Kerry & Dirk

Hi there

My partner Dirk and I are moving to Wellington hopefully early December or if flights get fully booked (which I imagine they will) late January, as long the house sale goes through smoothly!! My partner is orignally from Welington NZ so he cant wait, although I am a little nervous with the whole life changing situation (excited too ) My son of 15 years and my 8mth old girl will be moving with us.

It would be nice to get in touch with people from Wellington who will be able to answer any questions I have i.e. about schools, nice areas etc. Although my boyfriend is from NZ, he has been away for 14 years so I imagine theres been loads of change. We did visit 3 years ago for a month so my son and I could get a feel for the place and I must admit, I fell in love with NZ!! We did not really get chance to look round local areas as we were so busy touring the North/South Island.

We are looking at moving into either the Easten/Western suburbs of Wellington and we were thinking of Rongotai College or Wellington Boys College for my son. I have looked at the deciles and Wellington Boys seems to be the better one of the two - does anyone have any feedback about the schools?

Also, do you know anyone who has bought a kit home? Its just something we were thinking about dependant upon costs, I understand land is expensive and I believe there are lots of other costs to consider. Are kit houses any good?

Hope you can help. Kerry

Budowsky

Ask your partner!

newkiwi

cant really help too much, but good luck ont he move.

have a look at realenz for house prices, i dont know about kit houses.
there has been a number of landslips around here lately, so be careful about buying land situated on steep hill (you know the expesive plots with nice views..........). quite a few million dollar houses have been in danger in the last few months.

youll be in time for the wellington 7s in february then, its our annual big party weekend down here.

poppets

we live on the Kapiti Coast (60kms from welly) & we think its really lovely, OH drives into welly everyday for work.
Cottageinthesky is the best one for areas, & Biddy is building a house , but not a kit one i don't think
sorry i can't be of more help
good luck

MiniMad

Hi Kerry

My family and I are also planning to move to Wellington, and are planning for mid December so once we've both arrived it woul dbe nice to meet up.

Having secured a job in Wellington we too are looking to find a house but have decided to rent first, to give ourselves time to find what we want and to test the travelling times.

I bring with me my other half, and our 2 children, my eldest being 8 years, youngest being 14 months so also need to find a nursery for the baby if anyone can recommend a site etc.

Good luck to all
MiniMad

cottageinthesky

Hi Kerry - where was your partner raised? I've been in Wellington 10 years and it's amazing how things have changed in that time.

I had coffee with a kiwi friend who lives in Miramar and they have just analysed colleges for their son - their choice was Wellington Boys or Rongotai - their son chose Wellington Boys - none of his peer group were going to Wellington Boys, so it wasn't to be with his mates - he just felt he would do better there - my friend says Rongotai was as impressive but the final say was their son's. Rongotai probably has a bigger % of Pacific Islanders/Maori but the decile rating is apparently very close.

Land in Wellington tends to be expensive if it's flat - therefore easy and cheaper to build - and has big harbour/water views and good sun - a 600m2 section may well cost $350-450k. A 600-1200m2 section that is steep, but still with great harbour views and sun may cost $200-250k.

Outside of Wellington City - but within the Wellington region - land becomes more reasonable but, of course, will make your son's journey to college longer, etc.

Why are you looking at kitset homes - it's a big project in a strange land?

Kerry & Dirk

Hi there, my partner was raised in Lyall Bay where is father is still living and his sister lives in Miramar, which we would consider moving to.

I think we too are going to have to leave the final decison with my son about which school he is going to attend too. I understand that Wellington Boys is really quite sporty and my son is sports mad, but I guess that any NZ school is quite sporty compared to the UK.

The thought of the kit house came after watching a programme and that gave us the idea of looking at land in Wellington. Its just a thought and its something we need to look into more, if its too expensive we will just have to purchase a property.

As we are looking at either the eastern or western suburbs do you have any ideas for 'nice areas'?

Kerry & Dirk

Hi there, how does your hubby feel about commuting to work and how long does it take? What is the Kapiti Coast like, is there plenty of things to do for a 14 year old? I have just had a look at the houses there on-line and you do seem to get more for your money and it looks realy nice.

Kerry & Dirk

Perfick timing for boyfriend then! No wonder he wanted to be moved by Feb, heres me thinking it was for my sons education

leedge

I'd recommend Kapiti - We originally planned to live closer, say Plimmerton/Whitby/Papakowhai but we got a rental place in Paraparaumu and like it up here so much that we're just going to put in an offer on a house in Raumati South . It's better weather on the coast, the transport by train into Wellington CBD is fine (despite what the locals say) and quite inexpensive, and the combination of beach and hills is wonderful.

Laurence

cottageinthesky

Design and build might be a good option for you - takes the budget risk away.

Lots of good family residential areas in east/west suburbs - depends on your budget - some are generally more expensive than others - if you find a house you like on-line www.open2view.com, www.realestate.co.nz, www.trademe.co.nz - let me know and I'll give you an "on the ground" appraisal!

Kerry & Dirk

The more I hear about it, the more I like the sound of it I have had a look at the houses there and they seem really nice. I definately think we are going to have to pay a visit when we arrive as well as a other areas, I really don't want to rush into buying anything too soon. The possiblity of building a property also sounds tempting but would have to look at costs!

Good luck with your offer - saying that - the whole idea of buying a house in NZ seems so different from the UK i.e. tenders! Anyone have any advice on house buying???

How long does it take to commute to Wellington and how many miles outside Wellington is it? Questions, questions, questions

Kerry

Kerry & Dirk

Hi
I have had a look at the websites, some gorgeous houses. There is so much to think about and do, the sooner we arrive the better so that we can start getting a feel for areas and houses. Kapiti looks very nice. I will certainly take you up on the advice.

Kerry

newkiwi

The house buying process is more certain in a way, insofar that once an offer is made and accepted, both parties are obliged to follow through, so no nailbiting on the day before contracts are supposed to be exchanged. Tenders and auctions are a bit of a pain though, auctions particularly as a bid at auction is effectively an unconditional offer. At least with tenders you can put in an offer conditional on an adequate building report and obtaining finance.

Drive up to Paraparaumu is about 45 mins to an hour, but depends on the traffic. The train service from Paraparaumu to Wellington is pretty good (excellent by NZ standards anyway)

I would rent there first to see if you like the place before buying..

weather in kapiti is always nicer than wellington

poppets

hubby is fine with commuting, he drives (the view is fantastic) & he prefers it to Uk trains & tubes, he leaves at 6.45am , at his desk for 8am (chatting on the way) finishes at 4 - 4.15, home by 5.15, compared to uk , left at 7am , desk by 9am (depending on tubes) , finish work 5.30 (earlist) home 7.30 onwards (that was herts to kensignton, london)he drives a honda jazz , very economical, & pertol is about the equivalent of £20 a week, , if he parks at the Wsetpac stadium it costs him $25 week i think
we love the kapiti coast , we hae 2 kids 5 & 3 , but there seems to be plenty of clubs around, will find some links for you
we are about 60-kms out of wellington

heres some sites, i put yellowpages on cos i thought you could look up stuff for your boy to do, but we have wrestling clubs, cricket club, rugby, musci, drama, dance, athleteics, swimming, & i think theres a basketball too
http://www.kapiticoast.govt.nz/
http://www.kapiti.org.nz/index.html
http://www.netlist.co.nz/communities...apitiCoast.cfm
http://www.yellowpages.co.nz/