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Being out far enough not to have the traffic, in close enough for cable internet, electricity and paved roads were my priorities. Fewer bugs as in, no centipedes and very few skeeters up at 1500 feet or so. My lanai unscreened and usable all year round.
As to basics
At least 1 or 2 acre minimum lots for me, I like my neighbors, love my privacy and "grounds"
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Bullwinkle where is it you are referring to if you don't mind saying. Sounds nice.
What do you guys know about this place: http://hilobrokers.com/cgi-bin/hb?MLS217990
-Blake
http://www.theboysgreatescape.blogspot.com/
Posts: 2,314
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Joined: Jun 2003
quote:
Originally posted by Blakeyboy1
We are not condo adverse (we currently live in a downtown high-rise condo) however there do not seem to be a ton of choices and HOA fees tend to be quite high for condos in Hawaii.
When you buy a condo in Hawaii you get a copy of the financials of the complex. You will be surprised by the high percentage of the budget going towards insurance.
Aloha,
John S. Rabi, GM,PB,ABR,CRB,CM,FHS
808.989.1314
http://www.JohnRabi.com
Typically Tropical Properties
"The Next Level of Service!"
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We pretty much have the same situation, 2 miles North of Hilo. But we are not quite at 1500 ft, more like 100 ft. We live outside much of the time and have constant breezes from the ocean. We get far less rain than higher elevations. Check out the rainfall maps.[  ]
quote:
Originally posted by Bullwinkle
Being out far enough not to have the traffic, in close enough for cable internet, electricity and paved roads were my priorities. Fewer bugs as in, no centipedes and very few skeeters up at 1500 feet or so. My lanai unscreened and usable all year round.
As to basics
At least 1 or 2 acre minimum lots for me, I like my neighbors, love my privacy and "grounds"
Aloha au i Hawai`i,
devany
www.myhawaiianhome.blogspot.com
www.eastbaypotters.blogspot.com
Posts: 6,214
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The townhouse from the website is in Keaukaha, newly built & only one unit of the planned development. Interesting looking building, but the finished unit is very near the roadway. This road is the road that goes from HWY 11 to Hilo port and then out to the beach parks of Hilo, so there is a bit of traffic & such. There is a very nice public transit route that was added last year that covers this area.
ETA: Keaukaha does not have sidewalks (these are fairly rare in all but the most downtown of areas on the East Side) but does have walk/bike shoulders on the main street. the side streets are all fairly low traffic, but the ones adjacent to beach parks can be packed with parking, esp. on the best weekends.
Only word of caution on this area is in the event of a tsunami, the evacuation route is through locked gates & through the airport runways.... something to think about. If you want to know why I posted this caution, take a walk through Coconut Island & look for the tsunami coconut palm... it does bring the reality of the area to light.
If you want to be right near all of the beach parks, and an easy bike into the downtown of Hilo, and want to live in a planned multi-unit complex, this is a very nice looking option, but on the higher end for multi-unit complexes in the area. There are some multi-story condo complexes near by, many with rentals available. Renting one of those would probably give you a great idea if this area is for you.
Do not know where you are staying during your visit, but you may want to try out different areas if you are not locked into one place...
It is also good to know that the dynamics of neighborhoods change from weekday -weekend; school in-out, holiday - normal day (and you may be surprised that some of the beach parks change drastically between Memorial day and Labor Day..)
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We decided to build and not buy an existing house that way we can have exactly what we want in a house. We also decided on buying acareage with 6 acres being the minimum. I also am more interested in rural where we can have some trees I can use for my woodworking - also need a spot for a woodshop. We also had a list of several other wants and do-not-wants. OF course being off-island, we looked at a lot of tiny pictures and vague descriptions. We picked out ten prossibles, got to Hawaii and crossed them all off in three days! What a dissapointment, nothing was right and most weren't even close! We felt we just wasted our time even looking. We did have an agent, but she couldn't find anything right and we almost bought something, but later cancelled because of what we learned about albezia trees. We finally found a nice lot which met all of our criteria, but that was after about 200 miles of driving.
Be prepared to compromise, you really have to decide what's important to you. Be prepared to drive a lot and talk to people.
You can't grow much of a garden living in a condo....
Puna: Our roosters crow first
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quote:
Originally posted by Carey
The townhouse from the website is in Keaukaha, newly built & only one unit of the planned development. Interesting looking building, but the finished unit is very near the roadway. This road is the road that goes from HWY 11 to Hilo port and then out to the beach parks of Hilo, so there is a bit of traffic & such. There is a very nice public transit route that was added last year that covers this area.
ETA: Keaukaha does not have sidewalks (these are fairly rare in all but the most downtown of areas on the East Side) but does have walk/bike shoulders on the main street. the side streets are all fairly low traffic, but the ones adjacent to beach parks can be packed with parking, esp. on the best weekends.
Only word of caution on this area is in the event of a tsunami, the evacuation route is through locked gates & through the airport runways.... something to think about. If you want to know why I posted this caution, take a walk through Coconut Island & look for the tsunami coconut palm... it does bring the reality of the area to light.
If you want to be right near all of the beach parks, and an easy bike into the downtown of Hilo, and want to live in a planned multi-unit complex, this is a very nice looking option, but on the higher end for multi-unit complexes in the area. There are some multi-story condo complexes near by, many with rentals available. Renting one of those would probably give you a great idea if this area is for you.
Do not know where you are staying during your visit, but you may want to try out different areas if you are not locked into one place...
It is also good to know that the dynamics of neighborhoods change from weekday -weekend; school in-out, holiday - normal day (and you may be surprised that some of the beach parks change drastically between Memorial day and Labor Day..)
Carey it is as if you read my mind! Thanks for the feedback on this. And I was particularly curious about walking, traffic and sidewalks. I have had some emails from a few people about the property I asked about as well, all essentially confirming what you said. I kind of got the idea from the listings/pictures that perhaps the development was unfinished and might be in trouble. Anyway thank you again for all of the information you have provided on this subject!
-Blake
http://www.theboysgreatescape.blogspot.com/
Posts: 473
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Eight - without sounding too creepy I am more or less familiar with your plans just by following your posts on this site and from talking to you previously. I swear I am not stalking you or anything LOL. And yes, we have considered that a garden would be difficult or impossible in a condo. On the other hand, if we were close enough to the farmers market it might not matter as much. Thank you for your input though!
Kathy - We are definitely not the mainlanders you referenced that are looking for tons of square footage. We currently live in a central city condo where space is limited and we are downsizing more. We have seriously considered a pole house with 500 square feet of interior space (and another 600+ of deck) and people think we're nuts for considering it. Honestly though it is really all we want or need and as all of the exterior walls open to the decks the outside doubles the size. We would just need to locate it in the right area.
Everyone thanks for your input. This was a great discussion and quite helpful to us. We're going to be very busy looking around and absorbing things while we are there in a few weeks.
-Blake
http://www.theboysgreatescape.blogspot.com/
Posts: 168
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Hmmm, if you like to surf then I'd take a look at being as close to Honolii or Poohiki as you can. I chose to split the difference between the two in HPP and wish I'd just stuck with Honolii and more surf. Oh well, not the best of reasons, but we all have our priorities...
As for renting first, sure it's a good idea, but there was no way I wanted to live out of boxes for several months (my wife would have been miserable) nor did I want to move a household a second time (my back would have been miserable).
Good luck,
Sean
See you in the surf
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Excellent point about the surf Sean. I had some of the funnest waves of my life at Pohoiki. Renting first is my plan though. I'm on Oahu currently but visit 4-6 times a year. Even with having been there so much, 6 months in a rental seems like a good investment to make much smarter decisions. Not the dreamhouse but whats the rush. I'd move tomorrow if there was more work. Maybe in 5 years or so i can go for it.
Blakeyboy, been reading your posts and your blog. Sounds like your future visit will answer a lot of questions. The idea of a converted loft in Hilo though seems like a small selection. What happened to the polehouse?
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