Just got my orders to Kbay and despite what I do know about real estate prices I am carefully weighing my options as far as buy vs rent. I'm a jg with possible roommates. Does anyone have any input/advice?
Phase 1 - Find yourself a sugar mama (or daddy): www.seekingarrangement.com Phase 2 - eh... Phase 3 - Profit
From personal experience, I say rent. I'm sure you'll here differing opinions on this though. I left a little over a year ago. PM me if you want any info.
Apparently, I've been doing it wrong all these years. After a quick run through that site, it's clear that some of the women on there don't quite understand the premise. Brett
My friend headed to -37 is married and doing base housing. Seems like a great deal if you don't want a roommate besides your wife. Have heard of single guys going in together on renting a beach house. Never heard of a guy buying property there on JO money.
I've found that living with a woman with a 8 figure net worth has greatly improved my housing options. YMMV.
It happens. There were several guys that bought condos or a house when I was out there. And this is when the market was exploding. The COLA and BAH is more now (in real dollars, not just inflation dollars) than it was when I was out there, too.
If I were single and had the means to swing it, I'd buy. Just keep in mind houses are tiny here, come with no land (in most cases, I mean this literally), and can be in some really shitty neighborhoods. One of our O-4's just got "a great deal" on a condo in Kailua for like $400K. After he moved in, he realized that he's downind from the sewage treatment plant. . . In a "decent" section of Kailua, a 3 bd/2ba, 1500 sqft house runs about $500K and will be 3 or 4 blocks from the beach. Prices go up exponentially as you get closer. I'm married with two little tax deductions, so there's no way in hell I could have afforded to buy in Kailua when I checked in as a JG, but I know a couple of guys who are doing it now and some O-4's who still own their JO-tour houses. That said, as a single dude, you'll make like $2300/mo in BAH and another $900 in COLA. If you rent a McMansion on the beach in Lanikai with 3 other guys, you'll have far and away the sweetest pad and you'll be able to bank like $2k a month from just the "Hawaii Pay" (or spend it on booze). And base housing is awesome here. HUGE houses by Hawaii standards, they're all brand new, and all walking distance from the one of the best surfing and snorkeling beaches on the island.
Aikahi was always the wild card. Get to close and you could get burned. Have I mentioned how I hate you?
Me too. How hard is it to get into base housing in K Bay? I always thought you weren't guaranteed housing on K Bay, just gubmint housing somewhere on da island.
It took me a month when I first checked in. Lately, it's been taking guys anywhere from 2 months for JO's to a year for the oak leaf set. You aren't guaranteed housing on KBay, but you can opt out of the housing on the other side, so they never even offer it to you. It probably means you have to wait longer, though. And for people who like to longboard the south shore surf or the nightlife in Waikiki, the Navy housing down there is probably a better fit anyway. Still, I've spent over $100K on rent alone over the last 2 and change years. That's like 1/5th of a sweet pad in Lanikai that I could retire in, if I had sucked it up and bought as soon as I got here.
Definitely try to stay on the windward side preferably Kailua or Lanikai...in my opinion one of the best beaches on the Island and a short walking distance to Buzz's Steak House (good food and drinks with the occasional run in with someone famous). Your best bet is to find a few roommates. Second best deal is living on base because like PropAddict said some of the best surfing and snorkaling on the island without the crowds! Also, on base you can crank up the A/C without the worry of a huge electricity bill and in this case the commissary is very beneficial because grocery stores outside of base are outrageous! Have fun and enjoy all the free time you get, best 3 years of my life.
This talk makes me want to look at PACOM orders. Potential for thread split, but anyone have experience working on that staff? Brett
A little dated, but PACOM=good, PACFLT (or whatever it's called now)="busy" and that might mean not good. I think I have those in the right order. For pre-DH jobs, PACFLT was the more competitive place to go. For you (and now), I'm not sure.
Can you drag your feet until you know if you screened, or will you have to pick your joint billet first?
Between my first tour and retiring, it seems like there has been a conscious effort to try and push people to take the "tougher" jobs prior to learning board results to discourage folks from dropping the pack.
Because if you knew you were a terminal LCDR or Non-Command Terminal CDR.. Save a couple "special" joint commands, would you really want to do it if it made no difference in your future, if you had a choice to take a tour that set you up better for the "real world"?
I have no experience with the Hawaii staff tours, but living in Hawaii makes up for a whole lot, to include a shitty job. And everyone here is happier than their counterparts in other places, which has its benefits. My whole career goal has shifted to "find a way to get another set of orders in Hawaii."
Well, I have no personal experience working on a staff, but of the people I've talked to, some have enjoyed it and others were miserable. The way I look at it, we need talented people to do staff work just as much as we need talented aviators and ship drivers. They're all important cogs in the machine. Brett
A some point, you've got to realize that there's more to this war-fighting business than just a bunch of squadrons, ships and subs. Yeah, I'd say it's pretty tasty. Brett
