05-29-2007, 10:38 PM
My thoughts on HPP:
-- Don't buy a house on side of street toward the mountain, unless the street is paved. You'll have cinder dust all through the house.
-- Don't buy without checking houses around, across, and back of you. Some have roosters, dogs, goats that'll keep you awake. Some have parties, mostly on the weekends, some have cockfighting.
-- Some areas are much, much safer than others.
-- We used to keep all our windows and doors open and would close them when we went away. We stopped closing the place since we wanted it to look the same if we were there or not. We installed timers on lamps that when on and off at different parts of day and night in different parts of the house to make it seem like we were walking around.
-- If you buy a place closer to ocean, be prepared for a good additional 8-10 minutes commute just to get to Hwy 130 before getting to Hilo, etc.
-- Don't expect much from the homeowners association and don't expect to have much input. They don't want owner input and limit it at the meetings.
-- Be prepared to hear Hwy 130 road noise if you buy within at least 5 blocks from the hwy, anytime, day or night. The off-road tires really make the noise, especially coupled with wet roads.
-- Don't buy a house on side of street toward the mountain, unless the street is paved. You'll have cinder dust all through the house.
-- Don't buy without checking houses around, across, and back of you. Some have roosters, dogs, goats that'll keep you awake. Some have parties, mostly on the weekends, some have cockfighting.
-- Some areas are much, much safer than others.
-- We used to keep all our windows and doors open and would close them when we went away. We stopped closing the place since we wanted it to look the same if we were there or not. We installed timers on lamps that when on and off at different parts of day and night in different parts of the house to make it seem like we were walking around.
-- If you buy a place closer to ocean, be prepared for a good additional 8-10 minutes commute just to get to Hwy 130 before getting to Hilo, etc.
-- Don't expect much from the homeowners association and don't expect to have much input. They don't want owner input and limit it at the meetings.
-- Be prepared to hear Hwy 130 road noise if you buy within at least 5 blocks from the hwy, anytime, day or night. The off-road tires really make the noise, especially coupled with wet roads.