Jack The Lad

Oh your teasing me

The other thing I need is names of areas ie Kamo (dunno if its nice or not) that are nice

Cheers

uk+kiwi

Where's this then? Waipu? Am thinking of having a look at this area on open2view, but not sure where to look exactly. Having looked at Northland the other day, things were a LOT more expensive than I thought they would be - ie a lot over $1m which I class as expensive and also surprised me. But 300k with land and room to add value through improvements (is this viable from an estate agent point of view?) seems much more realistic. Looking good!

pixi-dust

were the over $1million ones with sea views? Up where we are thats the sort of price those go for - and IMHO all your paying for is the view - recently a friend of mine was looking at properties in this price range ( !!) and I was with her and to say they were mostly shocking is an understatement!!!!! the houses were without exception horrible!!!!! ( now, that could just have been the ones that we looked at!) but they were even dirty and uncared for - i was amazed - really. I mean if I was selling a house in the million mark I'd at least make sure it was tidy! I thought the whole thing was hilarious - but my poor friend was so depressed.

So if you dont want a sea view there are much more affordable houses - ours is inthe countryside with 22 acres and amazing - and it was less than half of that.

I'm sorry I can't help specifically with Kamo - I do know its a residential area as I drive through it to get into town. It looks nice

uk+kiwi

Hi - In some ways what you write is reassuring as I agree entirely. The inspiring houses were incredibly expensive. A sea view would be lovely but not essential - as a wise real estate agent once told me, 80% of people buying a home never buy what they thought they wanted. My current house is testament to this fact, although was really a factor of limited supply of houses and a timescale to meet since we were moving areas.

In true DIY fashion, I am now going to cut out the material for my daughter's halloween outfit (pumpkin) now having just completed the template. I have asked her to love the outfit regardless of how it ends up since a seamstress I am not! She's only 5 - how critical can she be??!!

sky

That beach looks really nice, I like the fact that it's got a bit of rock on it and looks more covey (if you know what I mean) than the beaches down here.
When we first arrived in NZ and the kids were at school and pre school I visited a nearby beach on my own.
It was like walking into a scene from Castaway, I can't describe the feeling, it was magic!
I was the only person there on this golden beach with the most blue sea I had ever seen.

Apple12

Have you taken the kids to Taylors mistake? Over the hill from Sumner, and a wonderful cove and often very good surfing. Nice walks out to Boulder Bay and onto Godley Head.

sky

Yes been that way, It's just more handy for us to go to the beaches this side

P2L

90 Mile Beach has to be the ultimate place to do a CASTAWAY

soulflour

Yes, that beach is waipu cove. <-- that was us when we first saw our new home!!

I can't really advise you on specific suburbs of whangarei (Kamo is a suburb). If you want a really short drive into town they're worth looking at and I can certainly get the folk at work to give me their thoughts (i'm working tomorrow) - some of them live in Whangarei and commute out to Waipu!

Around this area (Waipu & Langs beach) yes, if you want a sea view you won't get much under $1million (although my office has lots of sections with sea views, some fantastic ones at the moment priced under valuation at $585k). But tbh, if you're more realistic you can get something like our place, and still be a 5 min drive to the sea!. There is so much sectioning up going on at present, mainly into 'lifestyle blocks' of around 10acres - there'll be land available here for years to come! ha ha.

The bigwigs at Whangarei council had a meeting in our office the other day to discuss the development of waipu (which they're being quite conservative about, thank goodness, to "preserve the size and community"). But even so there are still about 100 new sections being given the go-ahead.

Other suburbs that are nice are Tikipunga (although still quite 'suburban') and Onerahi - which is further around the coast towards mount manaia.

Ruakaka is 13kms closer to Whangarei than Waipu, it's where the local high school is (Bream Bay College). Personally I much prefer Waipu because it has that villagey feel to it that some of us Brits seem to love, but lots of people like it too. The surf beach there is great. But there's the oil refinery (which weirdly doesn't effect house prices or people's enjoyment of an area in they way it would in England - that's a big cultural difference!). AND a power statiion. They're just completing a HUGE marina and luxury living development there, where the small sections started at around $700k! it's mad. They're putting it big waterways for the boats to travel up. Can you imagine that happening in Britain?

It's quite refreshing really - the kiwi attitude is 'well we need electricity and oil, what's the problem? '.

This is one of the new estates there:

la pointe

Good luck!

SF

Jack The Lad

That looks nice. Thanks

We would want to be mortgage free so will be looking under the $500,000 mark, hopefully nearer $400,00

I think a trip out in January will be busy

soulflour

ooooh, well if i were in enviable position, I'd personally be looking at some of the really beautiful rural sections round here at around 3-10acres with a view to building (or ideally, since this is MY fantasy!) relocating an old villa!

Those developments like the one above aren't really my thing, tbh, but do give you some idea of what's going on around here.

You could buy a gorgeous private little bit of paradise of your own for around $200-$300k, which you could certainly put a decent house on for your $500k budget, but could still do (esp if you're into building yourself?!) for your $400, if you stick to the cheaper sections. Even in that cheaper range you'll still be getting 1-2hectares if you find the right one.

but all this, of course, is only in THIS area - and there are many, many areas to explore! ha ha

What fun!

SF

Jack The Lad

I have ahd a barn renovated before. But I didnt do a thing, Im useless at it so would have to pay a builder

So you think you could have a house built including the land for around $500k?

soulflour

yes!

Jack The Lad

Now Im really scheming

Jack The Lad

Waipu- OK now Im interested. Just how far and how long does it take from Whangarei?

Looks soooo nice