Our plan not a dream :)

[randymu42]

Ok here we go, me and the wife have been coming to the islands for years and have been making this plan for that long to !! we are two adults with kids all grown(not coming) and we are wanting to move to Kona side.
1st) we are bring enough to live job free for a few years if need be and we bring "skills" too (her-med me- own a building company)
2) We are paying off our 2013 car so no car payments and shipping it over (so no lender problems)
3) we are keeping our main land home and renting it to our grown son (army) to have a exit plan (we are shipping nothing but clothes and papers, buying all new as needed there) We will sale mainland home after as things work out, plus wife is on re-hire list at hospital if need be to return.
4) We own a home on the big island now on the puna side ( complete home, all permitted and on paved road ) all rented up, we bought it when the market was at the bottom and will keep till it turns just a little more and as things work out on Kona side (us renting 1st) we will sell it and use seed money for something on Kona side
5) no pets to bring(so don't have that problem to deal with)
6) Both of our Parents have passed so no deep family needs here
7) We now live in a town that is not our home town (so no home town leaving blues) and is at least two hours any way around us to any other town ( so being cut off is not that new to us)
8) Grow up and most of our adult life's in so cal so know about high cost of living
9) Every time we have come to the islands we have stayed at places with kitchens (no hotels) and shopped local to get as much of a feeling for cost as possible.
10) both me and the wife really feel very much home when getting off the plane there all the times we have been ( I know so many ppl say that) but we have inter acted with a lot of locals and have nothing but great times, we show great respect for the ppl of the islands and have gotten back the same.

so with all that and I am sure there are other things I am not putting up here and some things that not belong here so go head ppl let me here your best advise and thoughts (good and bad )


Read more: http://www.city-data.com/forum/big-islan...z2afjI7LNp

[Carey]

We live on the East side, but DH works & stays on the Kona side... up in Kaloko

There are many wonderful areas around Kona. That said, we grew up more midwest country & like rain & less traffic.... but since you are SoCal, the dry & traffic in Kona is more to what you are used to.

My nose is also not a fan of VOG, so the few days we have it here are doable... too many days in Kona & my nose wants a reprieve...

One biggy that seems to amaze people here is electric... while you are planning, try to get your electric use way down (figure your bill will be close to 4x what you are paying now)

We had had plans to not work at all, & bought a house on the East side...but staying flexible is a major thing here...so when a great job opportunity opened up for DH on the west side during the economic downturn, we became dual-coasters...

Didn't add a lot to go on, but hopefully some tidbits are helpful

[rocketman]

Randy
Wow, you sound just like us... Our house just closed a few weeks ago in HSRE. Many, many years visiting, retiring and moving from N Ca. at the end of the year. Have to look you up when we get there. Good luck.
Ed

[dragon2k]

Sounds like all systems go Randy. Congratulations and keep us posted on the big move!

[EightFingers]

"... 3) we are keeping our main land home and renting it to our grown son (army) to have a exit plan ..."

What makes you think you'll need an "exit" plan?

[pahoated]

It's good to read about a plan. It doesn't even take much thinking to make it to Hawaii. Just buy a ticket, walk on the jet, a few hours and there you are. Moving to Hawaii posts tend to ignore that, and it isn't the getting here that is challenging (although it can be) but the living of a comfortable life long term can prove to be impossible for many people, especially if they have serious rational problems with their dream. This leads to a lot of the problems around here.

Lots of people make it, lots of people don't. The fact the census showed 7,000 people move to Hawaii island per year and 6,000 leave should be a big indicator. Of course, the highest percentage of those moving to Hawaii are mostly retired, elderly, from the mainland. The combination of those leaving would be higher in local keiki having to leave for jobs, people that decide it isn't for them, and those that have failed to make it. So, the net in a higher growth area like Puna is that it's mostly a retirement community. Retirement communities place growth and schools very low on their priority list, tend to be on a lower fixed income and don't pay state tax on that income. That makes medical care, places to go out, roads, gardening and zero investment become the higher priorities of the community.

The real paradise is having a place over in Kona and a place on the east side.

"This island Hawaii on this island Earth"

[robguz]

One thing you may want to consider is selling the Puna home now and getting in the Kona market sooner. Kona prices are going up faster than Puna prices right now. Even if they both went up 10%, a 200,000K home will gain 20K, a 400,000K equivalent home in Kona will go up 40k, and you've essentially lost 20K by waiting a year for the Puna market .to go up.

[pahoated]

This is the result of encouraging marginalists (since minimalists is apparently equivalent to the f-word) to just come to Hawaii. The homeless problem is much worse in Honolulu and Kona area. Honolulu just cleared some areas of the homeless. There must be enough data to indicate most of these homeless are transplanted mainlanders, not locals, since the program is for the homeless to return to the mainland. This is why it isn't cool to encourage just anybody to come over and try to make it, many do not, then it costs the state and the taxpayers. It is not pono to encourage the marginalists.

http://www.civilbeat.com/articles/2013/0...-mainland/
Homeless in Hawaii? State Will Fly You Back to Family on Mainland

"This island Hawaii on this island Earth"