Registered Nurse moving to MAUI

[Molokai100]

Originally Posted by davephan

Jobs generally pay less in Hawaii and the cost of living is very high, which is not a good thing for your short or long term financial life. I saw a real estate program on TV where the person had a $800K budget, and that would buy her a very trashy, run down 650 square foot, 1 bath, 1 or 2 bedrooms house on Maui. Every room needed to be demolished and redone, but yet the houses, which looked more like shacks, more likely needed to be totally demolished

The person on that real estate show needed a better agent. The median price on Maui is in the $700K range but there are still decent properties to be had sub $500K. Not many...and they are small and sometimes in rough shape but stating all you can get on Maui is a $800K shack is simply untrue. $800K on Maui will get you a pretty stylish abode.

[davephan]

Originally Posted by Molokai100

The person on that real estate show needed a better agent. The median price on Maui is in the $700K range but there are still decent properties to be had sub $500K. Not many...and they are small and sometimes in rough shape but stating all you can get on Maui is a $800K shack is simply untrue. $800K on Maui will get you a pretty stylish abode.

Maybe that high price for homes that looked like shacks was because they were located in a higher cost real estate area on Maui in Lahaina not far from the ocean. Those $800K shacky homes would probably sell for $30K to $90K at the most in Minnesota or Florida. Before, I did hear that the medium home prices in Maui was about $700K. So, it surprised me that those $800K homes were so tiny and dumpy. To me, Lahaina was like tourism on steroids! We saw some nicer developments which had butterflies on their development entrance signs that looked like they were over $1M. Those homes aren’t for the people that live and work on Maui, those are for the affluent people that are coming from elsewhere.

[Dreaming of Hawaii]

Originally Posted by davephan

Maybe that high price for homes that looked like shacks was because they were located in a higher cost real estate area on Maui in Lahaina not far from the ocean. Those $800K shacky homes would probably sell for $30K to $90K at the most in Minnesota or Florida. Before, I did hear that the medium home prices in Maui was about $700K. So, it surprised me that those $800K homes were so tiny and dumpy. To me, Lahaina was like tourism on steroids! We saw some nicer developments which had butterflies on their development entrance signs that looked like they were over $1M. Those homes aren’t for the people that live and work on Maui, those are for the affluent people that are coming from elsewhere.

Don’t believe everything you see on House Hunters. In fact, believe very little on that show. That one and Hawaii Life blow a lot of things out of proportion, and sometimes they even show pictures of the volcano on Hawaii Island while talking about Maui!