08-03-2009, 11:39 AM
Avoid realtors - their motives are never yours.
Follow your heart - falling in love with a place is by far more realistic (to me) than its business potential (resale etc.)
Avoid cheap sub-divisions - lots of drugs/burglary etc.
Old is good - but watch out for termites, every old building has them, unless you are looking above 3500' elevation.
Hamakua - great views, great air most of the time, the further out (north) of Hilo the drier it is.
Mt View to Volcano - extremely bad air (VOG - volcanic gases) can be expected 10% - 20% of the time throughout the year. Hilo even gets it's share of VOG, and respiratory ailments are at epidemic levels on the island.
Lava Zones, 1,2,3... can make a big difference in cost of land/house verses long term cost of home owners insurance.
Ocean front - be aware of federal/state/local restrictions. Some places you can't change a thing, including removing weeds, without gazillions of hurdles (Vacationland in Kapoho comes to mind).
If services are a plus, the closer to Hilo the better. Though the smaller towns do have some.
Does the place have a garage? Cars rust real fast left out in the rain.
County water or catchment? Parts of Puna, and a lot of other areas on the island, have no county water. Catchment can work fine, and then it can be as bad as drinking out of the sewer. Lot's of variables involved. A major thing to understand before you buy. Insurance companies want lots of water stored, away from the house, to issue fire insurance.
How far from a fire station will have an impact on insurance also.
If the place you buy does not have sewer hookup, does it have a cesspool or a septic system? If cesspool, and you plan on doing major improvements you may be forced by the county to upgrade to a septic system (cost being upwards to 10k). And, if you have to add this improvement, you need an area on the property that can support it.
Dirt or rock? Lots of land in Puna has little to no soil. Hamakua has plenty of soil.
Water run off - find out what happens in major floods to the property in question. It could look great, with no sense of that river of water that comes right through your house once ever few years when the rains really hit hard.
If you are attracted to wetter areas, how much sun and breeze the house gets may go a long way towards defining how much mold the house has.
Invasive species - the coqui frog can be a deal breaker if you value quite evenings.
Transportation is good (free buses) and bad (roads that are too small to handle the demands of rush hour traffic). Living deep in Puna and working in Hilo can force one to cope with bumper to bumper every day
Strong recommendation.. rent! while you look. It takes ALL the pressure off, and gives you a chance to find out what you feel like in a neighborhood, before you put your money down. If you buy without giving time to learn and understand you may end up with thee ol neighbor from hell scenario, or roosters that go all day long, or the cars that race up and down the block all night.
Keep in mind, Hawaii has really bad heath care. If you expect to grow old here, or have any pre-existing conditions, you may find yourself in the dark ages compared to where you are. Do not expect to find a PCP that will take new patients. If you end up in a clinic keep in mind the doctors there do not have hospital privileges, and are often there (in the clinical setting) because they aren't good enough to have a real practice.
You say no kids, so I need not tell you the schools here are the worst in the county!
Follow your heart - falling in love with a place is by far more realistic (to me) than its business potential (resale etc.)
Avoid cheap sub-divisions - lots of drugs/burglary etc.
Old is good - but watch out for termites, every old building has them, unless you are looking above 3500' elevation.
Hamakua - great views, great air most of the time, the further out (north) of Hilo the drier it is.
Mt View to Volcano - extremely bad air (VOG - volcanic gases) can be expected 10% - 20% of the time throughout the year. Hilo even gets it's share of VOG, and respiratory ailments are at epidemic levels on the island.
Lava Zones, 1,2,3... can make a big difference in cost of land/house verses long term cost of home owners insurance.
Ocean front - be aware of federal/state/local restrictions. Some places you can't change a thing, including removing weeds, without gazillions of hurdles (Vacationland in Kapoho comes to mind).
If services are a plus, the closer to Hilo the better. Though the smaller towns do have some.
Does the place have a garage? Cars rust real fast left out in the rain.
County water or catchment? Parts of Puna, and a lot of other areas on the island, have no county water. Catchment can work fine, and then it can be as bad as drinking out of the sewer. Lot's of variables involved. A major thing to understand before you buy. Insurance companies want lots of water stored, away from the house, to issue fire insurance.
How far from a fire station will have an impact on insurance also.
If the place you buy does not have sewer hookup, does it have a cesspool or a septic system? If cesspool, and you plan on doing major improvements you may be forced by the county to upgrade to a septic system (cost being upwards to 10k). And, if you have to add this improvement, you need an area on the property that can support it.
Dirt or rock? Lots of land in Puna has little to no soil. Hamakua has plenty of soil.
Water run off - find out what happens in major floods to the property in question. It could look great, with no sense of that river of water that comes right through your house once ever few years when the rains really hit hard.
If you are attracted to wetter areas, how much sun and breeze the house gets may go a long way towards defining how much mold the house has.
Invasive species - the coqui frog can be a deal breaker if you value quite evenings.
Transportation is good (free buses) and bad (roads that are too small to handle the demands of rush hour traffic). Living deep in Puna and working in Hilo can force one to cope with bumper to bumper every day
Strong recommendation.. rent! while you look. It takes ALL the pressure off, and gives you a chance to find out what you feel like in a neighborhood, before you put your money down. If you buy without giving time to learn and understand you may end up with thee ol neighbor from hell scenario, or roosters that go all day long, or the cars that race up and down the block all night.
Keep in mind, Hawaii has really bad heath care. If you expect to grow old here, or have any pre-existing conditions, you may find yourself in the dark ages compared to where you are. Do not expect to find a PCP that will take new patients. If you end up in a clinic keep in mind the doctors there do not have hospital privileges, and are often there (in the clinical setting) because they aren't good enough to have a real practice.
You say no kids, so I need not tell you the schools here are the worst in the county!