Moving to Maui for six months

Lord Yod

I've got a job in Maui that starts sometime soon (not exactly sure yet) and will end around mid-August. Going to need a place to live, a car, that sort of thing, but I'm wondering if anyone knows some tips to make the process easier. I'm from the SF Bay Area (and will be making a few trips back during the job) and, while I'm not entirely unfamiliar with the island (just went on my honeymoon there actually) I basically don't know anything about the residential areas or anything else non-tourist-y.

-Looking at the map it looks like the closest affordable area is Kihei? Anything to watch out for there?
-Gonna need a car. Is there a reasonable way to lease one for six months that isn't too expensive or will it be a lot easier to just buy one when I arrive and sell it when I leave?
-On the car subject I assume my California driver's license will be fine for a short-term stay like this?
-What's the easiest way to work with a bank there? Should I just get a bank account from a local place or what? When we were there on my honeymoon I don't think we saw a single non-Hawaiian bank ATM.

Anything else I should look out for? I'm going to start out with a decent amount of free time, ramping up to astonishingly busy, then wrap it up with a bit less than a week off before coming home. Planning on flying the wife out to spend her birthday there. I guess we'll do any tourist-y things we missed (basically the Haleakula and helicopter tours) but is there anything else I should keep in mind?

Skeith

First off, where are you working? Something to consider is that gas is about 4.50 a gallon out here and it will *not* go down more than a few cents at a time, nor will it stay down. When you say "closest affordable" I'm guessing... Wailea or Makena? For a car, your best bet is to buy some old beater off of craigslist or out of the Maui Bulletin if you're out here short term. I can't say whether your license will be good for a stay as long as six months, but as long as you're driving reasonably (like, 5 or 10 over the speed limit and sober as a judge) it shouldn't be an issue. For a bank account you'll probably want to just open one with a local bank and close it out when you leave.

For a place to live, start looking now. Classifieds, whatever. If you want to live alone it's not going to be quite as expensive as the Bay Area, especially since you're not planning on living Upcountry, but it could get close. Kihei has more than a few apartment buildings so that might make it more convenient.

Wezoin

The buying/selling a car idea would be alright, if it weren't for probably having a date when you need to leave. For example, what happens if you can't find a buyer and the job is over? You probably won't be able to afford to sit around Maui until it sells. You could go to a dealership or call one of those "WE BUY CARS" tv commercials, but you probably won't get very much for it that way. I also doubt leasing will be an option, I'm pretty sure most companies have a minimum 12 or 24 months on a lease.

I would recommend buying an older car thats not worth very much, that way if you can't find a buyer you can sell it for scrap and don't have a several thousand dollar paperweight (that, lets not forget, is sitting in Hawaii and therefore not even useful to you as a paperweight once you get home.)

lizard eats flies

When I moved to maui, one thing i noticed was that housing moves super quick. We looked at one place in the morning, and by the evening when we called back to say we'd take it, they already had 3 other offers on it. Make sure you look at the housing too. There is a lot of really crappy places that people will rent. I saw one place with only 3 walls, and the toilet was next to the stove. Finding a nice cottage or ohana unit is a good way to go.

Kihei is decent. Especially if its close to where you will be working.

I also think the idea of buying an old car when you get there and selling it is a good idea. It takes at least 1 month to ship a car so it would just be annoying. Cars also resell on the island very well for this reason. Especially if you slightly underprice it just to get rid of it. If you can find a honda, you would have NO problem selling it within a few days i think.

illig

you may want to consider shipping a car? AFAIK it's about $1K each way...

Lord Yod

Thanks for the tips, guys. Yeah, I'm gonna be working in wailea-mekena primarily. At this point I think I'll be going with that basic plan, find an apt in Kihei, buy a car and sell it when I leave. (I'd consider shipping one but mine was recently stolen - silver lining: don't have to worry about parking it for six months)