Comments on: The Financial Trail of My Hawaiian Vacation

By: minty

minty — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 20:27:34 +0000

I’m late to this post but thought I’d reply anyway. :)

The deal with land, Hawaii has many leasehold properties (where you don’t own the land). Still the median home price is around 600k and that does include the land. You don’t get much for the price though! When we were looking a couple years ago, a 600k house was around 1000 sqft, built in the 50s and falling apart. Lots of condo living here since you get more for your money that way.

A large % of land in the state is owned by Bishop Estates, which was founded as a trust by the last heir to the monarchy for the Hawaiian people. Much of this land is government land, though there are lots of homes too. The estate also funds a collection of schools for Hawaiian children called the Kamehameha schools; it’s actually their primary purpose. (I’m an alumni).

If you have at least 25% Hawaiian ancestry, you can apply for Homestead land, though it’s pretty hard to get.

I’m glad you enjoyed your stay! If you can, get to Kaua’i the next time or the big island. Both are worlds different from O’ahu and for the most part, completely lacking in “city-ness”. Maui is a good happy medium. If you come in the winter, be prepared for rain. It’s been raining for over a week straight now. :(

By: LAL

LAL — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 01:28:58 +0000

I’m feeling a bit homesick for a moment. Sigh. I believe you would not want to rent land for $1 for 99 years because the land sucks. You’d have to do a lot of improvements to live there.

I can’t believe you went. I am thinking it’s too expensive currently.

By: Sense

Sense — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 12:44:59 +0000

Mary–Have your kids go to grad school at UH Manoa in the sciences. Great programs, and science grants fund the tuition, fees, and pay them a stipend on top of that…get paid to live in Hawaii and get your degree! (that’s what I did)

But whatever, that’s not the point of the post. Looks like you had a grand time, SM!

As an aside, the Hawaiians had many words for the different types of rain in Hawaii (like Eskimos with snow)–the light misty ‘lace-like’ rain you described is the ‘female’ rain, and the heavy, soak-you-to-the-bone rain that’s more often found in the rainy season or up high on the pali (mountains) is the ‘male’ rain. I always thought that was interesting…don’t remember the Hawaiian words, sorry.

By: Mary

Mary — Sun, 31 Aug 2008 19:04:26 +0000

SM said, “According to UH webpage titled, annual full time tuition & fees, undergraduate non-resident tuition for the 2007-2008 school year was $7,200.”

Hi Single Ma,

It’s pretty rare that this happens on an official site, but the person who created that particular web page mis-titled the tuition chart.

If you click on the pdf link right under the title of the chart, page 3 of the Executive Memorandum also shows the $7200 figure, but the chart is titled “Undergraduate and Graduate Per-Credit-Hour and Full-Time SEMESTER Tuition Schedule, All Campuses.”

So the $7200 figure is for just a semester. Not the entire year. Though, I wish! I’d send my kids there if that was the case. I’d move, too. Just to keep an eye on them. ; )

By: denisemounie

denisemounie — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 02:55:02 +0000

Single Ma! I can’t believe we were in Hawai’i at the same time! I just got back too and MAN, I am still exhausted! lol. We were there for 8 days and stayed in a beach house on the North Shore, O’ahu. I feel like you need at least 2 weeks in order to truly appreciate the island. I will say though, the water is not blue just in Waikiki…. Ohhh, it’s truly remarkable all along the North Shore. We pretty much drove around the entire island (except for Leeward, because ‘they say’ is not so safe) and experienced nothing but turquoise waters!!! Kailua Beach was our favorite… it was literally like we were swimming in a pool… crystal clear for miles. I also didn’t appreciate all of the buildings, traffic and fuss in Waikiki… I mean, it suppose to be about the palm trees, right?!! LOL

Thanks for sharing…. Oh, how I miss Hawai’i! :(