02-10-2011, 11:00 AM
What you didn't mention was the lava zone 1. Living on top of the east rift is not comfortable for many people and will keep the housing prices down significantly compared with HPP or Orchidland. You pay more for insurance, have limited choices for insurance and limited coverage amount and many lenders will not loan in lava zone 1. Thus, there are a lot fewer buyers for houses there and it has nothing to do with the distance to Hilo. Just saying what we were told many times by many people. Lava Zone 1 is not for everyone.
hawaiideborah