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Upper Hutt, Wellington

Upper Hutt, Wellington

Old Jul 24th 2014, 7:30 pm
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Default Upper Hutt, Wellington

Doing some fantasy house shopping and investigating potential areas if opportunities happen next year I see there's a flush of lifestyle properties and land for sale in Mangaroa and the lower end of Whitemans Valley.

Is there something happening that's driving people out or is it just people realising now is a good time to cash in on sales of lifestyle plots?

I'm slightly concerned about the fact that the area seems to have considerably more wind and rain than we have where we live right now and that prevents outdoor activities here for around six months of the year.

Anyone live in the area? What's it like to live in and commute to Wellington from? We don't have children to be worried about so not worried about schools at all.
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Old Jul 25th 2014, 12:20 am
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Default Re: Upper Hutt, Wellington

Are they new subdivisions? If so, I imagine it's just farmers selling off surplus land.

I used to live in Upper Hutt. It has always felt to me like a bit of a "poor cousin" to Wellington in that it doesn't have particularly good facilities, especially cultural (the same applies to Lower Hutt, by the way). It is, however, much cheaper than Wellington and has great access to the outdoors. There are some lovely walks in the area. But, yes, it tends to be windy and wet and quite cold in winter. However, the great thing is that you are usually only a few days away from a sunny day, even in winter. And it does get a little bit warmer than Wellington in summer.

Commuting to Wellington by car is awful, but the trains from Upper Hutt are OK and there are good express buses to and from Upper Hutt - I'm afraid I don't know about services to Mangaroa and/or Whitemans Valley.

Hope this helps.
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Old Jul 25th 2014, 1:35 am
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Default Re: Upper Hutt, Wellington

I have friends (Riverstone Terrace) and a work colleague who live in Upper Hutt.

The commute to Wellington can be a nightmare, judging by the colleague who is often later for meetings, blaming traffic ...

Seriously though, I've done the commute in to Wellington after bunking at the friends house and it can be a bit rubbish in poor weather and of course if there is an accident.

There are quite a few traffic light en route to Wellington on SH2 that feel like they get in the way, but probably do good.

The weather can definitely changeable I've certainly seen 4 seasons in on day on a number of occasions.

I know that there are more and more developments being built to the North of Upper Hutt, presumably there is a demand for it - from what I gather people like the space and the opportunity to travel up to the Kapiti Coast for work and/or pleasure, combined with a generally not unreasonable commute to Wellington and better value housing.
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Old Jul 25th 2014, 10:34 am
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Default Re: Upper Hutt, Wellington

I am new to the forum and so have been having a look around, and i discovered a previous thread on this same area - I found it on page 7 of the NZ forum posts. It's titled Whitemans Valley, Wellington. Worth a look.

Last edited by Soozi; Jul 25th 2014 at 10:36 am.
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Old Jul 25th 2014, 11:36 am
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Default Re: Upper Hutt, Wellington

Thanks for the replies. Some of the properties are established and some are new subdivisions. I think most of them said they were within ten minutes drive of a train station which is a good way to commute if you have to.

The idea of not being too far from a sunny day, even with the wind and rain, is a good one. If we do go there it may not be where we finally end up but we'd stay for around five years so would probably buy after initial renting.

We spent a day there when over on our holiday/ fact finding trip and liked the area, we did some gentle walking in Kaitoke Regional Park and did a trial drive into Wellington too.

Thanks for the heads up on the other thread too.

Last edited by Hazelnut; Jul 25th 2014 at 11:53 am.
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Old Jul 25th 2014, 7:48 pm
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Default Re: Upper Hutt, Wellington

I saw, problem the thread listed, talking about Upper Hutt stating there was so very nice area's. Horses for courses I suppose.
What I would advise is make sure you live somewhere for at least 18mths before you decide to buy. Because we were on a Permanent Visa (no issue of will they won't they agree PR after the temp visa had expired) we bought after 6mths in the area we were renting and the kids were schooled, the rental was awful and the house in the UK sold so we went looking.
The house we bought was lovely and if I could I would of picked it up and moved it as after a year of living in the area the cracks were to large to mend and we had the expense of selling up and finding a better area. Fingers crossed we have this time. If it means you have to try out a few rentals and move a couple of times in the long run it will save you money.
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Old Jul 26th 2014, 8:24 am
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Default Re: Upper Hutt, Wellington

We live in Mangaroa, and I have a brother who lives in Katherine Mansfield Drive, Whitemans Valley. I go by train into Wellington much better and cheaper than driving, and normally fairly reliable.

yes there does seem to be a few properties for sale at the moment, but several are sub-divisions. You normally find with this area its all or nothing, either nothing for sale or loads, don't know why but it happens.

Whitemans Valley in my experience is always slightly cheaper than Mangaroa. Depends really on what you are looking for. With no children, schooling won't obviously be a consideration, love the area and once our house is sold in the UK hopefully next year when the tenancy ends, we shall be looking in Mangaroa/Katherine Mansfield Drive as our children go to Mangaroa school.

If you want any further info about anything specific pm me, and I will do my best to answer.
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Old Jul 27th 2014, 5:34 am
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Default Re: Upper Hutt, Wellington

Hi there, know the area really well. Look there is nothing wrong with Upper Hutt except in my opinion, the shopping not that good, but really, Lower Hutt is not far away for that, The trains are regular, its a bit cooler in winter than Wellington, but taking in the wind chill factor you get in the city is not much different. We would and indeed are thinking of buying there, we have horses and the travelling time to Wellington each day is the price we are prepared to pay to have our horses with us.
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Old Jul 27th 2014, 9:02 pm
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Default Re: Upper Hutt, Wellington

That's our thinking Polly, thanks for your contribution, it's always good to hear from a fellow horse rider as the things we consider and factor in are usually quite different.
One of my concerns is that one of the reasons we're thinking of moving is we spend months of the year unable to ride as its pouring with rain or snowing, minus a lot temperature wise and gale force winds so strong my big cobs are blown sideways. There's some concern Welligton area won't be much different.
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Old Jul 27th 2014, 10:16 pm
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Default Re: Upper Hutt, Wellington

Hazelnut, the area is full of horse activities, many years ago and I'm talking 30+ the areas in and around Upper Hutt were built as a cost cost option for families. As the years have gone by and LSB (life style blocks) have become common in NZ the feel of the place is changing. Yes, there are still many areas of low cost family housing , but also huge beautiful homes and the LSB's. The other option for people with horses is the Masterton area, further away again, but still possible commute to Wellington. The weather is this area is more of a micro climate and gets quite cold in winter, but can get very hot in summer. Parts of this area have become very trendy, being an area for day trips from Wellington to visit the craft, wineries in the area. In both these areas, you would need to buy a home with good heating, it really does get frosty in Winter. NZ homes are notorious for lack of heating and insulation, think its the "She will be right" pioneer attitude. However, I also think the construction of NZ homes is highly influenced by the need to move in earthquakes, hence the lack of brick and stone construction.
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Old Jul 28th 2014, 5:56 am
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Default Re: Upper Hutt, Wellington

Hazlenut,

The weather in Upper Hutt area isn't great, it's a valley so the cloud/rain/damp tends to sit on top of it. The rest of NZ isn't accessible easily either. To go north you've either got to go over the Rimutakas to the Wairarapa or across to Haywards to Whitby and then up SH1.

Why not look further towards the coast? The weather on the Kapiti coast (anywhere north of Pukerua Bay) is generally at least 5 degrees warmer and much sunnier than Wellington/Hutt Valley. It's also flat so the sections/gardens are bigger and obviously the beaches are closer to take advantage of.

Plenty of horsey things all over the area, even horse vaulting if you so wish in Waikanae!

You can always drive over to the Hutt Valley if you want, but take advantage of the coastal climate. The prices may be more than rural Upper Hutt, but I'm not sure.
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Old Jul 28th 2014, 9:01 pm
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Default Re: Upper Hutt, Wellington

Te Horo and Otaki have become trendy and prices are up, however still good, looking at 4ha for $500.000 with 4 bed house. Some absolute bargains in Levin. In the Wairarapa houses are sitting on the market and not reaching their RV. Thinking of putting an offer on one 5ha, beautiful restored 5 bed home, long tree lined drive and dead flat land for $550,000 with TEN outbuildings! Hang the hour trip to Wellington, the train is 3 minutes walk away from this property. Prices have dropped in these areas by about 15% over the last year, due to the governments new housing deposit laws and the limit on overseas ownership, add to that the general election and its mid winter, its an awesome time to buy, glad I'm cashed up and not selling though!
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Old Jul 28th 2014, 9:02 pm
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Default Re: Upper Hutt, Wellington

Coastal property but not so close it floods would be amazing. We used to live on a small island off the south coast of England and miss being able to walk down to the beach in the evenings.

The dream is to, eventually, build our own place but we'd definitely rent first. I've seen too many on here end up moving soon after buying their first property. We rented a house in our current UK region for nine months before buying and bought the house we have purely because it was rural and what we could afford, almost ignoring region. We've been incredibly lucky but I wouldn't want to push that luck too often.

We have bought, done up and sold on a few houses over the years and I think the aim would be to rent until we understand NZ housing and market more. Then buy something that will do for a while and that we can improve ourselves before deciding where we want to retire too. At that point we hope to build our own place which seems to be far more common over there than in the UK.

At a guess everything will be completely different and turn out not to be what we think at all but that's art of the adventure.

Can't believe those prices Polly, that's AMAZING and means we'd have a much smaller mortgage than we thought.
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Old Jul 28th 2014, 9:49 pm
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Default Re: Upper Hutt, Wellington

Good idea Hazelnut, really no worries about flooding near the coast, I have discounted it for me, only because I'm a gardner and really trying to avoid sea breeze and salt spray from my plants, good luck with your plans and let us know how you go, we might even end up as neighbours!!!
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Old Jul 28th 2014, 10:39 pm
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Default Re: Upper Hutt, Wellington

You seem to have the right attitude Hazelnut, check out all areas and see what suits you - coastal, inland, rural, town? As you know, it's hardly crowded around here so rural is always just a couple of minutes drive away!

If you want to build your own home, it could be worth investigating the Nikau Valley which is just behind Paraparaumu as it's very rural but new sections/houses are being built, but is only 10 mins drive to the station and about 15 to the beach.

As Polly 3 says, there is plenty of rural property for sale around Te Horo and Peka Peka just north of Waikanae, but check out the Kapiti Expressway route as it's being built already up to Peka Peka but will continue north towards Levin past Te Horo. Be careful Polly 3 if you're interested in a house there, house prices have fallen because of the new road - check out the proposed route and be aware it could change. We have friends who live between Otaki and Te Horo towards SH1 and they have not received a proposed settlement/agreement with NZTA yet. They only know they will lose some land, but not how much or whether it will include their house. It's a complete nightmare for them.

On a side note, there is currently only 1 train (Capital Connection) per day from Levin and Otaki into Wellington and back out again. Since the trains are now electrified up to Waikanae and run every 15 mins in rush hour, the Capital Connection train is no longer viable/profitable so is likely to be closed down soon. There is a campaign by the commuters who use it to keep it running, but it's likely that if you move to Levin or Otaki area, you will have to drive to Waikanae to catch the train. You can park for free though, and the area is warmer/sunnier and flatter than Wellington/Hutt Valley so we think it's worth the commute.
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