Non-diving Oahu question

[Busdiver]

I have been contacted for a job out at Schofield Barracks. It is a very good paying job. I am not necessarily sold on moving. I have a 4 year old daughter and a wife. My wife is a fed and given time she can transfer to Oahu (again making a nice living).

I know this is not about diving but I figure I could get some answers about life on the island. I will be there next week for a conference and will begin assessing the move. I have been to Oahu before but only as a tourist, not as a possible resident.

Where would you suggest looking at renting a home/apartment? How is raising a child on Oahu? The schools? I have read there are racial tensions, is this true or is this over blown by silly people?

Taking the job would be a good career move. When I was single I always wanted to live in Hawaii. Now taking the needs of my child in consideration I am not sure.

Any help would be appreciated. You can PM me since this is not a diving thread.

Thanks,

Bus

 

[sea nmf]

Where would the wife be working? I would suspect downtown Honolulu. If that is the case, you should like somewhere close to town. Because communting to Honolulu from Waipahu or Mililani is terrible. But if you lived close to town, you would be on a reverse commute to Schoefield. Much easier.

So, where? Do you want a house or a condo? The local areas, if you have a good paying job, might be Roundtop, Manoa, Waikiki or Kaimuki area. It all depends.

I don't have children but the schools sort of suck here. If you can swing it, a private school is the way to go here. There can be racial issues, but it isn't terrible. If you have aloha, you can get along with almost anyone. Be nice to them, they will be nice to you.

"They" are the locals: the folks who were born & raised here. They don't particularly want the great white hope to change their old ways of doing things. Personally, I can see their point.

Do you not dive?

 

[Busdiver]

Thanks for the quick reply. My wife would be downtown.

We live our lives and raise our daughter to be accepting of everyone. Detroit is an extremely racially tense area. I am the only white male in my office and work with an all african american adolescent population. I love my job and love the opportunity to grow from my experience.

My wife and I love diving. It would be nice to retire the drysuits.

Again thank you for the suggestions. I will research the areas and visit them next week.

 

[ScubaSeanMaui]

If I lived in Detroit I'd be packing right now! I'd go for it! I think your daughter would appreciate your moving when she's older... As sea nmf said a private school would be nice too...

Sean

 

[crab lover]

Holy Family Catholic is where my manager's daughter goes and she LOVES it. It is right off Hickam AFB, more in between Honolulu and Schofield. The thing that I notice is that they really encourage creativity in the students. Her daughter is very bright and creative and is always coming to the shop with art projects she did in school that are amazing. Yes, she has the talent, but they also have staff there that recognizes that talent and encourages it.

 

[Busdiver]

If I lived in Detroit I'd be packing right now!

Part of why we are seriously considering this move. The city is close to becoming the version of New York from the movie Escape from New York.



Again I appreciate all the info. Next week's visit will be fun and interesting. Now I just need to make sure to get in a enough dives. What is enough?

Thanks, Bus

 

[chepar]

I'll respond from the perspective of a local person (born and raised here, though I did live on the mainland for about 8 years in my 20s).

If your wife would be working at the Federal building downtown, then Becky's (sea nmf) recommendation about the reverse commute for you is a good one. There is some traffic in the afternoon heading east as you get closer to town, but it is nowhere as bad as the west to east commute in the morning and the east to west commute in the afternoon.

Housing costs here are high. Rentals are also high and in rather short supply. The areas closer to UH are in especially high demand. However, I think renting is the way to go before you buy something, so you can see if you like the area first.

The public school system here is pretty bad. Certain schools are better than others, but of course it depends if you live in the district where that school is located. I believe I read in the paper a while back that almost 30% of school age children here attend private school. There are lots of different private schools with a whole range of tuition fees. They go from the lower end of maybe $6,000 per year to around $17,000 per year for Mid Pac, Punahou and Iolani. The tuition generally does not include the other fees such as books (for the older kids), uniforms (if they have them), lunches, before/after school care, etc.

Generally the cost of everything here is higher than most parts of the mainland. Groceries, gas, housing, etc. You can try to mitigate costs by doing things like using the grocery store "club" cards, shopping and getting your gas at Costco.

Yes, there can be racial issues. Generally speaking if you are respectful of the local culture (and certain aspects of it can take some getting used to) then it's usually ok, at least from my perspective. But then again, perhaps I'm not the best person to judge, since I am local.

I think your idea about driving around neighborhoods while you're here is a good one. Drive the neighborhoods, take a look in the paper at rental rates, visit some stores/supermarkets to get an idea of the cost of things. Try to assess what daily life would be like as a resident.

On the positive side, the lifestyle here is pretty laid back. The weather is great and the scenery is gorgeous. Sometimes I forget how great it is to live here when I'm busy with the day to day grind of working, my kid, making a living, etc. Then I'm reminded of how great it is when it's a beautiful sunny afternoon, I'm sitting on a boat in sparkling blue water, about to go diving with friends. A bonus is if you see a whale breach nearby.

 

[mjcoussens]

My wife and I moved here from Michigan almost 4 years ago to get my doctorate. I'm originally from the Lansing area and she grew up in Clarkston.

It took us awhile to adjust to the way things are out here. Traffic, cost of living, and schools are some very important things to keep in mind. From what I've seen private schools are the way to go out here. Schofield and downtown Honolulu are quite aways apart and coupled with traffic, it'll make for a long commute. That being said, we live in the Nu'uanu area and my wife used to commute to Aiea everyday, which wasn't bad as it was against the flow of traffic.

FWIW, I paid $3.54/gallon for gas the other day and milk is $5.00/gallon as well.

Has Detroit really gotten that bad in the 4 years we've been away? The reason I ask is that I'll be interviewing for a post-doc position at Wayne State next week and they are offering me a much bigger paycheck than anyone else. If I accept it, we'd be looking at living in the Ferndale/ Royal Oak area.

Matt

 

[Busdiver]

I want to thank every one for the information you are providing me. I have been informed that if I get this job it will begin on May 1st. I return from Hawaii on April 5th. Not a lot of time to plan wrap up my clients, pack up my gear, and admit that I won't get to see the little one for a bit.

Matt--gas is $3.30 a gallon. Milk is $7.00 a gallon for organic milk. Detroit is going to hell in a hand basket. I drove down Mack for the first time in a month yesterday and saw two more buildings burned and gutted. I specialize with working with addicted populations. I currently work with adjudicated youth in the city. We are raising a generation of children that will not have any hope of meaningful employment in this city. One client informed me during group that this summer the city was going to "light up." The prediction is that there will be a lot of violent crime and an increase in our murder rate.

Ferndale is not worth moving to anymore. The school system is terrible and within five years will be absorbed by the city. Royal Oak maintains property value but if you have or are planning to have kids avoid the schools. Drugs are a major problem. I know Hawaii has a meth epidemic. Royal Oak has a prescription pill epidemic.

What is your post-doc specialty? I love Wayne State and the area continues to be safe.

You want to switch houses? I live in a 3700 square foot house in Grosse Pointe that I will not be able to sell or ever be able to replicate in Hawaii. By the way, the Pointes are one of the only communities to maintain a high standard of living while still providing their residents a good quality of life.

We dive all year round here. Invest in a dry suit. I can point you to a good dive shop and a good group of divers.

Thanks again everyone,

Bus

 

[mjcoussens]

That's really a shame to hear. With the housing market being the way it is we were seriously contemplating buying a house in the Ferndale area, but I guess it's cheap for a reason.

I am a stem cell biologist and would be joining a group that focuses on development and differentiation of preimplantation stage primate embryos. It's a three to five year appointment with the chance that it may become permanent. My wife is currently taking prereqs for a nursing degree and is looking at both Wayne and Oakland for that.

Longterm, we'd really like to stay in or near Michigan as our families are there, my family has a couple of vacation homes up in shanty creek, and I really miss the hunting and fishing a lot. A drysuit is definitely on the must have list when we move and I'm really looking forward to getting into Great lakes diving. When/ if we move I'll definitely get in touch with you about shops/ dive groups. Let me know if you'd like some of the same info out here.

I'd love to switch houses, but don't think you'd have enough room in for your family in our 500sqft apartment, nor could we afford the mortgage on your place...unless you want to rent it out super cheap

It's too bad that you'll be out here the same time I'll be on the mainland, otherwise it would've been nice to meet up and swap some stories/advice.

Matt