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My family moved to Hawaii from Northern Virginia 25 years ago. For the first 6 years we hated it. Talk about real culture shock! After adjusting to life here, my brothers and sister and I ended up loving it here and started our own families. I guess you could say that it finally grew on us.
Up until about 6 months ago, I would have said that I'd live here forever. Now I'm seriously thinking about moving to Cary.
My husband and I purchased a 770 square foot home on Oahu 2 years ago for $425K. It was a great deal because we have a 7,500 SF lot. We could sell it for maybe $625K, now or with improvements - $700K+.
A gallon of milk costs $9. Gas hovers around $3/gallon. We spend approx. 800 - 900/month to feed our 4 member family. Our house payment is 60% of our combined income.
Is living in Hawaii really worth it?
On the windward coast of Oahu there is nothing remotely close to a planned comunity, no sidewalks, tiny 5,000 SF lots, more and more traffic.
From what I've learned from reading a lot of posts, it sounds like Cary might be a great place to move. I don't understand all the Yankee stuff, or how somehow wanting to live in a suburb, equates me with white, snobby, self-seeking people. But maybe I'll understand it someday.
Leaving Hawaii is a huge risk for us, since we know we'd never be able to afford to move back here once we left. The pros for moving to Cary seem to far outweigh the cons. What do you think, is it worth the risk?
What a loaded question! After living somewhere for 25 years, you may experience a similar "culture shock" coming here, which may or may not be a good thing. In your situation, I would HIGHLY recommend an extended visit to get to know the area, at least a couple weeks. Could you put your house there up for rent to cover the mortgage, and rent here for a year so that you still have a house to go back to if you change your mind? Of course, get a good property management company to handle the landlord stuff, but at least you wouldn't feel like you could never go back if you hated it here. What type of work do you do? Check salaries to see what comparable jobs pay here - it may be cheaper to buy things here, but you may also see a difference in pay.
All cautioning aside, this is as beautiful an area as you've been reading, so it's at least worth a visit!
WOW.... its funny to find someone else wanting to move here from Hawaii.... I was born in Hawaii and lived there 10 yrs and would love to more back. . BUT I love it here in CARY ... my husband and I just bought a home in Cary (Martha Stewart, Kb Homes) and absolutly LOVE IT HERE!!! not only is it nice but we have 3 small boys and the school system is GREAT... I think you should come and check it out !!!! hope you come and like it .....
Thanks for the responses. My husband is a commercial construction superintendent and I'm a mom/bookkeeper. I've looked for jobs for my husband at career builder and found that the pay is close to what he's getting now.
My son loves football, is there any pop warner teams there? What about dirt bike riding/trail riding, are there places to ride off-road motorcycles near-by?
There is a huge track in Louisburg for dirtbikes, etc - my neighbors and their kids are out there every weekend. I have a friend in Franklinton who has a track in their backyard! If you need specifics, pm me, I'll find out for you. Of course, those are pretty far north even from north Raleigh. I can ask them if there are any good tracks down near Cary. For Cary pop warner, go to carypopwarner.org, or for Raleigh, go to raleighnc.gov, leisure, activities, teams/registration to see what's available for 2007.
I met a woman who had grown up in Hawaii. She told me she & her father belong to a Hawaiian club here in teh triangle. I was surprised that there were enough Hawaiian transplants for such a club, but there is, & it ha sbeen going strong for many years. I am not in contact with this woman now- I met her a few months ago, but if you googled it maybe you could find out.
I agree with NC homefinder that you should try it out here first, perhaps for a few months in the summer before making such a big move...
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