dtsaos said:
I just got intrigued when I saw your post because my DH always says he wants to move to a warmer climate & I always say that the only warm climate area I'd like to live in on a permanent basis is Hawaii! So my question for you is, if you can afford to stay in Hawaii, why on earth would you chose to leave there? I can understand if it's because of family, but you didn't mention anything like that.
Aloha Dtsaos!
Long story short, the Californians (no offense meant to the CA Dis members) are invading Kona, bringing with them the huge amounts of cash that they made by selling their homes in CA. (Not to mention the traffic.) Our houses seem "cheap" in comparison, even though home prices here have just about tripled in the past five years. Growth is insane here, the wells in Kailua that serve town are turning brackish because there is no water conservation, and more building is being allowed without any regard to whether or not there is enough water to sustain that growth. The "attitude" of many of the new people is disturbing, bad driving habits, and it's more and more "rush, rush, rush" like on the mainland. If I'm going to have to deal with that nonsense, I might as well live on the mainland.
Originally, we were going to settle "around" Orlando, looking at Windermere, Clermont, Winter Park, most likely the west/southwest Orlando area. But 5 years ago, the monthly outlay for taxes and mortgage "evened out" between Kona and Orlando, so we chose Kona. (We have no services, so the real estate taxes here are very low, but our house cost about $70K more than what we would have purchased in Orlando.)
Anyway.......the prices of homes in our neighborhood have just gone mad, travel from here (since 9/11) has just become a stinking nightmare (and the costs have jumped at least 20-25%), and I'm beginning to think that it may make sense to sell our home while the prices are insane, take the substantial profit, and move to central Florida. Our stocks, like everyone else's are in the dumper, but maybe we need to think about our house as an investment that is ripe for the picking, and use that to our advantage.
From what I can tell, we'll save $20k a year living in Central FL. I know that the real estate (property) taxes are high, but that there is no income tax. We pay the highest (last I heard) rates for electricity in the country. Our bill averages a little over $200 per month. We don't have a/c or heating, and we have a solar water heater.
I know that gasoline is cheaper ($2.35 a gallon at Costco, $2.60 everywhere else), but we'd probably drive more, and I know we'd have to heat and air condition a home in Florida. I believe we'd save 15-25% on groceries, and just the access to outlets and shopping (not to mention WDW) would make a huge difference. (My nearest Sears, and OfficeMax is a 99-mile drive.) Another thing we really miss are "art fairs" - all you get here in Kona is "bad fish art" by the same artists all the time. LOL
Honestly, I love Hawaii, and a year ago, I told people I couldn't imagine leaving. Now, I can imagine it.
You mentioned "tacky" stuff - have you ever seen the junk from everywhere but Hawaii that they peddle to the tourists here? Our town is a tourist trap, like Orlando. But I feel our "home" in Orlando would be like our home here - quiet, peaceful and a pleasant place to live that has nothing to do with the tourist trade.
Regarding schools, we don't have children, but I know that most people here send their kids to private schools if they want them to succeed, and you have to send your kids to the mainland to college. They can't be raised believing the entire world is like Hawaii. We all know it isn't. ;-)
So, those are pretty much my reasons. We can afford to stay here, but we can "better afford" to take the money and run. ;-)
BTW - We're born and raised in the City of Chicago, and after nearly years of living there, I believe we could live anywhere.
Aloha,
Nancy
