ezzkazz

I have a question and in a way I think it may help those who havent migrated yet prepare better.

If you were to emigrate again from where you were living to NZ, what would you have organised differently to make things easier or maybe was there something you didn't realise needed doing or you left something to the last minute etc.

mickey_d

Would have sold the car earlier (privately) instead of being ripped off at a dealership 2 days before we flew.

Genesis

When I got here I would have kept quiet to the real estate chap about just having got off the plane..should have said "I have just moved from.."where ever in NZ. Should not have told them about my fiscal affairs..... I believe they will (naturally and understandably) try to squeeze more out of you because they THINK you are rich..when the opposite is the truth in our case!! Should have lied and said I had my mortgage all arranged...if you are a cash buyer..do not let on.

I would have gotten my house inspected with a written report, would have gotten a private valuation and would have got a LIM. The latter is the dossier every council will hold on every already built house in NZ..potentially valuable info can come to light if you trawl thru all the documents.

I would not have listened to PSS about getting rid of all our wicker stuff...we had loads of it and you can apparently bring it..I would have bought all my white goods..gave them away...thank God we bought a 40 ft container with all our other stuff..saved money and it helps having familiar stuff around when you are settling in!! Apart from that we love our house, our neighbourhood, our lives our friends and above all NZ and all it has to offer.

uk+kiwi

So is this not a (major) advantage like in the UK then? This is a great negotiating tool here, although I can also see that a seller tries to milk out extra dollars.

mickey_d

I would not have listened to PSS about getting rid of all our wicker stuff


Ditto, PSS told us that as well.

I wouldn't give my portable heaters away, as we did. Boy did we need them!!!

SarahB

We would speak to more people who have actually made the move and not just kiwis.

We wouldnt have given all our white goods away... they are expensive to replace here. We wouldve brought a few other things over too that we left.

Apple Tree

i would have moved 12 months earlier, before the house prices went up:curse:

ezzkazz

very interesting guys, keep them coming

i have yet to make the move so all this info will come in very handy.

one thing, if you are on a work visa, will the mortgage interest rates be higher than if you were a resident. Probably looking at about 60% deposit and the rest mortgage as I dont want to bleed myself dry and be left with no money to fall back on

tootsie

No, the mortgage rates are as high for everybody. Pays to shop around and play one lender off against another though

sky

I would have given us more time and not bought a house at all, we should have just relocated to a nicer area and lived off the interest our money was earning in the bank.
Not much else really

tootsie

I guess that's what we did really but we didn't live off the interest, it all got re-invested in the house, just as well we did as building always works out more expensive than you budget for.

Dunno what I would have done differently other than found a decent rental right from the start instead of living in a damp shed for the first few months.

Genesis

No I don't think its a big negotiating tool..at the end of the day its all cash wether from your account or a building societies..thing is if people think you are seriously wedged up..like from the UK, new to NZ with an apparent 'mountain' (apparent being the operative word in our case!!) of money that does not have to be loaned from a bank, the buyer is bound to think we can get more out of them. Its human nature.

The irony of it is that we got an awful exchange rate and we were not 'minted' ....we chose to live in probably one of the cheapest towns (house wise) in the North Island, thus our little money went a bit further. In Auckland we would have been looking at a nice spacious carboard box..we got a plastic one here instead!!!

sky

Doesn't it just, we're still on budget but at every stage you're tempted to spend more than you have.

KiwiKate

I would have remembered to get all our medical notes from the Dr - it's proving a bit of a nightmare to get any response from them now.
I would have stayed longer to oversee the packing of our belongings into the container, and done a full inventory to avoid MAF inspections.
And probably looked for a site like this earlier, as I've only just found it now after being here 11 months!!!

P2L

We would have let the container go a month ahead of us!!! Lot cheaper than having to but stuff to keep us going.

Also would have bought new beds (and bedding) in the UK. Beds appear to be very expensive here