Second Thoughts on buying in Hawaiian Beaches Subd

[northernlights_123]

Hi, I am new to "blogging" and forums but trying to research the realities of living in the different neighborhoods in Puna. We have come to love Puna district. The Island people remind us, very much, of the small isolated far northern community we live in Canada. Genereous, strong, proud, big hearted, stubborn and opinionated. We have a lot in Nanawale estates and we stay for a month every summer. Nanawale Estates has been great to us. Super neighbors, friendly and helpful community center. Now, as neither of us has any experience building, we are thinking we should buy a smaller retirement home. One has come up on Limu St. in Hawaiian Beaches that we are looking at but I have heard threads of conversation on line that has referred to Hawaiian Beaches as a neighborhood filled with the people who are not the average community minded people we are used to seeing around Puna ( " violent biker gang", "drug addicts and dealers", "prostitution"). How much of this is really true and how much is over blown from isolated incidents? Hope a few of you living in Hawaiian Beaches can help give us a balanced perspective of what it would truly be like to live in that neighborhood. Thank you so much for sharing your eyes, ears and experience with us. D.

d ritchie

[Jon]

Hmmm
My introduction to Nanawale Estates was 2 guys going at each other in the street with baseball bats... We decided not to live there because of that and that the real estate agent had a fit when I pull out my phone to call the police, he said that if they saw me on the phone they would come after us.


I live in Hawaiian Beaches and yes there are problems here, but there are also people living here that are changing things for the better. I have lived in bad areas all my life and what I find is that they are usually just as bad as you make it.

I have yet to see a biker gang, drug dealers or prostitutes. I am sure there are drug dealers here, but I have not seen them.





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I do not believe that America is better than everybody else...
America "IS" everybody else.
HBAT

[macuu222]

Every area in Puna has it's good points and bad. We moved and retired here from a very isolated northern community (Alaska) also and settled in HPP. We looked at Hawaiian Beaches, Parks and Shores and Nanawale and decided that the lots were too small for us. But we didn't want several acres either like they sell in Upper Puna. HPP had mostly one acre parcels which for us was just enough space between neighbors while still having plenty of space to plant some elaborate tropical gardens... and it's in Lava Zone 3 which means being able to insure your home at a resonable cost.

[punafish]

Just as Puna has "micro-climates" all over the map, so does it have "micro-neighborhoods". We live in Hawaiian Shores, on the other side of Kahakai near Hawaiian Beaches. We love our neighbors and our neighborhood. But if we lived a block or two in any other direction, we might not be saying the same thing. Your immediate neighbors are just as important as the neighborhood's reputation.

While there are still pockets of trouble in Hawaiian Shores and Beaches, I think the area gets a bad rap due to old perceptions of old realities. Local friends tell me our neighborhood used to be a haven for druggies and meth houses, but has been on the rise in the last 4 or 5 years. I believe we will keep improving.

In an ideal world you would meet your neighbors before making a decision to buy. If I were you I'd "hang out" in the neighborhood at various times of day/night. My only advice is, don't buy any house blind. I think you have to see and feel the neighborhood to make a thoughtful decision.

Best of luck! We have no regrets moving to Hawaiian Shores :-)

Tim

[Carey]

There was another thread on tis, just last week...
Hawaiian Beaches/Parks/Shores/Shores Recreation Estates are 4 very long (3ish miles) very narrow (2 blocks) subdivisions that run adjacent & parallel to each other all the way from the ocean shoreline up a couple of miles from the ocean. The narrowness of each subdivision & the fact they run for miles, from very VERY nice ocean front homes to some older (1950's) homes a few blocks from the ocean to tracts of 60's & 70's home's to much more recent housing makes the neighborhoods (& streets) more of a determining factor....

It is very hard to catalog a place like this by teasing out just one of the subdivisions. There are more building restrictions in HSRE and lot sizes, water service & park amenities do vary between the subdivisions, but all have paved roads, mail service & very regular bus service...

I have heard horror tales like this of each & every subdivision in Puna (believe it or not, even in the 70's Kona had the reputation as being the "wild west", filled with all sorts of less desirable types! Many felt that the coffee belt was populated with cane field and prison runaways). There are Bikers, drugs, illegal gambling, fights, & most likely every other element here in Puna, as just about anywhere (I have not seen or experienced any more of it than when I lived in Wheaton IL.... a town that in no way had a reputation for any of this...)

The whole of the Island of Hawaii is in a major flux. New building & land valuations has changed every area and subdivision & most especially the rent in most subdivisions.... as rents change (they have gone up significantly in recent years) the renters change.... Many people engaged in illegal activities are more likely to rent (due to the potential of property confiscation). so increasing land valuations do effect them, along with bringing in more people that have a higher $ stake in their property & the neighborhood.

[roseroo14]

Nothrenlights 123,

You are getting very good advise here. There are many reasons that I built my final home in Hawaiian Beaches after building all over this island and others. Check your neighbors out that is number one on the list. Hawaiian Beaches has many things to offer over other subdivisions that caused me to build here. Just a few for you to ponder. These are only things that I like.

We have no Homeowners association
We have a well and under ground water system
We have mail delivery to our door
We have two beautiful parks [thanks to Fred Blas]
We have a elementary school at the top of the subdivision
We have a bus service
We have a quick stop connivance store in the neighborhood
We have power utilities in place through the community

There is more but I believe that you are getting the idea. The neighborhood and the community is what you make of it. Hawaiian Beach and Shores is rapidly becoming a model neighborhood and community that other are beginning to mimic.

The Lack

[Dave Smith]

Tom, a "connivance" store? Are the prices really that high?

[StillHope]

quote:

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Originally posted by Dave Smith

Tom, a "connivance" store? Are the prices really that high?

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The prices are OK,but the sales people are kinda conniving...[]

[Jon]

Its called a monopoly... they can charge what they want, because they have no compitition..

Shores needs to lease out the land by the school, and let them put in a 7/11, DaStore's prices will go down then...



-----------------------------------------------------------
I do not believe that America is better than everybody else...
America "IS" everybody else.
HBAT

[morganlady]

I was lucky to get good neighbors and county water (and near to the community center, thus with close-by bus service) in Nanawale Estates.
If employment is an issue, however, all the above-mentioned subs are quite a drive from HIlo, where, I imagine, most jobs are found.
I looked at Fern Acres, Hawaiian Acres and even the Kopua Farm Lots, as I desired room for livestock.
Define your goals and lifestyles before making any long-term decisions - buying is easy but selling is not, in this economic climate.