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Where to live in Wellington

Where to live in Wellington

Old Feb 17th 2010, 11:37 am
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Default Where to live in Wellington

hi everyone,

I was having a browse on here but had no luck in finding answers to my burning question...so thought I would ask it myself....where are the nice areas to live in Wellington? I am moving to Wellington in April and am looking for ideas of places to live. Ideally somewhere within easy reach of the centre as would have to be using public transport. Where are the green areas and are there any areas to avoid ????

Many Thanks.
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Old Feb 17th 2010, 2:08 pm
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Default Re: Where to live in Wellington

Hi,

It depends what exactly you want from where you live.
The Eastern Suburbs have a lot going for them, Lyall Bay, Hataitai, Evans Bay, Seatoun, Miramar, Kilbirnie etc, they are near beaches, have a decent array of shops, cafes, bars etc and are mostly good areas that are close to the city by car or bus, also they’re close to the airport.
Porirua has a large (for NZ) shopping mall, but there are parts of that area I wouldn’t choose to live in, there are just better places. Newlands is nice and very accessible and has a lot of really nice new build houses, also it’s close to Johnsonville for shops.
As for places to avoid, as I said, some parts of Porirua, Te Aro, anything past Porirua is getting to being a bit more travel than the other areas as far as getting to the city is concerned.
I lived in Lyall Bay for 2 years, loved it, great beach, shops, cafes, but there are a lot of good places, depends what you want.
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Old Feb 17th 2010, 10:23 pm
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Default Re: Where to live in Wellington

Do you need to take kids into account and will you be buying or renting? If renting then availability of a property you are comfortable with (e.g. some heating maybe) will drive the decision.
Look at school decile on the TKI website to give you an idea of how posh a neighbourhood is (most of central Wellington is decile 10 with a few pockets which are lower in Miramar and Mount Cook and Newtown) and you will find house prices and rents tend to reflect the school decile to some extent. But anything with decent heating will cost 200 dollars a month more than a similar property without heating. There is little decent in Central Wellington at the moment below 600 pw for 3-4 beds and it is possible to pay much more.

The most expensive areas are Oriental Bay, Roseneath and Mount Victoria because of their views and proximity to town but do you really want to be clinging onto the hillside so precariously?
If not then for nice residential area with facilities you probably can't beat Khandallah, Ngaio etc etc without going much further out to the modern estates in Churton Park, Newlands and increasingly Woodville.
Khandallah whilst still very central is also very close to Johnsonville which has a large shopping area but the best UK style Mall is Queensgate at Lower Hutt.
Karori is another decile 10 residential area popular with expats. I actually don't live in any of the suburbs I have mentioned but I know people who do and can honestly say within central Wellington there aren't really any absolute 'no gos' unless you need to be in a particular school zone.

If renting, your choice will be driven by what's available at the time...so probably best not to get too many fixed ideas in advance. You could even live in Kelburn (University suburb) and get the cable car down into the CBD each day. Nowhere in the central area is that far apart in UK terms anyway...another factor to bear in mind.

Last edited by luvwelly; Feb 17th 2010 at 10:26 pm.
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Old Feb 17th 2010, 10:53 pm
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Default Re: Where to live in Wellington

Probably best to give us an idea of what your situation / priorities are.

As has been said, if you have school age kids, school zones are an important issue.

As for public transport, actually many people travel from as far away as Carterton / Masterton and Paraparamu by train. Alot more drive from the top of the Hutt valley and Kapiti coast, and Wellington city has a fairly good bus system, so really no suburb is off limits.

Sort of things to consider are;

Weather - better in the Hutt valley and over the hill in Porirua / Kapiti Coast
Beaches - best ones on Kapiti Coast
Schools - look at the TKI site (http://www.tki.org.nz/e/schools/) but the better high schools are in the City (with one or two exceptions)
Shopping - City, Porirua or Lower Hutt have the largest malls / selection of shops
Open sapces - most places have access to some but some inner city suburbs are limited
House type - newer houses (with better building standards) are in Churton park, Woodville, Whitby, Aotea, Hutt Valley (various areas), Newlands
Views - just about anywhere if you don't mind living on a hill
Living somewhere flat - Hutt Valley, Kapiti

Let us know what you are looking for
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Old Feb 17th 2010, 11:35 pm
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Default Re: Where to live in Wellington

thanks for your responses guys, I'm sorry I was a bit vague before. Myself and my partner (24 & 21) are heading over on a working holiday visa and we don't have any children. we don't have jobs lined up yet but we will be relying on public transit to be able to get to work (most likely town centre).
our budgets aren't low but we don't want to be ripped off. we will be hoping for 1 or 2 bedrooms for $1400 including bills. We have decided on Wellington but if we don't enjoy it we could always move elsewhere, there is nothing tying us anywhere.
How common is it to find a furnished place? and how easy would it be to pick up some cheap furniture?

Thanks again guys.
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Old Feb 17th 2010, 11:46 pm
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Default Re: Where to live in Wellington

Bearing what you say, I would go for somewhere central (Mount Vic, Mount Cook, Kelburn, Roseneath, Oriental, Thorndon).

Did you mean $1400 a week or a month? Is that Kiwi $. Rentals here are priced per week but paid per two weeks or month. All will include rates, and water but not electricity or gas.

Furnished places are rarer but can be found. Be aware most leases are for a minimum of 6 months, and are fixed term.

You can get 'managed appartments' which are furnished.

Have you tried Trademe.co.nz to try and find a rental. Probably the best place to start if you are looking from overseas?

You can rent furniture or buy stuff second hand again on Trademe but it is more expensive than other countries and/or the qaultiy is poor (you should see some of the matteresses they are trying to sell.....UGH!)

Hope that helps.

Jan
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Old Feb 18th 2010, 6:15 am
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Default Re: Where to live in Wellington

Have just checked on trademe, if you only want 2 beds you will be able to get sth even centrally for 350-500pw. Wait till you get here would be my advice, look on Trademe and rent as nice a place as you can afford as centrally as possible and then just walk everywhere and keep effortlessly fit.

Furnished ones are rarer the more bedrooms you want but some do exist as Wooly Cow says, unfortunately you can't just search for furnished ones on TradeMe(they tend to stick around for longer as most people want unfurnished) so you have to do a full search and then plough through.

Last edited by luvwelly; Feb 18th 2010 at 6:19 am.
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