Hebe

Looking at these two suburbs at the moment. Look good on paper! Coming over for a reccie shortly. Any streets to avoid? Anyone around for lunch? Probably coming around 24th for week

Northern Henry

worth a look, just stumbled across this:
www.hometopia

NH

RedDragon2008

Easy access to city, and good place for running around the bays.

Can not remember any bad streets, more house by house choice on what you are looking for.

I just remember "death by chocolate", a quaint French bistro, an old movie theatre, "Round the Bays" Fun Run.

What to watch out for is about 10pm to 2am when the boy racers start cruising. Perhaps a few streets back from the beach is advisable.

Hebe

Thanks for replies

pippalonghorn

I live in Glendowie which is about 2 min drive from St Heliers. It is very expensive if you are not a millionaire! ( Im not unfortunately ).

Are you coming to look for a place to settle? I would avoid Glen Innes as it can be a bit rough. Both places you are looking at are very nice places to live. Plenty of nice places to eat. I cant give advice on the best places as I cant afford to eat out unless I have a picnic!

bearskin

About 9 years ago - when I used to frequent the forums a lot more than I do now, I recall a very pompous remark about exactly this area, from an up-themselves migrant-member. Went something along the lines of "everyone would live here if they could afford to, and anyone who says otherwise is saying that because they can't afford to"
What the community at large took that to mean was that 'if your jobs, for example, are in Central Auckland, then this is the most desirable (coastal) area to live in'
Obviously you may not want to live at the coast (eg Mt Eden is lovely), or you may have a job elsewhere in Auckland. Clearly if your work is in Albany on the North Shore, you are unlikely to want to live in St Heliers...
Personally I'm not fond of the area anyhow - just too busy: with visitors as well as the locals, it just heaves on a fine weekend.

pippalonghorn

I do have to agree with the above. No one has time for anyone around here. That's why I said its great if your a millionaire... If you're poor then no one wants to know you. I was trying to be positive about the chosen areas.

nero

I would say to anyone rent in the area before you buy - as it may not be your cup of tea. We live in Mission Bay, I would certainly not personally rent or buy close to the shops in either St Heliers / Mission Bay or Tamaki Drive, as it can be noisy, busy and impossible to park near where you live. But we live about a kilometre away which means you have easy access to cafes, bars and the sea with none of the annoyances. We just wander down there when and if we want to.

As for travelling to work - I would certainly suggest that you rent / buy near to where you work or in the opposite direction to the commuters. For example I used to live in Mission Bay and work in St Lukes - an easy commute as everyone else was going in the opposite direction. If you will be working in the CBD and you chose the areas the commute can be quick for example I start work at 07:45 and it takes me 10 minutes (max). Plus living here you can cycle to work @ 25-35 minutes or take the bus.

There are a number of areas around the CBD which would be good areas to live in and if you do not mind commuting you can live further away from the CBD. But it really depends what you are looking for. We originally thought we would be living somewhere completely different when we originally migrated, but we found this area and it met our needs. But everyone is different. There is no right or wrong.

Good luck with your reccie

Hebe

Husband will be working in the CBD. We do have some friends and contacts in Auckland, having lived in Melbourne for 8+ years.

I love to live by the coast and have done all my life,having originally come from Eastbourne.

Financially we are ok so can afford these areas BUT I don't like snobs or people up themselves

The problem we may have with renting is that we have two dogs who will be joining us once we have somewhere to live

nero

Everyone seem pretty down to earth to me, I also have no time for people that are snobs or who are up themselves. Saying that there are areas in both these suburbs where there money is not a problem - some of these people are great and some of them are not. But then the ones that are not I do not mix with. Lots of people come to these two suburbs as visitors and some of these can be a bit precious!
There is a hotel in Kohi which you could stay at during your reccie if you have no accommodation then you could see more accurately what the area is like. http://www.aarangimotel.co.nz/
Have no idea what this place is like - but it always looks clean and tidy when I walk by, but I have never been inside

Hebe

Thank you for that. We are sorted with short term accommodation by my husband's work so that should be ok we find something to rent or buy within the first two months

bearskin

So... you can afford ANYWHERE in NZ then!? lol
There are some nice property on the Shore if you like great sea views, access to beaches etc. Just whether you want to be in town, or not.

gazmac

We lived in Meadowbank for 18months and found it to be very family orientated, its ten minutes drive from Mission Bay and St Helliers and we were there a lot once I finished work.

the city beaches are a nice area to visit and does get really busy as others have said. Kohimarama is nice also.

If I could have afforded to live there I would have.

In regard to Glen Innes - Yes it is a bit rough but if you could find a place close to the "Border" with St Helliers/Glendowie/St Johns it might not be so bad.

We found that there is a lot of suburb snobbery in Auckland.

We knew a kiwi who DID NOT live in Glen Innes, she lived on the border with St Helliers - I found this to be really funny.

From an investment perspective I think house Prices in Glen Innes will explode in the coming years due to its central location and the investment that will inevitably come to it - They were removing some of the old state homes when we lived in Meadowbank and that was over a year ago. Its probably the most underdeveloped suburb in central Auckland.

Its the third stop from Britomart on the Eastern lime - Meadowbank is the Second.