Moving to Oahu, lots of questions

[ItsGoTime!]

Re: Moving to Oahu, lots of questions

...pose as a potential buyer and report back to us!

I am a potential buyer, Sue. I think I'll give them a call tomorrow, and sniff around. Will report back, unless it is too good to be true, of course.

[tutusue]

Re: Moving to Oahu, lots of questions

I am a potential buyer, Sue. I think I'll give them a call tomorrow, and sniff around. Will report back, unless it is too good to be true, of course.

Kden...looking forward to hearing the results unless they truly are too good to be true. Still...

[Van2OahuK2b]

Re: Moving to Oahu, lots of questions

I am also from the GVRD and am looking at moving to Oahu, how did you settle on Pearl City? A pointer I found out just through searching through google.ca is that it cost approx $800. to ship your car there ( I have a 06 Blazer) and $1200 for a 20' container from one of the container ports such as Surrey. If you are attached to your furnishings etc. it might be something for you to check out. Aloha & Good Luck!!

[ItsGoTime!]

Re: Moving to Oahu, lots of questions

Kden...looking forward to hearing the results unless they truly are too good to be true. Still...

These homes are part of the Home Access USA Program. It looks like these peopl buy homes that are on the verge of foreclosure, and sell them at a discounted price. You have to sign up for their service. It sounds fishy.

http://www.homeaccessusa.com/

I am also from the GVRD and am looking at moving to Oahu, how did you settle on Pearl City? A pointer I found out just through searching through google.ca is that it cost approx $800. to ship your car there ( I have a 06 Blazer) and $1200 for a 20' container from one of the container ports such as Surrey. If you are attached to your furnishings etc. it might be something for you to check out. Aloha & Good Luck!!

Hey Van2Oahu. I looked up some things ealier, and I thought that you could sail stuff to Oahu from Seattle only. For eg, you have to drive your car down to Seattle to ship it. Can you pass on some more info about the ports in Surrey? Thanks in advance. Go Canucks! Luongo is on a mission this year.

[ItsGoTime!]

Re: Moving to Oahu, lots of questions

So, I finally finished my degree off (yesterday was my last day at work) and we are looking for a rental. I was looking at the map yesterday, and I noticed that Kaneohe doesn't appear to be too far from Pearl City. What's the commute like on H3? What's life like in Kaneohe, or maybe even Kailua? Thanks.

[alohacandy]

Re: Moving to Oahu, lots of questions

So, I finally finished my degree off (yesterday was my last day at work) and we are looking for a rental. I was looking at the map yesterday, and I noticed that Kaneohe doesn't appear to be too far from Pearl City. What's the commute like on H3? What's life like in Kaneohe, or maybe even Kailua? Thanks.

Kaneohe is a very quiet town that has a nice mall that was recently renovated and has a much more laidback feel to it than Honolulu or even Pearl City for that matter. Because it is the windward sign of the island, it rains more and is greener and lusher. I never have driven the H-3 in the morning but any other time I've ever driven it, it has been a quick, stressfree drive with gorgeous scenery.

[LovinLK]

Re: Moving to Oahu, lots of questions

I moved to O'ahu in 1990 and the most traumatic thing was finding housing. It's not like here where you have one or two people at a time looking at a rental property. It's like you have 20 people also looking at the same rental, and locals seem to get the priority. Housing is at a premium. Single person housing is a nightmare because most are for families.

Some landlords don't fix things. I had that problem. I lived on University right on the Ala Wai and had a teeny tiny one bedroom that cost me $850 a month plus utilities. Luckily parking was free. Some places charge exhorbitant rates for the parking space. There were no drapes in the bedroom and the rods had rusted out. The landlord never fixed them. I had a broken couch and it took many calls to get that fixed. Then some screws came out of the kitchen table and he charged $50 to screw them back in when I got my deposit back. Beware of slumlord landlords.

And like someone else said, have a bank account. I got one with First Hawaiian because it was close to where I lived. I had a job to go to also, but make sure they are paying for your moving expenses. Moving a household is very expensive. When I had to move back to the mainland because things didn't work out, I shipped everything via UPS, making many trips and a box at a time.

With that said, I'd take minimal anything and not ship everything - only the real necessities. Find a furnished place until you're sure the job is secure. The whole work environment is not like the mainland either. It's a cultural thing. I didn't find much aloha where I was working. Also, the cost of living is a lot more than here on the mainland and the salaries are at least 1/3 lower and the taxes are awful. As I recall, the state tax was 10%.

Car Insurance - You need no fault auto insurance. Before you move, check the rates for as many companies as you can because there is a huge price difference. I got Liberty Mutual because it was the least for the best coverage and Geico was the highest by a lot. First, you need a driving record from city hall. Then you need a safety check sticker on your car that you can get at any service station. You need that before you get your license plates. But you also need the insurance.

You can send for a guide for new residents that gives you a lot of this information and I'd get it before you physically move and read it carefully.

I'd worry about the cell phone stuff later. Housing I found to be the real challenge. And if you've visited before, visiting is a lot different than having a ticket back.

Be prepared for sticker shock as well as culture shock. I worked with a Chinese girl who is from the same area I'm from and she said there are so many Orientals that it was a culture shock to her. Moving to Hawai'i is really like moving to another country and not like from one to another state on the mainland.

[ItsGoTime!]

Re: Moving to Oahu, lots of questions

Well, we're finally on the island. Finding a place to live proved to be a challenge because we weren't in town, and many preferred to rent to people who could come by to see the place first. Totally understandable. We did find one who rented to us after the first candidate failed the credit check (or bailed on the place, who knows for sure?). And after a crazy four days of running around like mad trying to get communications going, getting our money over here from Canada, and buying a car, we are almost settled in. Now we just have to wait for our furniture (and my 40" LCD TV) to arrive ... in a month or so.

I do have a question for the HT community. Where does one recycle things around here? We are very recycling oriented, and Vancouver is very friendly to those who like to recycle. I asked some people around here, and they looked at me like I was a freak when I asked where we can recycle things. We couldn't even return pop cans to Foodland. It seems like such a waste to throw recyclable material into a landfill on such a small island. Any other recyclers around here?

[LovinLK]

Re: Moving to Oahu, lots of questions

When I lived there, they tried it in Kane'ohe and Kailua and it didn't go over real well so they decided not to recycle. I have no idea where the trash goes unless they dump it out at sea someplace. I don't even recall seeing any dumps.

I was also looking for windshield fluid and got a strange look. You get stuff you mix with water in a little bottle since it never freezes over there. It's a real culture shock that you don't realise until you've actually LIVED there for awhile and not vacationed.

So where did you finally find a place to live?

[1stwahine]

Re: Moving to Oahu, lots of questions

It seems like such a waste to throw recyclable material into a landfill on such a small island. Any other recyclers around here?

Try look at this: Recycling and Waste Management News
http://www.envhonolulu.org/solid_was...llthenews.html

Just this month:Isle towns to test recycling project
http://starbulletin.com/2007/09/06/news/story02.html

Theres one on N. King Street. I'm trying to find some addresses for you.

It's old but das the bess I can do foa now.

http://starbulletin.com/2005/01/01/news/story3.html

Auntie Lynn

[1stwahine]

Re: Moving to Oahu, lots of questions

Hmmmm...windshield wat? Who you wen ask? One kid? Cracker jack.

[1stwahine]

Re: Moving to Oahu, lots of questions

We don't dump our trash into the sea.

Who the du...neba mind.

HAHAHAHAHA

[tutusue]

Re: Moving to Oahu, lots of questions

When I lived there, they tried it in Kane'ohe and Kailua and it didn't go over real well so they decided not to recycle. I have no idea where the trash goes unless they dump it out at sea someplace. I don't even recall seeing any dumps.

I was also looking for windshield fluid and got a strange look. You get stuff you mix with water in a little bottle since it never freezes over there. It's a real culture shock that you don't realise until you've actually LIVED there for awhile and not vacationed.[...]

Yes...we do recycle.
Yes...we have dumps.
Yes...I've bought windshield wiper fluid that's not a concentrate.
and
Yes...it can be a culture shock after moving to Hawaii. That's what I love about it!

IGT...welcome to Hawaii and here's another recycling resource for you:
http://www.envhonolulu.org/pdfs/soli...RE_CURRENT.pdf

[1stwahine]

Re: Moving to Oahu, lots of questions

Wat TutuSue, you think we told her way to go?

HAHAHAHAHAHA

Da nerve some people's children.

Auntie Lynn

[tutusue]

Re: Moving to Oahu, lots of questions

Wat TutuSue, you think we told her way to go?
[...]

Nah, Auntie. Jus' tryin' to provide some accurate info!