Puna subdivisions with no building restrictions

[coppercoin40]

We have been looking at properties with and without homes. It seems there are many unpermitted places for sale, most are in the Mountain View area and are on larger parcels of land. We drove out that way and tried to find several on our own, the roads are unmarked for the most part making them difficult to locate. The roads are "partially paved, narrow and make the commute to Hilo double the time. So many places and properties for sale at economical prices! There are several leasehold ag pieces for sale just out of Pahoa, 1 five acre parcel with nice little house on the corner of Kahakai & Auina, another 5+ acre piece with nice home and possible greenhouses just around the corner on Auina. Most people advised against leasehold ag, but it sounded like if you are a Hawaiian resident for 3 yrs you can apply for land parcels, they will give you the land to work and the plants to farm, an abode is your concern. Does anyone have feedback on the H.O.V.E. area? prices seem reasonable over on that side, we are trying to decide if we stick to Puna and the Hilo side or situate ourselves between Hilo & Kona. I know how far commuting to either would be from HOVE, wondering about the community, area, close by attractions. Unfortunately we went through that area at dark and never made it to Green Beach or Black Sands due to liking everything from Hilo to Kalapana! Rain and island life does not deter us! We live on a small island with 36 miles of road with over 200 inches of rain a year! We came back from a 6 week stay in HPP to snow here we wanna go back quickly (before our Jan/Feb tans are gone) shooting for back before another winter!

[Carey]

CC40- It sounds like you are looking on-line. Leasehold can be tricky, depending on the lease left & the terms...and the terms of the termination may have stipulations about how the land is returned. Not sure who is 'giving the land to work'....most leasehold property has a rate for the buildings (the 'sale' price) and an annual (or other breakdown) lease rate... and most leasehold agreements have in the terms a rate of increase, based on the time into the lease.

HOVE is in Ka`u, much dryer, windier & fairly barren a'a flows, even though many of the flows are slightly older than some of the lush vegetated flows in Puna. HOVE is also much farther from all but the 2 small shopping centers. I do have many friends who absolutely love living in HOVE and Rancheros. I am not a real fan of bone dry & windy, and water does become a real issue there. HOVE is also the one area that cause the Civil Defense guys the greatest worry....due to the past records on the Mauna Loa Southwest Rift lava flows. I would definitely recommend renting before buying, and really study up on the geo-logistics of that area.

[missydog1]

My friends from HOVE are the ones who always end up staying the night and staying with friends in Kohala when they do their stuff in either town, because they wish they were near beaches, jobs, the university, shopping, you name it ... and after some years of the commute they are very tired of it. I don't blame them.

The plus they have is cheap, but affording gas to get around is always an issue with them.

[ericlp]

HOVE is the worst part to be for VOG.