We purchased our next investment property in Arizona. It was at this point that we received a recommendation to re-fi our current home and buy one more property. My wife and I discussed this possibility and we decided that the next house should be where we want to retire. For many months we discussed several areas that appealed to us. We talked about staying in SoCal since our friends and family are here. We decided we had enough of SoCal. We discussed Northern California as well as New Mexico and the Las Vegas area.
Even though my wife doesn’t like the heat we talked seriously about Vegas because my union had built some low cost housing for retirees there and it looked like some place we could really afford. At this point it was early 2005 and we had not been to Las Vegas for many years prior. Boy, did we get a rude awakening when we went there for 3 days! It was not only built up much more than we were last there but they were building out just like SoCal and it was scary. Not only that but the one ugly thing about SoCal when you fly in is the brown haze that covers everything. When we drove into Las Vegas I saw that familiar brown haze only it was worse!
That basically left New Mexico (my wife’s preference) and Northern California (my preference). We studied the New Mexico areas for a while and found that the popular retirement areas were built up accordingly in the areas we were interested in. So we turned to Northern California and found that there was still pristine areas we could afford to live in that were not too built up. Believe it or not it was mid 2005 and by the time we re-financed and started looking seriously through the MLS listings we found the affordable places were no longer within our price range.
By this time I was feeling a little dimayed. We could afford another home in early 2005 and now where we were looking to buy was out of our reach 6 months later. One night I was just cruising the Net when I found the Hawai’i MLS Listing site. So I starting searching for houses expecting to see beautiful out of reach properties. I started looking on Oahu and realized I was looking at SoCal all over again. It made no sense to me to move to Oahu when it was so much like where I wanted to leave. So I started looking on Maui and Kauai. It didn’t take long to see that there was not much available for under $1 Million on Maui. What was available was a 1 bedroom condo with a mountain view, not even an ocean view! Looking through the Kauai listings was a mixed bag. While there were very old homes that needed work within our price range the new houses being built at the time were coming in just within our reach. But they would not be ready for quite a few months down the road. Then I started to think about living on Kauai. I am not one that needs a lot of things or to be constantly entertained. But let’s face it, Kauai is a very small island with few roads. To be honest, I feel it is by far the most beautiful of the islands but for me I just could not envision myself living there. I think it is just a little too remote for my taste.
That is when it dawned on me, I am SO DUMB! The big island is my favorite island yet I was not even dreaming of buying a home there. So I started searching the MLS listings and OMG!
To be continued…
]]>While my wife and I were on vacation on the Big Island we stayed at our favorite hotel the Royal Kona Resort in Kailua-Kona. The hotel is right on the water and many of the rooms have an ocean view. When we stay there we leave our balcony door open all night so the sound of the ocean will put us to sleep. If you have never fallen asleep to the sound of the ocean and the sensation of the trade winds blowing over you, you must do so at some time in your life. There is nothing more relaxing and your attitude towards life will never quite be the same.
At breakfast one day in our favorite local eatery we started to discuss buying a second single family residence for investment purposes and renting it out. We discussed numerous places that we should seriously look. We decided that Phoenix was the best place as it would be close to our other investment property. Also, it is close enough that we could drive there and my wife has family there so all around it seemed like the best place to buy. Of course the subject came up about it being nice if we could afford a house there in Kona.
I think it was at this point that the beauty of Hawaii had taken us over and we really started to feel like it was home to us. Of course we knew we couldn’t afford a house in Kona or any where in Hawaii. But I decided that I was going to pick up every free real estate magazine I could find. All over Kona you will find newspaper stands with these free real estate advertising magazines. If you have never seen one of these they are beautifully done with thick glossy pages and each picture could be used on a travel poster for the islands. Brief descriptions of each property are included along with a head shot of the realtor who is listing the property. It’s funny that I have met quite a few realtors in the last few years and the pictures they use of themselves are either totally re-touched or 20 years old! LOL No offense to anyone but I find it amusing.
I don’t want to get too sappy here but this particular trip was not just spectacular, it was moving to me. I have lived all my life in Southern California and when I plan to travel to Hawaii I can hardly wait to leave SoCal. On other trips to other locations it is always nice to get back home. But when it is time to leave Hawaii I always feel like I am leaving my home. And I don’t want to go back to Southern California. But this time is was very hard for me to leave Hawaii.
On the plane flight back to the mainland I scoured through all of the property magazines and found that the biggest and most expensive homes are near the front and back covers. The ads get smaller as you get near the middle and once in a while you catch a glimpse of a piece of property or a home that seems to be advertised at a price that is too good to be true. The biggest problem is they list the homes in a sub-division and I have no idea where these sub-divisions are. The seed has been planted…
To be continued.
]]>We found that Oah’u was nice but it was like living in Southern California only with better weather. As you drive away from the big cities, Oah’u has beauty that can only be found in the state of Hawai’i. This is when I fell in love with Hawai’i. It is too bad this island is so crowded and over built. This island has the best beaches in the world. If you want to be close to people and you want to live where there is great night life, then Oah’u is GREAT!
By far Maui has the best combination of beaches, water related sports, tourist traps and eateries in the state! That is why it appears to have the most expensive real estate prices of any of the islands. When I first looked at condos on Maui I found prices starting at $800K+. Occasionally I see a condo that is selling for less but I think you need at least a Million to buy in.
Kauai is by far the most beautiful of the islands we visited. The most spectacular waterfalls and rain forests in the world are located here. The island is small, laid back and the beaches are spectacular. There is not a lot to do except take in the beauty and everything closes up when it gets dark.
The island of Hawai’i is commonly called the Big Island. And it is quite large. The interesting and confusing part of Hawai’i is that it is an island in the County of Hawai’i that is in the state of Hawai’i. So from now on I will refer to it as the Big Island. This island is the most diverse of all the islands. There are 11 out of a total of 13 climatic zones there. This includes arrid desert and snow capped volcanos. The earliest recorded Hawaiian history is on this island and for me it is by far the most interesting.
The Big Island is where I dream of living some day.
]]>We looked at Northern California, Arizona, Florida, Idaho and Las Vegas. While Arizona looked attractive to me, we compromised on Las Vegas. The labor union I belonged to built a mobile home park there and it looked like the best bet for us to retire there, financially speaking. When we looked at Vegas as the place we wanted to retire to we were pretty excited. Let’s face it, Las Vegas is is an exciting city. At that time the housing boom had just taken hold there and the smog was bad only a few days a year. In hindsight I can say it was a good idea at the time. I cannot believe how much it has grown in just the last few years.
]]>I will be posting my thoughts and processes that I took and will take towards my ultimate goal of moving to the Big Island of Hawai’i. I have vacationed on 4 of the islands numerous times and I have loved every minute of being there. I cannot describe the feeling I get when I first step off the plane and feel the warmth of the sun and the coolness of the tradewinds against my face. I feel like I have arrived home. When I have to leave to go back to the real world I feel depressed and wish I had the courage to just up and quit my job and sell my house and move there and live a simple, unassuming and low stress lifestyle.
I have lived in Southern California all of my life and I don’t know what it is like to live in the snow belt or anywhere that has 4 real seasons. I do know that living here has been wonderful and I feel lucky to have had this experience. Like all things that never stay the same, it is time for a change. I feel that the area where I live is no longer as desirable as it once was. I feel closed in and crowded. The cities here erect traffic signals on every corner because traffic has increased beyond the orginal design capacities of the streets. The people here yell and scream and threaten each other on their way to work every day. I am the type of driver that speeds and I no longer drive fast enough for the people around me. Life is getting faster paced and more complicated while I am slowing down a bit and wishing for a more simple life.
This is an attempt to document my thoughts, my plans, my actions and my mishaps along this odyssey of moving to Hawai’i. Please feel free to contact me and/or post here on my blog about anything you are curious about or would like to comment about. My e-mail address is konadave@konaforum.com.
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