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Driving an hour or so may work for you - but in my opinion, having to drive an hour to a nice beach if you like sandy beaches seems counter intuitive to living in Hawaii. For me, that long of a drive would get old real fast.
One of are pastimes is going on drives and at least twice a month we take an hour drive to Wegmans and enjoy that time.
I was also wondering, we still own a house in Pennsylvania and the mortgages is about $60K. We rent it out to my step father who covers the mortgage ($600). It's an FHA loan. We never bought here in Virginia and have only been renting so there would be no house for us to sell here. When we talked to a bank here in Virginia when we were looking at buying, they said it would be no issue acquiring a conventional loan with 5% down. Would the same rules apply there in Hawaii as it does on the mainland? A home in Hawaii would not be a vacation home, but rather a primary residence for my wife and daughters.
When we talked to a bank here in Virginia when we were looking at buying, they said it would be no issue acquiring a conventional loan with 5% down. Would the same rules apply there in Hawaii as it does on the mainland? A home in Hawaii would not be a vacation home, but rather a primary residence for my wife and daughters.
Plenty of lenders have conventional loans as low as 3% down if you qualify in Hawaii.
Well, rent for six months in Hawaii until you figure out exactly which part of which island you'd prefer to live. Everything around here is so diverse that it's really difficult to figure out the best location for you from far away. Also with the employment location still unknown, having a rental makes it easier to relocate if your wife chooses to teach at a different school the next year.
Since generally one goes to work more often than the beach (unless you're a life guard, of course) living closer to work than the beach makes sense. If you're in Hilo, you'll find yourself driving to the Kona side once or twice a month anyway for various reasons and most of them involve Costco it seems. So adding in the beach on Costco runs makes sense. Either that or adding in Costco on beach runs.
Big Island generally has more driving than Oahu since things are further apart and there's a lot less public transport.
I'd suspect each mortgage would be different for each buyer and house, but asking FHA would probably get answers which would be the most precise. One of the major differences in buying a property in Hawaii is 'fee simple' and 'leasehold'. There's a lot less of leasehold than there used to be, but it still shows up occasionally. With leasehold, you only own the house or structure and not the land. You have to pay rent to the land owner each month and the leases are usually very long term, sometimes up to 100 years. So, when searching for property, most folks check the box that says 'fee simple'.
There's also OHA or which is sometimes referred to as Hawaiian Homes or Hawaiian Homelands. For those, you have to have a certain percentage of Hawaiian blood in order to buy them.
Well, rent for six months in Hawaii until you figure out exactly which part of which island you'd prefer to live. Everything around here is so diverse that it's really difficult to figure out the best location for you from far away. Also with the employment location still unknown, having a rental makes it easier to relocate if your wife chooses to teach at a different school the next year.
Since generally one goes to work more often than the beach (unless you're a life guard, of course) living closer to work than the beach makes sense. If you're in Hilo, you'll find yourself driving to the Kona side once or twice a month anyway for various reasons and most of them involve Costco it seems. So adding in the beach on Costco runs makes sense. Either that or adding in Costco on beach runs.
Big Island generally has more driving than Oahu since things are further apart and there's a lot less public transport.
I'd suspect each mortgage would be different for each buyer and house, but asking FHA would probably get answers which would be the most precise. One of the major differences in buying a property in Hawaii is 'fee simple' and 'leasehold'. There's a lot less of leasehold than there used to be, but it still shows up occasionally. With leasehold, you only own the house or structure and not the land. You have to pay rent to the land owner each month and the leases are usually very long term, sometimes up to 100 years. So, when searching for property, most folks check the box that says 'fee simple'.
There's also OHA or which is sometimes referred to as Hawaiian Homes or Hawaiian Homelands. For those, you have to have a certain percentage of Hawaiian blood in order to buy them.
We would have to do conventional because the house in PA is an FHA. FHA won't allow you to hold two FHA loans. I have no issue with just getting a conventional loan.
I did talk to my wife about renting first, but I have read a lot of threads about how difficult it is to acquire an apartment with pets. We just have an older cat so I'm not sure how accepting landlords will be with just a cat. A cat doesn't seem like a big issue, but who knows. We have always owned a home, but next year it will be four years that we have been renting. I do understand how my wife does not want to get into another rental and not have the freedom to do what she wants with the home. We can't even put up a trampoline for our daughters. She is more leaning toward just rolling the dice and just purchasing. I understand where she is coming from because when you purchase, it makes it more real. This will be a bridge we will have to cross when we come to it, but I completely understand what you are saying in renting first.
I think hitting the beach once or twice a month while doing a Costco run will satisfy the beach itch. It would be more than the amount of times we hit the beach now (which is about once a year). Also, there seems the be so many other outdoor activities to do like hiking, biking, strolling through towns.
We would have to do conventional because the house in PA is an FHA. FHA won't allow you to hold two FHA loans. I have no issue with just getting a conventional loan.
I did talk to my wife about renting first, but I have read a lot of threads about how difficult it is to acquire an apartment with pets. We just have an older cat so I'm not sure how accepting landlords will be with just a cat. A cat doesn't seem like a big issue, but who knows. We have always owned a home, but next year it will be four years that we have been renting. I do understand how my wife does not want to get into another rental and not have the freedom to do what she wants with the home. We can't even put up a trampoline for our daughters. She is more leaning toward just rolling the dice and just purchasing. I understand where she is coming from because when you purchase, it makes it more real. This will be a bridge we will have to cross when we come to it, but I completely understand what you are saying in renting first.
If you have a high credit score - lets say 720+, a conventional loan is almost always far better than FHA even with PMI insurance. You'll get better rates - the PMI will be less than all the FHA fees built into the loan - appraisals are easier (many homes are rough around the edges in Puna and won't appraise well to met FHA requirements, etc). FHA nowadays only makes sense if you have awful credit.
Personally, in 2017 for a new person - I also think buying has high risk. I think anyone buying in 2017 anywhere in Hawaii has to be absolutely certain they'll be in that house at least 10 years to whether housing prices coming down - and history shows us, they will come down.
Real estate is very cyclical in Hawaii and right now might be near top of the market. Maybe not - but far riskier than buying from 5 years ago.
You might love it - you might really hate it (or, your wife hates it - daughter hates it). And if you really hate it and want to leave, putting 5% down means it is highly unlikely rent would cover the mortgage and maintenance. So, if you have to sell - high chance after realtor fees you'll lose a decent amount of money. Or, you just remain stuck in an area you hate. There is a reason teacher turnover from mainland transplants is so high in Hawaii. Teacher turnover for new teachers has been as high as 50% in 2004 (yep, 50%) to 37% in 2012, an improvement - but still sky high.
Location: Southernmost tip of the southernmost island in the southernmost state
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Originally Posted by whtviper1
Driving an hour or so may work for you - but in my opinion, having to drive an hour to a nice beach if you like sandy beaches seems counter intuitive to living in Hawaii. For me, that long of a drive would get old real fast.
And for us, dealing with the hellish traffic of Oahu to get virtually anywhere, would be the opposite of paradise. That's the beauty of Hawai'I, we can all pretty much find what floats our boat. In our case, we wanted to live at a high (2,400') elevation to have cool days and nights. Not a lot of beaches that high up. The heat below about 1,000' is just not comfortable to us.
If you have a high credit score - lets say 720+, a conventional loan is almost always far better than FHA even with PMI insurance. You'll get better rates - the PMI will be less than all the FHA fees built into the loan - appraisals are easier (many homes are rough around the edges in Puna and won't appraise well to met FHA requirements, etc). FHA nowadays only makes sense if you have awful credit.
Personally, in 2017 for a new person - I also think buying has high risk. I think anyone buying in 2017 anywhere in Hawaii has to be absolutely certain they'll be in that house at least 10 years to whether housing prices coming down - and history shows us, they will come down.
Real estate is very cyclical in Hawaii and right now might be near top of the market. Maybe not - but far riskier than buying from 5 years ago.
You might love it - you might really hate it (or, your wife hates it - daughter hates it). And if you really hate it and want to leave, putting 5% down means it is highly unlikely rent would cover the mortgage and maintenance. So, if you have to sell - high chance after realtor fees you'll lose a decent amount of money. Or, you just remain stuck in an area you hate. There is a reason teacher turnover from mainland transplants is so high in Hawaii. Teacher turnover for new teachers has been as high as 50% in 2004 (yep, 50%) to 37% in 2012, an improvement - but still sky high.
Good point. I'm fine with renting for a little, but it will be a tough sell to the wife. She wants something to call a home. When you rent, it's hard to call that a home. It doesn't feel like you are setting down roots. If we buy and as long as she isn't too far from amenities, she will be happy. She will love to begin her garden (raised beds), decorating a home and such. I do know she would prefer more sun than overcast, but she would rather the overcast and rain then to be house broke. I also think once she chooses the school she teaches in, she isn't picking up and going to another school. Wherever we end up, that's where we will be.
That turn over is extremely high, but does a lot of that have to do with trying to make it on a teacher salary? My wife will also make more money than she currently makes in Virginia.
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. The heat below about 1,000' is just not comfortable to us.
