Former Maui resident moving back. (Kahului, Lahaina: appointed, rental, mortgage)

[Mauilocalboy]

Aloha Everyone.

I am Maui local living on the mainland (Indiana) and returning to Maui this summer. All of my family (Parents, siblings) are still residents on Maui. I graduated from Lahainaluna High School (oldest public H.S west of the Rockies) and had my own business on Maui before moving to the mainland.

I've been on the mainland for 10 years, but still keep up with going-ons on the island so if you have any questions about moving, let me know.

I also may have a few questions of my own. I've done three moves back and forth to Maui from the mainland but since my last move in 2005, some things have changed in regards to moving companies. I am still in my investigation stages regarding PODS and UPACK and using MATSON again.

So, saying all of that, I want to let anyone know who is contemplating moving or in the process, be aware of one, very important thing. Rents on Maui are out of control and I mean it. Just in the ten years I have been gone, they have almost doubled. Landlords are also very discriminating in that they do extensive background/credit checks and if they find one flaw, they will pass you up.

If you have a family and are working class, you will have a very hard time finding a home big enough to accommodate more than one child. If you want to maintain the living space and way of life you currently enjoy on the mainland, you will be extremely disappointed. You have to accept that fact that you will be extremely downsizing and paying double. If you can accept this, then you can make it on Maui.

Maui is a wonderful place and I don't want to live anywhere else, but even I am going to have to sacrifice moving back home. I own a nice four bedroom home here in Indiana and an acre of property and know I will NEVER live like this on Maui unless I somehow win the Powerball. I am accepting the fact that I will be living in a studio cottage or room in someone's home for double what I pay for a mortgage now.

If you are considering moving to Maui, you should sit down and ask yourself, how bad do I really want it??

Best of luck to everyone who is deciding to make the jump

[maui-intoxicated]

You got that right. I moved off-island back to my home town of MN. Bought a house here that was built 90's 4 new baths and kitchen updated, 3000+ sq ft with a payment of $2300/month.

On Maui, I was paying $2300/month in rent for 1000' sq ft upper half of a duplex from the 70s never updated. Sure I had an ocean view (if you trimmed the palms).
Granted I will admit each is more space than I need. Housing was the most expensive factor in our budget on Maui.

It can be a pain anywhere, but I would never own a property on Maui.

Thankfully there wasn't as much entertainment to spend my money on there so I didn't "go out" as much. Here in MN we go out to eat once a week and usually pay for some form of entertainment *movie etc 2x a month. On maui we went to the beach every weekend and cooked as much of our own food at home to save $$$

[JustForYOu]

Wow, expensive rent, maui-intoxicated! Which part of Maui (if I may ask)?

Welcome back home, Mauilocalboy...the weather is fine :-) Still a great place to call home.

[hotzcatz]

Well, actually owning property on Maui would solve your problem. It's somebody else or the bank owning the house you live in that's the problem. Usually mortgages are less than rents and mortgages (if you have a fixed rate) don't go up so you've got a fixed monthly amount to pay. So, if you can swing it, buying a house is about the only way to keep things affordable. But, that's a huge leap for many folks and sometimes they leap for too much of a house and can't sustain it.

[davephan]

I think most of the problems with living on Maui, or Hawaii in general is due to the high cost of living. This problem is compounded if you are in your working years. When you are in your working years, you need to be saving for decades for retirement to build up enough financial resources so that you can live comfortably without the income from working. It's possible to make the same amount or even more money when retired than you made when you worked. If you can work at a higher paying job and live well below your means, it helps you reach your long term goal to live debt free and have a relatively high net worth. This is much harder to do, often times simply impossible to do when you live in a very high cost of living location, and the problem is compounded by making less income.

You can mitigate some of the costs by living on a lower cost island, like the Big Island. Investing the money for a PV system to get off the extremely high cost electric utility, and growing some of your own food to mitigate some of the high food costs. Buying a home would control the cost to avoid rental cost escalating over time, but it should be a 15 year mortgage, not a 30 year mortgage. If you're not already debt free when you move to Hawaii, it will be tougher, and your chances of staying will be decreased.

As MauiIntoxicated pointed out, money goes a lot further in Minnesota than Hawaii. Earning potential is a lot higher too. The same goes for many other places on the mainland, where it makes long-term economic sense to defer moving to Hawaii until after you have accumulated enough economic resources. But that's a sacrifice in life that you might have to make, when you think about life in the long term, rather than living your life just for today. It's true that you might not live long enough to enjoy living in Hawaii after you're done working. If that happens, it won't bother you, because you'll be gone. Others that survive you will think about it though. But what happens if you end up living much longer than you thought, and cannot afford to live in Hawaii or almost anywhere else, plus live a horrible life in abject poverty because you didn't serious think about your long-term financial future.

[Kokoleka1]

The eternal question of living your dream or dreaming your life and having no regrets...I think that's a very personal one, no one fits it all. But the top five regrets of the dying kind of gives a good pointer. Only it's not that easy to execute on it.

[Mauilocalboy]

After living in Indiana for 9 years and 8 winters, I can say that winter is a HUGE cost that offsets the difference in cost of living in Hawaii.

You HAVE to have a reliable car to survive a midwest winter. No kidding, preferably a 4WD vehicle, which equals a lot of money.

Other cost associated with winter are heating bills, which for us average $300 a month for gas plus our electricity goes up because we're in the house all of the time.

Winter clothes.

Missed schools days if you have kids, which for a lot of people mean missed work too.

Your money will go a lot further in the midwest IF you are in a professional field. If you are working for minimum wage, it's no better than living in Hawaii...you will struggle paycheck to paycheck and have to deal with winter. bleh.

Yes, home prices are very affordable and it's nice to own what I have, but everything I mentioned above has drained the joy out of living here in an affordable house.

These are just my opinions based on my experience.

[mellovesisaac]

Aloha,

I enjoyed reading your post and congrats on moving back home! I'm in my late 20's and just moved from Lahaina to Washington State 3 months ago. This is my first time living away from Hawaii, and I sure miss it! My immediate family and I all moved, including my 2 little ones, so it helps having close family. I have to say I am already plotting my move back to Maui after I graduate from nursing school though!

As you said, the rent situation on that island is absolutely nuts. I had a sweet (small, but in a great spot across from the beach) 2 bedroom, and paid $1700, but when I moved out the landlord bumped up the price to the new tenants to $2000/month. On top of that, finding a place if you're starting from scratch is extremely tough. I don't miss all the tourists on the west side; that's for sure! It has definitely gotten a lot more crowded, with al the new hotels popping up... and sometimes it takes almost 2 hours just to get from Napili to Kahului, if you hit afternoon traffic. When I move back, definitely planning on living upcountry.

Were you homesick at all, being away for that long?? How did you deal with it? I keep telling myself that I've spent my whole life there, and suddenly I'm on the mainland, which is a big deal, so it's okay to be homesick. But when does this feeling go away?! I am stoked I will be able to finish school here and by the time I am set to move home, I will be able to get a much higher paying job. Working in the hospitality industry is a serious burnout! I am happy that by the time I am moving home my keiki will just be getting into elementary... I for sure want them to grow up there and with the lifestyle that my sister and I have. So, I guess my big problem is staying happy and content while being here. Any words of advice would be much appreciated.

Thanks.

[Dreaming of Hawaii]

Not knowing exactly where you are in Washington State, but here are some suggestions, mellovesisaac:

1. I just Googled "Hawaiian restaurants Seattle" and found five. They all had pretty good reviews.
2. I Googled "hula classes Seattle" and found half a dozen different places. One even has an annual Ho'ike.
3. I Googled "hula performances Seattle" and found a Live Aloha Hawaiian Cultural Festival coming up in September at the Seattle Center.
4. I also found that Seattle has an annual Slack Key Festival.

Good for you for getting your nursing education and planning to bring your skills back to Hawaii!

[mellovesisaac]

Mahalo for your message! Unfortunately, we are about 4 hours away from Seattle... we are in Eastern WA (Tri-Cities) and there is not a whole lot out here that interest me, besides school of course. I have been so spoiled on growing up in a place that is physically so beautiful, and this place- well, it's not like that. It is very brown; not green- there is the Columbia River nearby, but it's not blue; and it is pretty dirty. This sounds bad, but I really don't understand why anyone would voluntarily live here, if they didn't have a purpose here, like school or family roots. Unless of course you've grown up here and it's all you know. I have tried to search out any Hawaiian type places, and have had no luck. I keep telling myself it's only a few years! But I still believe it is important to enjoy the present, and I need to try to do that more, instead of being fixated on what happens in the next few years