Housing options in Oahu..
09-17-2016, 06:45 PM
#1
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Joined APC: Jun 2010
Posts: 59
Housing options in Oahu..
hey folks, as my class date approaches i am doing a bit of planning and of course the biggest concern is the housing for my family. I have never lived in HI before and finding a decent place to rent in Hawaii I find it very challenging because like I said, I have never lived in HI and known absolutely no one from HI to ask questions. So here I am asking for your opinions.
Our family consists of my wife and I plus two little kids (one 2-yr old and a toddler). We are looking for a 2-bed apartment option with not too small in sqft but as I am searching the craigslist almost all 2-bed rents are over 2.5k a month unless a crappy one.. More affordable ones I find (we are looking for no more than 2k a month) are in Kapolei/Ewa areas but I've heard about the traffic nightmare; is it really that bad commuting to/from the airport?
My wife and I do enjoy some social outings time to time but we are not that outgoing and hate too much human traffic so we do not plan to go to town that often. Plus I have lived in a huge metropolitan city overseas so I am quite experienced with driving in traffic but over 1hr commute would be not so beneficial for gas cost etc..
My wife and I are also interested in renting an apartment in Pearl City/Mililani but again, I have no idea what are pros/cons living in those areas.. Any recommendation, thought, input? Thanks in advance.
Our family consists of my wife and I plus two little kids (one 2-yr old and a toddler). We are looking for a 2-bed apartment option with not too small in sqft but as I am searching the craigslist almost all 2-bed rents are over 2.5k a month unless a crappy one.. More affordable ones I find (we are looking for no more than 2k a month) are in Kapolei/Ewa areas but I've heard about the traffic nightmare; is it really that bad commuting to/from the airport?
My wife and I do enjoy some social outings time to time but we are not that outgoing and hate too much human traffic so we do not plan to go to town that often. Plus I have lived in a huge metropolitan city overseas so I am quite experienced with driving in traffic but over 1hr commute would be not so beneficial for gas cost etc..
My wife and I are also interested in renting an apartment in Pearl City/Mililani but again, I have no idea what are pros/cons living in those areas.. Any recommendation, thought, input? Thanks in advance.
09-17-2016, 06:54 PM
#2
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: Aug 2014
Position: Airbus FO
Posts: 278
Kailua is my recommendation as traffic to HNL is not as bad as from Kapolei. I would stay away from Kapolei just because of the traffic jams I remember when driving around oahu and most people I knew lived in Kailua. I lived in Kona so this is info from my buddies. Unfortunately for 2k you are going to have to sacrifice something for a 2 bed apt. You can find places for 2k or under in Kailua and it is a good area I think. Don't forget, your electric bill will be insane too. Like 3x what it is on mainland. FYI.
09-17-2016, 10:14 PM
#3
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Joined APC: Jul 2008
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Posts: 1,036
Originally Posted by leeaf7
hey folks, as my class date approaches i am doing a bit of planning and of course the biggest concern is the housing for my family. I have never lived in HI before and finding a decent place to rent in Hawaii I find it very challenging because like I said, I have never lived in HI and known absolutely no one from HI to ask questions. So here I am asking for your opinions.
Our family consists of my wife and I plus two little kids (one 2-yr old and a toddler). We are looking for a 2-bed apartment option with not too small in sqft but as I am searching the craigslist almost all 2-bed rents are over 2.5k a month unless a crappy one.. More affordable ones I find (we are looking for no more than 2k a month) are in Kapolei/Ewa areas but I've heard about the traffic nightmare; is it really that bad commuting to/from the airport?
My wife and I do enjoy some social outings time to time but we are not that outgoing and hate too much human traffic so we do not plan to go to town that often. Plus I have lived in a huge metropolitan city overseas so I am quite experienced with driving in traffic but over 1hr commute would be not so beneficial for gas cost etc..
My wife and I are also interested in renting an apartment in Pearl City/Mililani but again, I have no idea what are pros/cons living in those areas.. Any recommendation, thought, input? Thanks in advance.
Our family consists of my wife and I plus two little kids (one 2-yr old and a toddler). We are looking for a 2-bed apartment option with not too small in sqft but as I am searching the craigslist almost all 2-bed rents are over 2.5k a month unless a crappy one.. More affordable ones I find (we are looking for no more than 2k a month) are in Kapolei/Ewa areas but I've heard about the traffic nightmare; is it really that bad commuting to/from the airport?
My wife and I do enjoy some social outings time to time but we are not that outgoing and hate too much human traffic so we do not plan to go to town that often. Plus I have lived in a huge metropolitan city overseas so I am quite experienced with driving in traffic but over 1hr commute would be not so beneficial for gas cost etc..
My wife and I are also interested in renting an apartment in Pearl City/Mililani but again, I have no idea what are pros/cons living in those areas.. Any recommendation, thought, input? Thanks in advance.
09-17-2016, 10:14 PM
#4
New Hire
Joined APC: Apr 2012
Posts: 7
First time poster; long time lurker. I can't tell you what your life is going to be like on the job, but I can give you a little bit of a heads up about living in Kailua as I type this from my 900 square foot slice of paradise.
I pay 3 grand a month for 2 bedrooms, one bathroom, no AC outside of the bedroom, and a shared backyard with someone in an ohana. We run our window unit pretty much 24 hours a day in one bedroom (we keep our dogs in there during the day), and our electricity and water combined is about 200 bucks a month.
For traffic, Kailua's not bad as long as you're not trying to actually get into kailua town. Lanikai is a nightmare on the weekends and the tour buses dump their pax off on the hour during the summer.
It's about a 25 minute drive to the airport; I can get on the H3 when my wife calls me on the taxi back and hit the terminal in time to grab her without her having to wait.
For everything else, prepare to pay thru the nose for what you're looking for in Kailua.
I have the benefit of BAH and a good bit of tax free, plus a wife who works. We ran the numbers, though, and on current first year pay at Hawaiian, Kailua is simply unaffordable. There isn't enough housing to keep the prices out of the stratosphere, they aren't building more houses fast enough, and no one's moving out of Kailua.
On top of that, almost everything on the market is old, and streets can be hit or miss. You might find a great house, but there's no telling whether the neighbors or neighborhood are anything you'd want to spend an appreciable amount of time hanging out in. Roaches, mosquitoes, gridlock traffic on saturday and sunday, and barking dogs are all part of the charm of kailua.
That being said, everything is bike-able, castles and kalama beach are awesome, hiking is great, paddling to the Mokes is my favorite weekend activity, and the trade winds make no ac tolerable after an adjustment period. There's a brewery, whole foods has an ok bar, and plenty of fun to be had at the cool little restaurants in town. This is an outdoor person's paradise as long as you don't want seasons other than pacific tropical summer.
It may not sound like it, but I love it here.
Ewa or Kapolei have far more housing options; sucking up the commute is part of the trade off of having something built before the end of the 50s with AC and all the modern amenities.
They're building more houses out that end of the H1. The rail will probably be done sometime next century, and based on the civil engineering prowess of the local government, the number of cars it takes off the road will be a drop in the bucket compared to the pure volume of traffic all those houses are gonna cause.
Oahu is tough; be prepared to have to bid on a couple rentals before you strike pay dirt. If you get into something quickly, consider yourself lucky. Hope this helps.
I pay 3 grand a month for 2 bedrooms, one bathroom, no AC outside of the bedroom, and a shared backyard with someone in an ohana. We run our window unit pretty much 24 hours a day in one bedroom (we keep our dogs in there during the day), and our electricity and water combined is about 200 bucks a month.
For traffic, Kailua's not bad as long as you're not trying to actually get into kailua town. Lanikai is a nightmare on the weekends and the tour buses dump their pax off on the hour during the summer.
It's about a 25 minute drive to the airport; I can get on the H3 when my wife calls me on the taxi back and hit the terminal in time to grab her without her having to wait.
For everything else, prepare to pay thru the nose for what you're looking for in Kailua.
I have the benefit of BAH and a good bit of tax free, plus a wife who works. We ran the numbers, though, and on current first year pay at Hawaiian, Kailua is simply unaffordable. There isn't enough housing to keep the prices out of the stratosphere, they aren't building more houses fast enough, and no one's moving out of Kailua.
On top of that, almost everything on the market is old, and streets can be hit or miss. You might find a great house, but there's no telling whether the neighbors or neighborhood are anything you'd want to spend an appreciable amount of time hanging out in. Roaches, mosquitoes, gridlock traffic on saturday and sunday, and barking dogs are all part of the charm of kailua.
That being said, everything is bike-able, castles and kalama beach are awesome, hiking is great, paddling to the Mokes is my favorite weekend activity, and the trade winds make no ac tolerable after an adjustment period. There's a brewery, whole foods has an ok bar, and plenty of fun to be had at the cool little restaurants in town. This is an outdoor person's paradise as long as you don't want seasons other than pacific tropical summer.
It may not sound like it, but I love it here.
Ewa or Kapolei have far more housing options; sucking up the commute is part of the trade off of having something built before the end of the 50s with AC and all the modern amenities.
They're building more houses out that end of the H1. The rail will probably be done sometime next century, and based on the civil engineering prowess of the local government, the number of cars it takes off the road will be a drop in the bucket compared to the pure volume of traffic all those houses are gonna cause.
Oahu is tough; be prepared to have to bid on a couple rentals before you strike pay dirt. If you get into something quickly, consider yourself lucky. Hope this helps.
09-17-2016, 10:33 PM
#5
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Thread Starter
Joined APC: Jun 2010
Posts: 59
Originally Posted by Moonwolf
Where are you moving from? A lot of pros/cons living in Hawaii. If you set on Oahu, then Kailua/kaneohe is probably the best bet, although also most expensive...
Exactly how bad is the commute from Kapolei/Ewa/pearl city/mililani area to the airport? Like I said before my wife and I are used to living in a quiet residential area since we two are not really a huge fan of social life. We are interested in pearl city/mililani areas as well - I hear those two areas are more like mainland suburb looking..
09-18-2016, 01:07 AM
#6
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Joined APC: Aug 2015
Posts: 81
Do not listen to people who do not actually live in Ewa Beach when they talk about traffic. Back in the day when there was only one road in and out of town it was terrible. Now we have two roads that are both six lanes all the way, and it really does make a difference.
Barring a few "carmageddon" multi-accident hell days a year, it is not that bad. If you have ever lived in ANY large Mainland city, you will not find it in any way abnormal. Our bus ride from JFK to our hotel takes longer than normal rush hour traffic from Ewa Beach to the airport.
Rent-wise, $2200 - $2400 ish gets you a townhouse with a yard and garage, central AC, 10 minutes from a beach and right down the street from tons of restaurants (Applebee's even), a Safeway with everything a mainland supermarket has, and 10 minutes from a new mall with Macy's (just opened), 24 Hour Fitness, etc. $2500 or more gets you a house. Older apartments with less amenities may be less. You can still find decent properties for sale in the $400,000 - $700,000 range, with some smaller apartments still significantly less. Or you could get a million-dollar luxury home at Hoakalei. Really a little bit of everything out here. Some older areas with a lot of "character" (read "ghetto") sprinkled around, kind of like Kailua before it got nice. You will learn to love all that. Give it 10 years for all the high-end development to really get going and it will turn into another Kaneohe with newer houses. Good investment area, last one left on Oahu really. And when the Kailua and Hawaii Kai boys bleat and whinny and moo about how "that rail will never make it out here so why should I pay the tax for it?" remind them how many, MANY years took to build H-3, how much federal tax money THAT cost, and how it doesn't do a damn thing for us down here in the Dirty South and never will so THERE! The rail system, love it or hate it, is well into its construction and will be completed. May take a while, but those 10,000 new houses the other guy was talking about are planned to be built out over 20 years so they have some time.
Between 3:30 and 6:00 ish in the afternoon traffic from the airport to Ewa gets bad on the weekdays, expect about 1:00 to 1:15 travel time on a normal day during that period. A bunch of accidents makes it worse. Heading towards the airport from Ewa between 5:00 and 7:30 - 8:00 in the morning is about the same on a normal day, an hour to hour and fifteen.
Couple good accidents bump that up to 1:30 sometime and make it last longer.
Interisland and junior, you will either fly till midnight or start at 4:45 AM so won't matter either way. Reserve I would say in a year I only got called during peak traffic maybe 3 times, and as long as you have your stuff ready to go is a PITA but really no big deal. If you have a 7:30 show just leave early before traffic and take a nap in the "quiet room". Or just fly weekends, when there is no traffic. You won't be able to hold them off anyway so there ya go.
Transpac, REALLY not an issue at all. Miss the traffic most of the time, and if you get back in the "rush hour" either go to Ruby Tuesday and have a beer, or just deal with your 3 or 4 monthly H-1 traffic experiences and realize that 80% of the thousands of cars creeping along with you do this every day, and have an even longer drive than you do.
Normal driving time with no traffic at all from down in Ewa to the airport parking entrance is :35 minutes, and that is NOT speeding.
Now the HNL parking situation is another animal entirely, but where you live won't matter at all for that.
Welcome.
Barring a few "carmageddon" multi-accident hell days a year, it is not that bad. If you have ever lived in ANY large Mainland city, you will not find it in any way abnormal. Our bus ride from JFK to our hotel takes longer than normal rush hour traffic from Ewa Beach to the airport.
Rent-wise, $2200 - $2400 ish gets you a townhouse with a yard and garage, central AC, 10 minutes from a beach and right down the street from tons of restaurants (Applebee's even), a Safeway with everything a mainland supermarket has, and 10 minutes from a new mall with Macy's (just opened), 24 Hour Fitness, etc. $2500 or more gets you a house. Older apartments with less amenities may be less. You can still find decent properties for sale in the $400,000 - $700,000 range, with some smaller apartments still significantly less. Or you could get a million-dollar luxury home at Hoakalei. Really a little bit of everything out here. Some older areas with a lot of "character" (read "ghetto") sprinkled around, kind of like Kailua before it got nice. You will learn to love all that. Give it 10 years for all the high-end development to really get going and it will turn into another Kaneohe with newer houses. Good investment area, last one left on Oahu really. And when the Kailua and Hawaii Kai boys bleat and whinny and moo about how "that rail will never make it out here so why should I pay the tax for it?" remind them how many, MANY years took to build H-3, how much federal tax money THAT cost, and how it doesn't do a damn thing for us down here in the Dirty South and never will so THERE! The rail system, love it or hate it, is well into its construction and will be completed. May take a while, but those 10,000 new houses the other guy was talking about are planned to be built out over 20 years so they have some time.
Between 3:30 and 6:00 ish in the afternoon traffic from the airport to Ewa gets bad on the weekdays, expect about 1:00 to 1:15 travel time on a normal day during that period. A bunch of accidents makes it worse. Heading towards the airport from Ewa between 5:00 and 7:30 - 8:00 in the morning is about the same on a normal day, an hour to hour and fifteen.
Couple good accidents bump that up to 1:30 sometime and make it last longer.
Interisland and junior, you will either fly till midnight or start at 4:45 AM so won't matter either way. Reserve I would say in a year I only got called during peak traffic maybe 3 times, and as long as you have your stuff ready to go is a PITA but really no big deal. If you have a 7:30 show just leave early before traffic and take a nap in the "quiet room". Or just fly weekends, when there is no traffic. You won't be able to hold them off anyway so there ya go.
Transpac, REALLY not an issue at all. Miss the traffic most of the time, and if you get back in the "rush hour" either go to Ruby Tuesday and have a beer, or just deal with your 3 or 4 monthly H-1 traffic experiences and realize that 80% of the thousands of cars creeping along with you do this every day, and have an even longer drive than you do.
Normal driving time with no traffic at all from down in Ewa to the airport parking entrance is :35 minutes, and that is NOT speeding.
Now the HNL parking situation is another animal entirely, but where you live won't matter at all for that.
Welcome.
Last edited by WindWalker999; 09-18-2016 at 01:43 AM.
09-18-2016, 05:20 AM
#7
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Thread Starter
Joined APC: Jun 2010
Posts: 59
Originally Posted by WindWalker999
Do not listen to people who do not actually live in Ewa Beach when they talk about traffic. Back in the day when there was only one road in and out of town it was terrible. Now we have two roads that are both six lanes all the way, and it really does make a difference.
Barring a few "carmageddon" multi-accident hell days a year, it is not that bad. If you have ever lived in ANY large Mainland city, you will not find it in any way abnormal. Our bus ride from JFK to our hotel takes longer than normal rush hour traffic from Ewa Beach to the airport.
Rent-wise, $2200 - $2400 ish gets you a townhouse with a yard and garage, central AC, 10 minutes from a beach and right down the street from tons of restaurants (Applebee's even), a Safeway with everything a mainland supermarket has, and 10 minutes from a new mall with Macy's (just opened), 24 Hour Fitness, etc. $2500 or more gets you a house. Older apartments with less amenities may be less. You can still find decent properties for sale in the $400,000 - $700,000 range, with some smaller apartments still significantly less. Or you could get a million-dollar luxury home at Hoakalei. Really a little bit of everything out here. Some older areas with a lot of "character" (read "ghetto") sprinkled around, kind of like Kailua before it got nice. You will learn to love all that. Give it 10 years for all the high-end development to really get going and it will turn into another Kaneohe with newer houses. Good investment area, last one left on Oahu really. And when the Kailua and Hawaii Kai boys bleat and whinny and moo about how "that rail will never make it out here so why should I pay the tax for it?" remind them how many, MANY years took to build H-3, how much federal tax money THAT cost, and how it doesn't do a damn thing for us down here in the Dirty South and never will so THERE! The rail system, love it or hate it, is well into its construction and will be completed. May take a while, but those 10,000 new houses the other guy was talking about are planned to be built out over 20 years so they have some time.
Between 3:30 and 6:00 ish in the afternoon traffic from the airport to Ewa gets bad on the weekdays, expect about 1:00 to 1:15 travel time on a normal day during that period. A bunch of accidents makes it worse. Heading towards the airport from Ewa between 5:00 and 7:30 - 8:00 in the morning is about the same on a normal day, an hour to hour and fifteen.
Couple good accidents bump that up to 1:30 sometime and make it last longer.
Interisland and junior, you will either fly till midnight or start at 4:45 AM so won't matter either way. Reserve I would say in a year I only got called during peak traffic maybe 3 times, and as long as you have your stuff ready to go is a PITA but really no big deal. If you have a 7:30 show just leave early before traffic and take a nap in the "quiet room". Or just fly weekends, when there is no traffic. You won't be able to hold them off anyway so there ya go.
Transpac, REALLY not an issue at all. Miss the traffic most of the time, and if you get back in the "rush hour" either go to Ruby Tuesday and have a beer, or just deal with your 3 or 4 monthly H-1 traffic experiences and realize that 80% of the thousands of cars creeping along with you do this every day, and have an even longer drive than you do.
Normal driving time with no traffic at all from down in Ewa to the airport parking entrance is :35 minutes, and that is NOT speeding.
Now the HNL parking situation is another animal entirely, but where you live won't matter at all for that.
Welcome.
Barring a few "carmageddon" multi-accident hell days a year, it is not that bad. If you have ever lived in ANY large Mainland city, you will not find it in any way abnormal. Our bus ride from JFK to our hotel takes longer than normal rush hour traffic from Ewa Beach to the airport.
Rent-wise, $2200 - $2400 ish gets you a townhouse with a yard and garage, central AC, 10 minutes from a beach and right down the street from tons of restaurants (Applebee's even), a Safeway with everything a mainland supermarket has, and 10 minutes from a new mall with Macy's (just opened), 24 Hour Fitness, etc. $2500 or more gets you a house. Older apartments with less amenities may be less. You can still find decent properties for sale in the $400,000 - $700,000 range, with some smaller apartments still significantly less. Or you could get a million-dollar luxury home at Hoakalei. Really a little bit of everything out here. Some older areas with a lot of "character" (read "ghetto") sprinkled around, kind of like Kailua before it got nice. You will learn to love all that. Give it 10 years for all the high-end development to really get going and it will turn into another Kaneohe with newer houses. Good investment area, last one left on Oahu really. And when the Kailua and Hawaii Kai boys bleat and whinny and moo about how "that rail will never make it out here so why should I pay the tax for it?" remind them how many, MANY years took to build H-3, how much federal tax money THAT cost, and how it doesn't do a damn thing for us down here in the Dirty South and never will so THERE! The rail system, love it or hate it, is well into its construction and will be completed. May take a while, but those 10,000 new houses the other guy was talking about are planned to be built out over 20 years so they have some time.
Between 3:30 and 6:00 ish in the afternoon traffic from the airport to Ewa gets bad on the weekdays, expect about 1:00 to 1:15 travel time on a normal day during that period. A bunch of accidents makes it worse. Heading towards the airport from Ewa between 5:00 and 7:30 - 8:00 in the morning is about the same on a normal day, an hour to hour and fifteen.
Couple good accidents bump that up to 1:30 sometime and make it last longer.
Interisland and junior, you will either fly till midnight or start at 4:45 AM so won't matter either way. Reserve I would say in a year I only got called during peak traffic maybe 3 times, and as long as you have your stuff ready to go is a PITA but really no big deal. If you have a 7:30 show just leave early before traffic and take a nap in the "quiet room". Or just fly weekends, when there is no traffic. You won't be able to hold them off anyway so there ya go.
Transpac, REALLY not an issue at all. Miss the traffic most of the time, and if you get back in the "rush hour" either go to Ruby Tuesday and have a beer, or just deal with your 3 or 4 monthly H-1 traffic experiences and realize that 80% of the thousands of cars creeping along with you do this every day, and have an even longer drive than you do.
Normal driving time with no traffic at all from down in Ewa to the airport parking entrance is :35 minutes, and that is NOT speeding.
Now the HNL parking situation is another animal entirely, but where you live won't matter at all for that.
Welcome.
Wow! Thanks! This is VERY helpful. I really appreciate it.
Anyone with Pearl City/Mililani experience?
09-18-2016, 09:24 AM
#8
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: Apr 2005
Posts: 1,399
Aiea/Moanalua are closer to the airport. The am/pm commutes if you get stuck them can be pretty bad. You will probably miss most of the traffic times. Interisland start times can be anywhere from 4:30 am until 4:00pm. Finish around noon until midnight.
Housing costs are insane and won't get better so be prepared.
Housing costs are insane and won't get better so be prepared.
09-18-2016, 02:27 PM
#10
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: Feb 2014
Position: E145 FO
Posts: 117
Wow, that sure doesn't sound like paradise to me. Any word on when a strike may happen? Have you lost any pilots to other legacy carriers while waiting for a new contract or just not being able to make the adjustment? I thought they were pretty hardkore for people who had lived in HI for this reason: they knew what they were getting into.
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