what is it like to live in honolulu
10 Things y'all should know before moving to Hawaii
Every year thousands of people move to Hawaii, buy a home, and begin to live their dream. Starry-eyed people come here with high hopes of living in paradise, in a beautiful Hawaii beach firm, surfing everyday, and sipping margaritas out of coconut shells.
That is not ever the reality, so hither are some things I call back yous should know before moving and buying a home in Hawaii.
Also Check out my step-by-step Hawaii relocation guide, and run across my tips on moving with children.
1) Hawaii is an isle state
Living on an isle ways it'south harder to go some things and to practice some of the things you like. A few things are just impossible - like going on a long route trip to another Land. Many things are more than expensive to ship to Hawaii, and slower to arrive by Fedex, but Amazon Prime number ships many things for free to Hawaii in virtually three-5 days. Even with Amazon, some things are incommunicable to ship here.
Fedex overnight sometimes ways 2 days to Hawaii, and there rarely any overnight shipping from Hawaii. Almost anything you ship from Hawaii to the mainland volition take 2 days to arrive.
Fifty-fifty if at that place are a few stores on Oahu that carry what you want, that doesn't mean that they'll accept it in stock on whatever given day. Some stores they won't ship very big things at all, but many, like Home Depot, will do it if you lot wait a few weeks. Yes, some heavy items really do send costless to Hawaii, like the 8 person dining tabular array that Home Depot shipped to their store for me. I did accept to choice it upwardly at the store, merely at least it got hither. Target and Walmart would not ship that same table at all. Once in a while, we accept some 1st world problems, and that'south the cost of living in "paradise." But trust me, it'due south worth it.
Since shipping heavy items can be expensive and often slow, living on an isle ways that sometimes you take to settle for what we have. You tin can't bulldoze a few hours to some other city to go something that isn't available, although we practise have 3 Home Depots, 4 Costcos and 4 Targets on Oahu .
Sometimes you lot merely wait a few weeks, and in the mean time, you lot learn to be content with more important things - family unit, warm weather condition, the sea, Island life. Yes, some things that are harder to get hither - like certain building supplies, some types of furniture, or custom things. If you want a custom made desk, for instance, you might accept ane-2 options on island.
But these are the definitions of start world problems.
If you decide to stay on the mainland considering of "stuff" you can get, then you're settling for less. People love Hawaii because of what is more important the fabric things. We cherish our beach time with the kids, dusk surfs, warm hikes in wintertime, cute ocean views all twelvemonth long, and all the things that only and island Country tin can requite you. I one time saw a female parent whale and her babies swimming just a few yards from shore, while on a morning hike with my kids as the dominicus rose over Makapuu lighthouse. You can't buy that on Amazon, but y'all can buy a house in Hawaii and have it everyday.
2) Oahu is paradise on earth, just it'due south non heaven.
There is still traffic and crime, and at that place are yet some rude people in Hawaii similar anywhere else. We have homeless people and drug problems in Honolulu, similar any major city. People who are new to Hawaii tend to alive for about a year in the honeymoon stage, still euphoric nigh only living in Hawaii at all. But eventually reality sets in and life begins to wait similar to back home, just with perfect beaches and more fourth dimension in the water, and less jackets. In fact, no jackets, inappreciably any long pants, no sweaters at all for the get-go couple of years, until you acclimate.
My son lived for near 16 years without owning long pants - he didn't even know what they were called. No joke.
People in Hawaii still get sick, go fired, get mad at each other, etc. Life notwithstanding throws yous curve balls in paradise, and your stuff begins to rust, no matter where you lot alive on the island. People are still evil inside. People in Hawaii go arrested, murdered, and divorced.
Only God gives true joy from within, and without inner joy, Hawaii isn't necessarily going to brand you happy, but information technology will make life more pleasant. We don't deal with snow, people on the road will let you cut in if y'all wave to them, and if y'all're respectful of local people, they volition somewhen warm upwardly to you.
Living in Hawaii will probably make your life a lot more fun. If you're looking for inner peace, become to church building. If y'all desire your days to be less dreary and accept improve weather, and be able to savor the outdoors all year circular, and so motion to Hawaii. I actually do surf and golf almost every week. Actually nigh every mean solar day.
start your Move to Paradise!
iii) If you're not local, you'll never be.
If you didn't grow up here and take parents of somewhat Hawaiian/Asian decent, you're a haole. It's not just racial, usually. Yet, nearly haoles fit correct in, make friends that are locals, and even got elected governor or mayor. Nosotros take plenty of nice people of all races, just if you didn't grow up, y'all flew here - simply similar I did. My wife is haole, and she'south never had whatever problems here. I'm Japanese, but I'grand as well sort of haole even after twenty years on island, because I didn't grow up here.
Some people in Hawaii are much more friendly than the mainland, simply others might seem much less so. It's like anywhere. If you go to a bad neighborhood on the mainland, yous might become bad looks or feel unsafe, and that is waaaaay less common hither. It'south not nigh your skin color, it's about your attitude and the respect you bear witness to others.
We are visitors on an island that was overtaken by a foreign state, America. Then be aware that nosotros need to show respect, be polite, and don't treat Hawaii similar you ain information technology but considering you bought a house here. You aren't "Hawai'ian" if you lot live hither. Yous're Hawai'ian if you take Hawai'ian blood. Simply many locals in Hawai'i are non "Hawai'ian" either. They're usually a mix of Japanese, Chinese, Philippino, Korean, Portugese, Samoan, Tongan, and haole.
For the most role, people are very nice here, especially on the freeway. Anybody will permit you cut in front of them, if you give a friendly shaka. Near people put on a happy face up. There is definitely a sense in which people are happier in Hawaii, but some people are more wary of new comers. They know that there is a high likelihood that new people will move away rapidly, so they don't get too excited when someone says they just moved hither.
I take personally had many friends motility away because of job transfers, military orders, or just the inability to conform to life in Hawaii. People here ask what high school yous went to, considering if you lot didn't go to high schoolhouse here, you're not truly local. I didn't get to high schoolhouse here, and I'm fine.
As a general rule, the longer you live hither, the longer you're likely to alive here. Meaning, if you just got here, your chances of moving dorsum dwelling are very high.
iv) Housing is expensive
$900,000 might buy you a small business firm in Hawaii Kai or a decent condo in Waikiki, or a pretty prissy house in Ewa Embankment. Depending on the area, it might exist an old single wall construction dwelling, meaning at that place are no studs in the walls, and the house was built in the 1960's. Mine was built in 1948.
Your yard might be smaller than y'all're used to, especially in town (metro Honolulu), and the clay may be bright crimson. But it'southward a small island that isn't growing, and in that location is nowhere to expand, and so the prices will probably keep ascension forever, as more people want to live in paradise.
Almost everyone who bought Hawaii existent estate x years ago has one-half a one thousand thousand in disinterestedness. The renters have null. If you want to make a million dollars someday, purchase real estate in Hawaii.
If you become out a bit to the west side you lot can get small-scale home for about $700k in Ewa Embankment, Kapolei, Imperial Kunia, and Makakilo. On the Northward Shore, you can get a big yard, maybe even an acre, for around $one.5mil. Information technology'south country up there, very rural, and very peaceful. It will hopefully e'er exist a lot of farmland and just a few houses, only yous go a lot more than land on the Due north Shore, you go to surf bigger waves, and you lot get to exist further from town.
Unfortunately, our local authorities thinks that affordable housing solutions include building luxury condos for foreign millionaires who leave their 2nd (or tertiary) dwelling condos vacant, then there is a massive housing shortage. That means a nice firm in a overnice expanse is going to cost you at least $1mil. That'south good for Realtors like me, but it makes the cost of living in Hawaii go up, which means an investment in Hawaii existent manor is likely to be i of the best investments you lot'll ever make. Limited country (supply) and nearly unlimited demand.
The solution is simple and politically unlikely - to heavily taxation the strange investors who go out their properties vacant. Unfortunately, that volition probably never happen, and then buy Hawaii real estate, because prices will likely get upward forever.
5) The sea in Hawaii is wonderful, but you may not be in information technology as much equally you think
People ask me if I surf everyday. (Yes, almost.) They retrieve I sit on Waikiki beach and type my web log or handle my escrows, etc. (Sometimes, yep.) Well-nigh days I stand at a desk in my function, which is beyond the street from the ocean, with bang-up waves, and it's 75 degrees and sunny outside.
Yeah, I oft piece of work from the beach while my kids play in the water. I often surf betwixt appointments and bring my board to a showing because it'southward a good surf spot. But a lot of days I have too much work to surf. It's sorry. ;)
I did simply go surf before I wrote this. We go to the beach as a family unit a few times a month. We like the Northward Shore or Ala Moana, and sometimes we become to a fiddling secret embankment most our house. In that location are still plenty of empty beaches in Oahu, and if you buy a house here, I'll prove you lot some of them, perhaps even my secret embankment if you promise not to expose information technology.
You tin paddle, surf, swim, dive, fish, etc., and it's how we alive here, merely you would be surprised at how many people hither almost never touch the h2o. I would guess that far less than one-half of the people on Oahu every enter the ocean in whatever given twelvemonth. Maybe 20%?
There are thousands of people hither who have no involvement in the ocean at all, and still enjoy Hawaii a lot. You tin hike, play golf, wing helicopters, and exercise many other things twelvemonth round, since we don't have whatever real wintertime. In fact we love winter on Oahu, considering it's nice and cool, no AC needed.
6) Information technology rains a lot, all of a sudden, for 10 minutes at a time
If you alive in Manoa, Maunawili, the North Shore, Kaneohe or Kailua, information technology rains a lot more than than in boondocks, the Leeward side, or Hawaii Kai. Unremarkably within a few minutes the lord's day volition come up out and dry out everything off. So end walking effectually with an umbrella, you look similar a tourist :)
You lot tin can pretty much count on rain every night in Mililani and on the Windward side, specially upper Kaneohe, effectually Ahuimanu and Haiku plantation. Upwardly there it's always moisture and everything in your house feels damp. By the style, if yous desire a little bit cooler climate merely don't want to pay as much every bit Kailua and Kanoehe, Mililani is a great selection for a nice cool climate and has great schools! Nice homes in Mililani are around $850k-$i.5mil as of 2021.
In that location are neighborhoods in Kaneohe where I have literally never seen the ground dry. The rooftops are ever moisture too. So yous have to call up about that when you purchase a home on Oahu. Do y'all similar it wet and absurd at night? Then consider Mililani, Kaneohe, or upper Kailua. Or do yous adopt dry and hot? So recollect Ewa Beach, Kapolei, Purple Kunia, Aiea, and some parts of Hawaii Kai. Ewa and Kapolei are much hotter and dryer than the residuum of the island, but homes are cheaper, newer, and master planned with dandy civilities.
Oahu has tons of micro climates, cheers to the many dissimilar valleys betwixt our mountain ranges. Hahaione valley in Hawaii Kai is green, wet, lush, windy. About a mile away in Kalama Valley, you volition see much less rain, less light-green, a little less current of air, and more heat. This is why you need a Realtor with local cognition of the micro climates. If you demand a Realtor, I know a guy...
7) Everything rusts
Yes everything rusts, specially on the windward side of Oahu, which means Kailua and Kaneohe. Things rust quite a scrap in Manoa too, where information technology rains most everyday of the yr. Everything has to exist replaced more ofttimes because of the salty, humid air. My bike took 1 year to turn a pile of rust, but at least I got to ride it to the beach a few dozen times. Your automobile will be muddy most of the fourth dimension because of rain and wet roads in these areas, especially North Shore.
You probably take to repaint your Hawaii domicile every fifteen years because the sun is stronger out hither. Mold will grow in two days if y'all leave anything wet anywhere. It'due south a tropical isle, so at that place are costs to living well-nigh the lush dark-green mountains and the ocean.
If you live in an area most the ocean where the wind blows on shore, like Kailua for example, things will rust and corrode much faster than if y'all live where the air current blows off shore (out to sea). Very oftentimes I walk in to a house for sale in Kailua and find that the door hinges and locks are completely rusted, while in Kapolei they might last ten times longer and never run across any rust, in part because some people run the Ac most of the year in Kapolei, where it is hotter, dryer, and where the wind doesn't blow the salt onto your house.
You're going to have all kinds of first world problems living on a tropical island paradise. If that doesn't seem worth information technology to you, I would challenge you to rethink your priorities. All materials things somewhen autumn apart, burn up, rust, go stolen, or you get out them to your kids when you die.
eight) All your friends will visit you the beginning year
Your friends may visit you right away, and you'll have to cart them to the Due north Shore, to Waikiki, to the Dole plantation, and Kailua Embankment. You'll have less visitors in the second year, until finally you lot become 1 or 2 visitors a twelvemonth—forever. You will discover long lost relatives who want to stay with y'all, because a lot of people love the thought of coming to Hawaii. That'due south why Idiot box game shows don't requite abroad trips to Nebraska. Information technology's the trip to Hawaii that everyone wants, and we aid you make it permanent.
If yous don't want to become island fever (which I've never had), then just leave in one case a year and go visit some family somewhere miserable. Every time you come up back, Hawaii will experience more than and more than like abode. Y'all might miss what is familiar until you lot compare information technology to life in Hawaii in the winter. One time you've acclimated to our warm winters, you won't miss the snow then much as you'll miss your friends, so just invite them out to visit.
9) Everything takes longer in Hawaii
Things that have 5 minutes may take xx here. Things you might go instantly in L.A. could accept days in Hawaii. You need a contractor to come give you lot an estimate? How nearly 2 weeks from at present? You demand a dentist date? How about next calendar month? Life in Hawaii is in sometimes in slow motion, and nosotros similar it that way. Even in our existent estate transactions, we work slow. Our boilerplate escrow is 45-60 days.
Learn to drive slow, walk slow, and live slow. Nosotros enjoy the bulldoze forth the coast at 35mph, just enjoying the cute Hawaiian views. What'due south your hurry? Just enjoy the view on the fashion.
As well slow - relationships. Since we see a lot of people come and go, information technology takes longer to develop friendships hither. New people are accepted with circumspection, considering information technology's hard to know which people will stay in Hawaii long term. I of my current good friends had to live here for 3 years and buy a house before I believed he would exist a long fourth dimension resident.
10) Many people cease up leaving Hawaii afterwards a few years, and and so regret it for the rest of their lives
Any the reason, many people who move here end up leaving after only a few years. And one person every calendar week tells me how much they regret always leaving Hawaii. Almost people who sold their Hawaii abode in the past would take made hundreds of thousands of dollars if they would have held onto it. Maybe fifty-fifty a million.
So don't come thinking, "I'g going to try out Hawaii." Instead, make upwardly your listen and say, "I volition make it work no affair what, I will purchase a house in Hawaii, and I will make it my dwelling." People surrender their dream of living in Hawaii everyday, they quit and leave paradise, and then miss it for the residue of their lives.
The people who stay are usually the ones who get in the ocean, get involved in a good social grouping, and larn to love the things that are unique to the islands. If you stay in your cubical all day and so stay in your business firm all nighttime, you'll be wasting the opportunity to enjoy what makes Hawaii unique.
For those of us who make it, it becomes more than like paradise than we thought at showtime. Hither are the first x things to do when you lot motility to Hawaii.
Ask me some questions about Hawaii that aren't in this list!
Based on data from the Multiple Listing Service of Hicentral MLS, Ltd. Listings concluding updated on . Information is deemed reliable but not guaranteed. Copyright: 2022 by HiCentral MLS, Ltd. IDX information is provided exclusively for consumers' personal, non-commercial utilise. It may non be used for any purpose other than to identify prospective properties consumers may be interested in purchasing.
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