Moving to Hawaii (Honolulu, Ewa Beach, Kailua: apartment, rent, condos)

[Miss.Belle]

Hey out there, I am planning on moving to oahu next spring is there any advice on what area and what are the best places to work or most popular jobs? Also how are these areas Kailua, Waimanalo, Ewa Beach, and North shore?

Thanks

[VanHa]

Originally Posted by Miss.Belle

Hey out there, I am planning on moving to oahu next spring is there any advice on what area and what are the best places to work or most popular jobs? Also how are these areas Kailua, Waimanalo, Ewa Beach, and North shore?

Thanks

Hi Belle,

Your questions have lots of variables in them. You have to tell us a little more about yourself. No jobs are popular right now. Just like the rest of the country...unemployment is high. What type of work are you qualified to do? How much money do you want to sepnd on an apartment? Do you want to commute to work or work close to home....beaches...etc. Let us know....

[Miss.Belle]

Hey there,
I am currently in customer service and a student by the time I move there I will also be a certified massage theraphist not sure how much they make there. I am looking for a place around $1400 a month and I will be shipping my car from the mainland so commuting would not be a problem. My boyfriend is a firefighter and paramedic how would it be for him to get a job? Also we are planning to save up at least 13,000 to 15,000 for our move and hopefully have a few months rent to we can look for jobs. Oh one more thing what cell phone company do you think is the best there? Thanks a bunch

[oawho]

I can summarize the areas you described based on what I know - my wife and I moved here from California about 6 months ago, so I don't have particularly deep impressions..

Kailua: On the windward side of the island, where it's more lush and green, very beautiful and pleasant. This side of the island gets more rain, and it usually feels more humid (at least to me). Kailua beach and the adjacent Lanikai beach are outstanding - people say Lanikai, with its turquoise-blue clear water, is one of the prettiest in the world - it's nice just to sit out there. I felt there were a lot more Caucasians in Kailua than anywhere else I've been in Oahu so far - overall it's diverse but I felt there were more there than anywhere else - it's all subjectively speaking of course Housing though is more expensive here - we looked at some condos around there and they start at around $400K and up. You pretty much have to pay a premium to live here, I felt like.

Waimanalo: I've only passed through here so I can't say much, but I think this is considered 'local' territory (and I don't mean any negative connotation about it) - it's more rural and less developed.

Ewa Beach: Flat, dry, hot and most of all, traffic. There's a single road right now that goes into and out of Ewa and that road becomes a bottleneck. They're trying to relieve congestion there, but you know Hawaii, it takes a long time to get things done Ewa is mostly suburban, lots of new housing developments popping up there, and the population is increasing there. The housing is probably more attractive if you're looking for lower prices, but keep in mind the traffic, esp if you have to commute into town.

North Shore: Beautiful, pristine due to the fact that it hasn't been developed much. Feels like old Hawaii - and that's a good thing. It feels very remote though, and if you need to feel close to a city than this is probably not the place you want to be. I love it there though.

[Miss.Belle]

Thanks for the info. But is there any places that you perfer? Was it hard for you to make the transition? Whatever info that you have on anything would be very helpful. Thanks again.

[oawho]

I'd try to go for Kailua if you can - somehow I feel like massage therapists would do well over there.

We live in Makakilo, on the west side of the island. I like it because it's cooler, not humid, and we have a nice view of the ocean since we're up in the hills.

The major issue with living on the west side of the island is the potential of a commute to deal with - it can take an hour or so to Honolulu if there's traffic. It's not an issue for me because I work at home, but its something to keep in mind.

The transition, overall was not so hard, but it takes preparation and of course, money. We moved from Northern California. The hardest thing was getting prepared to move our dog and cat over - we had to plan our move around that basically We started planning our move from February 2008 and we made the move in July 2008. It does require a significant amount of money, though. We prepared by saving up (we were thinking of moving a few years before and started saving on the side for it), and the total moving cost for everything, including moving our household goods, pets, car was about $12,000.

After getting here, there was nothing really that hard about transitioning. The living costs of San Francisco Bay Area and here are not that much different. The price of orange juice, not milk (milk can always be had for cheap somewhere) was probably the most shocking to me. People are generally nicer and happier here, and the pace here matches us better - we moved here for more cultural reasons than anything else, and we like it here so far.

Hope that helps

[Miss.Belle]

How difficult was it to move your pets here? I have on small dog and I read that they have to be in a 5 day quarantine is there any info you can give me on that?

[mdand3boys]

The 5 day or less program also allows for direct release at the airport IF ALL requirements have been met. Quarantine is expensive. Last I saw, it was around $1700 for the full 120 days!
Follow all the steps, way in advance, and be prepared so that you can qualify for direct release.

Here is an example; I searched the word quarantine using advanced search and only the Hawaii forums:
Pet Quarantine Info

There are dozens of threads and info already out there - try using different search words like shipping pets, dogs, rabies, etc.

[oawho]

We did the Direct Airport Release program - no quarantine - we picked up our pets at the Airport Quarantine Facility after we got our luggage and we were off - went really smoothly.

It does take a LOT of preparation - at least 4 months of lead time, since you need to get a rabies titer exam and then wait 4 months. If you just go in without anything, that's 4 months of quarantine you need to do. If you go in before 4 months are up, you need to quarantine for the remainder of the period.

It's 4 months of lead time only if your dog is up-to-date on rabies shots. If not you need to add more time, since they require 2 rabies shots in lifetime of pet, and the last rabies shot cannot be less than 90 days before you enter Hawaii. It's complicated, you need to carefully read the checklist on the Dept of Agriculture website:

Animal Quarantine Information — Hawaii Department of Agriculture

I've said before in other threads, be prepared to shell out some dough to do this - everything pet-moving related cost close to $2000 for a dog and cat (exams, rabies titer test, health certificates, etc).

There are more details on the Hawaii Dept of Agriculture site - they have a 5-day-or-less checklist that you should follow to the tee - that's what we did.

Good luck, let me know if you have any other questions

[atp162]

Originally Posted by Miss.Belle

Hey there,
I My boyfriend is a firefighter and paramedic how would it be for him to get a job? Oh one more thing what cell phone company do you think is the best there? Thanks a bunch

Please see the thread "Paramedics in Hawaii" posted today (4/27/09) that might help w/ your BF's situation.

RE: cell phone companies: The majority of residents here tend to use the major carriers, i.e. Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, and Sprint-Nextel. There are a few local carriers, e.g. Mobi and Hawaiian Telcom, but their use does not appear to be widespread. Coverage appears to be better with the larger companies, especially if you travel to the outer islands.