for the kind of work he does, we're not going to find another job around here for him.

We've considered a few places overseas (and are still waiting to hear back) but Hawaii is towards the top of the list and where he's getting the most callbacks. We've both been to Hawaii - a vacation to the Big Island for me, and he spent a few weeks in Honolulu when he was in the Coast Guard before a patrol.

He wasn't a huge fan of the place then, but he's not exactly a beach and humidity person, whereas I am, and I'm very excited about the prospect of moving there, although I realize living in a vacation destination isn't at all close to being a vacation.

A lot of the warnings to mainlanders looking to move seems to be about the cost of living. I'm wondering if there are any people here who have lived in both the SFBay Area and Hawaii who could say if having already lived in a high cost of living area might ease the transition? I mean, we already pay $1600 for a 2 bedroom in Oakland, we're already comforable with the idea of renting forever, and so forth. I have a feeling that the place I might feel the hurt the most is with regards to food prices - if you know where to look there's a lot of great, affordable food, both in resturants and in grocery stores here, and I know that food is a lot more expensive in Hawaii. I'm something of a foodie and an avid cook so I know that will kind of suck for me.

Any job he would get out there would pay comparable to what he's making here, $70,000-$80,000. I got laid off from my recruiting job a little while ago - nobody needs recruiters if nobody's hiring, right? I've got a college degree and I'm qualified to do some basic HR stuff as well, but I would be totally OK with working in the tourist industry as well. Tour guide, waitressing, personal assistant - I've done all that and wouldn't mind doing it again. So hopefully I would be able to find some kind of job and we could pull in $100,000k/yr or so. Is it possible to live a middle-class existance comparable to our Bay Area lifestyle on that on Oahu? We don't have any debt other than student loans, and we have a nice savings cushion we built up that could help us with the move. We've already decided we'd sell our (paid off) car and then buy one or two used cars from the lemon lots when we got there. We wouldn't be bringing a ton of stuff, either, we like to keep "stuff" to a minimum and move light.

Any advice or recommendations would be great, particularly for what areas to start apartment-hunting for that would be that would make the commute bearable, since I don't know much about the traffic patterns. Would it be essential for us to have two cars? One thing I really like about living in an urban area is that I don't need a car, we just have one beween us, but I know that may be different in Oahu.

Any help is appreciated!

[Haoleman]

Keep your car. It is around $900.00 to ship and yours is probably rust free. Don't know about where to look for apts but they are everywhere. Try to live close to where you work. That's important as commuting is as bad as the Bay Area on Oahu. They have Da Bus! It stops everywhere and that is a cheap alternative and is not full of wierdo's like Bay Area busses. You just need to check the schedule. Hope this helps. PS: Get your job secured in writing! Many people go over on a promise only to find that 3 weeks later the job either doesn't exist or they gave it to someone else! Been there done that. One more note. Shop at farmers markets and places like Costco. Their stuff is the same price as in the Bay Area and if you are a "Foodie" Hawaii is heaven.

[towngirl]

Thanks for the advice! The car is a paid-off 7 year old Honda Accord, so maybe it would make more sense to keep it, I don't know.

Not looking forward to the commute issue - amazingly my fiance has managed to have a 15 minute commute for the last 5 years and I'm pretty sure there's no way we'll be able to manage that on Oahu (since he's a civilian, military housing isn't an option, nor is shopping at the commissary, sigh...) Good to hear about The Bus, I'm an experienced AC Transit and MUNI rider so that sounds like a piece of cake.

And yeah there's no way we'd move without an offer letter, it's for a DoD contract position so it would be pretty hard for them to weasel out of it but we wouldn't take any chances! Too much money at stake!

[cynmkolohe]

It would seem to be a good idea to keep your car...especially if you are keeping up with maintenance and are comfortable with your car's history. No matter how careful you are, buying someone else's used car can be a risk! You may well end up spending more on repairs than the money you would pay for shipping. Besides, you will have one less thing to worry about when you arrive!

[Calico Salsa]

I moved from the SF Bay Area - lived there all of my life until I moved to Maui 5 years ago. Love Maui, wouldn't go back.

Cost of living - it's higher than SF Bay Area. Food, office supplies, furniture, etc. You'll have it better on Oahu, but I think you'll still be surprised at the little ways it adds up. Good that you aren't big consumers.

I think one of the reasons prices are higher is that there are fewer choices. Here, we've got Office Max, but no Staples. We've got Safeway & Foodland & Star Market, but not Nob Hill, Trader Joes, Whole Foods, etc.

Agree you should keep your cars. Parking is less of a problem here. You can always sell it if you decide you have one too many.

Come on out!

[newUHprof]

I lived in SF Bay area and Boston (also pretty pricey, especially for housing) before moving here. Definitely helps. The rent jumped a bit ($2000 for a nice 2br/2ba now), but not as much as if I had been coming from someplace else.

Husband & I make just a smidge more than you're estimating, and we're doing fine. We have one car (not paid off). We are lucky in that we work near each other, so we can commute together. We buy one bus pass per month. So between The Bus, one car, and the fact that the weather is almost always nice enough for biking, we get along fine. No need for a 2nd car for us. We are lucky in that we live only 3 miles from work (but we're paying more in rent for that).

Yeah, the biggest jump will be food prices. We don't eat out nearly as often as we did in SF and Boston. But we do still eat out, probably once every week to two weeks. We shop farmers markets for produce and Costco for just about everything else. (Except meat. I won't buy Costco meat. I just pay the higher price at Whole Wallet and then eat less of it.)

Best of luck!

[Jungjohann]

I'ld just forget about bringing the car over here, you could pick up a slightly abused,, sorry, meant used, ex rental car over here for pretty cheap, not that you would really need it. Check out the Craigside condos on Nuuanu Avenue for an apartment, I've mentioned the place before, great views from the higher floors, and Da Bus stops right in front!!!! Walking distance to Safeway, well, kind of a long walk, so forget the ice cream, and Hickam is about 10 minutes away, with little traffic, just go down Nuuanu, hang a right onto the H1, stay in the right lane,,,,,,,,,,,,next thing you know,,,,,,, you're at HNL, and Hickam is right next door!!! Worked for me,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, best of luck,,

Aloha and okolemaluna

[hotzcatz]

One car is enough, The Bus is a really good bus system and it is a lot easier to be reading a book or knitting while someone else does the driving without having to worry about parking, too. Considering the job market these days, it would seem wise to arrange your life so you can live on just one income. Then, if for some reason, you aren't able to find any employment, things will still work out.

[born_again_yesterday]

Hello All,

I have a few questions myself, also living in the SF bay area. I'm currently paying $650 a month renting a room in a bad neighborhood, so I'm used to paying these rental costs. I make very little money here, but live very well due to conserving, bartering, and making the most of everything.
I'm losing my job this week, I've already sold all my furniture, and my lease is up. I have about $5k in my savings, and am thinking of just relocating to Hawaii where the weather is warmer. I'm no fan of cold weather, as many here feel the same. There's just a few things I'd like to know-

Can you get a decent room in a apt/house for under $650? I've been looking for rooms online and it seems there are a lot of places for $650 & under.

I am a vegetarian, about 75% vegan. Being that a lot of fruits and crops seem to be grown on the islands, is it cheaper to buy local foods than meat, dairy, and preserved foods? I cook a lot, and don't really buy processed foods, junk foods, snacks, etc. In the Bay Area being a vegan can be very expensive, and I just want to know if anybody can compare the two areas.

I don't believe in driving and I bike everywhere, sometimes 30+ miles/ day going back and forth places. What areas should I avoid if I don't drive much? I'll take a bus, but would rather not as ppl on the bus can be kinda strange.

And finally, does anyone know if a position working at a restaurant is difficult to get nowadays?

Thank you all for reading! Any answers will help.

[newUHprof]

(1) Maybe. Rents are coming down a bit. I think there's a lower floor 2br/2ba in my building renting for $1200, so if you could find a roommate or shared place, it would be do-able. But remember that if the economy rebounds in a year or two, rents will go back up. I definitely was not seeing prices like that (in/around Honolulu) when I was looking in May.

(2) Meat, eggs, & dairy are really expensive here. Partly, the only dairies in Hawaii are on Maui (I think) and don't ship their milk off the island. Most of the meat comes from the mainland, too. So, yeah, by eating veggie you'll be eating more cheaply than your neighbors. But that doesn't mean totally cheap. People's open markets farmers markets have cheap prices, though not all the food is local. The big farmers markets have slightly more expensive prices, but stuff is definitely local. At the POM market, I'll spend $20 to fill up one of those Whole Foods reusable bags with veggies and fruit. At the bigger market, it might be more like $40, but there's more choice and better stuff.

(3) I bike a lot here, but I will say that Honolulu is not very bike friendly. There's a lot of traffic, and most places have no bike lanes. It can be pretty sketchy. On the other hand, everyone takes the bus... students, professors, professionals, your neighbors. It's not like the Bay Area. It's more like riding BART than riding the bus in the Bay Area.