macraem

Hi Guys

Myself + my wife and young daughter are planning a move to Wellington and finding it difficult to find somewhere to live temporarily while we find our feet. We were thinking of Air BnB but most houses seem expensive and also (without being offensive) very basic and scruffy looking.

Ive heard that in general housing is of a different standard to UK but we're just looking for somewhere that is comfortable, modernish, upto 20-30 mins from CBD and reasonably priced.

Are we expecting too much, or looking in the wrong place?

Thanks
Mark

escapedtonz

Hi,

You're probably expecting too much for your money. A different standard of housing than the UK is an understatement. Rent in NZ is expensive....period! In a city like Wellington even more so.
Quality is so much worse than your standard UK brick and block built home with central heating.
The majority of houses here are timber frame (some are steel frame) which is bolted to a concrete slab. They need to be able to withstand earthquakes to a certain degree so brick and block just wouldn't do. The house is then clad with anything from brick to plasterboard to timber with generally a tin longrun or coloursteel tile roof. A heck of a lot of the older properties were built before there was any real building code so can suffer from damp, have little to no insulation and no heating source. Double glazing wasn't well used until recently and if I'm honest the standard of new double glazing here is shockingly bad. It is aluminium framed crap with just two sheets of glass with no sealed vacuum gap in between.
Best thing to do is get something temporary for the first month - something furnished or at least part furnished as it'll just be you and luggage and then look for a more permanent unfurnished place when you are here so you can see the quality of home in person. When we landed in Wellington in 2012 we had a holiday house arranged that we'd booked from the UK without too much fuss. Have a look on www.trademe.co.nz or one of the holidayhouse websites. There's always the option of a motel room. Plenty around and for longerterm stays you can negotiate a better rate and they are pretty comfortable and have everything you need plus a parking space.

Justcol

I guess a lot depends on what amount you class as "reasonable" ??

Half an hour will take you out as far as Porirua or Upper Hutt, that's a big area to not find any nice rentals

escapedtonz

If you want modern then just look in the more modern suburbs that are within 20-30 mins of Wellington on a commute.
Have a look at Churton Park, Grenada Village, Aotea and the North Eastern side of Whitby. They all pretty new. There are some new builds in the Hutt Valley between Lower Hutt and Silverstream but they're more affordable housing so small houses on small sections and lots of them plus it can be pretty ropey around some of those areas.
I wouldn't go any further than Silverstream or Plimmerton if you wanna be within 20-30 mins of the CBD as even out that far 30 mins is pushing it at the wrong time for commuting.

MrsFychan

The other option is to look at house sitting. Housing standards are different here and unless you build yourself, but a newer home or a home previously owned by an immigrant you may well assume you will be looking at a doer upper. Personally I would advise taking on a short term rental at first until you suss out areas then rent again until you are sure you will be staying.