Finding housing in Maui, Hawaii??

[Nick Anderson]

BP - looking for some advice. My sister is moving to Maui to teach elementary Ed in Lahaina.

Her and I are different, in that she doesn’t have a selfish bone in her body. She doesn’t worry about money and gives away everything she has. Inspiring, really!

To my question, trying to figure out how to help her find a place to stay, in a teachers salary, in one of the most expensive markets in the world. Any locals or investors have any ideas on where she might be able to find safe, affordable, space to live? Mahalo!!

[Laura Myers]

I applaud your sister for moving here to teach, as Maui is in desperate need of teachers. Housing is indeed a real concern here and often times people move here without doing research and preparing themselves and they end up moving off island after a few short months. (It’s also the reason most employers won’t hire someone unless you’ve already lived on island at least six months) It’s great that you are helping to guide her as it does take a village!

The are more tenants than places to rent, so she may look into rooming with a colleague? I have been looking on the west side for a place to rent for a pastor who is relocating here and have had no luck. I would recommend joining the Maui Facebook groups as rents are sometimes posted there. Also, look into property management companies on the west side and begin communicating with them. Since rentals are few and far between, often times they have people pounding on their door to rent and never even go public. 

The other concern is online scams. I was notified of my own home being published for rent and used all of my listing photos. Luckily, the possible tenant was savvy enough to find me and reach out to see if it was “too good to be true”. There is definitely a challenge ahead so just be sure to verify everything to avoid being scammed. Utilizing a proper management company or sifting through their websites is probably the safest bet. 

Good luck.