davros1984

some of us call it madness or stupidity.... or auckland. FYI... Beach Havenis regarded as one of the roughest suburbs on the shore, hence we tried to buy here last year.

fully aware of UK situation, heavily skewed by london and the SE though. most other regions have had more realistic annual increases of 2-5%. going home now to "get on with it" before theres a risk of being priced out, but think we will do OK up north.

we will try our best to avoid "in demand" places,but even so there are just so many houses available or on the market where we are looking.plenty in our 140-240K gbp budget.

mickey_d

How much would this be in Auckland

http://www.realestate.co.nz/2125934

ringostarr

before you buy anything, make sure it will pass the test of time

bourbon-biscuit

It's beautiful but Waipawa is not. I wouldn't want to move somewhere just for a cheap house - cheap areas are cheap for a reason. Lovely house though!

bourbon-biscuit

(though I would never buy a home with an upstairs in NZ. Rented one once and thankfully the upstairs was only a rumpus cos we had to remove fire alarms as they kept going off due to the heat ...)

pippalonghorn

Is Waipawa not a good place? I dont know NZ at all. That house is beautiful.

Hokey-pokey

Waipawa is in Central Hawkes Bay - one of my favourite parts of the country. It's a very small town but has a good community spirit. The surrounding countryside is lovely.

bourbon-biscuit

I love Central Hawkes Bay too - lived there for two years. The towns, imo, are a bit Wild West feeling. Waipawa does have attractive countryside in one sense - I love the scrunched tissues hillsides, and the autumn colours, and the snow-capped backdrop in winter - but it is very deforested and turns parched brown every summer. There is pretty much zero biodiversity - you almost get used to this when you live there until you go somewhere with bush remaining. The Tukituki is filthy, but the catchment plan might solve that as they intend to do regular 'flushes'.

Northern Henry

So true...

Mr GR33D

[QUOTE=Northern Henry;11160712]Its called Capital Gain.. (since he bought, the demand for his house has increased, it will have minimal relation to a fixed fence and windows...?)

Just be careful, not just in Auckland, as the UK is currently seeing a substantial surge in prices and demand since about November; in many major cities. Month on month increases and quick turnarounds becoming common place.

It's just terrible that them-there wealthy folk all have to be property moguls these days since the stock market/ Hedged fund clowns and the Banking industry in general can not be trusted with ya wedge.

davros1984

you are quite right, hence we are going home in the next 2 months.we plan on avoiding the South East and most of the south altogether. where we are looking, prices have either increased by 2-5% in the past annum (reasonable and somewhat sustainable) or haven't done a thing. In fact, some have even decreased (like where my dad lives). Based on our experience here in NZ we dont plan on living anywhere with a big population or in an immediately desirable area. the noise at home is primarily around london and the south east. Living in New Zealand has helped us realise that there is more to life than money, materialism or wanting to live in an area where you must redecorate or change your car every 3 years. auckland house prices really got under my skin in 2013, so looking forward to being somewhere more realistic for us.

the same sort of house is 200K GBP more expensive in places around guildford etc, somewhere that now we would really not want to live. up north for us!

finally, having seen prices in auckland rise at least 40% in less than 3 years, it will take some serious panicking (and salary rises) for houses to do that where we are considering living.

madao

After a bit of argy-bargy over some issues with the LIM our offer is now unconditional and the completion date set for 28th March.

madao

It seems strange now that just a little over two months ago I started this topic as we were questioning whether to buy or not.

Well, rightly or wrongly given the opinions this thread generated, we have bought, it completed today, we pick the keys up tomorrow and our stuff is being moved in on Sunday morning.

As our first house purchase together, let alone in NZ, I would love to celebrate tonight big style but the removers are turning up at 0800 tomorrow to pack us up.

Sure ill manage a few beers though.



(10% deposit, 6.4%, 3 year fixed, $1000 towards legal fees)

Pom_Chch

Well done Madao! Exciting times! You'll look back on this time and tell everyone about the time you moved into your first home with a terrible hangover!

It's our turn in 3 weeks. We pick the keys up for our first home just before Easter. We had 18% deposit, 5.99% fixed for 3 yes with $2000 towards stuff from BNZ

madao

Yay for the house buying. I like your rate too, I think you've done well there!

As for the hangover I seem to be doing a pretty good job of building up to one.