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Puna is cheap, it's very beautiful, it's close to Hilo, there's lots of great farmers markets, you got the Ahalanui hot pools! It really is the most affordable place if you're still working, Ka'u I think is a bit cheaper but the 62 mile drive to get to Kona or Hilo ehhh, evens it out in regards to Puna vs. Ka'u economically. With that said Puna is where all the issues of Hawai'i have come to settle in their greatest amounts.
Ninety percent of all Rat Lung Worm cases? Are in Puna. The majority of coqui frogs? Puna. Which area only just recently got hit by lava, and nearly melted a town? You guessed it, Puna. (Pahoa) Which district is the most populated on the big island, and it rains endlessly, and doesn't have the funding to upkeep their roads? It isn't not Puna. Okay so, there's that, then you got the meth heads and the homeless. Those issues are everywhere, but are concentrated especially in Puna.
Then, there's the essential, never ending political conflict between the people who live there, both sides are on hills that not only will they die on, their entire family will die on. One side will fight to the end for more opportunities for their keikis, which almost always means more construction. The other side will fight just as hard to stop that construction so as to preserve the island. Neither side is wrong, they both fight for noble, unassailable causes, so I don't see that fight ever ending until the island sinks beneath the waves one day.
Last edited by glassnumbers; 06-17-2017 at 09:17 AM..
Puna is cheap, it's very beautiful, it's close to Hilo, there's lots of great farmers markets, you got the Ahalanui hot pools! It really is the most affordable place if you're still working, Ka'u I think is a bit cheaper but the 62 mile drive to get to Kona or Hilo ehhh, evens it out in regards to Puna vs. Ka'u economically. With that said Puna is where all the issues of Hawai'i have come to settle in their greatest amounts.
Ninety percent of all Rat Lung Worm cases? Are in Puna. The majority of coqui frogs? Puna. Which area only just recently got hit by lava, and nearly melted a town? You guessed it, Puna. (Pahoa) Which district is the most populated on the big island, and it rains endlessly, and doesn't have the funding to upkeep their roads? It isn't not Puna. Okay so, there's that, then you got the meth heads and the homeless. Those issues are everywhere, but are concentrated especially in Puna.
Then, there's the essential, never ending political conflict between the people who live there, both sides are on hills that not only will they die on, their entire family will die on. One side will fight to the end for more opportunities for their keikis, which almost always means more construction. The other side will fight just as hard to stop that construction so as to preserve the island. Neither side is wrong, they both fight for noble, unassailable causes, so I don't see that fight ever ending until the island sinks beneath the waves one day.
Where would you recommend, Discover Harbor? I have read posts that has pros and cons on Ka'u area. The biggest of cons is that it is far away from everything. I also see the weather is better. That's a plus.
... For us to move there next summer makes sense in that our oldest daughter will be graduating high school and can start her freshman year in college there. Also, we would like to get our youngest daughter there as young as we can so she can start growing up with the kids she goes to school with.
Is your wife applying for positions island wide? I wouldn't limit your options to strictly Puna. If you're not into the living off the land, lush tropical paradise scene then you may find other areas more attractive. Puna is definitely suffering growing pains, from so many people moving there.
A strong argument could be made for Honokaa/Waimea being a better place to attend school for your kid, and also for your wife to teach.
South Point/Pahala area is just a bit too isolated and sleepy of a place to raise a kid, IMO. Depends upon the kid's nature, perhaps.
Is your wife applying for positions island wide? I wouldn't limit your options to strictly Puna. If you're not into the living off the land, lush tropical paradise scene then you may find other areas more attractive. Puna is definitely suffering growing pains, from so many people moving there.
A strong argument could be made for Honokaa/Waimea being a better place to attend school for your kid, and also for your wife to teach.
South Point/Pahala area is just a bit too isolated and sleepy of a place to raise a kid, IMO. Depends upon the kid's nature, perhaps.
We are not too sure how the applying process works. As I understand it is you apply to HDOE for your content area for either secondary or elementary (my wife would be secondary English) Then I think I have read you choose the desired island in which you want to teach. For the Big Island the HDOE states they are in need for my wife's content area on the areas of Kau, Keaau, and Pahoa. Then school districts throughout that island review your application and determine what are their needs and if any school district is in need of a secondary English teacher, they will request an interview.
We will definitely check out Waimea, but home prices seem more pricey than I like with not as much land. I like the idea that Waimea is near awesome beaches and not too far from amenities, but not a necessity. I don't see us minding a hour or so drive to civilization or beaches. We prefer more land for the privacy and to have a garden. I do like the idea of the South Point for its tranquility and peacefulness. We are pretty quiet people and mostly keep to ourselves and enjoy our own company. We love doing drives and that is pretty much our past time. Our youngest daughter is also easily self entertained. Give her a trampoline, side walk chalk, maybe a pool, Google chrome book, and pets, she is happy. If she can make a friend or two, even better.
More land does not necessarily create more privacy unless you're getting up into the forty acre parcels or so. A lot of the several acre lots in Puna are really long and skinny. Something like 150' wide by over 1,000 feet long, I think. Then add in that to get power without adding really expensive power poles, you have to be within 150' feet or so, that pretty much puts all the houses in a line at the front of their lot and they're all about 150' apart. Not exactly rural and sound travels. Since folks are 'rural' and have 'acres' they aren't always the quietest bunch. When you live in town, you know you have neighbors so you're quiet and respectful of that fact.
There is a LOT less crime between Hilo and Waimea and it gets less and less the closer you get to Waimea. Petty theft is huge in Puna. So there's that to take into consideration as well.
Check the traffic patterns, you probably want to avoid the one road between Keaau and Pahoa if you can manage it. Although now there's starting to be traffic heading up towards Volcano now, too.
A house in Hilo or on the outskirts of Hilo may produce a much nicer lifestyle for you than one further out. Also it may be beneficial to rent for awhile first since it's almost impossible to find the perfect spot without being here for awhile.
If you have any plans for gardening, check to see if your chosen location actually has any soil. What with the amount of rain we get, plants will grow in leaf litter on top of lava rock.
Also choose a place with access to tradewinds for cooling the house. A view is good too, generally if you have a view you get tradewinds.
As I understand it, for jobs in the school system you can pick your island only. They will decide what school you will be offered. Once you get your foot in the door I believe you can pick your location (subject to availability) after the first year.
A week and a half is enough time on the island to decide what district you want to live in, then on a subsequent trip you can start narrowing that district down to various neighborhoods. Like most people who had done that, we decided after moving here that we were actually a better fit for a different neighborhood, so don't shop for property until you've been here for a few months.
"Check the traffic patterns, you probably want to avoid the one road between Keaau and Pahoa if you can manage it."
I recommend checking it when school is in session during rush hour. If you drive it now you won't see any problems. It is exponentially better now than it was before they extended the double lanes down to HPP. In fact, I'm not sure there is really much more than a few minutes of bottlenecking even during the school year, but it is the road leading to the fastest growing part of the state where there are over 50,000 undeveloped lots.
But to be clear, there are three other roads. One is closed because it's for emergencies only. It connects lower puna to Volcano through Volcano national park. They bulldozed the lava that had covered the road from an earlier eruption when they thought that 130 was going to be cutoff by lava in 2014. The other roads are always open, one connects highway 11 to 130 through Hawaiian Acres and Ainaloa. The other connects through Orchidland in Kurtistown via 40th ave and then down Pohaku. None of these are highways or "commuter roads" but they are good alternate routes when 130 gets closed due to a bad accident etc. The only real solution to the road issue is a second major thoroughfare, likely along the old rail route from HPP to Hilo, but that would require eminent domain and bureaucracy that will take far longer than the road building.
The issue of acreage is property-specific. Our first 3-acre parcel was completely square and it was a corner lot. Both of the neighbor lots were vacant. It had a lot of privacy and was relatively quiet. Our second 3-acre lot was a spaghetti lot, long and narrow. We solved the privacy problem by eventually buying the vacant lots on either side of us. So we have a 3 bedroom 3 bath house on 9 acres and paid less total than what you would pay for a 2 bed 1 bath house practically touching another one in Hilo.
Last edited by terracore; 06-17-2017 at 06:44 PM..
We are not too sure how the applying process works. As I understand it is you apply to HDOE for your content area for either secondary or elementary (my wife would be secondary English) Then I think I have read you choose the desired island in which you want to teach. For the Big Island the HDOE states they are in need for my wife's content area on the areas of Kau, Keaau, and Pahoa. Then school districts throughout that island review your application and determine what are their needs and if any school district is in need of a secondary English teacher, they will request an interview.
We will definitely check out Waimea, but home prices seem more pricey than I like with not as much land. I like the idea that Waimea is near awesome beaches and not too far from amenities, but not a necessity. I don't see us minding a hour or so drive to civilization or beaches. We prefer more land for the privacy and to have a garden. I do like the idea of the South Point for its tranquility and peacefulness. We are pretty quiet people and mostly keep to ourselves and enjoy our own company. We love doing drives and that is pretty much our past time. Our youngest daughter is also easily self entertained. Give her a trampoline, side walk chalk, maybe a pool, Google chrome book, and pets, she is happy. If she can make a friend or two, even better.
Try to stay in air bnb but not hotel or resort if you guys visit big island.
You will use local's angle to see anything ,to feel everything .
We had visit big island last month and stayed in both side of air bnb,if we have enough money we would choose Hamakua coast .
Although the traffic between Pahoa/Keaau and Hilo can back up quite a bit during rush hour, compared to Oahu and many mainland locations, it is not too bad. It is nothing compared to NYC. Not sure where in VA your wife is but, if she is near DC and her commute involves the DC area, Pahoa/Keaau is better. Also, most teachers I know are going in earlier than rush hour so I would check out school schedules and when your wife would actually be driving the routes and check it out at those times too.
That being said, there are so many wonderful neighborhoods on the BI and every part of the island is beautiful it its own unique way, you really can't go wrong wherever you end up IMO.
Is your wife applying for positions island wide? I wouldn't limit your options to strictly Puna. If you're not into the living off the land, lush tropical paradise scene then you may find other areas more attractive. Puna is definitely suffering growing pains, from so many people moving there.
A strong argument could be made for Honokaa/Waimea being a better place to attend school for your kid, and also for your wife to teach.
South Point/Pahala area is just a bit too isolated and sleepy of a place to raise a kid, IMO. Depends upon the kid's nature, perhaps.
It's tough, because down here you can pretty much do whatever you want, which could be pretty awesome for a kid, or not. There's also not a lot of children here,. I agree with what you're saying in regards to Honokaa/Waimea being a better place to raise a kid and send them to school, Ka'u is the ultimate of rural. With that said, we -do- get the best weather/cost ratio of the big island, it's really hot and rainy on the east side, and really hot and the vog occurs in Kona. Ka'u doesn't get hot, or the intense rain, or the vog. Kohala/Waimea probably have as good if not better weather, but you pay for it, those places are not cheap by any stretch of imagination.
As to Discovery Harbor, hmm. We aren't next to anything it takes a five mile drive just to go to the PO box. There is South Point, which, to be completely fair, is actually a neat social gathering place where folks gather to fish and hang out. There's also Punalu'u bakery which is always good. We don't really have coqui frogs, there's a total of two down the block. I look for little fire ants but I can't find them, can't recall the last rat lung worm case here.
We don't have people revving their dirt bikes, or burning brush and smoking everyone out, or even driving by on a motorcycle. Theft is pretty much non-existent. It rains a hell of a lot more frequently here than California, but our roads here in DH are just fine. Now, I can say a lot about all the issues Puna has, but there are still a whole bunch of people who live there who love the area. I mean, if I were you, OP, (original poster) with your kind of money? I'd stay two weeks in each section of the island and go with the one that speaks to me the most.
If DOE has multiple openings for your wife, they will occasionally give the prospective teachers a choice between several schools. If she has employment, that may help you decide which area. Although, teachers with tenure usually get the choices before the new hires.
That's how we ended up on the Hamakua coast, we were switching islands because Oahu was too full and the choice was between Kealakekua and Honokaa. We already had a house in Puna, but the employment was in either Honokaa or Kealakekua so we sold the Puna house and moved up the coast. Looking back on it, it was one of the luckiest things ever. We'd expected to be offered the Keaau school because it had just been built and the Puna house would have been an easy commute, but I'm really glad now that it didn't fall out that way.
Since you don't have a spot picked out yet, see if you can get the employment first and then that will go a long ways towards helping decide where to live?
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