The Untold Realities of Living in Hawaii What You Need to Know About the Market, Traffic & More!

Recently got into the market in Hawaii. $3,500 mortgage for every 400k. Most homes in Hawaii are 1 million for a 3bd 2ba. Rent on an equal property is $3,000-$3,500 a month. Buying is much more expensive than renting but owning in Hawaii will build equity at an “almost” guaranteed 10x over the 30 years. Sit down and talk to core team, they are honest and will hold your hand, no matter how long it takes for to buy.

This is excellent advice. From here lived on the mainland for a while, bought here in 2005, so glad I did. Spot on regarding living ocean front. Everything, EVERYTHING in your house is destroyed by salt unless it's plastic. Fireworks are a thing everywhere in Hawaii. It's not so much fireworks it's the bombs.

Good video

If your white be safe. White people go through terror here. They are alienated and sometimes beaten and abused.

And to all incest families you can be really loud during sex . the police will protect you. They love watching through cell cameras I know I made 18 police reports on this

I moved to the mainland from Honolulu years ago. I've retained by property rights to a house in Wailalae Kahala., I'm selling out now. Honolulu is unliveable. I'm visiting yearly for a month and staying with relatives now. I'd rather visit friends and family than live there, even if I can afford it. 6 million dollars in saving isn't enough to sell out for 900K, add in another 1 million and still have enough money to live on as a retired person, you need 10 million. Each year I visit, the place is unrecognizable. More roads, more housing, more hotels, more road congestion and more people...1 million registered cars on Oahu makes the place Car City. Parking was never available. For local people, the changes go on year by year and they don't notice. Everyone is too busy working 2 jobs and too stressed out to realize that Paradise is Paradise lost. The curse of unrestrained development has extended to Maui, Kauai and Hawaii, billionaires are buying up residential land in vast tracts restricting land available for local housing. The only green shoots that are sprouting are the native Hawaiian and conservationist attempts to restore small plots of land for future enjoyment of the people, efforts too littlel too late... I cry for the Aina... the Aloha spirit is long gone. We are all mainland Haoles now... Auwe!

No lie sounds like tropical NYC

What an S hole

I grew up in Napa Valley and cannot afford to live there. I lived in New Orleans and the locals said the same - their kids couldn’t afford to live there. It’s everywhere. I think second home owners are a problem, because they don’t contribute to community or vote locally.

I own a home on oahu 4 bed 3 full bath 720,000. My Mortgage is 2,200 a month 35 year loan. I know your going to say impossible, but its true for me. I did my research and found a loan that even my realtor didn't believe. I was able to close April 2024. If you look good you will find its very fruitful.

I currently live in Puerto Rico. The island glows from fireworks on New Years. I've never seen anything like it! They aren't even legal here!
Traffic is also insane here. A 30-minute drive could take over an hour during the busy times.
I am currently looking at a move to Kauai.

The problem is most Hawaiians dont participate in elections.
Self interested people count on them not voting, and get easy wins.
The people are miserable and not represented because they refuse to participate. So they blame Haoles and tourists.
If they want real change, they have to change.
The damage is so bad that it wont change in a week, but its a start.
Not voting has consequences.
No matter how bad they dont want to be a part of the system, they are. They might as well participate.
In 2016, the people spoke, and it shocked the establishment with a Trump win.
Id love to see Hawaiians win and get real representation. The people that vote, and win, care more about the turtles and environment more than the plight of the people.
Vote for true representation or quit complaining.

Same in Puerto Rico, where it's actually worse. Crime is rampant bugs everywhere hot and 80 persent humidity, I'm staying in the US.

Hawaiian people are racist cry babies. Fact

Most people don't know the danger of living beside water.....In Japan, no one wants to because a tsunami cam instantly kill you. They prefe to live up in the hills.

Too many people from the mainland!

I was considering moving to Hawaii from Florida, but after intense research I decided I will stay in Florida. I would not be able to buy the type of home I have in Florida in Hawaii for $450-$500K!! I also understand that some homes in Hawaii cannot be insured due to their location near the lava flow (USGS survey.) Most upgrades I have seen in homes do not have permits, hence they are uninsurable or you cannot get a mortgage. The volcano can spit VOG gases and the air quality might be compromised. The cost of living in Hawaii is much higher than in Florida, like gas, groceries, eating out, and other overall expenses. Property taxes are lower in Hawaii, but then they get you with State Tax for IRA contributions (which I do get monthly since I am retired.) No State Tax in Florida at all. Then there is the isolation syndrome in the islands, being far from great Hospitals (I have some health issues), theme parks, shopping malls, etc. And last but not least, the weather in a specific location has its own micro-climate, which can be annoying since you cannot get a home in a consistent climate area. In Florida, what you see is what you get as far as climate- dry and comfortable in the winter and humid/rainy in the rainy season (May-Oct.) I decided to stay in Florida, since I still have my tropical climate, access to great theme parks, lower cost for homes, cars, food, gas. etc. I live inland, in Ocala, so I don't really worry about hurricanes (I prepare anyway, but I never had to evacuate in 30 years since living in Florida.) Hawaii is very beautiful much like California, but after careful research (based on my annual retiree IRS/SS income of $45K), the bang for my buck will go a longer way in Florida than Hawaii. It's all about economics not ergonomics.

Have you ever seen a massive ocean going cargo ship that is completely loaded full of oil? Those things are absolutely huge! Hawaii consumes one of these every single day of the year!

You are correct, Bought a home in Singapore. Same concept, better to buy now than to wait and that was just what I did before inflation kicked in which raised the home prices up further.

I am a haole who grew up here, I was harassed,bullied,beat up my whole life here, I almost hate Oahu but I can't afford to relocate, expensive here, now haole in Waimanalo,Hawaii not Na Ka Oe, Hawaii nasty,filled with Centipedes & nasty mokes

The place sucks

This literally hurts my heart! I was stationed on Oahu for a couple of years and fell in love without even understand all of what was going on around me. What do locals think needs to happen to get policies changed to make it more affordable for y’all to live on your own land?

Came to Kauai after Hurricane Iniki in ‘92 to help rebuild the island. I finally bought a house up out of tsunami zone in 2020. That’s more important than ocean front property. My stuff doesn’t corrode as bad away from the beach. Don’t come to Kauai it’s still nice hopefully it stay that way.

We haven’t been there since our honeymoon in 1984. It looks like paradise is getting filled with the same stuff we have at home. Not really paradise 😢

Most of the houses on the market are $1M+ and have really old aesthetics
None of the modern expectations like full house A/C vents
In the mainland you can get a lot of empty space depending on the area. Not in hawaii though

It’s not a paradise at all too many non-native spying up the land and driving the prices up even more

These are the types of things that people need to know. Thank you.

Very simple. Don’t move to Oahu…go any of the other islands. Very simple.

Hawaii is a good place to live only if you are extremely wealthy and can afford to insulate yourself from all the riffraff and crime.

Great video! Outstanding analysis of the actual risk of waiting to buy in areas with long records of appreciation.

In relative terms, Hawaii has always been expensive. Ever since Captain James Cook first arrived, everything had to be imported. In the novel From Here to Eternity author James Jones described how the soldiers were effectively confined to base because, unless they saved up, they usually couldn't afford to go out into town.

Not paradise at all.

The food sucks. That was the biggest shock for me. Also, the sunsets on my farm crushed every sunset i saw in hawaii the whole two weeks i was there

All waterfront properties, regardless of location in this country, is expensive. The real estate industry and state governments really f'd things up carering to the 1 % who can afford it!

Another liberal paradise….

Your really good at hosting brotha

I like you keeping it real

We could tell the world we have the bloods and the crips, we could do anything or say anything and they still will come. its sad but true.

The Hawaiians are racist as all get out.

I know a friend who used to live in Hawaii. She said it was too expensive for her to live.

Hawaii is pau already. Brain drain is a real phenomenon, and can be witnessed by who gets elected and makes laws.

At this point, locals are just the breeding stock for the servant class of the world’s rich.

So many of my friends say things like “wedding receptions are over rated” or “funerals and burial plots are over rated”.

It’s sad and depressing when you have friends who pass away, and you can’t even visit their grave because their ashes were scattered at a beach that tourists vacation on.

That’s not hyperbole, that really happens.

I think rather than take this guys advice and just buy Hawaii real estate in any and all markets, it’s a better option to move to the mainland, work hard, get ahead, and come back to Hawaii someday ready to purchase in full. That’s the only way. That’s how the rich haoles do it when they replace locals who move to the mainland.

If you take this guys advice and buy Hawaii real estate in any and all markets, yes, your property will increase in value, but you’re also paying an insanely high mortgage at insanely high interest rates, while working a job that pays you much less than on the mainland, while also paying the high cost of living for gas and groceries.

You can build wealth much faster on the mainland. Build your wealth outside of Hawaii, then come back home. Most Hawaii transplants on the mainland I know end up building wealth, but choose to remain on the mainland. They don’t want to go back. When they visit they see how much has changed, and how much their friends and family struggle and then go “nope”.

Hawaii has the 3rd fastest population decline per capita in the entire nation. Statistically 12 people leave Hawaii every day, never to return.

Why? Because Hawaii is PAU already.

Unless you’re rich, work for the government/military, or live on Hawaiian Homestead land, you’re not only swimming against the current, you’re swimming up a waterfall.

Hawaii is one big pot of water that’s slowly heating to a boil, and the locals are frogs who don’t realize they’re being cooked until it’s too late.

Oahu: the sacrificial island….. Visit Hawaii, leave your money and leave.

Hawaii is ran like a third world country. The state officials are corrupt as hell. They tax their residents one of the highest in nation. and don’t get much in return. Wages are really low for cost of living.

We live in Ewa Beach. It cost about 80% more to in Hawaii than the mainland.

Thanks for the video! I’m good with just 1-2 vacations there per year.

Honolulu: A ghetto with gridlock. Hawaii entire state: Paradise destroyed. Overall evaluation: Bad and going to get much much worse.

*Hawai’i and thank you for talking about this. I am a native hawaiian (Kanaka Maoli) and I appreciate you talking about this :)

I spent three years in Ewa beach and roving homeless camps would pop up over night on any flat empty space. While you sleep or are at work, truckloads of crap will materialize in the park or empty lot next door or right on the beach in front of your 7 figure house. And they’ll bring dogs, drugs, and prostitution with the rest of their junk and spread to fill any and all available space.

Yes, please mention the permit processing is absolutely ridiculous. The mayor should be held responsible because he hasn’t fixed them damn thing. Have a good day my love All talk no action.