After a hectic Saturday at work, I'm ready to move to Hawaii.

My day started off at 3 am as I got ready to go to my office. For God knows why, we had a conference call scheduled with our offices in Europe at 5 am. I just returned home from a long day at the office and my MCS was definitely a stress reliever.

I already know about the housing situation in Hawaii but have time to spare as we'll stay with the in-laws at their house in Kahala.

Job situation is set as the wife is checking into reciprocity of her broker's license. I'll probably relax for a while and enjoy retirement. I surmise I'll get bored and will probably work with my wife selling real estate. After all these years working and not spending very much time with my wife, it may prove refreshing to work with her.

Recreation is set as I can go golfing with my father in-law. Any ideas on fishing?

What about food? My wife loves her Hawaiian food, but I'm not a fan of it. The consistency and taste of poi reminds me of glue. I'm not sure about those leaf covered foods either. I do like your snow cones. There are so many flavors and toppings, I was amazed. Are there any good Italian reataurants in the Honolulu area?

Who do I use to ship my car over, if I decide to keep it? What is the approximate cost?

 

Aloha Motorv8n,
when will you be moving here to Hawaii? We've got a thread in this Hawaii forum section that talks about our favorite restaurants....so rather than us reposting our 3 pages of favorite places to eat you might want to check it our HERE.

Kahala is a really nice area! I don't know of the good fishing spots around here, but someone is sure to know. As for that leaf covering the food, think of it as spinach covered pork/chicken or fish.

Gee...I went into the office today, but after 3 hours, i was exhausted....can't imagine doing what you do!!!!

Can't wait to get another MINI motorist on the island!

 

motorv8n,

Aloha and welcome to NAM. Good to hear you will be joining us.
When you are in town drop us a line here or send me PM.

>>Recreation is set as I can go golfing with my father in-law. Any ideas on fishing?
Contact Erik808, he likes to golf.

>>What about food? My wife loves her Hawaiian food, but I'm not a fan of it. The consistency and taste of poi reminds me of glue. I'm not sure about those leaf covered foods either. I do like your snow cones. There are so many flavors and toppings, I was amazed. Are there any good Italian reataurants in the Honolulu area?

IF you want great poi try Alan Wong's on King street and ask for the poi. It's much better than glue. That's like describing fine wine as sour water that tastes like tea.

>>Who do I use to ship my car over, if I decide to keep it? What is the approximate cost?
Matson is a common shipper. About $950 from Los Angeles.

 

motorv8n - When you get here, I'll take you to eat at Ono Hawaiian Food and I'll introduce you to squid luau. That stuff is brok da mout!

As for Italian restaurants, Sarrento's at the top of the Ilikai Hotel is good. The Ilikai is the one that Hawaii Five-O used in the opening credits. A very good northern Italian restaurant is Caffe Latte across the Waikiki Post Office. I used to eat there frequently with my ex, but have not been there in a couple years for obvious reasons. Assagios, Salernos and Verbanos all offer great food. For a romantic ambience, try Matteos in Waikiki.

 

Mmmm Matteo's. Brings back memories. :smile: :smile: :smile:

 

ALOHA Motorv8n,

DaKineMINI and I are somewhat recent transplants from Cali.
I'm glad to be out of that rat race

 

>>ALOHA Motorv8n,
>>
>>DaKineMINI and I are somewhat recent transplants from Cali.
>>I'm glad to be out of that rat race

Slower rat race with less road.

 

>>>>I suggest you get out of the Cali. rat race and come to Paradise....just a slower rat race

 

I just wanted to say thank you to all of you that have sent me e-mails regarding my move to Hawaii. Your response was overwhelming as I received many replies. this must be the Aloha Spirit.

On the other hand, it is getting quite discouraging to read about your dealership. I was appalled that MINI of Hawaii and Long Beach MINI have such bad reputations for service and professionalism. This attitude seems to be pervasive as the Service Advisors even join in on harrassing MINI owners online. I am quite apprehensive about bringing my MINI over and subjecting her to mishandling and abuse. I for one, will not stand for unethical and unprofessional treatment. Therefore, I will probably sell my MINI to a good home and buy a Mercedes or Audi when I move to Hawaii.

 

Aww, man. You're giving up on us that easily? We'd still love to meet you when you move here. Our dealer has its share of problems, but it's on the service side. The dealership manager said they're working on getting the service side up to snuff.

 

>>I just wanted to say thank you to all of you that have sent me e-mails regarding my move to Hawaii. Your response was overwhelming as I received many replies. this must be the Aloha Spirit.
>>
>>On the other hand, it is getting quite discouraging to read about your dealership. I was appalled that MINI of Hawaii and Long Beach MINI have such bad reputations for service and professionalism. This attitude seems to be pervasive as the Service Advisors even join in on harrassing MINI owners online. I am quite apprehensive about bringing my MINI over and subjecting her to mishandling and abuse. I for one, will not stand for unethical and unprofessional treatment. Therefore, I will probably sell my MINI to a good home and buy a Mercedes or Audi when I move to Hawaii.

Motorv8n,

I think you might want to try out our MINI club and join us rather than give up. I don't see very many of us giving up our MINIs although some do. The rest of us carry on and do what we can if and when servicing is needed. If your MINI is relatively problem free then just a little scheduled maintenance is all that is required.

As evidence of people giving up their MINIs in Hawaii lets look in this sunday's newspaper ads. There are two '02 Coopers and one '03 Cooper. One is being sold by a Mercedes dealer and the others are private sales. Other MINIs might be for sale through other sources. By comparison there is one Maserati '84 Biturbo and one Lotus '95 Esprit.

I'd say the vast majority of MINI owners are not on the internet so we really don't know much about how they are doing. We see a few now and then. Our Hawaii NAM members will voice their opinions so that you know well.

I for one have no intention to give up on my MINI. I cannot say that my dealings with my Honda Dealer are so rosy over the last three years with repeated trouble and many trips to fix the same problems. Nobody else except me knows about this because I do not belong to a Honda online website. I have a 2001 Odyssey and it is OK, it works and has utility value.

So in the end you will have to decide for yourself what you want to do. We would be most happy to meet you and welcome your MINI into our family. I think the positives outweight the negatives.

One of our famous celebrities here in Hawaii has the choice of driving a new top of the line Mercedes or a 2003 Velvet Red Cooper. She says she always gets way more waves and people notice her in her MC than anyday when she is in her Mercedes. Her husband that drives the Mercedes more likes to take her MC out for spin on a regular basis. I offered to buy her MC now that it is a year old and she told me "No Way, it's too good". Shucks I'd like to get a Velvet Red with painted wheel arches and side skirts, Cordoba leather and sunroof. It's pretty nice.

When you make it to Hawaii no matter what let us know. We have way too much fun and you are welcome to ride shotgun or maybe even drive with us- we are sort of unofficial.

 

Minihune,

Thank you for those words of advice. However, I did receive quite a few e-mails about MINI of Hawaii and their service. The count of different people sending me e-mails was about 13 people. There weren't that many people posting negative comments about MINI of Hawaii on North American Motoring, so these people must be lurking. Perhaps they are in fear of the dealer's backlash?

As for myself, I'm in my fifties and nearing retirement and do not have the time nor patience to deal with unresponsive, unprofessional and unethical dealers. Do you know what happens to dealers like this in the mainland? Dealers of this caliber are usually subject to protests by consumers. They will parade around the dealership with signs stating their problems and dismay with the dealer. Others who have access to ssubstantial funds, will hire an attorney to file suit against the dealer. The worst case scenario would be a wealthy cusomer who does not care about money, but wants to make a statement against the dealership. I have had a business associate do this against a dealer in the Bay area by placing posters and negative ads on his cars in front of the dealer. He had his children bring their cars and other business associates do the same thing. I believe they had about a dozen vehicles parked in front of the dealership for a few days until the dealer capitulated. The dealer was also admonished from touching the signs on the vehicles as theft charges would be levied against any dealership personnel touching or defacing the signs.

I'm glad that the problems at your dealership have not turned this ugly. Perhaps it is the aloha spirit that prevents you from doing so. However, if I were treated in such a manner after purchasing a vehicle from MINI of Hawaii, I would not bat an eye in sueing the dealer.

Kindest Regards,

John

 

John,

>>Thank you for those words of advice. However, I did receive quite a few e-mails about MINI of Hawaii and their service. The count of different people sending me e-mails was about 13 people.

Thank you for your reply and honesty. There are quite a few lurkers it is true. I also know of other MINI owners that are not on NAM because I see them at work and we talk. The majority of them are doing fine and I hope that continues for them.

>>As for myself...

I hear you loud and clear. You have better things to do with your time. All I can say is that I will work towards improving what we have rather than throw in the towel. Before I injured my back I started 18 marathons and I finished 18 marathons, some with not much energy left but I always finish what I set out to do. We have one BMW/MINI dealership in Honolulu. I'm not giving up.

>>I'm glad that the problems at your dealership have not turned this ugly. Perhaps it is the aloha spirit that prevents you from doing so. However, if I were treated in such a manner after purchasing a vehicle from MINI of Hawaii, I would not bat an eye in sueing the dealer.

Threat of suit is always a motivator. I'd rather go the route of aloha spirit. If anything, in Hawaii we should know about Aloha spirit. Sometimes we just need to be reminded.

You're still invited to join us even sans MINI.

 

motorv8n -- WOW, 13 emails? hmmm....that's quite a number. i guess there are more lurkers in the world of NAM. every so often, i get messages from newbies who are interested in group buys or 808-motoring....there must be more and more people joining nam everyday.

>>
>>Thank you for those words of advice. However, I did receive quite a few e-mails about MINI of Hawaii and their service. The count of different people sending me e-mails was about 13 people. There weren't that many people posting negative comments about MINI of Hawaii on North American Motoring, so these people must be lurking. Perhaps they are in fear of the dealer's backlash?
>>

if you do decide to save yourself from the possibility of suffering from "dealer-induced headache," we have a nice mercedes for sale :smile:. just thought i'd throw that cheap plug in. heheh.

_________________
race rubber rules. DINAN aint nothing but a badge if you can't back it up.

 

Does anyone know about the condos in the East Honolulu area? My wife has been looking at condos in the Hawaii Kai area and she likes Kalele Kai, The Commodore and the Moana Lua. The housing market in Hawaii is as hot as it once was in California and prices are overinflated. For this reason, we will probably keep our California house and buy a condo in Hawaii. The upside with a condo is there is no yardwork and you have lots of amenities.

How are the condos in the Ala Moana Mall area? There are a couple of relatively new condos with blue mirrored glass that are very appealing. Although beautiful, I believe the downside to these condos is the high traffic.

If anyone can offer advice, I'd appreciate it.

 

For real estate you might send a PM to the_Beastmaster.

Right now the market is going ballistic even over the last month it's been crazy. Better to act soon as in a few weeks it will likely worsen. Condos might be a bit better. Good luck.

Check the newspapers for lots of articles about how bad the real estate market is for buyers right now.

 

I wouldn't buy right now. Everyone wants to buy because of the low interest rates, thus we have a large gap between supply and demand. This is why real estate is going at a premium right now. There were reports last year that we would see an adjustment in the real estate market later this year. This will happen when interest rates rise. In Hawaii, there seems to be a 12 - 15 year cycle in the real estate market. I believe the last market peak was in 92 or 93 and then the values crashed after that. If you buy at the peak like many people did in the early 90s and interest rates rise, the market will crash and you will be left with negative equity in your property. In the mid to late 90's many people were turning their properties over to the lenders because of this fact.

 

Minihune and The_Beastmaster,

Thank you for the information about the Hawaii real estate market. I have been briefed on it's meteoric rise by my in-laws. I do need to find a place to live as I cannot stay at my in-laws house for an extended period of time and my wife seems to like those condos in East Honolulu. I am used to the rising real estate market as I survived through it in NorCal.

Kindest Regards,

John

 

Motorv8n,

Be prepared for a bidding battle on any home you are trying to buy in Hawaii! When we moved from Orange County in July we sold our home in one day but it took us four months to finally score a home here. EVERY offer we put in was a battle. We finally got tired of "playing the game" and offered about $15K over what we thought was the highest bid (which was over the seller's asking) and finally scored. Crazy market! So when are you moving out here?

 

I called my realtor in January and told her I wanted to sell my place, and hoped to have it sold before the end of July. She said to wait to put it on the market until July, because it would sell that fast. (I have a two bedroom townhouse in Mililani, middle class neighborhood, nothing special).

I bought my place in 1999 when the market was bust, so I probably will make a very nice profit. And I sure wouldn't mind someone offering me more than the asking price!

MINIangelD

 

MINIangelD,

I bet you do get more than you ask. :smile:

>>I called my realtor in January and told her I wanted to sell my place, and hoped to have it sold before the end of July. She said to wait to put it on the market until July, because it would sell that fast. (I have a two bedroom townhouse in Mililani, middle class neighborhood, nothing special).
>>
>>I bought my place in 1999 when the market was bust, so I probably will make a very nice profit. And I sure wouldn't mind someone offering me more than the asking price!
>>
>>MINIangelD

 

DaKineMINI,

I'm quite familiar with bidding wars as I have survived a few of them. I'm having my wife check the MLS and recent sales of condos in the East Honolulu area to see what we're in for. I anticipate there may be a 5% - 8% premium over the asking price, with a maximum of 10%.

In regards to when we are moving here, we were looking at moving during the summer. We may delay our move based on the amount of projects I have on the burner. If all else fails, my wife will move to Hawaii and I will join her later.

Kindest Regards,

John