Water Front Puuloa (Honolulu, Kaneohe, Pearl City: home, neighborhood, construction)

[arma0419]

Does anyone lived or know someone that lives in Water Front Puuloa in Ewa Beach? Wondering if anyone recommends living there. The commute to work would be to Tripler Army Medical Center for me and to Pearl Harbor for my husband.

[NoMoreSTL]

I live in Puuloa and I don't have much bad to say about it, but I'll give you a quick rundown:

Me: work from home : )
Hubby: works @ Pearl Harbor

Pros:
-right by the beach
-lots of sq footage for your HI $
-we have a big yard
-relatively little thru traffic due to the gate @ front
-car port
-accepts pets
-seems to be safe for kids (but we don't have any ourselves)
-really nice walking/jogging paths through the neighborhood
-People might tell you that it's too hot on the Ewa side, but we're so close to the beach we get a really nice breeze most of the time. Definitely HOT deeper in Ewa when you get away from the water though.

Cons:
-SO says traffic really stinks, about 1+ hr commute to PH during rush hours. Tripler will take longer. (I telecommute)
-single-wall construction = you can hear EVERYTHING your neighbors are doing, especially if you live in one of the connected models (we have a stand-alone house), although this may be somewhat standard for HI
-Planes, jets, planes, and more jets: they fly over constantly and some of those jets and big planes will rattle your eardrums right out of your head. we're pretty much used to it after 10 months.
-accept pets. This is a con because of con #2- if your neighbor has a barking dog, you will grow to loathe it with every ounce of your being - especially if you work from home
-relatively far from Honolulu/Waikiki for stuff to do other than beach

Good luck!

[arma0419]

thanks! this is very helpful! i have 1 hr and 30 minutes commute right now in DC and I hate it. So we'll look for somewhere closer to Trippler. Any recommendations?

Was it hard for you and your husband to adapt to the lifestyle in Hawaii?

[NoMoreSTL]

Sorry I don't get away from the Ewa side too much so I'm not much help for recommendations elsewhere. Most of our friends live in Ewa, Makakilo, Waianae, Kapolei and Ko'olina. We do have friends that live in really nice military housing in/near Pearl City- you might look into that if you're not adverse to living in base housing. We enjoy the diversity of off-base housing.We've had no trouble adjusting to HI life, but we both have good jobs and no kids so the sticker shock of everything is easier to absorb. We're both easy-going, unassuming people and that's key to getting along well anywhere.The hardest part is being so far away from family. You'll quickly develop an amazing island family out here though and that's priceless. Something about island living seems to make people slow down and take account of what really matters in life.

[HankDfrmSD]

Originally Posted by arma0419

thanks! this is very helpful! i have 1 hr and 30 minutes commute right now in DC and I hate it. So we'll look for somewhere closer to Trippler. Any recommendations?

I would look in Kailua and Kaneohe. The commute to Pearl and Tripler are both about 30 minutes on the H-3. Check out the Kalaheo Hillside neighborhood. Iliaina St and Kaha St.

Iliaina St, Oahu - Google Maps (http://tinyurl.com/lq8wrt - broken link)

Hank