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Moving to Kauai

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  • Moving to Kauai

    I run a small IT firm in Alaska, and realized one day that the vast majority of my work was done on the computer, on the phone, or both. With that in mind, and the urgent prodding of my lovely fiancee who was heartily tired of the long winters, the decision was made to move elsewhere.

    We have a family friend in Kauai, and after visiting him we found ourselves falling in love with the mountains, forests, and quiet that's found when you left the road.

    Before doing that, we sold everything we owned (with the exception of my laptop) got into our trusty diesel VW and drove across the country visiting every place we could think of we might want to live.

    So, Kauai it is!

    Our plan at the moment is to land, rend a car, and find a short term rental to live in while we wait for our car to arrive. In the meantime, we'll start a serious search for a sweat-equity home we can purchase and fix up ourselves. She will no doubt be job hunting away.

    Any thoughts and wisdom are much appreciated!

  • #2
    Re: Moving to Kauai

    One of the best things about moving to new places is making new connections that are above and beyond the superficial things you can find from cursory internet searches. We've been here for such a short period of time, but everyone has already been warm and helpful, pointing us in the direction of resources and help that we would never have been able to find on our own!

    It's snowing right now where we used to live, hard to imagine looking outside.

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    • #3
      Re: Moving to Kauai

      My wife and I have visited Kauai often, though not recently, and we like it a lot. We never lived there, though. Good luck at finding a nice place.
      Greg

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      • #4
        Re: Moving to Kauai

        I am a new member at Hawaii Threads, courtesy Greg Lee. I currently live in CA and am interested in moving to Hawaii. Kauai is one of the places in my short list. I would appreciate Michael posting here about his experiences as he and his family transition to Hawaii, including buying a house in Kauai.

        Thank you.

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        • #5
          Re: Moving to Kauai

          Gladly! It's been quite an experience so far.

          It's important to keep in mind that we moved from Alaska - prices there are already a great deal higher than many parts of the US (Man, New Mexico is cheap to live in!), so one of the big things people warn you about - prices - isn't something that's been a challenge for us. The prices do vary on some things, but by and large it washes out.

          As I think anyone will tell you, housing can be a challenge. Obviously, everybody wants to move here, and lots of people are in a lower income bracket. It's not that prices are crazy, it's that stuff just isn't all that available when it comes to renting. We've looked at multiple places that were in range, but we were in a giant pool of applicants. Understandably, if one of those was a friend or family member they would win out.

          The one thing that has come as a surprise is that many many places will not rent out to couples, or the prices goes up substantially for couples. The latter is, I suspect, because of utility costs (most rental costs seem to cover utilities). But the former I'm not really sure about - are couples more trouble? A bigger pain? More demanding? Not sure. This is the first time that being in a long term committed relationship has been a liability, though!

          Lots of other thoughts and good experiences - will post soon!

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          • #6
            Re: Moving to Kauai

            It's been over 2 years now. Any updates for those of us seeking to relocate Michael?

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