This home is an amazing find, and we honestly don’t think you could find a better place in Hilo. It’s a beautiful, clean home with a front porch and back yard, big parking area next to house, and in a good safe neighborhood. But it also manages to be super well located - an easy walk to a whole bunch of downtown Hilo places. We enjoyed walking to the farmers market for our produce and if you’re trying some of the fruits you maybe never tried before the vendors are really nice about questions. UH Hilo main campus, including Imiloa Astronomy Center, is about 4-8 minutes by car. If you are the kind that buys fabric, or souvenir shopping for someone who does, you should know you’ll also be a few short minutes by car from Discount Fabric Warehouse, with a big section of all kinds of Hawaiian designs in various fabrics from UV resistant outdoor stuff to cotton you could quilt with.
We were a very last minute booking here, after arriving at another place we had booked and discovering that it was….well, we couldn’t stay at that place. AirBnB helped us cancel that and get out of there, and we just got super lucky that Micheal’s place was available, so when I say last minute I mean I booked this the afternoon of the day we needed to arrive (Micheal answers messages quickly, much to our relief!). Even though it was so last minute, when we arrived Micheal’s place was spotless, which means it is kept that way all the time, and explains why we have not seen ants or roaches in the several weeks we have been here, even though the local weather is of course warm/humid and we cook and eat most of our meals here. The kitchen is very well appointed and spacious, so it’s easy to prepare meals in and easy to keep clean. The whole house is super airy, with large windows in every room to catch the wonderful breezes here and ceiling fans as well. I can even use the oven without making the house hot because the airflow is so nice. There is AC just in case, but it is only rarely needed in my opinion and never ever needed according to my daughter. WiFi was solid and reliable, no problem doing online meetings, classes, etc.
If you’re lucky enough that Micheal’s place is available we highly recommend it and have already booked it again for ourselves.