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Come out n spend some time. The romantic dream of moving to Hawaii n becoming a farmer gets squashed quickly, once you deal with the thieves,fire ants, and the rampant drug problems. Spend more than a day, meeting the neighbors on surrounding properties, this will make or break your home life. First and foremost, think about security first. Plan on building a gate as soon as you hit the island, put up cameras, and get some big dogs. I don't want to pee in your cheerios but instead educate you. Get on Facebook and become a member of "big island theives", this will give you an idea of the crime. And finally....whatever you do, don't bring over a Honda or a Toyota truck, it will get stolen.
Bugs are everywhere...you cannot control the mosquitoes in an area that gets 100" of rain. Cockroaches, centipede, slugs,fire ants, all thrive here. You can control them in an aquaponics system, but you are surrounded by 1000's of acres of land.
Oh, and one more thing...pigs are everywhere and love farm raised food. So plan on pig fencing your entire property or all you hard work will be wiped out in a single night..
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Cool, sounds like you have a plan. Generally if you seek good people they will appear. Just be aware of the amount of property crimes..yes, every city has its crime, but Hawaii is number 1 in the nation. And the thieves are bold here, due to our lackluster judges and prosecutors. . If you do bring over a Toyota, put a kill switch in it for sure. Have you started the quarantine process for your dogs? This takes approx 8 months. I can tell you that when I shipped my dogs over, it was approx $5000 total. That's for the required quarantine requirements, microchip, state documents, and shipping. Double check everything, one small hiccup and it can be a nitemare bringing dogs over. Get the started on heartworm meds asap, we have heartworms here.
After all of that, chase your dreams. We got out of the "rat race" and love living here. Respect the culture...that is important. This is not the United States, this is an occupied territory, show respect and you will receive it in return.
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Cool, sounds like you have a plan. Generally if you seek good people they will appear. Just be aware of the amount of property crimes..yes, every city has its crime, but Hawaii is number 1 in the nation. And the thieves are bold here, due to our lackluster judges and prosecutors. . If you do bring over a Toyota, put a kill switch in it for sure. Have you started the quarantine process for your dogs? This takes approx 8 months. I can tell you that when I shipped my dogs over, it was approx $5000 total. That's for the required quarantine requirements, microchip, state documents, and shipping. Double check everything, one small hiccup and it can be a nitemare bringing dogs over. Get the started on heartworm meds asap, we have heartworms here.
After all of that, chase your dreams. We got out of the "rat race" and love living here. Respect the culture...that is important. This is not the United States, this is an occupied territory, show respect and you will receive it in return.
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Many don't consciously absorb the fact that the big island has a relatively small population. I once considered moving my business here, but quickly realized that would be a losing proposition simply because the population I could serve would be very small. Take the time to investigate the business end carefully. It is not a market anomaly that land is cheap in East Hawaii compared to other places. It is cheaper for several reasons. Those who are here long term have found their niche, and you may very well find yours if your stars align. 
Many people arrive on island, stay a year or two, then leave again. Some feel it is too remote. Others want to be closer to family on the mainland. For some, it's the schools. For others, it's a need for access to better healthcare. Some never quite feel they fit in with the culture. Some feel disappointed that this version of paradise doesn't match their expectations. This is why many suggest coming to rent for a trial period before committing everything you have to an uncertain outcome.
Best of luck, and let us know where you'll be cooking! I'll want to come partake.
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Both dogs are given flea/tick and heart guard meds monthly. I got a quote from island pet movers $1500/pet and if I remember correctly they said it would take about 4 months to prep them, but I will look further in to that thanks for the tip! They are both extremely well taken care of and always up to date on vaccines. As far as the aquaponics business goes, I'm not looking to get rich. Our main reason for wanting to have property/aquaponics is to live sustainably and to feed ourselves and hopefully some of the community. We are in a position where if our plan goes smoothly, our monthly bills will be minimal in just a few years time. We are hopeful the aquaponics set up will be a great way to use less water, grow more food, feed ourselves and make some extra cash at the markets.
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quote:
Originally posted by KiminPL
Many people arrive on island, stay a year or two, then leave again. Some feel it is too remote. Others want to be closer to family on the mainland. For some, it's the schools. For others, it's a need for access to better healthcare. Some never quite feel they fit in with the culture. Some feel disappointed that this version of paradise doesn't match their expectations. This is why many suggest coming to rent for a trial period before committing everything you have to an uncertain outcome.
Wow. This is the most eloquent summation of the 'catch and release' style the Big I has of retaining newcomers that I have ever heard. Thank you Kimin!!
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Sounds like you already have most of the answers. Can't stress enough to spend a week meeting the neighbors and listening to the sounds at night. One bad apple can spoil the bunch. That area is ripe with chicken fighters, who often will have 150 roosters and the occasional tweaker. Do your diligence before buying any property's.
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kapa farmer it is do-able. just do your homework. many things mirror my past. from monte rio and taught anatomy at the college there in santarosa. built our home in late 70's never been robbed. the best advice is have good neighbors. we moved to HA maybe 10 years ago after always being higher up almost to glenwood. we are in a downward cycle right now with all the thieves but there are pockets of good folk. drive through some of the areas at dusk with your windows down and pay attention...get your fences and dogs up first thing. we shipped a28 footer and the height really is important. for example we saved over a thousand bucks by taking down the air conditioner and putting inside. that is because even if you have a small thing on the roof, they measure it and count it for the entire distance. we left a lot inside also even though everyone says it has to be cleaned out. we have let a couple different people live in it while they built. you definitely want to be on your property while building, it is probably the worst time to get through as all these strangers will be coming around. try to go to the homeowner association meetings you will learn a lot, like who the crazies are. we grow maybe 50% of our food and have chickens/ducks/goats. it is all doable, every part of the country has some issue, but then you won't be chopping firewood all summer and burning it all winter so there you go.. best of luck and welcome to the punaweb.
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It's 4 months for the dogs. Dogs are actually easy to bring in, just a bunch of time and red tape. If you want headaches, bring parrots. If you don't have heartworm in your area, don't worry about a heartworm regimen until you get here. You will want your dogs vaccinated for lepto before you get here, it's not normally part of a mainland vaccination schedule but it's usually in the 9-way and 10-way shots. There are also lepto-only vaccines. Having a farm we vaccinate our pets and livestock ourselves, I am not sure what the vets sell on the madland.
You mentioned bringing a shipping container to keep here. The barge companies can only transport shipping containers with a valid engineer's certificate, and most of the shipping containers for sale cheap are because they don't have/probably can't get one. The most likely source of buying a shipping container that can be shipped here is the barge company looking to unload a shipping container near the end of it's life, and those aren't as cheap as the ones you see on Craigslist etc. It might be cheaper to purchase a shipping container here. We were lucky that when we wanted to do the same thing you asked about, we called the barge company and asked if any of their containers were for sale. In their entire fleet they only had TWO, and one of them was magically at our port. We asked for that container specifically and we had the OPTION to buy it AFTER we got here. Also, make sure you get a "High Cube" container. They are the only ones that can survive a permitting process- even if you have no interest in that it increases the local resale value if you change your mind about staying here. Lastly, when I was container shopping a few years ago there was essentially no price difference on island for a 20' or 40' high cube because nobody ships 20' containers here anymore and many for sale were 40' containers cut in half and after adding doors etc the prices washed out.
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I used Akona pet services in kona for my dogs. These ladies were absolutely wonderful!!! Costs a few bucks but they took care of everything. That made it a walk in the park and worked with my vet stateside. Zero stress on my end.
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