I Got the Job and We’re Moving to Oahu

[Tamaradarann]

Being retired will definitely be a big change and would make a big difference. My wife was even saying she will just have to take some time and learn how to use the bus.

thebus.org is the website for The BUS in Honolulu. The website has the routes, timetables, maps.

hea.thebus.org is an app that she can put on her phone that will let her find out actually when the bus will arrive. It is actually pretty accurate most of the time. Some buses don't have GPS's so they can't be tracked. It can also tell her where the closest bus stop is.

Where we have lived on Long Island for most of our lives we each need a car to live. Without a car you are handicapped. The bus service is poor to non existent. Therefore, I understand from that perspective the importance and emphasis you have placed on having your cars shipped to Hawaii. I know on Molokai you can't live there without a car. In areas of Oahu you also need a car since using the bus service would be slow going to work everyday, the bus runs infrequently and service stops early in the evening.

We have lived for a total of 3 years in the last 11 without a car. We chose Waikiki, however there are other areas, for our home on Oahu because we wanted to live in an area where we could live without a car without sacrificing our lifestyle.

 

[slip]

thebus.org is the website for The BUS in Honolulu. The website has the routes, timetables, maps.

hea.thebus.org is an app that she can put on her phone that will let her find out actually when the bus will arrive. It is actually pretty accurate most of the time. Some buses don't have GPS's so they can't be tracked. It can also tell her where the closest bus stop is.

Where we have lived on Long Island for most of our lives we each need a car to live. Without a car you are handicapped. The bus service is poor to non existent. Therefore, I understand from that perspective the importance and emphasis you have placed on having your cars shipped to Hawaii. I know on Molokai you can't live there without a car. In areas of Oahu you also need a car since using the bus service would be slow going to work everyday, the bus runs infrequently and service stops early in the evening.

We have lived for a total of 3 years in the last 11 without a car. We chose Waikiki, however there are other areas, for our home on Oahu because we wanted to live in an area where we could live without a car without sacrificing our lifestyle.

Thank You for the information on the bus. I will give that to her when she gets there so she can give it a try.

 

[cerralee]

thebus.org is the website for The BUS in Honolulu. The website has the routes, timetables, maps.

hea.thebus.org is an app that she can put on her phone that will let her find out actually when the bus will arrive. It is actually pretty accurate most of the time. Some buses don't have GPS's so they can't be tracked. It can also tell her where the closest bus stop is.

Where we have lived on Long Island for most of our lives we each need a car to live. Without a car you are handicapped. The bus service is poor to non existent. Therefore, I understand from that perspective the importance and emphasis you have placed on having your cars shipped to Hawaii. I know on Molokai you can't live there without a car. In areas of Oahu you also need a car since using the bus service would be slow going to work everyday, the bus runs infrequently and service stops early in the evening.

We have lived for a total of 3 years in the last 11 without a car. We chose Waikiki, however there are other areas, for our home on Oahu because we wanted to live in an area where we could live without a car without sacrificing our lifestyle.

One idea is to get a second car once you get there. A lot of people don’t stay in Hawaii after they move there and find shipping their car back to the mainland is financially a loss. Consider looking through the craigslist and other ads with the keyword “moving” in the search bar. A second car can be picked up as a bargain simply because the owner does not want to deal with the cost of shipping which can equal the cost of the car. Sometimes spur of the moment moves can also facilitate getting a used car at a good price. Lots of military move off the island and look to sell their cars last minute as well.
If you can do with one “good” car, a second bopping around the neighborhood car can be a good option. The car rental companies often have cars at good/excellent prices as they don’t care to ship them back either and there are a lot of outdated/low mile rentals available. My daughter lives in Kaimuki in Honolulu and likes the convenience of having a car but honestly doesn’t put many miles on it as most everything is a short walk in the neighborhood.

 

[slip]

One idea is to get a second car once you get there. A lot of people don’t stay in Hawaii after they move there and find shipping their car back to the mainland is financially a loss. Consider looking through the craigslist and other ads with the keyword “moving” in the search bar. A second car can be picked up as a bargain simply because the owner does not want to deal with the cost of shipping which can equal the cost of the car. Sometimes spur of the moment moves can also facilitate getting a used car at a good price. Lots of military move off the island and look to sell their cars last minute as well.
If you can do with one “good” car, a second bopping around the neighborhood car can be a good option. The car rental companies often have cars at good/excellent prices as they don’t care to ship them back either and there are a lot of outdated/low mile rentals available. My daughter lives in Kaimuki in Honolulu and likes the convenience of having a car but honestly doesn’t put many miles on it as most everything is a short walk in the neighborhood.

We will definitely keep that in mind. For right now we will just have one car on each island. If my wife ends out liking Oahu more, I can see her wanting a car.

 

[Tamaradarann]

One idea is to get a second car once you get there. A lot of people don’t stay in Hawaii after they move there and find shipping their car back to the mainland is financially a loss. Consider looking through the craigslist and other ads with the keyword “moving” in the search bar. A second car can be picked up as a bargain simply because the owner does not want to deal with the cost of shipping which can equal the cost of the car. Sometimes spur of the moment moves can also facilitate getting a used car at a good price. Lots of military move off the island and look to sell their cars last minute as well.
If you can do with one “good” car, a second bopping around the neighborhood car can be a good option. The car rental companies often have cars at good/excellent prices as they don’t care to ship them back either and there are a lot of outdated/low mile rentals available. My daughter lives in Kaimuki in Honolulu and likes the convenience of having a car but honestly doesn’t put many miles on it as most everything is a short walk in the neighborhood.

The reason that the Island of Oahu is trying to build the rail is to help alleviate the bad traffic situation that is getting worse each year. They are NOT building any new roads on Oahu. Back in 2009 when I heard they were building a rail, the first thing that crossed my mind was that with the amount of available parking Honolulu, much of which is low cost or no cost (compared to say New York Cit where parking can easily be $50-70 a day), people will NOT get out of their cars and take the rail. However, last winter they doubled the cost of public parking. With the advent of more and more Electric Vehicles which don't pay the gasoline tax they are contemplating placing a tax on the number of miles you drive a year. Some Condo don't have parking spaces. Others only have 1 parking space per Condo Unit so parking a car every night can be a cost, and that cost can be going up each year. The point is that the cost of buying a second car is just the start of the cost. There are other costs, and they seem to be going up. We don't care how much they charge for parking, gas, vehicle registration, miles per year driven etc. We will continue to walk or take the convenient bus that stops right outside our Condo.

 

[slip]

Well, I’m coming to an end on what I can get done. Our touch up painting is done, trim is up and I went through my personal stuff. Now hopefully I did set aside too much stuff to take. We moved the boat back from the lake so she could sell it. My son took his motorcycles so I think we took care of everything.

I think I’ll be OK, space wise. I’m taking two bags and my wife will be doing the same when she comes on 08-31-19. After 08-01-19, my wife will move in with her sister until she leaves. On August 1st the auctioneer takes over and starts to get ready for the online auction.

I go to Madison on 07-26-19 and leave on the 27th. Then it’s time to find a rental.

We said our goodbyes to some friends and my wife’s side of the family today. My wife will still have an opportunity to say goodbye again.

I started to clean out my office on Friday. I should be able to do the rest by Monday. I’m not going to be working much on Thursday and Friday.

 

[taffy19]

Well, I’m coming to an end on what I can get done. Our touch up painting is done, trim is up and I went through my personal stuff. Now hopefully I did set aside too much stuff to take. We moved the boat back from the lake so she could sell it. My son took his motorcycles so I thought k we took care of everything.

I think I’ll be OK. I’m taking two bags and my wife will be doing the same when she comes on 08-31-19. After 08-01-19, my wife will move in with her sister until she leaves. On August 1st the auctioneer takes over and starts to get ready for the online auction.

I go to Madison on 07-26-19 and leave on the 27th. Then it’s time to find a rental.

We said our goodbyes to some friends and my wife’s side of the family today. My wife will still have an opportunity to say goodbye again.

I started to clean out my office on Friday. I should be able to do the rest by Monday. I’m not going to be working much on Thursday and Friday.

Good luck, Jeff.

Who would have expected that when you went to Molokai to take possession of your retirement condo?

 

[slip]

Good luck, Jeff.

Who would have expected that when you went to Molokai to take possession of your retirement condo.

Yes, it was a year ago this week that I was condo shopping on Molokai. Now a year and a week later I’ll be on Oahu looking for a rental.

 

[DaveNV]

It's scary, but exhilarating. You'll be fine. Good luck with all of it! Can't wait till that first beach day on Oahu when you and your wife have a rental set up, and you can go play some.

Work hard.

Dave

 

[pedro47]

Good Luck and Enjoy your new Job. You will be living in paradise.

 

[Tamaradarann]

Well, I’m coming to an end on what I can get done. Our touch up painting is done, trim is up and I went through my personal stuff. Now hopefully I did set aside too much stuff to take. We moved the boat back from the lake so she could sell it. My son took his motorcycles so I thought k we took care of everything.

I think I’ll be OK. I’m taking two bags and my wife will be doing the same when she comes on 08-31-19. After 08-01-19, my wife will move in with her sister until she leaves. On August 1st the auctioneer takes over and starts to get ready for the online auction.

I go to Madison on 07-26-19 and leave on the 27th. Then it’s time to find a rental.

We said our goodbyes to some friends and my wife’s side of the family today. My wife will still have an opportunity to say goodbye again.

I started to clean out my office on Friday. I should be able to do the rest by Monday. I’m not going to be working much on Thursday and Friday.

You did a great job on getting everything ready for your move. We have been in our house for 42 years and have accumulated soooo much stuff that I dread the thought of ever moving totally to Hawaii. While I would love it, and it would save a great deal of money, there are other considerations in our lives outside of ourselves that need to be considered.

Good Luck with you relocation, I will be thinking of you.

 

[slip]

You did a great job on getting everything ready for your move. We have been in our house for 42 years and have accumulated soooo much stuff that I dread the thought of ever moving totally to Hawaii. While I would love it, and it would save a great deal of money, there are other considerations in our lives outside of ourselves that need to be considered.

Good Luck with you relocation, I will be thinking of you.

Thank You!

It certainly helped us that we didn’t have to pack much up. We mostly threw stuff away. The auction lady will handle the rest. That’s what helped us the most.

Yes, this move isn’t for everyone. There are many things to consider. I’m glad we had went through all that when we bought our condo so we were ready to commit when the job came open.

 

[slip]

Well my office is cleaned out, after 35 years it will be weird not going there. I only have a few things to get done for the rest of the week and I’ll have some time to say goodbye to some friends.

I set up an appointment to check out an apartment in North West Makiki. It’s small but it has everything we want and is close to everything. I have a few backups so I’ll see more when I get there

I canceled the flight we had setup for our vacation to Molokai for Labor Day week. That worked well and I got my points back. Then I cancelled my wife’s return flight for that week and she got her points back too. So we still have enough for a few round trip tickets. So the only other flight we kept is the flight from Honolulu to Molokai. I’ll be ready for some relaxing then.

We’re moving along.

 

[Tamaradarann]

Well my office is cleaned out, after 35 years it will be weird not going there. I only have a few things to get done for the rest of the week and I’ll have some time to say goodbye to some friends.

I set up an appointment to check out an apartment in North West Makiki. It’s small but it has everything we want and is close to everything. I have a few backups so I’ll see more when I get there

I canceled the flight we had setup for our vacation to Molokai for Labor Day week. That worked well and I got my points back. Then I cancelled my wife’s return flight for that week and she got her points back too. So we still have enough for a few round trip tickets. So the only other flight we kept is the flight from Honolulu to Molokai. I’ll be ready for some relaxing then.

We’re moving along.

Slip, I like the location of Makiki for your commute to and from work. You will be going against the main rush hour going into the city from the West. I don't know the area intimately but I have been up to the Honolulu Museum of Art's, Spalding House a number of times and to the National Cemetery of the Pacific on the #15 BUS. It is a nice area. I don't know how close you will be to the bus but the #15 runs about once per hour it stops leaving the city at 9:30.

 

[slip]

Thank You, that’s great information. The bus is right up the block.

 

[DaveNV]

After 35 years, saying Goodbye will be hard. It's nice that you've had that job stability all these years. Now, the sudden changes make it seem like you're a kid again. Adventurous times!

Makiki is a good place for you two. Close but not too close, and far enough away to be in a nicer part of town. And keep in mind, it's a temporary thing. So even if you get landed there, and it turns out to be less than you want, you can take time to look around, and then move to something more suitable. I hope it all works for you.

Safe travels. Everyone is living vicariously through you. LOL!

Dave

 

[slip]

Makiki is a good place for you two. Close but not too close, and far enough away to be in a nicer part of town. And keep in mind, it's a temporary thing. So even if you get landed there, and it turns out to be less than you want, you can take time to look around, and then move to something more suitable. I hope it all works for you.

Safe travels. Everyone is living vicariously through you. LOL!

Dave

Oh, I’m living it alright.

Thank You everyone for your thoughts on Makiki.

Dave, that’s exactly how I am looking at this. It’s temporary and I can move again if needed. It would be easy since we will be there. The only drawback is the shortest lease they do is a year. I was hoping for six months. But I’ll make it a year if we decide on someplace different. Time flies anyway.

I definitely like what I see about the place on the online and Google earth. I’ll take pictures and video and post them after I check it out. I’ll have to do that for my wife anyway. She liked it too from what we saw online.

 

[DaveNV]

I definitely like what I see about the place on the online and Google earth. I’ll take pictures and video and post them after I check it out. I’ll have to do that for my wife anyway. She liked it too from what we saw online.

It's always easier when you're there. And that general area has a lot of condos and apartments, so it will probably be fine. Keep us posted!

Dave

 

[Henry M.]

Jeff,

What do you think of the western side of Molokai? I keep getting notifications of some nice looking properties in Kepuhi Bay and Maunaloa.

 

[slip]

Jeff,

What do you think of the western side of Molokai? I keep getting notifications of some nice looking properties in Kepuhi Bay and Maunaloa.

That’s where the nicest beaches are but like everything there are trade offs. I felt it was too far from town. It’s about a half hour drive. The ranch that is closed is over there too and there are some boarded up buildings so that is a little depressing.

But now the good part. If your seeing condos, when your on the property you won’t see any of that. The other good thing is that there are more variations of sizes to the condos over there. Maintenance fees are proportional to what I pay so it will be a little higher with a bigger unit and cheaper on a smaller unit.

They have studio units over there and many more two bedroom units that are priced really well. The sizes on the two bedroom units vary a little bit are nice sized overall. Views can be fantastic, especially with an ocean view. On clear days you can see Oahu. Many times we have been the only people on the beaches on that side and the beaches are beautiful.

If you don’t get an ocean view, the views can still be very good. Plus you will see turkeys and deer on that side of the island.

I looked at a couple on that side. Let me know which ones you saw. I may have looked at it.

 

[Henry M.]

I think the ones I’ve seen are at Ke Nani Kai. There are some units that would need remodeling, but others that look really nice and come fully furnished. The address is 50 Kepuhi Pl.

 

[slip]

I think the ones I’ve seen are at Ke Nani Kai. There are some units that would need remodeling, but others that look really nice and come fully furnished. The address is 50 Kepuhi Pl.

Yes, I have been there and looked at a unit there. They did have some do sale that were fairly updated and others that needed more work. But they are laid out nice and the grounds are kept up nice. There are usually timeshares there that are available through Platinum Interchange. I really thought the value was there if you did mind the longer ride to Kaunakakai.

 

[Henry M.]

The property looks nice, but it does seem far away from everything. There are quite a few studios and 1BR for sale, along with a couple of 2BR. The beach looks great.

 

[slip]

The property looks nice, but it does seem far away from everything. There are quite a few studios and 1BR for sale, along with a couple of 2BR. The beach looks great.

The beach is great. A lot of people do stay over there so it is popular and there are a lot of owners that leave there cars there. Ke Nai Kai is maintained pretty well.

One thing that makes the drive seem longer is that you have to go over the mountain. It makes for a scenic drive though.

 

[Tamaradarann]

Yes, I have been there and looked at a unit there. They did have some do sale that were fairly updated and others that needed more work. But they are laid out nice and the grounds are kept up nice. There are usually timeshares there that are available through Platinum Interchange. I really thought the value was there if you did mind the longer ride to Kaunakakai.

Your comment on the "longer ride to Kaunakakai brought to my mind some thoughts. When the subject of long drives comes up in conversations my husband tells about leaving work on Long Island on a Friday night when he was in his early 20's and driving up to Oneonta College 5 hours away for the weekend. He also talks about buying land around the same timeframe in Arizona 50 miles from Tucson and thinking that it wasn't in the middle of nowhere it was only a 45 minute ride into the city which was nothing. A few years later when we were together he would start an 8 hour drive home from Montreal or Virginia to Long Island after 4 PM and think nothing of it. I am sure everyone has done some of these things and have also driven to Florida or Coast to Coast in the United States in a few days.

However, we are going to be 70 years old this year and we would no longer do any of these things. When we were young there was a song by the music group the Birds "Turn Turn Turn" which talks about the seasons of life. When we were young it was a season to do that longer driving, we are not in a season to do that any longer or at least not do it at night. That is one of the reasons we have chosen to make the Wailana in Waikiki our Hawaii home since we are starting to think about being able to live without needing to drive at all any longer. It is our season to walk or take public transportation.