Elms96

Hi all

We are looking to move to Auckland later this year and wondered if anyone had any suggestions for good areas. We have 2 children aged 12 and 14 and want them to go to good schools. Housing needs to be affordable as well, initially renting. I have had a look and wondered if anyone had any experience of Flat Bush which seems to tick some of the boxes already?

Thanks

Spacecake799

Hi,
First questions are, why are you moving to NZ? What sort of lifestyle are you hoping for?
What sort of work do you do? How much income do you expect to have for rent etc?
How keen are your kids at coming over, what do they enjoy at school? Schools are very different there and kids need to be very self motivated.
Good Luck

A Rush And A Push

What sort of budget do you have for housing? Unless we know that, it's impossible really to advise on areas. As you may already know, housing is pretty expensive in Auckland. Also, where would work be? No point advising one area if you will be working the other end of Auckland.

Elms96

I am going to be working in Mt Wellington and envisage a monthly rental budget of about $2500. My daughter enjoys most subjects at school while my son is more technical. Just want a nice area that we can settle into with a longer term view to buy a house

A Rush And A Push

Ok, well in Auckland I would advise living close to work to avoid the traffic.

Ellerslie (suburb next to Mt Wellington) is nice. To the north, you may find something for that budget in Meadowbank or St Johns (I'd avoid Glen Innes though). To the west, some of One Tree Hill is very nice, it borders a huge park, Cornwall Park.

I don't know much about high schools in that area but I'd probably avoid going south of Mt Wellington.

You would need to look at house prices in those areas of course to see if it's feasible to buy there. If not, you may need to live further away.

A Rush And A Push

Oh and by avoiding "south of Mt Wellington" I mean the immediate suburbs of Otahu, Mangere, Otara. Out to the south east are some ok suburbs, I think. Plenty of other suburbs a bit further afield, depends how long you are happy to commute for. There is a train station at Sylvia Park which may open things up a bit.

davros1984

Now that is an oxymoron. Good luck, if its affordability you are after, you are best off looking elsewhere in NZ, i.e. CHCH, Hamilton or possibly WLG.

We are moving back to the UK because in comparison, there are many more affordable options in the UK and a multitude of options for work.

Elms96

I should have said by affordable I mean monthly rental of up to $2500 and when we buy we could go up to $600k.

Assanah

Second that! Unless your are rich I wouldn't move to Auckland. I would do what many Aucklanders start to do and that is leave Auckland and move somewhere else in NZ (or return home as we did).

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11252984

The Weezer

Hello, I think you might find an OK house for that rent, in an OK area, but I have to tell you, you won't find anything to buy at that price but a very small do-up in an reasonable neighborhood (if you're lucky), or the house will mean a long commute, if for example you work in the CBD. Since you have two teenage children, I'm supposing you'll need to be in a good school district. Although there are houses in your price range in Auckland, almost certainly they'll be in neighborhoods that do not have good schools, and there are a lot of these. Undesirable schools here are rife with drugs, violence, apathy, poor academic performance, just like they are everywhere else in the world.

barnsleymat

In most other areas of NZ you'd be able to live in a palace on the beach for that money, in Auckland you'll be able to get a place in an area with all the same problems you get in the UK.

If your only option is moving to Auckland, good luck. If you're able to live away from Auckland I'd highly recommend it, you'll have a much better life.

I speak from experience, we lasted 11 months in Auckland before getting away from the rat race. There's bits we do miss about living in Auckland but nothing that would justify living in a rubbish house in a rubbish area and paying a fortune for the pleasure.

The Weezer

I realized you said Flat Bush looked like a good place. I'm sure you'll find a rental, but you won't be able to buy a house there for $600K. Please be aware of the leaky home scandal. There's still lots of leaky homes around, and if you're not aware you might buy one thinking you're getting a bargain.

Also, just because a house is new in Auckland doesn't mean it's well insulated or well heated, in fact, most aren't. Although the walls in new houses are insulated, the windows are only sometimes double-glazed, and when they are double paned, they're in thermally unbroken aluminium frames, which means the windows will weep at the edges and have inferior insulating capabilities to properly made double-glazing. Most houses, even those built in the last few years, have single glazing with aluminium, which creates horrendous condensation indoors. You won't see many new developments with central heating either, (although the upscale builds sometimes have underfloor heating in bathrooms). At most they'll be a single heat pump for the whole house. You can install more, but it isn't cheap to heat a house with inferior insulation, even a new one. It also underscores the fact that not only are Auckland houses insanely expensive, they're also poor quality for the money. I'm always surprised at how infrequently these issues are brought up in detail on the forum.

I'm sure you can find a properly insulated/heated house, they must exist, although I think I've only ever seen one in all the years I've looked at real estate in Auckland, including the viewing of houses at the million and multi-million range. I myself live in one, but it took an awful lot of money to get it to that state.

I took these photos at a somewhat upscale, newish motel in Orewa that charges over $200 dollars a night. It was a winter morning, but we warm enough in the room with the heat pump on full blast. Please note that it is NOT raining; the water collected on the glass is on the inside. It was actually a nice sunny day. The mouldy curtains you see are a common feature, from my experience. Hard to avoid mould when you have that much liquid collecting inside your house. This is what you can expect in many rentals, although I believe running a dehumidifier 24/7 helps, and possibly a DVS ventilation system.

Recently, on a current affairs program, an expert of some sort pointed out that houses in NZ built even just 10 years ago are deteriorating inordinately partly because of the problems I mentioned above.

Justcol

As has been said, if you want any kind of life thats remotely affordable look somewhere else
$600k will buy you nothing worth having anywhere in auckland, the prices are still rising
at an embarrassing rate, sellers list at PBN so they negotiate at around whatever the prices
have risen to at the point in time when someone makes an offer as they go up so quickly
The expected price of a house thats been on the market for a few months could be 10's of 1000's
more than was expected when it was originally listed.
On top of all that the place is a hugely overated place to live

Bo-Jangles

Just for a change, there's an article about it in the Herald today.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/property/n...ectid=11252984

The Weezer

About 4 years ago, I viewed a house in St. John's, where the house in question is located. It was owned by a well known TV and radio personality. It had over a 1/4 acre of absolutely beautiful grounds, and the house (not unit) was well kept and in good condition, despite being 60s/70s era (but lacking the good windows, insulation and heating). I believe it sold in the mid 700K range, so goes to show how much prices have increased. Also remember that some on the forum bought their houses when prices in Auckland were significantly lower. Even a year has made a striking difference in prices.