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You mean soil not dirt ?
Does the lot you are buying have fire ants or snails n slugs ?
You will be getting the legal weight tax and safety to tow your house to your lot on the roads yes?
And hubby will be getting his needed contractors licenses for all his skill sets yes?
And what about your county approved septic system as required by law?
How much water catchment will you have or will you be on county water ?
What type of internet will you have where you are buying- does it have cell reception ?
On pavement or off?
Mrs.Mimosa
Posts: 101
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Check out
www.friendlyaquaponics.com family operated business, I haven't made it up there yet, but it's on my list of things to do this winter. It's up the Hamakua Coast.
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Friendly aquaponics is great, I read their book and it has tons of good information. As far as mosquitos we will put fish in the troughs. The owners of friendly aquaponics had some great suggestions and say they have zero mosquitos where they are at in Hamakua. I would love to be able to rent for a year but unfortunately that is not in our best interest. We are quickly being priced out of our home state, tourism is booming here in wine country but there is no growth in affordable housing. We've had to spend money just to save it (financing our tiny house build) which has proven a great way to save, at less than 1/3 the cost of renting a studio apartment. Then there is the issue of where to put it. There are many strict enforcements in this area. Tiny house aren't quite illegal here but more in a gray area and authorities are not quite sure what to do about them. Both composting toilets (which we use) and water catchment are illegal here, makes no sense especially considering the drought we just got out of. Right now we are on my parents 1 1/2 acre property away from prying eyes, but unfortunately they are selling. Finding a place willing or capable of parking a tiny house here has proven near impossible. Our options are to purchase land for the long run or to go back to being trapped in the renters market, paycheck to paycheck never being able to save anything. It is quite bad here, and we are not big spenders at all and have decent jobs. We don't have smoking or drinking habits, buy our food in bulk, etc., but it still does nothing with the insane rent prices. We have been looking for several years at different states to purchase property in and Hawaii/puna is really the only place we can see ourselves being successful and enjoying. Plus the price is right. If we play it right, our tiny house payments will be complete in just a few years and with a piece of land bought outright we will be very comfortable. Our tiny house uses an airhead composting toilet so no need for septic, although we may upgrade to an incindiary toilet. We are hoping to get a 10,000 gallon catchment tank. Our tiny house is road legal here but I will have to check about transportation there to see if any permits are neeeded. As far as internet and cell, we will have to check the available options when we look at properties in December. We will be liquidating some belongings and 1 vehicle when we make the move(probably not until the end of 2018) however we do plan on buying a shipping container to ship any belongings we do keep and use for storage/ag building on our property. I've heard sattaelite internet is common, is that true?
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The County may see your tiny house on wheels as either a camper or mobile home and take a dim view of that. mobile homes are not allowed.
Also, theft from shipping containers that are stored on vacant land, is quite common. I wouldn't ship the container over until you will be here.
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It's not really realistic to expect zero mosquitoes. You can cut their numbers with diligence though. They will reproduce given any standing water, even a teaspoon or so. Like say a curved dried leaf that falls under a tree and collects rainwater. If you level all the foliage in a large berth around the house you will really notice a difference but that's not always pleasing, aesthetically. It's smart that you are getting opinions here at Puna Web. Get a wide spectrum of ideas. Don't let anyone scare you away though. Don't consider Hawi. If you start looking at other property you'll find sky rocketing prices compared to Hawaiian Acres or Orchidland. BTW these two subdivisions are connected. Backed up against each other with several connecting roads. It floods in the Acres and that same flood washes down through orchidland. Yup, Dengue, ratlung, lepto, etc. Life is still great in paradise despite. Some people are more of "drama-queens" about it than others. That being said, it's nice being "informed"
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We don't plan on shipping the container until we fly out for good. And as far the tiny house, I believe it is considered a recreational vehicle. It has brake lights and we can get a license plate if need be.
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I would put the tiny house into the shipping container and not divulge the "recreational vehicle" nor try to operate it on a public roadway.
Note that the current iteration of our fine Building Code magically transmogrifies any vehicle into a building once it has "remained stationary for 24hours without prime facie evidence of movement" (such as: a food cart with permits).
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I wish I could put it in a container but it's too tall
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Come out n spend some time. The romantic dream of moving to Hawaii n becoming a farmer gets squashed quickly, once you deal with the thieves,fire ants, and the rampant drug problems. Spend more than a day, meeting the neighbors on surrounding properties, this will make or break your home life. First and foremost, think about security first. Plan on building a gate as soon as you hit the island, put up cameras, and get some big dogs. I don't want to pee in your cheerios but instead educate you. Get on Facebook and become a member of "big island theives", this will give you an idea of the crime. And finally....whatever you do, don't bring over a Honda or a Toyota truck, it will get stolen.
Bugs are everywhere...you cannot control the mosquitoes in an area that gets 100" of rain. Cockroaches, centipede, slugs,fire ants, all thrive here. You can control them in an aquaponics system, but you are surrounded by 1000's of acres of land.
Oh, and one more thing...pigs are everywhere and love farm raised food. So plan on pig fencing your entire property or all you hard work will be wiped out in a single night..
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Don't worry about "peeing in my cheerios" this is all really great and useful information. I do have an older Toyota 4Runner I plan on bringing and we really want a Tacoma, so that is something we may have to reconsider. We will definitely be putting up a fence and security gate and we already have 2 large dogs, a Siberian husky and a German Shepard Malinoise mix. I've heard a lot about the crime and drug use. I realize it's bad but then again there are thieves and druggies everywhere, definitely something to keep in mind however. When we were in Puna last everyone was just so friendly and happy, something that we dont seem to get here too much anymore...try to say hello to someone walking your dog down the street and all they do is give you a dirty look. People here seem to only look out for #1 and nothing else...the people of Puna (at least from what I perceived) were much friendlier and seemed to care more about their community and surroundings, something I really admire.
