JWW

I will only talk about the south of the city as this is where we live. Nice areas where you will get a house for around $250,000 to $350,000 include Somerfield, Halswell, Beckenham, Lower Cashmere, Cracroft and St Martins. The closer to the hills the better as a general guide. Don't buy on Columbo st as it is the main drag into town and can be a little boy racerish, as can Dyers Pass rd currently, although this is likely to change shortly as the Cashmere elite are upset.

Westmorland is probably the nicest area(IMO) followed by Cashmere, Huntsbury and Mt Pleasant. Cashmere primary is excellent, so are Halswell and Thorrington. Somerfield primary is also supposed to be good.

Cassa

Cashmere update - there has been a 100% improvement on the Dyers Pass and cashmere hills in general over the last few weeks as the council have dug up the Summit Hill car parks (where all the boy racers were going to burn cars out etc and drag race). So now the car parks are unsuitable for them they don't bother coming up! We should know, we live on Dyers Pass! ! So the residents of Cashmere sleep a little more easy in their beds at night! So the Cashmere elite must be doing something right, along with the police and the council as well as those hard working rangers on the port hills.

Wonder which neighbourhood they are tearing up now?

JWW

It's amazing how quickly things are dealt with once the Cashmere elite get upset. Must be some funny handshakes going on somewhere.

There be a lot of barristers on them there hills.

JWW

Probably Hornby....don't worry about it.

Cassa

Yes I would imagine there is! We are at the bottom of the hill so we don't make the elite crowd!!

I know that there are a group of people from 'up' the hill working on getting the government to do something about the loud mufflers on cars within New Zealand so it wont be long until the city is MUCH quieter........ What will the boy racers do then ? I am sure that these boy racers think that the more noise a car makes the more of a man they are! Bit like small bald men with fast expensive cars...... (sorry if that is anyone on here)

JWW

Yere it cracks me up. I can remember my wife overhearing a conversation between two mums at Cashmere primary. One of the mums was new and had obviously just told the other she lived in Lower Cashmere, to which the other replied "Oh the flat...what's it like living on the flat?"

Cassa

It is funny. Despite being attacked by others as being a snob we didn't know anything about the areas of Christchurch before we moved here. We bought our house at auction a few days after arriving (crazy I know!). We knew people in the area, wanted a view, that was important to us and we loved the house. I find the whole, how high you are on the hill thing very funny.

It is a lovely place to live and we love the cup and the new place Jack Flash on the corner. The river walks are a treat and we sit in bed at the weekends looking over the tree tops onto the city. Its really nice. Pity we are leaving, in lots of ways. House goes up for sale in 3 months....

SteveDK

JWW, Cassa - thanks so much for your comments, very valuable information.

Seems incredible that ones social status can be measured by how far up a hill you are (some aspects of human nature just don´t seem to change no matter where you are...!) - I bet there´s no difference in rates!

JWW

Ah, it's far more complex than how high up the hill you are. There is a triangle created by Dyers Pass, Hackthorne Rd and McMillian Ave....that is the 'dress circle'???. Plus all the little cul-de-sacs that spawn from this triangle.

It's all amusing really. It's the closest Christchurch gets to having 'old money'...houses get passed through generations, that sort of thing.

JWW

Have you thought about giving it another go. Maybe moving to Westmorland or something. The car thing would have been a blow but that can happen anywhere.

babybella

Gosh, I don't log on for a couple of days and Iv'e missed loads.
In Lower Hutt, Wellington to be on the 'flat' was more expensive.
I have been looking at property in Wellington, area's I would like to live in and I would seriously struggle to find anything under $400,000. But then I am a snob and not afraid to admit it.
KAZ

shepslady

Kaz you have to keep in mind that in general properties in the North are more expensive than the South & it seems the furthere North you go the higher properties become, eg Auckland is a lot higher than Wellington & Wellington is higher than Christchurch. Mind you the wages seem to be higher in The North than the South too but I have heard that Wellington is the place to go if you really want the big money & Im sure that has a lot with Wellington being the Capital of the country, with Parliament there & its The Business Centre of NZ etc!!

babybella

Hiya Shepslady,
Yes property in Wellington has got real expensive. I so wish we had not sold our house. We had some nightmare tenents which made us decide to sell. We now as we have not bought in the UK would struggle to buy that place back. Hindsight such a wonderful thing.
Glad the negative stuff you got did not put you off.
Hope things are going well for you son
Cheers
KAZ

shepslady

Thanks Kaz.
Yes they are loving it. She has a job working in Nottingham doing payroll for the Police!! Not great wages but it all helps & he is working in construction, something he just did as a hobby in NZ & is loving it but has to travel a lot. Based in Nottingham he has so far travelled to Leeds, Manchester & London. He says the money is great & the fact he gets to see new places all the time is an added bonus. They both tell me the only thing they have found expensive over there is shoes & that makes me laugh cos they are both fanatical shoe buyers so that has to be hurting them!!
Cheers
Shepslady

Damages

A SELF-CONFESSED snob? That's more like it. Big respect. Some of my best friends are snobs, it's denial I can't stand.

Phyllis