rick78

Only been here since Saturday but have already sorted out banks, credit cards, bought a car, insured it, and travelled a bit (OMG Pakiri Beach is amazing!)... so settling in nicely.

Although we have 6 weeks paid accommodation we are starting to get a feel for different areas in Auckland, and looking at where we could live, the quality of schools and commute times to CBD.

Titirangi looks lovely, and we found an amazing house but what puts us off is the owners live just at the end of the garden, are elderly and seem like the annoying "you cant do this, you cant do that" types... they even suggested when we looked yesterday that we placed our dining table in the kitchen to prevent stains on the dining room carpet. Commute time non-peak was 20mins so I'm guessing 40mins peak in a car? I'll be on bike so not too worried, but just thinking of Wifey when she gets a part time job at some point.

Birkenhead looks nice, bit closer, closer to big shops and we found a really quiet street - amazing views.

We also looked up towards Stanmore Bay but I fear its too far for both Wifey and I when our daughter goes to school.

Anyone rented somewhere where the owners were closely located? Any issues?

Keep cool

faye_h

Birkenhead is lovely, just watch out for areas slightly north of that around Beach Haven. There are some 'not-so-nice' places there.

We live in Milford on the Shore and love it. There is a nice little boutique mall, we're close to the beach and close enough to Takapuna for all the restaurants and bars. We often spend Sundays walking from Milford to Takapuna along the beach to get brunch.

I commute into the city by car and on an average/bad day it will take around 40mins. When the schools are on holiday or off-peak it takes around 15mins. It will probably be about the same from Birkenhead.

Our landlady lives just round the corner from our street but we are never bothered - we see her twice a year when she does a property inspection but that is all. Occasionally we might bump into her at the supermarket and she asks how things are going. She trusts that we are good tenants and has always been happy with the upkeep of the house so I think that helps.

rick78

Yeah we popped to Milford and Takapuna and it was nice... very busy though in the car... that was around 3.30pm.

It was interesting when we finally got to the harbour bridge... it took 10mins to queue to get on, and then it was fine... traffic flowing very nicely northwards (around 5.30pm) which really suprised me... assuming its cos school holidays?!

Debbie2NZ

The Auckland Harbour Bridge has bumper to bumper traffic with 6km tail backs until about 7pm most evenings. Get a bus if you can. They have dedicated bus motorways parallel to the main motorway which are fantastic.

Takapuna or Tackers as I believe it can be referred to has been described to me as Chelsea on Sea ! Lunch at the Beach Club / Surf Club or whatever it was called was very nice.

faye_h

I've never had any issues coming home from work from the CBD. It's slow but never at a standstill. It normally takes less time to get home (no more than 30mins) in the evening than it does to get to work in the morning!

Going towards the CBD in the evening though is a nightmare as there are only 3 lanes open on the bridge in that direction, which us why you would have queued to get on but fine once on there.

P18PPS

we nearly bought in Titirangi, decided not to in the end as really townies at heart. have you looked east along Tamaki Drive? Orakei, Mission Bay, Kohimarama, St Heliers. If you pop inland a bit there is also Meadowbank and Remuera.

All very easy commute and good schools.

luvwelly

Definitely one to avoid I would think....when we were viewing corporate rentals in NZ a few years ago, one 'youngish' owner who showed up even though there was an agent present, got all upset because some dirt came back into the room after he took us out onto his dirty balcony....instant alarm bells....elderly types trying to control you like that before you've even moved in, will drive you mad if you have kids.
Lets face it, only a landlord from hell would suggest you don't put a table in a dining room to save the carpet...guess what folks, you rent property out (I do so myself in UK) carpets get stains on sometimes....big deal.

florabundi

I agree with luvwelly on this. You will no doubt take as much care as possible of the property you rent but you want to be able to enjoy yourself and your fabulous new life, not having to walk on eggshells and break into a cold sweat everytime you see your child carrying a cup of juice! Glad you are settling in, when does the bike arrive?

HelsnLee

AVOID!!! I once lived in house opposite owner....all was going well however I thought I was going crazy when stuff kept moving (my oh thought I was being crazy). One day there was a knock at the door but I had day off work and was in my p.j's and didn't want to answer it. The next thing I know the owner was in my house I screamed and threw him out, made me very wary of renting houses with owners near by!

bananalana

OMG thats horrid!

rick78

That sounds awful.

We've discounted that house.

We've seen a couple in Waitakere... living rural is a big plus for us and commuting to work shouldnt be that back on a motorbike. Unfortunately everything seems to be snapped up really quickly!

Apart from trademe are there any other websites worth checking?

billingham

You are a braver man than me Gunga Din. Commuted in London / Manchester in the UK for years on a bike, then tried it a couple of times in Auckland.

I actually saw a car speeding after a bike on the southern bound once trying to continue a minor disagreement over lane positioning. The bike just managed to get out of the way. Aggression, travelling too close, lack of awareness. Don't become one of the appalling statistics - Take Care.

In response to those who post that they have been riding in Auckland safely fore the past 150 years - well done.

rick78

Thanks for the info.

I have also commuted for years around Birmingham and have had my fare share of bad drivers and riders, including one of the famous SMIDSY's.

So far in Auckland/North of Auckland (only been here a week, but have now notched up 600km) I have not experienced any aggression.

Ok, only 100km of this is rush hour driving, but I don't think its as bad as people say.

That said, there definitely isn't as many bike riders here as there are in the UK... maybe its got something to do with being able to drive a car at 15 without compulsory insurance... thats one very big problem!

I've already read of tragic accidents where a 16yr old has wrapped his V8 around a lampost and caused deaths... and the paper says what can we do??! I tell you what... compulsory insurance AND raise the drink age and driving age! Simples.

Anyway completely OT and rant over lol

barnsleymat

We ended up at Pakiri Beach today. A chavvy Staffy Bull Terrier roaming about in the car park attacked my dog, we finally dragged the dog off my dog and my dog was bleeding, we found some locals who said the dogs owner was away for the day.

We're still fuming, it came for another go at my dog but I had a big stick and I'd have killed it.

The dog wasn't tagged and just roaming free, I'm going to contact the Council tomorrow and pass them sone pics I took

rick78

definitely tell the council, the owner can be fined as far as i know - sorry to hear about the issues you had.

I saw an older dog there when I was there around a week ago... mainly white... looked like he had an atititude... sat right behind the car as we reversed!