Buying/Living in Volcano, HI (better, about, love)

[ocean_mist]

Love the area, its lava zone 3, so feel better about the purchase.

Any thoughts? Pros/Cons?

Thanks!

[Dreaming of Hawaii]

Not sure how to answer. Is lava zone the most important to you? Proximity to Hilo? Price?

I assume you've been there, or at least seen aerial photos. There's not much there -- post office, hardware store, great farmers market, a couple of restaurants, small gas station. It's usually cool and rainy there, which is why it looks like a rainforest.

[Arktikos]

It's an hour to Hilo and traffic gets worse by the month because so many more people are moving into the area.

If you wouldn't need to visit Hilo often and enjoy cooler weather, there aren't many cons IMO.

You'd be so close to the wonderful Park. I go every weekend when I'm there. My residence is half way between Hilo and Volcano.

Although it's unquestionably a much better climate than Juneau, the Volcano location is too much like home for me to desire living there. There is a need for heat in the winter, for sure.

[terracore]

Our first Hawaii property purchase was in Volcano. We loved the cooler, damp feel, because it reminded us of where home was at the time.

After we moved to Hawaii, our opinions changed quickly. We wanted to grow food typical of the tropics. While one can grow banana plants in Volcano, getting edible bananas from them is a different subject. We eventually decided we wanted to live at a lower elevation.

It also depends on which side of "Volcano" you are talking about. There is the Puna side, and there is the "Golf course side" which is basically the Ka'u side. About every 7 years or so, people on the Golf Course / Ka'u side might wake up one morning and have to scrape frost off their windshields. That doesn't happen over the hump on the Puna side. It's an interesting place, with rain/warmer on one side and drier/colder less than a mile away. The drier side is also more windy.

If you like fireplaces and/or woodstoves, Volcano might be the place for you. If you want coconuts, bananas, and...well...basically, Hawaii foliage, you probably want to go down in elevation. There is desert past one side of the town, and rain forest past the other.