The Weezer

There are limited opportunities in New Zealand, outside of the major cities, for work in a well paid professional job, unless you're a Doctor or something. Maybe she needs to live in a particular area to be near family because of childcare? Who knows? At any rate, I don't think these are people are just moaners. It's all very well to tell people to live where the houses are cheaper in Auckland, but I can tell you on excellent authority it's not really a place most young people with children would want to live because of the school districts. Not Kiwis looking for a good education for their children, and certainly not British migrants. I don't know of any British expat family with children living in my suburb, for example. That's not to say it's a horrible place to live. On the contrary, I don't think it's as bad as people think, but you'd have to consider finding an out of district school and resigning yourself to a long commute to the school everyday. I don't think many working mothers would have the time to do that.

Anyway, house price as compared to wages is very high and New Zealand and higher than in the UK:

House prices: countries with the cheapest and most expensive property markets - Telegraph

Stormer999

No sorry I cannot agree, if I buy on Amazon it is a product that I have never seen so subsequently I do not know it's condition, if I buy a house then with qualified reports on the building, the land rights and condition, flood risks etc and a full inspection by myself then I will be completely aware of the properties shortfalls.
Our first home in the UK was a Victorian terraced build with no damp course and solid walls, single glaze windows no central heating all in all typical of the poor build of the time. Solid wall build where the header bricks were cut in half to pass as real headers floor main support timbers robbed from a local farm barn, poorly finished in the style of the day. We knew what we had bought but were quite prepared to correct the failings to make the house a home.
Anyone thinking that builds in the UK are superior are living a dream, new builds where we lived were single skin brick with battened interior insulated, eggshell interior walling, plastic doors internal and external, plastic water pipe, chipboard flooring with MDF trimming...sound familiar ? same as NZ build ? only difference in the UK the roof is supported by the brick in NZ the framing supports the roof (for obvious EQ reasons).
Our present house is not a walk in and be happy with but a house I can make a home, rip out the kitchen and bathroom upgrade air movement and heating, but it's our choice Rimu built and destruction tested and the only thing I sorely miss is mains gas.
But then again measuring the size of a typical NZ house size if I had this in the UK I would not be able to afford the gas to centrally heat it!

RobClubley

We bought a solid 110 year-old terrace in the UK and proceeded to rewire it, decorate it all, rip out and replace the bathroom and kitchen, replace windows with double glazing, install central heating.

House 34grand (!!), improvements maybe 15 grand.

Then moved to NZ and bought a solid 60 year-old Rimu house and proceeded to decorate it, insulate walls, ceiling and floor, rip out and replace bathroom and kitchen, replace windows with double glazing, install a wood burner.

House $325k, improvements about $100k.

BEVS

You iz silly. & made me giggle.

Where is Lorna ?

The Weezer

Hi Rob, I've been reading this forum for so long I remember you discussing it not long after you had it done.

If you don't mind me asking, are your windows aluminium framed?

Our windows are double-glazed timber, which I don't believe are very common. They're more maintenance of course, but timber is a good insulator and the windows are condensation free. It also matched our vintage rimu cottage.

In my experience, and I put an emphasis on "my", I don't often see older houses that are advertised as fully "modernised" have insulation properly fitted into the walls, even in wealthy suburbs. I'm not saying there aren't any, just that it's not the norm, even in pricey suburbs. Occasionally I've come across houses that have had the insulation blown in through holes in the cladding, but I believe this gives an inferior result, although I suppose anything is better than nothing.

I think in NZ a fully modernised house means something different to those of us from overseas.

The Weezer

The words "leaky homes" come to mind.

Problem is, the leaky building debacle affected not just the unsuspecting average homeowner, but businesses and schools as well.

A parent from our school, a former estate agent, told us he knew an agent that knowingly sold a leaky home to an unsuspecting British couple who were just about off the plane. I don't imagine it's an isolated example, but I'm not suggesting it's common either. I can't know that.

RobClubley

Yes they are aluminium framed and are not perfect, they still steam up a bit but nowhere near how they used to, and it clears in no time one the curtains are open

We got the airfoam insulation where they drill holes in the house and inject it. It made a huge difference. Presumably stripping off all the gib and using Pink Batts would be better but significantly more expensive and messy.

calrossi

Is there a house renovating thread?
The blown foam insulation, do you need a permit to do that, like you do for the remove the plaster board & fit insulation, also does the foam leave any damp spots/cold spots
House I bought, knew there would be a helluva lot of work to do. I'm pretty surprised people are complaining about the standard of housing. I was under the impression it was a known fact you're going to have to throw a heap of cash into them to get them to a decent standard. It just seems to me that most of my kiwi friends are in no rush whatsoever to do upgrades, they would rather spend cash elsewhere, invest in the big slipper & blanket for winter then cruise through summer. And winter in Taupo gets bloody cold!

RobClubley

Whether you need consent depends on the council I think. We didn't need consent in Wellington in 2007.
Injected insulation | EECA Energywise

It takes a few days to dry and you get bubbling of wallpaper inside, but it all settles down and we haven'd had any issues caused by it.

Stormer999

Learning in the building trade has always been by trial and error, the Victorians building without damp course....houses, schools, hospitals etc leaving 4 million damp buildings, the removal of air bricks for a period, NZ leaky homes (not just confined to NZ) all mistakes that we have to be aware of but are we learning? Thousands of UK homes now being built on flood plains whilst we get more and more flash floods, double glaze units that break down in less than 10 year life, MDF and chipboard to replace timber that breaks down when wet or damp. Houses are not getting better just the priorities are changing. The build is getting cleverer the materials less so.

The Weezer

There's a argument to be that New Zealand is actually a bit behind in the understanding of what it takes to build warm, dry, energy efficient homes.

The leaky home scandal is not just in the past, unfortunately. It CURRENTLY affects many thousands of people. Thousands of these homes are still out there, still being sold to the unwary. I would suggest anyone looking to migrate to New Zealand please google information about the leaky home scandal. There are still schools and and businesses that need fixing, including the much touted Botany Town Centre in East Auckland. The repairs are still ongoing, or at least they were last I was in NZ this winter.

bearskin

We had an agent tried to sell us a leaky building when we had only been in the country a few months. The house looked great to the innocent, and the lies we were told about the reason for the vendor selling sounded plausible. Agent tried pretty hard to dissuade us from getting advice on it. I think at one point her and the vendors must have thought they had hit the jackpot.

Luckily we got counsel from a kiwi builder who warned us. Agent shrugged and moved on to her next target when we revealed that we were onto her game - admitted that her and the sellers knew all about the property's problems, but it was up to us to find out about - they were going to keep quiet about it and try to trick some new migrant into thinking they were getting a great house. Scum.

BEVS

Indeed. A new UK family looking to buy a house here a few years ago now nearly fell foul in this way
The place looked wonderful. A typical villa all nicely painted with a great interior on a good section. Great location. It was on piles like so many old villas. Something about the manner of the agent had MrBEVS thinking, so MrBEVS and our pal crawled under the house. It was riddled with borer.
Turned out it was a known pig in a poke. When confronted with this, agent just shrugged & said something derogatory about Poms and England.

Scum

bearskin

Yes, they don't like it when you let the cat out of the bag (to complement your idiom) but they will just move on to their next target. I have the lowest regard possible for real estate agents.

Polly 3

I have to say, I have alway found real estate agents in NZ to be upfront and honest and really helpful, I'm sure a few bad ones fall between the cracks sometimes. I would like to remind you, if you do ever have a problem with an agent to report it to the REINZ and they will take action.
Its always a tricky thing buying a home, its even harder in a new country, where you have no local knowledge. Having bought property in four counties, NZ, Australia, UK and Greece there are a few things you can do to limit your risk.
Not only get a building report done (we have just done that in NZ) cost $400. and he put a meter inside the walls to measure for a moisture, did the wiring, plumbing and were really happy with the level of detail in that report. In OZ, we got that plus a pest inspection, white ant is rife there and a private valuation. We are walk the neighbourhood and I have even knocked on neighbours doors to ask questions and ALWAY do a council search ourselves. I usually go onto the web sights of the schools in an area too, not that I have children, however, it can you you an idea of the sort of neighbourhood it is when you don't have that local knowledge. Did that only last week, saw the headmasters newsletter to parents complaining the the neighbours had had kids from the school cause damage to fences and rip out plants, to me that was really useful information, especially as the house we were thinking of putting an offer on was right next to the school.
The leaky house thing, is just awful, but there again I have to say our agents have been honest. We almost bought such a home last month and the only reason we didn't was got pipped at the post. The agent was up front from the fist contact, "This is a leaky home, problem in two walls" and then emailed us the builders report. As this was a 1.4m home reduced to under nine hundred thou and my husband is a builder, we were prepared to take the risk, but my point is we were told by the agent.
We have owned 2 homes with aluminium window frames ( there will not be a 3rd) in NZ we too drilled holes into the corners of the frame to allow airflow, our Australian home did not need that, due to the huge gaps between the brick walls and joinery frames!!!!!!!!!!
Every country has good and bad building standards and in all countries real estate agents are in the business of sales, I guess its a matter of taking your time and doing your homework when buying a home, however sometimes thats hard, when you just fall in love with a place.
I would like to add, that in my opinion, I find the NZ real estate webs sites really behind the times, almost no video walkthroughs and lack of RV and rates listed in the information, there are many people, like us, buying from out of the country. Have had two visits back to NZ looking at houses and if it wasn't for my two dogs, I would be renting, so over this house hunting lark!