Moving to Hilo
I moved to Hilo in May 2007. I moved from Hawaiian Paradise Park on the Big Island so it wasn’t a far move. I had lived in Hawaiian Paradise Park for 10+ years, in a house we bought in 1996.
Renting in Hilo
I looked in the hilo paper, in the 808 classifieds, and on craigslist. I found a beautiful, big house on Ainaola Drive above Ainalako for $1700 a month. It is a three bedroom, three bath, about 1800 square feet plus big porch, garage, and outside hot tub room. The yard is small - about 11,000 square feet - but fully fenced. Yard service is included. The house is on county water, as most houses are in Hilo, but some places are on catchement still - farther up Ainaola some places are on catchement and far up Kaumana Drive some houses are too.
While looking for a place to rent we found old plantation houses for $1000 a month, some small 1000 to 1200 square feet houses for $1000 to $1500 a month, and a huge, two-story house in Sunrise ridge (expensive, high-class area up Kukuau St.) for $2500 a month.
If you currently live on the mainland, especially in the midwest, and are thinking about relocating to Hilo, you have to lose all your expectations about houses. Mainland houses are big - usually with attics and basements. Hilo houses are not. Two-story houses are rare here. There are no basements - I don’t even know if basements are possible here because of the lava- there is very little dirt in most places - maybe a couple of inches to a foot and then it’s just solid rock. Attics are usually just tiny crawlspaces here. Many houses don’t even have garages - just carports.
Land in Hilo
Lot’s of lots in Hilo are tiny - 10,000 square feet, 7,000 square feet, 12,000 square feet - but there are places in Sunrise estates that are on an acre (very expensive acres in there) and other places can be found with large lots. There are 4 or 5 lots for sale on Ainalako right now that are between 3 and 4 acres selling for only about $225,000. I have heard two people speculate that these lots will be prone to flooding but I don’t know if that’s true. I have a friend who lives up Hoaka Rd on 40+ acres, only 5 minutes above downtown. Almost all lots in Kaumana City are 1 acre that I have seen for sale lately.
Buying a House in Hilo
We are currently in escrow for a house we really liked on a dead end street off Kaumana Dr. just above Mohouli St. The thing about Hilo is a lot of the areas were not planned - the roads are narrow, there are no sidewalks and at times no shoulders. Lots can be odd-shaped and houses look like they were placed haphazardly. If you are looking for an actual ‘neighborhood’ - like one parents with kids could think would be safe for their kids to run around by themselves - it’s not easy to find something like that.
Hilo Realtor and Home Inspector
My realtor whom I sold my house with and am buying my new house through is Joanne Mucha with Century 21 Homefinders. In my experience she is very trustworthy and hard-working. I ordered my home inspection through Paliuli Home Inspection. That was fantastic - after the inspection I got an 80 page report with about 100 pictures of the house and the roof and the yard and the attic plus detailed information on what was wrong with the house, how I could fix it, and how to maintain it.
I did most of my home-buying research via the online MLS at Hawaiiinformation.com. I wanted a 3 bedroom, newer house. I discovered that the absolute minimum price for a *nice* 3 bedroom house in Hilo is $350,000. If you find one for lower than that, in my experience, there’s something wrong with it, or it looks like it’s in Hilo but it’s really 10 to 15 miles outside of it (like in Kaumana City). However, with the real-estate slowdown maybe prices will come down a bit - here’s crossing my fingers! 
So, that’s my experience, if you are planning a move to Hilo, drop me a comment or a question.
——- some Q and A with a friend now that I’ve decided to move to the mainland and am selling my house
> Most of the time,
> we have had our eye on Puna because we live on 2
> acres now and love it.
Yes - when we lived in HPP we had one acre and it was very nice most of the time. There are large 1-40 acre lots in or just above Hilo but they are expensive. The cheapest ones I found are on Ainalako - a new subdivision with 3-4 acre lots that start at $225,000 for just the lot.
> one of the reasons we are moving is to be somewhere
> that we don’t have to
> drive all the time like we do here.
Yes! When we were in HPP, I drove 25 minutes just to go to a *playground*. Where we are now is nice - it is just over two miles to my husband’s work, the library, several playgrounds, the farmer’s market, 2 grocery stores, and the YWCA (swimming pool). However, you can’t walk or bike to any of it - or at least I wouldn’t because for at least a 1/4 mile on Kaumana there is a shoulder barely big enough for one person to walk on and that’s it. Plus, it’s straight up. We are on the side of the mountain and the grade is steep.
> We’d really really
> like to be somewhere that we coudl walk or bike to
> most places. Would being
> that close to downtown be unsafe?
No, it would not be unsafe. Hilo is very safe. When I worked the night shift I used to walk on my lunch hour at 2 in the morning. There were NO issues. There are plenty of houses on say Alae and Haili and Kinoole that are pretty close to town and have sidewalks. I agree with you that it would be cool to walk to the park or the store .
> Are they any parts you’d recommend or
> want to avoid?
Hmmm, all of Hilo is pretty safe, although some areas in the Wainaku area get a bad rap sometimes due to a bunch of lower income apartments in the area. I probably would stay away from there.
> How do you
> like being off Kaumana vs. in Waiakea?
We liked Waiakea cuz it was close to Puna where all our friends were. You could be in HPP from Waiakea in 20 minutes. However, Waiakea to downtown was almost 10 minutes, 15 if the traffic was bad. Here in Kaumana it’s 5 or less.
>How were both areas as far as other
> children in the neighborhood?
Well, we didn’t get lucky on kids in either place - but they do exist. I see them! We just haven’t hooked up with any in our neighborhoods for some reason. I sometimes feel like my son sticks out a little. He’s very caucasion, does not speak pidgin, and is not in on any of the local customs. Everyone is nice to us but we haven’t been able to *connect* with a lot of people here. My husband and I connected plenty when it was just us - but we are raising my son way differently than those around us - plus we have no family here and most kids here have literally hundreds of cousins.
> What do you think about the plantation houses there?
> I’d love to get one,
> but I’ve heard termites can be awful in them.
Well, the problem is they are OLD and yes, you can see termite damage in all of them pretty much unless the house is tented once a year.
>How old is your
> son? How has he liked it there?
My son will be 5 in March. This is all he has ever known. He taught himself to swim at 2 in the warmponds. That was awesome. He loves all watersports. We have a salt water fish tank and when he catches little fish at the beach we bring them home and put them in our tank. That’s neat.
> My 8 yr old son is almost ready for
> competetive gymnastics, but
> I thought he’d be alright with the 2 gyms there -
> are they just smaller
> gyms?
Well, in the case of my friend, her son was a teenager and he was at the point where he was helping to coach and everything - but here I don’t think gymnastics are really ‘big’. They do occur though - they just weren’t to the standard that my friend’s son was used to.
> My 16 yr old daughter is very into
> karate - I’ve found
> several dojos there. Do you see many around?
Oh yes, that will be no problem - they are everywhere. Any style you want.
> How do you like it there in general? Are you happy,
> but just ready for
> something new? Or have you been itching to go for a
> while now?
No, we have always been happy here. We would have stayed here forever if we didn’t know this area in Idaho existed with the mild winter weather and the tons and tons of outdoor activities. We’re sooo over the beach My son has been snorkeling since he was 2. He’s over it. Snorkeling to him is like walking outside and looking around in his yard. Like I said we just bought this house in October - I remember saying, several times, “I’m not moving again for 5 years at least” lol.
Comments: