mexnick

I'll be looking into this area too, sounds nice plus like the idea of being able to get the bus to work if we can't afford a second car. The pictures on the net make this place look very picturesque, will need to get more knowledge on identifying a 'leaky' house...

Justcol

I believe agents are legally bound to inform potential buyers if they have any knowledge of a property being leaky
Leaky homes were a result of poor building regulations in NZ which lead to water ingress in some. The legal battle over who was responsible for footing the repairs bill raged for a long time. Builders said they built to regulations for we're not responsible. The government said the regulations were the result of consultations with independent building regulatory bodies. Everybody blamed everybody else while the poor home owners sat helplessly watching the value of their homes/ investments tumble and become unsellable. There was so much panic, if a development had one leaky property, people were labelling the rest as leaky which had huge knock on effects for all the other home owners in perfectly good properties. Things have calmed down a lot now but a full check on any potential purchase is recommended.

mexnick

BtotheR

I wouldn't ever count Manukau as Auckland - it is called Manukau City as it is a city in its own right. Under 40 mins from Whangaparaoa to the CBD? At what time? I checked on google maps at 7am NZ time this morning - was already up to 1hr 6 mins already and I'm sure that gets worse at 8am. I'm aware not everyone travels at this time, but the majority of people who work, do.

Justcol

I'm simply offering suggestions based on my time up there. Obviously I'm wrong and you know best
Auckland stretches from just outside Mangawhai in the north, all the way down to Pukekohe in the south
last time I looked Manukau was a lot further north than pukekohe.

Bo-Jangles

No absolutely not true, since 2010, when all became one 'supercity'. Would you similarly deny Waitakere or North Shore the right to be counted as Auckland?

BtotheR

I wouldn't deny Luton London Airport of being London apart from the fact it is not. I wouldn't deny Oxenholme Lake District Train Station of not being in the Lake District, apart from the fact it is not.

I'm more than aware of the super city and its boundaries, but its more what is counted as actual Auckland when you live there and I wouldn't "deny" any of these as being Auckland as per the super city plan.

BtotheR

Yep

mexnick

Things starting to move along a bit more now. The office i'll be working out of is south/central Auckland. Checked the google maps route planner and looks to be about a 30/40 min commute from areas such as Titirangi/Lainghorn. My work day would start around 7am so would hopefully miss the worst of the traffic.

Slightly off topic, i've been researching average wages for NZ, I appreciate it is a regional thing so am working on the assumption that AK is one of the more expensive areas of NZ. The figures seem to vary depending which website you go on, average wage ranges from $50k to $77K, anyone got any idea where the reality lies?

Justcol

Statistics NZ says the average is around 50k which is probably about right.

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BEVS

Probably about right overall. Actual salary/wage depends on location and occupation.

I thought that $50/$70k was considered too low a wage to live in the Auk area. Not that I live there.

Bo-Jangles

Most certainly it would be a hard knock life, unless of course coming here as a singleton sharing accommodation costs or wadged up with cash to purchase property outright.

N andrew

Justcol

Which is a whole new thread in itself.

I've had a few ups and downs in my 11 years here. I've been through the homesick stage, like many expats I got divorced, I've had no money and pots of money, had friends, lost friends and made new ones. I've lived in 3 different regions of the country and haven't written of making it 4 in a few years. And despite all that I have never once regretted coming
Yes white goods cost more here, but really, so what if a washing machine is 75 quid more expensive, it's a small price to pay
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Moses2013

Exactly and the same everywhere, so not unique to NZ. I know a lot of German people here in Ireland and some might also complain that certain things are more expensive and so on, but at the end of the day they left for a reason and there's always a boat in the morning:-). But of course one has to consider the huge distance and higher costs to get back.