Hawaii – Apartment hunting

It was an interesting time and I learned a couple of things.  The first is this.  If you plan on moving to Hawaii find a place to stay for at least two weeks rather than the one I took.  Also, you should use several different sites.  I ended up using ApartmentList.com, Zillow.com, and Honolulu.CraigsList.com.

Everything I looked at and almost everything I found was owned at the unit level.  I saw one complex in Waikiki where the apartments were all owned by one group and rented out from an onsite leasing office.  Everything else was individual units owned by someone and rented out sometimes through a management company.

There’s a lot of variation between different managing agents.  Some want a big application fee, some don’t care about that.  There is variation on what is meant by Furnished and Partially Furnished.  The one partially furnished place I had included a stove and refrigerator and called that partially furnished though I’d call that unfurnished, at least as far as an apartment is concerned.  The place I ended up is fully furnished and includes plenty of kitchen appliances, like a rice cooker, and even had the cleaning supplies the prior renter had left, which was quite convenient when I went to do laundry on Saturday.  Another thing that matters is the personal rapport with the managing agent.  They’ve got plenty of leeway to make demands and when then they can pick and choose regardless of what they say while showing the unit.  The one thing all of them require is a showing.  You can’t even get serious about talking to anyone until after you’ve seen the unit.  Another thing most of the places liked was personal recommendations from folks already in the Islands.

Overall you might want to consider it more like buying a condo than it is like picking an apartment complex in Chicago or Indy, though the turnaround is faster since you don’t have to get financing.

Hawaii – News 3/8/2015

I got an apartment and moved in last Sunday.  I’m at 1710 Makiki St for at least the next year.  It’s about a 20 minute walk to work each day.  I’ve got almost everything sorted out now.  The internet will be over a cable modem when that gets set up on the 28^th.  Until then I’m using the “internet sharing” feature on my phone 5 GB a month should cover my needs if I’m careful to do stuff on the phone that can be done on the phone.  It’s an older one bedroom that came fully furnished even including some cleaning supplies.  It doesn’t have a lanai, but the way it is oriented I can open the windows in front and back and get excellent cross breezes more or less all day.  It also comes with a small potted plant on the front porch that I’m to keep watered.  Fortunately, I’ve been told it doesn’t need much water.

I’ve found a grocery store in walking distance and there are two farmers markets nearby on different days.  One is outside my new office on Friday around lunch time.  The other is an all afternoon affair just down the street in the parking lot of the Episcopal Church at the corner.  Below is a picture of that farmers market and a picture of the sign for the church.

I’ve been attending church at Ss. Constantine & Helen Greek Orthodox.  It has been interesting so far.  The priest is of Asian descent and comes from California.  He’s assisted by a priest that is a Navy Chaplain associated with the Pacific Command.  I spoke to him after church today and he spent a little time talking about writing doctrine for the Navy and assisting our allies with developing shipboard chaplaincies.  Church is about 25 minute walk from my apartment and maybe a 15 or 20 minute walk from work.

Work is going well so far.  It’s a large insurance company so they’re picky about security and require reams of paperwork for change management, which makes sense.  The people are hardworking and their attitude on matters that don’t relate to security are surprisingly laid back.  I’m finding ways to contribute while all the permissions issues are sorted out.  They’re talking about a crunch time towards the end of the month and I expect I’ll be fully up to speed with my required permissions by then.

One brief comment on the weather; I had the windows closed today as it has been a touch chilly the last few days with lows in the low-60s and highs only in the mid-70s, Fahrenheit.  This next week looks better as the highs are projected to be 80 all week with lows in the upper-60s or low-70s.

I’ve got three other random pictures I took while wandering around Honolulu.  The first is a view down the canal towards the sea.  If you look closely you can see the masts of a marina holding a bunch of small boats.

This second is of Ala Moana beach.  It is right next to the Ala Moana shopping mall and not far from Waikiki, though it is much less crowded.

The third is a picture I took because I was asked for a pic with palm trees.  This one is on Ala Moana Blvd in Waikiki not far from the bridge to the Ala Moana neighborhood.

I'm working on a couple of other posts still.  One on what it was like renting a place in Hawaii, another as a review for the place I stayed through Airbnb, and a couple of restaurant reviews.  I'll try to keep posting regularly.

Move to Hawaii – First Day

I got into Honolulu just fine at 7PM.  The recruiter picked me up at the airport and took me to the place I’d booked a room through Airbnb.  I'll post a review of the place I got through Airbnb later in the week or over the weekend, I think.

In the morning I spent my time calling and emailing several different people about places to rent.  I got one, “Come to the viewing tomorrow”, an “I’m sorry but that property isn’t available anymore, have you considered buying”, and a “You can come by and see the property now if you’d like”.

The woman managing that last rental took me to the place, which is a bit north of where I’m staying.  The place is a little small, older, and in a more residential area.  It reminded me of the sort of place grad students I’ve known lived in and apparently that’s who usually rents the apartment.  In the process of hearing about the apartment I also learned that the current tenant is moving out to live with her boyfriend.  There was also something about them living on a boat, but I didn’t get any more details than that.  In many ways it’s a good place despite being old.

After that I walked to the office I’ll be working in just to get a feel for what that walk is really like.  The walk was fine at something like 15 or 20 minutes.  When I got to the HMSA building I ran into my recruiter walking another contractor back to the HMSA building after doing lunch with him.  We chatted very briefly.  After that I got myself some lunch and went back to the room to catch up on the news and wait for a couple more of the places I contacted to get back to me.  In the evening I did get two more contacts.  One waffled thoroughly but made it pretty clear things wouldn’t move quickly with her.  The other setup an appointment for me to see the apartment tomorrow at 5:30 PM.

I also looked up the two Orthodox churches in Honolulu.  It looks like the closer of the two is Ss Constantine and Helen Greek Orthodox Church.  I was thinking of going to the Presanctified Liturgy, 6 PM on Wednesdays, but I can’t get there from the 5:30 appointment in time.  The Sunday morning service starts at 8:30 AM.  If I keep waking up when I am at the moment that will be no problem, but past experience of coming to the islands tells me I’ll revert to my normal schedule and probably before Sunday.

I’ll let keep posting as I get things settled down.

Chelsea's Kitchen - Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport, AZ

In the long layover I have before my plan leaves for Honolulu I met my Paupau and step-grandmother, Mary, for lunch.

We went to a restaurant in the Phoenix airport called Chelsea's Kitchen.  Paupau and I had cheeseburgers while Mary had the soup of the day, a tomato chicken soup.  The fries that came with my burger had a very nice seasoning salt.  The food was all good and the service prompt.  It was no more expensive than I've come to expect for good food in an airport.

Before I went Mary got a picture of me alone and a picture of me with Paupau.

Hawaii move – Preparations

Now that I’m done with my preparations and am about to board the flight that will ultimately take me to Honolulu I’ve got some time to describe what it takes to be ready to make the transition to a Hawaii job. 

The first step that I expect to occur to folks is getting an offer for a job in the islands.  In my case it took a month or so of back and forth with the recruiter before she was willing to submit my resume to clients.  It took another month to find a position that both of us felt fit well with my resume.  The interviews, when it came to them went quickly.  In many ways the process is similar to any job search a long way from home.  The recruiters and companies all want to make sure you’re really committed to making the transition.  I gather that Hawaii positions see more of that in the winter when folks want to get away from the cold.  I found that the simplest way to handle that was to talk about the trips I’ve made in the past and about what I’ve learned by researching a move to Hawaii.  Another way to deal with that is to simply move to the islands and as long as you’ve got the resources to live here without a job for a month or so it would probably work well. 

The flight reminds me of just how thoroughly I’ve had to pare down my possessions.  I’ve got two checked bags at just under 50 pounds each, two carry-ons, my coat, and a hat.  Everything else either went into storage or was given away.  The challenge is the cost of shipping goods to the islands.  Oahu is the cheapest but costs range from three to six dollars a pound unless you use the USPS flat rate boxes even there.  Over the next year or more I’ll be looking to bring my books over.  Some of them could come as checked bags and some certainly be shipped. 

I’ve given, or thrown, away all of my furniture.  Most of it went to my sister with a little bit going to my brother and more going to the local Savers thrift store.  If you decide to make the move remember that Goodwill and Salvation Army might do pickups but they’re going to want something like two weeks notice to schedule a pickup.  I sorted through my clothes and gave away three trash bags full.

Another challenge is to find a place to live in the islands.  Realtors don’t help find rentals in Oahu so you’ll have to rely on the internet with sites like Zillow or Craigslist to find options.  Then you’ll have to wait until you get to the islands before you can apply.  The caution here is that some listings are scams intended to take application fees without having a real property to rent.  In my case I’ve got a week lined up through Airbnb in the neighborhood I’m looking to live in at first.  This is also the neighborhood where my new job is.  I’ve got a four or five options lined up for consideration and tomorrow, after recovering from my flight, I’ll arrange time to get into them.  I’ll also go walk about in the neighborhood and check into other options that catch my eye. 

My flight will be boarding soon.  Thinking about that when you go to book your flight you should plan on using an aggregator site and check two or even three weeks out for the soonest cheap flight.  I found in my investigations that the best prices were on Tuesday three weeks out.  At two weeks out both Monday and Wednesday had good flights for only twenty or thirty dollars more than the Tuesday flight.  It isn’t convenient for a vacationer, but if you can manage it the cost savings are best if you fly out early in the week.

 

We’re boarding now.  I’ll put up another post later, maybe later today but more likely tomorrow or the next day on how my flight went