Military Moving To Honolulu-Things To Know!

February 5th, 2009 categories: For Buyers, Military

If you are in the military and your Permanent Change of Station (PCS) is one of Oahu’s seven active military bases, then you may want to read the following 16 things to know.

1. Housing in Honolulu, compared to most of the mainland, is very, very expensive. As of this writing, the median price for houses is $539,000 and for condominiums it is $305,000.
2. Don’t compare the distance from you work location to home in the same manner as you do in other parts of the world. On a map, a neighborhood may look close to Pearl Harbor or Kaneohe Bay Marine Air Station, yet a of 17 miles that should take less than 30 minutes could end taking an hour to an hour and a half. Needless to say, traffic can be horrible.
3. Expect everything (food, entertainment, gas, etc) to be very expensive as compared to most of the mainland.
4. Honolulu’s public schools generally are not considered to be good. There are a few schools that are very good and if possible, it is worth buying in those school districts to save private school tuition.
5. Expect to pay between $15,000 and $17,000 per year for most private school tuition.
6. Applications for fall admission to most of the private schools are due in February. Check with each school for its particular deadline.
7. Oahu is 2,500 miles from the nearest continent.
8. It takes 5 hours to fly to Los Angeles and 8 hours (on non-stop flight) to get to Chicago.
9. A large house lot is 10,000 square feet (1/4 acre) and in most of the “affordable” neighborhoods a normal lot is 5,000 square feet of land.
10. An average home (in the median price range) is 1,300-1,500 square feet. Larger homes are 2,000 to 2,500 square feet. Most transferees are shocked how little one gets for the money.
11. 99.9% of our homes do not have heat.
12. Except for new construction, most homes do not have central air conditioning. Older homes may have window mounted and split air conditioners.
13. The closer you get to Waikiki; the more you should expect to pay for a home.
14. Remodeling costs are two times more expensive than those in the mainland.
15. Hawaii is the only State in the Nation with a royal palace. Hawaii was originally governed by a monarchy.
16. Expect to pay $75-$100 per visit for a “mow and blow” yard service.

If you would like to discuss your moving needs, feel free to call me toll free at 877-737-2093 or locally at 808-737-2093.

This entry was posted on Thursday, February 5th, 2009 at 12:01 am and is filed under For Buyers, Military. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.