Thinking about a short-term lease in Hawaii, specifically Honolulu
My lease is ending within the next two-three months and I have been trying to plan my next steps. My goal has been to buy a house (and hopefully coincide with my lease ending) but the more I have been looking at inventory, the more I have been hesitating about that commitment. I currently am a full time remote worker who can live in any US state at any given point.
I found that I can find a short term rental (60-90 days) in downtown Honolulu and am finding myself increasingly interested in the prospect. I have never visited Hawaii, and while I was recently married, we never actually went on a honeymoon because we are saving for a house. The rental I would choose would be ~$2300 a month, fully furnished and utilities included. I of course would have additional cost to consider, such as needing to put all my furniture in storage and paying rent on the locker. In addition, I would not have my car so I would need to find a decent place that is walking distance to life necessities.
This option would not make me broke, but it would cost me additional money. If I bought a house now, I would probably have to hold off on any big vacations for awhile, and Hawaii was on our list to go to in the next 5 years.
So just curious, what are your thoughts? Would this be a good way to spend my winter or would the burden of not having a car be difficult in Hawaii? Any other things I need to think about?
I've lived in Hawaii all my life but I've traveled around the world and the country, so I have some perspective on how life here differs from other places.
As another comment mentioned, life is pretty laid-back. Everything is more expensive. If you decide to drive, traffic in town and on the freeway from 3pm-6pm is pretty killer. People on the road are impatient. The weather is beautiful all the time, but winter is the best time to visit as it's a little cooler.
I am not white, but my dad is. And I've NEVER seen him experience flagrant racism in Hawaii in the over 25 years we've been here. You'll be fine as long as you don't get in peoples' way or do anything "dumb" that affects other people. I hate to bring social status into this, but you'd mostly experience racism from poorer people, which will generally be "local" people like Hawaiian, Polynesian, or Filipino people. I know it sounds messed up but I want to give you the real truth. Obviously I'm generalizing. The upper middle class is way more chill in regards to everything (because the island is small where everybody knows everybody and you can't be successful if you're a dick).
As for transportation and where would be viable to live without a car, I would recommend 3 areas in town. Waikiki, near Ala Moana shopping center, or in Kaka'ako which is where all the new condos are. I wouldn't recommend living anywhere west of downtown Honolulu.
Within town there is a bikeshare program which is pretty usable. Recently the city has added lots of bike lanes in town and the surrounding area. The Bus is decent. The busses themselves aren't that nice but the bus schedule is pretty prompt and timely. And the sky rail system just started opening up. So far it only goes from the west outskirts of town all the way to the west-most "city" called Kapolei. They are still constructing stations eastward.
I'm not sure what time else to touch on, but feel free to ask me anything.
I wintered in Hawaii for a few years when I was serious about surfing. Here are some negatives you may want to consider:
Everything will be more expensive. Food, clothes, everything.
If you are white, you will experience racism.
Island cities don't have a lot of land to grow into, so they spread out like a snake along the coastline. Having a car will likely be essential.
I don't know how you feel about bugs and lizards, but expect to have them as roommates.
The culture is very different. Slower. Laid back. Be prepared to wait a long time for things. After you order at a restaurant, for instance, you'll wait for 40 minutes for your food to arrive.
My personal advice would be to buy the house now and build equity. Living in paradise might seem like an experience, but you'll soon see its flaws. Financial freedom later in life will actually feel like paradise when you achieve it.
Edit: Goodness, it seems a lot of people think racism means you're going to get killed or something. No, it means you'll get charged more for the same item. You won't be welcomed certain places. You'll be the butt of a joke. You'll experience a tiny fraction of what certain minorities experience in the US on a daily basis. My warning was simply to say that you might experience being treated as a minority for the first time in your life. The difference is you can leave whenever you want. So please, just hang loose.
I'm thinking the only thing I will need here is food. But i should definitely check how much more expensive my grocery bill will be
I am white and have heard this as well. Can you extrapolate a bit on what you witnessed?
I am a bit concerned about the car issue. I saw some pretty decent prices on Turo if I wanted to rent one for a day but it would be unfeasible if I need it day to day. Are there parts that you can live where a car isn't necessary for day to day things? How is public transit?
I lived on the Big Island for awhile. As white people, we are 'haole', the people who invaded and took Hawaii by force and the locals have not forgotten. In fact Hawaii was a fully functioning independent nation with a monarchy before their royalty was forced out of power and it was forced to become a US state, and that was only in 1959. There are still many Hawaiians, especially older ones, who are very bitter about that and want Hawaii to regain its independence as a sovereign nation. Instead it has become a playground for white people to come over, use it for a vacation hotspot and buy up all of the nice properties so that local Hawaiians cant even afford to buy property in their own country. And thus some deep rooted (and very justified) animosity remains toward anyone who is white and especially anyone who acts like a clueless, entitled tourist.
Mainly I saw this from the looks, the 'stink eye' you might get from some of the locals but usually only if I was alone and they were in a group at night. Occasionally I heard an insult thrown my way, but as long as I kept walking, nothing happened. Honestly, most Hawaiians are very nice, they really do have a lot of aloha, and most have accepted that Hawaii will likely never be sovereign again. Like most places, if you act respectfully, treat their traditions and culture with respect, you will receive the same.
My cousin was raised by our grandma (his mom wasn’t in the picture) on the big island. He was bullied pretty extensively in school. Even the white kids born and raised in Hawaii are very familiar with being called haole.
I don’t doubt this, but OP doesn’t talk about moving children there. What racism can an adult be expected to endure?
It's not like a movie where something cartoonishly evil will happen to you. It's more like you'll run into people who don't like you or places where you don't feel welcome, and you won't know why. Then it will suddenly dawn on you that it's the color of your skin.
It is about $2600 to ship a car to Hawaii and back, so you could bring a car if you cut your stay a month short or save up a little while.
You could possibly get by with an electric bike or a motorcycle. It would limit your shopping but you won't need to make large purchases with such a short term rental plan.
I lived there for a few years and never drove. O'ahu has great public transit. The other islands do not, but they are all wonderful for biking (but lock your stuff up well!).
I never really had a problem with this, even living in the Hawaiian "ghetto" of Honolulu, but I know it exists. A caucasian friend of mine grew up on the big island and dealt with it pretty hard. Another friend of mine travelled to Hononlulu and apparently got into several altercations. He is also just a loud and confrontational person, so your mileage may vary. I used to bike and walk through the city at all hours of the night. My local friends were surprised I was never mugged or harrassed.
I am not sure where in "downtown" Honolulu you are looking, but not having a car would not be an issue for you unless you have problems getting around. I always lived in underdesirable places in Honolulu and still had a great time, even as a poor student. If you have the means then I would just go for it.
The roaches are harmless unless they get into your food, which is not hard to avoid.
Dumb question here: have you actually visited Hawaii before? I wouldn't commit to a month there if you haven't; do the vacation and see if you like it first.
Less dumb question: what do you actually want to get out of this short-term move to Hawaii? Is it the beaches? The Wildlife? The tropical plants? The food and culture? Or is it just the romantic idea of Hawaii?
Personally speaking, If I were looking to do something like this, I would choose a less expensive option. Nothing will be 100% like Hawaii, but there are places that offer comparable environments, especially if you are OK with doing it in another country. If you aren't, then you might want to look into the US Virgin Islands (which will probably be more expensive, honestly), Puerto Rico, or Guam.
Nope, never visited Hawaii ever. In the past, I have done the whole move somewhere new without visiting before. I'm about 1/2 on it being a good choice.
Really, all of those sound great to me! When I vacation at places, I would rather get a feel for the local life than visit and do the touristy stuff. The romantic idea is alluring as well.
The way things are looking right now, I will have to go a similar route of renting a furnished home and putting my stuff in storage for an undetermined amount of time while I wait for the right house to open up, so I figure if I am going to do that, I might as well do it someplace that can be considered a break from the day to day lifestyle I have now. And the biggest thing is that the chance to do something like this is really only going to be in a few months when this lease is up.
As soon as I buy a house, visiting different places and living temporarily there becomes too expensive having a mortgage and renting costs. And unfortunately, my work is limiting me just to the 50 United States, and my wife would love to spend a winter somewhere warm.
My sister had a very similar experience during the pandemic but on the big island. She moved out for 6 months, bought a little used car, and rented a furnished place. She ended up enjoying it so much that she moved back again 6 months later this time for an 8 month stint. It sounded like the only drawback was that the friends she made tended to be transient so the groups ebbed and waned with folks moving and leaving Hawaii. All in all I think she was very happy with the experience. Happy to share more info if you'd like.
The #1 thing to know about Hawaii is that, yes, it's beautiful and exotic and there's a ton of stuff to love there.
But - EVERYTHING is more expensive there.
You're going to a dot of land in the middle of the Pacific, everything you can expect to need there has to come in either by airplane or boat. There are local resources, but not enough for 1.5 million people + tourists.
$2,300 a month + utilities sounds fine, but everything else, you can expect to pay through the nose for and then you have storage fees and such for what you're leaving behind...
Plug in your salary here and it will tell you how much you need to make to maintain your standard of living in Hawaii:
https://www.payscale.com/cost-of-living-calculator/Hawaii-Honolulu
I'm super comfortable in Portland on $138K. I'd need to hit $204K in Honolulu.
I personally think 1-2 months in Honolulu is do-able, as long as you are able to pay the $2.3k. I think the mistake a lot of people make coming to Hawaii is not realizing how expensive it is. They come here and expect to be able to just live off the land. If you manage your expectations and are aware of the cost of living, it should be fine, especially if this is just a short term stay and you are able to work remotely. I know a lot of people did that during the beginning of the pandemic.
I'm not white but I think you should be fine regarding racism. Just treat people with respect. Depending on where you're from, it might be differently culturally than what you're used to (and it is fairly acceptable to make fun of white/haole people here). But I think just don't expect it to be like the mainland and also don't try too hard to fit in.
I rarely drive, and Honolulu is pretty doable without a car, especially if you stay in town.
Lmk if you have any other questions.