Do you all know about the new HPP discussion board? If not, let me invite you to join. For those of you in the process of buying or moving, be sure to read Kal's posts under the Real Estate & Construction heading -- lots of helpful info and links. Aloha

Which company has the best reception in the Mountain view area?
Mahalo,
Kevin

Wanna put my mind at rest here. Many people tell me that my Realtor should have advised me about which insurance agent I could contact, I was told he is 'supposed to supply 3 companies'..My realtor insists that is NOT his job..Who is correct please? We have been though a very worrying 8 days of worrying trying to hunt down any company in Hawaii that would insure our house in HPP, we live in California, are HUD apartment managers thus we have no house that is already insured, so no one wanted to even talk to us! Finally got insurance after many sleepless nights..Thx to everyone on the Hawaii forums, such nice people that gave us good advice..

I am thinking of buying a lot in one of these two and having a hard time deciding which. I driven the neighborhoods many times and last summer got into a bidding war on a lot on 6th in Hawaiian Acres. If you live in one of the two neighborhoods what do you like & dislike about it. I know the basics already like the road conditions. Does it flood a lot in Hawaiian Acres? I keep seeing lots listed with "ocean & mountain views" I didn't see any lots that seemed as if you could get a view. Is the Hawaiian Acres-Ainaloa Rd still open?

Soon to be a Hawaii resident !!

Hi Everyone! I am interested in the weather. Everywhere I read it is hot or steamy but sunnier at the low elevations and cool at the higher elevations. Could you put some numbers with that? Describe a typical day "I live at xxxx feet elevation,when I wake up it is xx derees then it gets up to xx, it rains in the morning but there usually are x hrs of sun" How hot does it get in the hottest part of puna? This will give me a good idea of how high or low i want to be.
Also, I see ads about deep soil but also see places with almost no soil growing many fruit trees etc. How do you grow on shallow soil, dig in with an auger? are there things you can't grow? Thanks for your input!!
ps. We will be over there mar 25th (for a week)and are very excited!! Kama

Hello everyone we are new to this forum. After 2 years of looking at houses on your beautiful Island we finally got there and bought the 'perfect' house for us. Being British we love gardens and our house has a well landscaped one.We only had 5 days to find something.We had 25 houses listed to go see, many were already sold, we really did not care for the brand new houses with their tiny rooms, no landscaping just ugly gravel& Stones. 'Online' we thought we had found our perect house before we even arrived, but be careful because when we went to an area called 'Lelani Esates' (forest area) two BRAND NEW houses that we saw had thick mold growing inside cuboards/closets/doors etc.Beware. Our realtor was Dan Marks from 'Remax' he was very helpful to us. He had one house left which HE had found for us..We were getting so down as we had to fly back to California very soon and it seemed like our dream was dissapearing. We loved the house the moment we saw it. It is in HPP, exactly the area we disired. Our offer was accepted. It has passed a 'Full inspection' and the inspection company was also found my Dan Marks. They did a really good job as I do know through my workings in property management in California where we often work with Goverment HUD housing inspectors. So in our opinion 'Dans the MAN' thankyou Dan.www.bigislanddan.com (Re/Max) Wife and I have to now try to find work so we can move to 'Paradise' for good. Cheers everybody. Looking to make friends as we are very socialable people. Gary & Jean

www.ag.ndsu.nodak.edu/abeng/plans

I found this website and thought some of my friends looking for " Building Plans" might find it usefull.

We are sending a 20' shipping container to Hilo in June. We have lots of extra room if anyone is interested in sharing cost.

Was wondering cost of slab versus post and pier. Anyone know the current cost of concrete per cu./yd.?

Are there any straw bale constructed houses in Puna? We are looking into the possibility of straw bale construction instead of steel. Cost seems to be about the same, maybe a bit cheeper but the construction time should be shorter. Does anyone know of an organization dedicated to straw bale construction in Hawaii?

Glenn