Is Hawaii a good place to live or just visit?

[El Diablo Blanco]

I've been twice and the place is bonkers.  Nice beaches, gorgeous scenery, but a little pricey for anything.  I notice in LA there are a shit load of Hawaiins that live there.  Why the great exodus from the island?  I'm looking at moving and getting a job there.  I'm just sick of the IT industry and want to do something else with my life than work with software.

Keith can probably chime in and answer why he isn't there anymore either.

[bigdumbbell]

visit, unless you own a business there and are into spam and rice

[Mars]

quite overrated probably.

[Mr. Magoo]

Jim Nabors lives there.

[CalvinH]

I've been twice and the place is bonkers.  Nice beaches, gorgeous scenery, but a little pricey for anything.  I notice in LA there are a shit load of Hawaiins that live there.  Why the great exodus from the island?  I'm looking at moving and getting a job there.  I'm just sick of the IT industry and want to do something else with my life than work with software.

Keith can probably chime in and answer why he isn't there anymore either.

If you get a Hawaii state ID. prices aren't as bad.I imagine if your a young guy you would probably go stir crazy after awhile.there's only so much to do.
I would love to retire to Maui when I get older,somewhere close to Lahaina.just chill and play alot of golf

[Deicide]

Just visit, lots of Tiger Sharks there...

[affeman]

visit yeah, live no

[The Master]

Considering that Keith Jones lives there, you might want to just visit, since the food supply will always be in danger

[Mars]

keith owns two restaurants on hawaii purely with healthy bodybuilding food. sea food vegetables and fruits.

[onlyme]

I used to travel around the US helping the Special Olympics.  Chapters would invite me and fly me in and I would help out.  Well at the Winter International Games in Reno in 1989 the team from Hawaii was there and saw me.  They said I would be very well received in Hawaii.  So they flew me out there in May of 1989 and put me up at the Hilton Hawaiian Village for one week.  Myself along with Pat Morita, Charo, and a few others (yes I name dropped again ) hosted the Summer Games in Hawaii.  I had a limo at my disposal, stayed at one of the nicest hotels in Hawaii, got toured around and it was awesome.  I hooked up with the best agent in Hawaii and she said if I ever come back she could get me alot of work.  So after one awesome week in Hawaii and being interviewed on every TV station and everything else I decided to move to Hawaii.

I came back home sold one of my BMW's and gave the other to my ex, sold my favorite roll-top desk (that cost me $4,000) and gave everything else away.  I didn't tell my agent (in LA) I was leaving which was kind of stupid since I was booked on a Matlock and a Taco Bell commercial.  I ended up not calling my agent in LA for almost 9 years because I figured he was mad at me.  Anyway, on August 1 1989 I moved to Hawaii.  My agent set me up with someone to live with.  She was the ex wife of Jack Whitaker who was the first American to climb Mt. Everest.  He also had something to do with REI but not sure.  I had no car for the first several months and actually rode a moped all over the place.  I did a few commercials almost immediately when I moved there.  One of them is below.  But, it got around I wouldn't work for anything less than $400 a day (which was still less than SAG minimum) so I didn't get as much work as I could of.  But, I figured in LA I was making more than that so I should have made that in Hawaii doing the same thing,

My friend Duke introduced me to alot of people there and I just loved everything about Hawaii.  They have the friendliest people I have met anywhere in the world.  The locals took me in right away.  It probably had alot to do with looking local.  There is no where in the world that is as beautiful as Hawaii.  It is so different from the hustle and bustle as LA and I was used to but I loved it.  No pressure and it was like living a vacation everyday.

In the first 7 years or so i came back to LA to visit my kids 60+ times.  That was how many tickets my oldest daughter had saved.  My daughters I flew to Hawaii maybe 4 to 6 times every year too.  They had it down cause if they did bad in school their mom would tell them she was sending them to be with me.  Well they loved that.  So you can imagine how good a students they were.

I lived in the best condo complex in all of Hawaii.  It was actually that I think and it was also known as the single building that consumed more power than any other building in Hawaii.  It had everything, bowling alleys, a 5000 sq. ft. gym, racquetball, sauna, huge Jacuzzi that sat about 50 people, tennis court, golf range, putting green, humongous pool and just an awesome place.  By the way it was called Honolulu Park Place.

In short (kind of late) Hawaii is a great place to live if you can afford it (like most other places).  I was lucky cause I could and did anything I wanted to do.  People talk about "Island fever" I never got that cause on weekends if I didn't LA I went to Maui, Kauai, the Big Island or Molokai.  I made sure I had fun all the time.  If you like relaxing, beautiful scenery, screwing visiting hotties from different states and countries, being tan all the time, eating great food including ultra fresh fish, diving, and just pulling over and jumping in crystal clear waters then Hawaii is a great place to live and visit.  If you can't afford this stuff or are to dumb to be able to enjoy it then North Carolina is the best place for you.

Please rag me for the book I wrote

My first commercial in Hawaii

[spinnis]

LOL keith 00:33 was fucking hillarious,

SOMEONE make a gif out of that 

[Doug_Steele]

Just visit, lots of Tiger Sharks there...

Good waves, good surfing and the Tiger Sharks are great to dive with

[lvtolft]

Sounds like a great time!  Sorry, i forgot, why did you leave again?

[body88]

I've been twice and the place is bonkers.  Nice beaches, gorgeous scenery, but a little pricey for anything.  I notice in LA there are a shit load of Hawaiins that live there.  Why the great exodus from the island?  I'm looking at moving and getting a job there.  I'm just sick of the IT industry and want to do something else with my life than work with software.

Keith can probably chime in and answer why he isn't there anymore either.

Hawaii is a place, just like many parts of Florida that you go to vacation and not to live.  Unless you own a business that can thrive there, or provide some type of service that appeals to the tourist population, what the heck are you going to do?  Most "locals" with money are from out of state. 

[onlyme]

Sounds like a great time!  Sorry, i forgot, why did you leave again?

I moved to Vegas to open up a gym which I had the best team possible to run and franchise it but just as I got here the economy went to shit and left me hanging.  But I like Vegas too and will be back in Hawaii.

[JOHN MATRIX]

housing in hawaii is really no more expensive than LA, in many cases less. alot of things like certain foods are expensive because it is so remote. but Oahu is IMO one of the best places on earth you can live. my hope is to be alble to one day have a condo in waikiki and then eventually a home on kailua beach. the perfect place for me

[chainsaw]

I moved to Vegas to open up a gym which I had the best team possible to run and franchise it but just as I got here the economy went to shit and left me hanging.  But I like Vegas too and will be back in Hawaii.

Too bad about the economy Keith.  I'm here in Vegas with ya (down the street probably) and everything in Summerlin is closing down.
I hope you have better luck.  I'm taking a big hit here myself with the economy and my business.

[El Diablo Blanco]

There are jobs there for sure.   A company I used to work with had clients in the Health care industry in Hawaii so I was going to tap that.

[onlyme]

Too bad about the economy Keith.  I'm here in Vegas with ya (down the street probably) and everything in Summerlin is closing down.
I hope you have better luck.  I'm taking a big hit here myself with the economy and my business.

I am actually really lucky cause I am so busy I am turning down jobs and I even returned a deposit because I am so busy.  Busier than I have been in about two years.  Mostly because I dedicated so much time and effort to the gym I didn't think about work and lived off what I had left.  So financially and work wise I am really good right now.  Its to bad about Golds closing on Sahara.

housing in hawaii is really no more expensive than LA, in many cases less. alot of things like certain foods are expensive because it is so remote. but Oahu is IMO one of the best places on earth you can live. my hope is to be alble to one day have a condo in waikiki and then eventually a home on kailua beach. the perfect place for me.

I would say rental prices are almost the same but purchase price is a bit higher in Hawaii and definitely the median price of a home in Hawaii is alot higher than LA.  Things are down a little there but still expensive.  I think ocean front properties in Hawaii are very close to LA and southern cal.  From what I know there is only one house in Manhattan Beach where I grew up that is under a million dollars.  There may be a few more now but just below.  Anyway I would rather live in Hawaii.  Just so relaxed.  It is the best place to retire at.

[body88]

I am actually really lucky cause I am so busy I am turning down jobs and I even returned a deposit because I am so busy.  Busier than I have been in about two years.  Mostly because I dedicated so much time and effort to the gym I didn't think about work and lived off what I had left.  So financially and work wise I am really good right now.  Its to bad about Golds closing on Sahara.

I would say rental prices are almost the same but purchase price is a bit higher in Hawaii and definitely the median price of a home in Hawaii is alot higher than LA.  Things are down a little there but still expensive.  I think ocean front properties in Hawaii are very close to LA and southern cal.  From what I know there is only one house in Manhattan Beach where I grew up that is under a million dollars.  There may be a few more now but just below.  Anyway I would rather live in Hawaii.  Just so relaxed.  It is the best place to retire at.

Hawaii is not even top ten in regards to renting:

City
Avg. Rent
Annual % Change
Occupancy
 
New York
 $2,469
 NA
 97.1%
 
San Francisco
 $1,947
 8.8%
 97.4%
 
Los Angeles
 $1,586
 6.5%
 97.5%
 
San Jose, CA
 $1,487
 11.6%
 98.2%
 
Orange County, CA
 $1,387
 6%
 96.8%
 
Boston
 $1,332
 2.1%
 96.7%
 
Oakland
 $1,248
 5.8%
 96.8%
 
San Diego
 $1,213
 3.1%
 97.1%
 
Washington, D.C.
 $1,205
 4.5%
 97.4%
 
Fort Lauderdale, FL
 $1,134
 9.7%
 97.5%
 
Nor home prices:

1 Newport Beach, CA $1,362,500
2 Greenwich, CT $1,129,000
3 Santa Barbara, CA $979,500
4 Palo Alto, CA $929,000
5 Cupertino, CA $880,000
6 Goleta, CA $870,000
7 San Clemente, CA $848,500
8 Bethesda, MD $790,000
9 Pleasanton, CA $785,000
10 Santa Monica, CA $784,000

Nor highest medium household income:

Atherton, California ($200,001)
Hillsborough, California ($193,157)
Cherry Hills Village, Colorado ($190,805)
Scarsdale, New York ($182,792)
Los Altos Hills, California ($173,570)
Woodside, California ($171,126)
Winnetka, Illinois ($167,458)
Glencoe, Illinois ($164,432)
Chappaqua, New York ($163,201)
Travilah, Maryland ($160,323)
Great Falls, Virginia ($159,695)
New Castle, New York ($159,691)
The Village of Indian Hill, Ohio ($158,742)
Blackhawk-Camino Tassajara, California ($154,598)
Weston, Massachusetts ($153,918)

Most of the people with cash in Hawaii are from the places listed above.  Lots of money in Hawaii, but also lots of poverty!

[The Ugly]

I used to travel around the US helping the Special Olympics.  Chapters would invite me and fly me in and I would help out.  Well at the Winter International Games in Reno in 1989 the team from Hawaii was there and saw me.  They said I would be very well received in Hawaii.  So they flew me out there in May of 1989 and put me up at the Hilton Hawaiian Village for one week.  Myself along with Pat Morita, Charo, and a few others (yes I name dropped again ) hosted the Summer Games in Hawaii.  I had a limo at my disposal, stayed at one of the nicest hotels in Hawaii, got toured around and it was awesome. 

See, nobody ever does that for me.

[JOHN MATRIX]

I would say rental prices are almost the same but purchase price is a bit higher in Hawaii and definitely the median price of a home in Hawaii is alot higher than LA.  Things are down a little there but still expensive.  I think ocean front properties in Hawaii are very close to LA and southern cal.  From what I know there is only one house in Manhattan Beach where I grew up that is under a million dollars.  There may be a few more now but just below.  Anyway I would rather live in Hawaii.  Just so relaxed.  It is the best place to retire at.

depends, theres lots of inland parts where lots of natives live in what would be considered 'undesirable' parts of town except that even those parts are a block or 2 from the (world class) beaches. when i was there over the summer we rented a house in what looked like a shitty part of town, but it was only a block from a phenomenal, peaceful uncrowded beach. in LA anything that close to a beach(far inferior) would be millions. Hawaii IMO has been spared from the relentless upscale development of places like california, florida and the caribbean due to its remoteness.
one can buy a great 3-3, 2400sqft home on a World class beach in hawaii for a couple mil, whereas a block or so inland would be FAR less. think about places like miami..the beach isnt even as good but everything even close to the beach has been developed to death and crowded as fuck and comparable beachfront homes (if there are any) would be many times more expensive.
i agree hawaii is where i want to end up.

[onlyme]

depends, theres lots of inland parts where lots of natives live in what would be considered 'undesirable' parts of town except that even those parts are a block or 2 from the (world class) beaches. when i was there over the summer we rented a house in what looked like a shitty part of town, but it was only a block from a phenomenal, peaceful uncrowded beach. in LA anything that close to a beach(far inferior) would be millions. Hawaii IMO has been spared from the relentless upscale development of places like california, florida and the caribbean due to its remoteness.
one can buy a great 3-3, 2400sqft home on a World class beach in hawaii for a couple mil, whereas a block or so inland would be FAR less. think about places like miami..the beach isnt even as good but everything even close to the beach has been developed to death and crowded as fuck and comparable beachfront homes (if there are any) would be many times more expensive.
i agree hawaii is where i want to end up.

Well Kalihi is probably one the worst for sure.  Beach homes are expensive in Hawaii but inland homes are just as much.  You couldn't touch a home in Hawaii Loa Ridge for under $2 million.  An empty lot was starting at $800,000.  Tantalus homes are all over $1 and there are many in valleys over $2 million.  I grew up in Manhattan Beach and Hawthorne and back then it was great and now Manhattan Beach is just ridiculous for prices.  All I know is I love water so living at or near the beach was always something I have been able to do till I moved to Vegas 1.5 years ago.  The main reason why I like Hawaii more than LA or California is the lifestyle and kick-back attitude.  I was in an industry in LA that was a "hurry-up and wait" style.  In Hawaii, it was a "whenever you get here or can get around to it".  It just relived so much stress and tension living there.

Hawaii is not even top ten in regards to renting:

City
Avg. Rent
Annual % Change
Occupancy
 
New York
 $2,469
 NA
 97.1%
 
San Francisco
 $1,947
 8.8%
 97.4%
 
Los Angeles
 $1,586
 6.5%
 97.5%
 
San Jose, CA
 $1,487
 11.6%
 98.2%
 
Orange County, CA
 $1,387
 6%
 96.8%
 
Boston
 $1,332
 2.1%
 96.7%
 
Oakland
 $1,248
 5.8%
 96.8%
 
San Diego
 $1,213
 3.1%
 97.1%
 
Washington, D.C.
 $1,205
 4.5%
 97.4%
 
Fort Lauderdale, FL
 $1,134
 9.7%
 97.5%
 
Nor home prices:

1 Newport Beach, CA $1,362,500
2 Greenwich, CT $1,129,000
3 Santa Barbara, CA $979,500
4 Palo Alto, CA $929,000
5 Cupertino, CA $880,000
6 Goleta, CA $870,000
7 San Clemente, CA $848,500
8 Bethesda, MD $790,000
9 Pleasanton, CA $785,000
10 Santa Monica, CA $784,000

Nor highest medium household income:

Atherton, California ($200,001)
Hillsborough, California ($193,157)
Cherry Hills Village, Colorado ($190,805)
Scarsdale, New York ($182,792)
Los Altos Hills, California ($173,570)
Woodside, California ($171,126)
Winnetka, Illinois ($167,458)
Glencoe, Illinois ($164,432)
Chappaqua, New York ($163,201)
Travilah, Maryland ($160,323)
Great Falls, Virginia ($159,695)
New Castle, New York ($159,691)
The Village of Indian Hill, Ohio ($158,742)
Blackhawk-Camino Tassajara, California ($154,598)
Weston, Massachusetts ($153,918)

Most of the people with cash in Hawaii are from the places listed above.  Lots of money in Hawaii, but also lots of poverty!

Yes about the poverty.  And the sad part it is mostly the native Hawaiians.  They end up living in their cars on the beach or in the streets.  I do feel bad about that.  The condo I had in downtown was right in the middle of homeless people and poverty.  It was the most luxurious place in Honolulu yet I look down from my lanai 34 stories up and I see homeless people walking by and passed out drug addicts.  It really was weird.  And I was paying $1800 a month for a 2 bedroom.

[smoothasf]

lol@ ur high price rent, you should try living in london. you'd get a damp 1 bedroom flat for that with no room to swing a cat

[Dos Equis]

Well Kalihi is probably one the worst for sure.  Beach homes are expensive in Hawaii but inland homes are just as much.  You couldn't touch a home in Hawaii Loa Ridge for under $2 million.  An empty lot was starting at $800,000.  Tantalus homes are all over $1 and there are many in valleys over $2 million.  I grew up in Manhattan Beach and Hawthorne and back then it was great and now Manhattan Beach is just ridiculous for prices.  All I know is I love water so living at or near the beach was always something I have been able to do till I moved to Vegas 1.5 years ago.  The main reason why I like Hawaii more than LA or California is the lifestyle and kick-back attitude.  I was in an industry in LA that was a "hurry-up and wait" style.  In Hawaii, it was a "whenever you get here or can get around to it".  It just relived so much stress and tension living there.

Yes about the poverty.  And the sad part it is mostly the native Hawaiians.  They end up living in their cars on the beach or in the streets.  I do feel bad about that.  The condo I had in downtown was right in the middle of homeless people and poverty.  It was the most luxurious place in Honolulu yet I look down from my lanai 34 stories up and I see homeless people walking by and passed out drug addicts.  It really was weird.  And I was paying $1800 a month for a 2 bedroom.

I agree with this.  Although I will say Kalihi Valley is a decent area. 

This is definitely one of the most expensive places in the country to live, but not much different than most other large cities.  The oceanfront property is ridiculously expensive. 

There are a number of communities where you cannot find a house for under a million (or more), including Hawaii Loa Ridge (which you mentioned), Portlock, Lanikai, anyplace along the beach, from Kailua to North Shore, most of Diamond Head, , etc. 

The average home price was over $650,000 before the market corrected itself.  I think it's down to about 550,000. 

But answer the question that started the thread, it's a great place to visit and even better place to live.