nukiwi

Hi all,

My name is Elaine and I'm 47 years old. My husband and I emigrated from the UK 3 weeks ago. Hubby is in IT and works in the CBD and he is settling in well. It's just the 2 of us and our 2 cats are joining us on Sunday

Whilst hubby is busy at work, I have been running around furnishing our rental property. We have achieved so much in the short time we have been here. We have a house back in the UK but are renting it out (not found a tenant yet though) and will sell when the property market improves.

I worked as a secretary in the UK and although I have a work visa to work in NZ I will not be working just yet. Therefore if anyone is close to Albany on the North Shore and new to NZ, I would love to hear from you.

We are both loving it here so far and only wish we had done it earlier.

Regards,

Elaine

Maz1

Hi we're in Albany. The Oaks. PM me if you fancy coffee.

nukiwi

Hi Maz,

Can't send a PM as I need to have done 3 posts. We are in The Landing, how close is that to The Oaks?

Maz1

Thats close to the Mall isn't it, if so I'm only 10 mins at the most.

Tigerkizzy

Hi Elaine, My name is Jacqui I am also 47 and will be arriving in Auckland on 24th October with my husband and 2 sons, a dog & 2 cats. It would be nice to keep in touch and maybe get some advise from you as you are already there. I booked my flights today, the biggest problem seems to be finding somewhere to rent that will take animals especially as we are not there to view properties. I also need to find a school for my 11 year old so I am restricted to around Mt Eden/Epsom. How did you find your property? Can you recommend a letting agent? We too are probably going to rent our house and sell later when climate in UK picks up.

Keep in touch and maybe we can meet up when I arrive and you can show me the ropes

Jacqui

Maz1

Hi Jacqui, can I ask why your restricted to Epsom/ Mt Eden, or are they just your preferred areas.

nukiwi

Hi Maz,

Yes we are only 5 mins from the mall, which is very handy for everything. Do you work? Which part of the UK are you from?

nukiwi

Hi Jacqui,

Great to hear you are making the move too. You must all be very excited now your flights are booked

It is difficult when you are half way around the world and trying to find a property to rent and to accommodate pets. However, we only have 2 cats (joining us Sunday) and what we found the best thing to do was to come out on our own without the cats to give us time to find a rented property so we could move them straight in when they arrived (plus they had to have all the tests done and as Steve's employer wanted him to start asap, we did not have the time to do them ourselves but they are in good hands with Golden Arrow, who have been wonderful).

We booked into a holiday cottage for the first 2 weeks which was fully furnished which meant we had time to adjust and not be rushed. We had already decided we wanted to live on the North Shore as we were in NZ back in July for 2 weeks as Steve had 2 interviews and during that time we visited the North Shore and instantly fell in love with it.

After we arrived back in the UK and Steve securing a job offer, I was busy on the internet looking at rented houses but those that were available at that time may not have been available when we arrived. Therefore once we moved out we went into lots of real estates (estate agents) asking what they had available and if they would allow cats. It's difficult recommending one because they all have lovely properties for rent. However out of the 4 houses we looked at 3 of the owners would allow cats. I cannot speak for dogs but you may find it a little more difficult. A lot of them state no pets but ask anyway and you will be surprised.

You are definitely doing the right thing by not selling in the UK yet, plus like us it gives you a chance to try different suburbs in order to make the right choice when you are in a position to buy over here. We are currently renting for 6 months and will extend if we like it and so far its great. They had a small dog and a dog flap was put in the back door which is ideal for our 2.

Can't help you on schools as I have no children but I'm sure you will get lots of help on this forum.

The only thing I strongly advise is that you sell your furniture before you come over unless you are looking to find a furnished home. Luckily we were able to sell ours and if we hadn't we would have had to wait 8-10 weeks for it to arrive by ship. I have already had to duplicate lots of essentials for daily living as we could not wait for our belongings to arrive approx the end of October.

I would certainly like to meet up when you arrive and do what I can to show you the ropes.

Keep in touch and let me know how your plans are progressing and ask away if I can be of any further help.

Good luck

Elaine

Maz1

Not working. I am from the NE of UK (Hartlepool) about 40 mins from Newcastle. Theres me and OH, 2 kids boy 16yrs and girl 12 yrs. Oh yeah and 2 cats. We used to live in Greenhithe but have now settled in Albany - only renting though. We lived in Christchurch for 1 year, but been up in Auckland since April. Where you from and let me know if you fancy meeting anytime

nukiwi

I have PM'd you.

Tigerkizzy

I have been recommended schools in that area for my son, we are considering Balmoral school and we have to live in the zone for him to go to that school. I also have a job in Avondale and without having visited the country before it is difficult to get an accurate impression of distance. I would be interested in any advise you may have about areas to live and schools; my son is 11.

Tigerkizzy

Thanks for the advise Elaine, I must admit 10 weeks without our things is not something I am looking forward to, especially as they are not likely to arrive until after Christmas. We are hoping to rent furnished to start off with but it depends on the minimum rental term 3 months would be ideal.

nukiwi

We found it important to distinguish between a holiday home (which is fully furnished) and a residential rental home which is usually unfurnished. I think you are unlikely to find a residential rental for 3 months, 6 months seems to be the minimum here from what we found.

You may find these links useful:

www.barfoot.co.nz
www.professionals.co.nz
www.allrealestate.co.nz
www.harcourts.co.nz

We found our holiday cottage on www.holidayhouses.co.nz

Hope these help.

Elaine

nukiwi

We found you need to distinguish between a holiday home (which is fully furnished) and therefore costs more and a residential rental house which is usually unfurnished. You are unlikely to find a residential rental home for 3 months in our experience. 6 months seems to be the minimum. Most landlords don't want the hassle of frequent changes. Ours would have preferred a year but we managed to secure 6 months.

You may find these links useful:

www.allrealestate.co.nz
www.professionals.co.nz
www.barfoot.co.nz
www.harcourts.co.nz


We found the holiday cottage on www.holidayhouses.co.nz

Hope these help.

If you are going to work in Avondale you are approximately 15 mins away from Mt Eden.

Keep in touch.

Tigerkizzy

Thanks Elaine that wil be really useful, I think we wil try and do what you did and rent a holiday home for 2 weeks while we find somewhere to rent that we can view so we know what we are getting. Our plan is to rent for a while then we can look at where we would like to settle and buy a property in that area. As you can imagine if you've never been to an area it's hard to know where to put down roots. All adds to the fun though. Thanks again, Jacqui