Turbulence1981

Hello everyone.

I currently live in the UK and I have recently received a job offer from Airways NZ to work in Auckland. My wife and I have always wanted to live in NZ and now we have that chance!
we have 2 children so settling in the right area for schools will be priority. We are not big city people so we would like to live in the suburbs or a max of 30 min drive to the airport.
my job offer is for April next year so we have a bit of time to prepare.
I'd appreciate any help with preparing for such a big move and any advice on good schools etc.

Many thanks

jarv5116

It depends what times ect you going start and finish work on the 30 mins commute times.
Airport bit of nightmare getting in and out.
i was working in airport last month. I live in one of the suburbs next to the airport. was taking me 40 mins to get home at 5pm.

BEVS

Morning from New Zealand and welcome to BritishExpats.

A job offer is the golden egg to coming to settle in NZ so congratulations and well done.

I don't live near Auckland nor even the North Island so am unable to help. Hopefully others will be along shortly.

All the best.

Turbulence1981

Hi,
It is for Air traffic control so it would be shift work (morning shifts, Afternoon shifts and night shifts) so I'm hoping I would avoid the usual 'rush hours'

Turbulence1981

Many thanks. I appreciate any advice or help that anyone can offer. Getting the job offer was amazing for me and I just need to start looking at making this a reality.

Justcol

I guess a lot depends on your budget for rent / mortgage.
if it was me I'd look around Pukekohe or pokeno. Both are rural towns that have grown due to recent new development but they are still more town than city.. should be a good selection of house styles, both very handy for motorway access and within your 30 min commute 👍

Turbulence1981

Thank you. I will have a look at those areas. So difficult to know what budget to set for rent/mortgage at the moment and to know what you can get as when I look at a lot of properties, prices are by negotiation.

hallie_day

There are a couple of sites that can help with house values:

https://www.qv.co.nz/property This tells you the 'capital value' of a property. This figure is reassessed every three years and seems to be correct within about 10%. Just be aware of houses that have been significantly renovated since the last valuation.

https://www.interest.co.nz/property/...uction-results This gives auction results within a few days of the auction taking place.

https://www.barfoot.co.nz/properties/sold - Barfoot and Thompson sold prices

We landed 36 hours ago and started looking for property within 12 hours, but I have been keeping my eye on the market since January. We are in the North Shore where prices are high (comparable to the London home we sold) but all the schools are good so one thing to take out of the equation when house hunting. I'm finding it very suburban after the grittiness of SW London and it's making me very homesick for terraced houses and the tube!

BEVS

It is best to take a good long time before looking to buy a house or into an area.
Rent for a good 6 months or longer first.