vernog

Hi,
we have just had our medicals and are in the last stages of getting our residents visa, based on a job offer in Tauranga.
Trouble is, we can't sell our house in the UK as the market is dire.
We are considering renting it out but are woried about being on the other side of the world with all our cash stuck in a house in the UK.
If we do this we will need 2 salary's to afford to live, so 2 questions:

Has anyone rented out there house and emigrated, how did it go, was it manageable from NZ?

What is the job market like in Tauranga at the moment and are immigrants able to get good jobs?

Margaret Parkinson

Our daughter and family decided to emigrate but had not sold their house. They changed their mortgage to interest only and took out the equity. My daughter gave me Power of Attorney and her husband gave his sister Power of Attorney. They rented out the house to someone they knew on a monthly basis but kept it on the market. They sold it in August 2007 had the money transfered to NZ but have kept it in stirling until the exchange rate is better. They are quite happy to rent at the moment.

Both of them found work.

howden40

Most rentals are unfurnished. Depending on where you choose to settle in the Tauranga area rental will be extremely expensive during the summer.

We were offered a friend of a friends flat for $350 a week (furnished) but only until December then it would go up to $2,000 a week.

We arrived at the right time really took on a furnished 2 bed rental at the end of the season, wouldn't want to rent during the season.

I'm sure this is more depressing than helpful, but it's not all bad, stay away from the popular tourist areas. We checked out rental accom on the net and that was seriously depressing, only showed holiday lets.

In reality if you choose the right areas the prices are not too bad. Choice of areas is more dependent on work as the roads are not as good as ours for commuting (not always able to take a detour if accident on road), Tony's employer took us out and showed us which areas to look for living in, and gave us accommodation while arranging rentals we were very lucky.

Sorry, but honestly it is not all doom and gloom, the vast majority of us have started off in rental you just need to allow for it when you come over and budget when you get here. We survived on 1 salary it was tight but we managed.

What type of employment are you after?

Pauline

vernog

Thanks Pauline.
Currently in the UK I am an office manager but am willing to do anything so hope that means I should find something???
My husbands job offer is in Greerton ( Maleme Street) so I guess we would be better off living there or Pyes Pa or Welcome Bay??

Am Loolah

Hi, I can't really help on the job front as it really depends on what you'll do and helps if you are here. You can go to www.priorityone.co.nz and register for their fortnightly job vacancies in the area which might help you keep an eye on whats about.

Most rentals are unfurnished and there are many more around currently than there were say 6 months ago.

Worth having a look on TradeMe, but you won't be able to register without a NZ address to correspond with anyone on there.

Also look at www.realestate.co.nz; www.allrealestate.co.nz and www.eves.co.nz

Pyes Pa is by far the nicest option of the areas you have mentioned, in my opinion!

Markk

I wouldn't restrict yourselves to living in those areas. You can be from one side of Tauranga to the other in 20-30 minutes and you'll find traffic is nothing like you are used to. The exception would be Welcome Bay/Maungatapu which has a traffic problem in the rush 'hour' and I wouldn't commute between Papaomoa/Mt Maunganui and anywhere in Tauranga unless you work unusual hours in which case it would be feasible.
We live in Matua and I regularly go to Greerton...it's a breeze.

Markk

don't forget this one.....http://www.nz.open2view.com/

vernog

Thanks very much for all the info, really useful links.
We were over a couple of years ago (emigrated lock stock and barrel) and lived in Tauranga but stupidly came back to the UK. Realised what a mistake it had been and are now all systems go to get back.
So, we know the area as it was then - probably grown alot since 2006?
We loved Matua but have thought it out of our price bracket. With renting however, it could be an option....

It terrifies me to leave the house here but it looks like we have no other option - well except to stay in the UK....not really very appealing!

nic.gem.soph

If you don't mind me asking why did you come back?

Nic

Moomoo

Hi Vernog

We are in a similar situation. My husband has a job offer and we are heading towards Auckland. We are going to book our medicals shortly, but are a little hesitant as our house is on the market too.

It has been on the market since February, with a bit of interest at first, but when the 'credit crunch' was on the tv daily, the viewings dropped off. We are now looking at renting the house out, which is not ideal, as we were hoping to use some of the equity to pay for the immigration process.

We have instructed our estate agents to start marketing the house for rent, looking at renting it out initially for a year. We will be changing our mortgage to 'interest only' if we rent out and our estate agents will be managing the property for us. We are obviously concerned that we won't get a tenant and the fact that we won't be here to check on the property, but it looks as though this might be the only way forward in the current housing climate.

We will keep the house on the market and also look for a tenant, and whichever comes along first, we will go with.

It is really difficult though to work out timings of when the property could be vacant for a tenant, and when we could arrange for our belongings to be packed, along with the timings of medicals and things ...

Good luck!

Moomoo

vernog

Hi Nic - it is difficult to pinpoint exactly what made us come back except that we found aspects of NZ not quite how we expected and it put a strain on our marriage (still together though!!). In hindsight however, and having been back in the UK for nearly 2 years those issues seem less and forums like this open up endless oppotunities to meet people who are all doing the same thing.

Hi Moomoo - we are at the same stage, have been on the market since early this year, had a fair amount of viewings but the media covergae is awful at the moment so we too are stuck.
I am getting letting agents in this week and seeing the mortgage company to borrow additional money to fund our first few months until I can find a job. Not ideal and really scary. Problem is, don't know when the market will pick up!
Good luck!

nic.gem.soph

Hi, am glad you're still together. We are in same boat as well, having to arrange renting our house out, 2 others in the street have been on market for ages and no interest. Luckily mother's house is opposite ours and is empty at moment so hopefully as/if/when we arrange removals we can go over to hers until we actually leave.

Moomoo - Hi where abouts in auckland are you going?

Nic

Moomoo

Hi Nic - we are heading towards East Auckland - these are the areas we have been researching - Eastern Beach, Cockle Bay, Mellons Bay, Howick, Botany, etc - the three school we have been researching are Botany Downs Secondary, Macleans College and Howick College - we also want to be relatively near the ice rink at Botany so the kids can continue their interests. Husband's job will be based in Manukau. Eastern Auckland seems quite popular with a few expats on here based in that area. Looks very nice too.

Hi Vernog - I wish we could tell when the market will pick up, hopefully within a year's time if we rent for that amount of time initially. We went in to see our estate agents on Saturday and have instructed them to start marketing as a rental - had a phone call this morning saying two potential lettees would like to view this week. The market is definitely leaning towards more rentals. I have noticed more properties which have been up for sale for a while being marketed now as rentals and some saying 'let arranged' pretty quickly after being marketed for rent.

Good luck in whatever you choose to do

ldwilliams

[QUOTE=Moomoo;6472522]Hi Nic - we are heading towards East Auckland - these are the areas we have been researching - Eastern Beach, Cockle Bay, Mellons Bay, Howick, Botany, etc - the three school we have been researching are Botany Downs Secondary, Macleans College and Howick College - we also want to be relatively near the ice rink at Botany so the kids can continue their interests. Husband's job will be based in Manukau. Eastern Auckland seems quite popular with a few expats on here based in that area. Looks very nice too.

Hi Moomoo,
I live in Mellons Bay (next door to Howick, Cockle Bay etc) and love it! We have been here just under 1 year. My children are young (4 & 5) so I can't comment on the schools except to say that I have heard that Macleans College is good if your child is quite academic and Howick College is good if they are creative and arty.

My neighbour commutes from here to Manukau every day after dropping her children off at school and it doesn't take her too long (less than 30 mins).

What I wanted to say is don't worry about living too close to the ice rink because from any of those areas it should only take you about 15 mins to get there. The traffic is nothing like the UK and there are good, wide roads to get there, with more than one route.

There are lot of UK people in the Eastern Suburbs and you are more than welcome!

PS) Good luck with renting out your property in the UK - definitely the best thing to do. And when you sell, leave your money in Sterling until the exchange rate picks up - that's what we have done.

krissie

hiya!
we left our house on the market in the UK but we didnt rent it out. gave power of attorney to both sets of parents.
rentals in greerton area can range from $250 +. depends on bedrooms etc and section size... were in ohauiti and theres rentals here, for example, 4 bedrms, around $400 per wk. Pyes Pa would be around the same...
good luck!