Renting a house to start with

Hi Milliemoo,

When we arrived in Auckland it wasn't the same place as it was when we were last here almost 3 years ago...

So, we looked for a place just outside Auckland as as the current trend at the moment is that most people are escaping Auckland into the northern part (North Shore) we found a 2 bedroom townhouse in Devonport, fully furnished for $420/wk.

The first two weeks that we were here, we stayed at a serviced apartment. We then got the NZ Herald out and scanned it thoroughly for fully furnished accommodation. To our dissappointment, there weren't that many available. We had set our budget even to $500/wk and after seeing 2 other options that were in such a bad state, we were very happy to have found this house here in Devonport... But now... hubby got a job in Wellington!! Arghhhh.... :icon_confused:

But to your questions:
My first impressions of the area was that it is quite and pretty... It is very small and hasn't got a lot of shops but you will be able to get by... It is much more expensive though here than in Auckland City... There is a very close community spirit that people in Devonport are very proud off... They even have a welcome gathering for newcomers every Friday morning at the Community Hall...

We haven't stayed that long in Devonport to know what area's to avoid... and I'm sorry but we haven't been in Birkenhead either...

What I've heard and seen about the ferry's is that they are very reliable and it only takes 8 minutes to get to Auckland City... We haven't been on it though... With the car it is also only 10-15 minutes into the city... Fortunately we haven't been caught in traffic so far...

Depending if you want a fully furnished house or not, you will need to look hard if you would like to spend $400/wk...
But when are you coming over? It's not going to be this or next week is it?? That's a shame... because I really can recommend the place where we live at the moment... :icon_wink:

Well, I hope I have been a little bit of help for you... Let me know if you would like to know more...

Good luck!
Hafi

Hi Jodie,

It would be great if you could help us out!!

We really don't want to spend more than $500.-/wk on a min. 2 bedroom - fully furnished house/apartment...

Hubby just had a job offer to work in the City Centre...

Any places for us to avoid in Wellington?

And just being curious... how do you find it living there now? How's the weather... Is it really Windy-Wellington?? :icon_wink:


Cheers,
Hafi

Hi Hafi,

Thanks for the great info! :icon_biggrin:

We aren't coming over till Spring 06 (sounds ages, but it's only 18 months!). We'll be looking for an unfurnished house to start with. I'd ideally like to arrange it from the UK, so we can move in as soon as we arrive. We'll be visiting the area in Nov 05 and plan to mark on a map all the streets we wouldn't mind living on, and then when we come to renting, hopefully it'll be a bit easier to organise from the UK. It'll also be a good way to get to know the area in such a short space of time....... that's the plan anyway :icon_eek: icon_exclaim.gif

How's the weather been since you've been there ? Better/worse than you expected?

Milliemoo :icon_wink:

Hi Milliemoo,

The weather was at first much better than I expected coming from an English summer to an Auckland winter... When we arrived it was so bright and so nice in the sun... But in the shade it was quite cold... Also at night it can be very chilly... But then again, I'm not very used to cold weather so I'm easily cold...

Now, the spring is starting to come through... We have some rain but not as bad as in the UK... Basically it is quite nice... I just can't wait till the summer start properly :icon_biggrin:

By the way, I've had a word with our landlords, Bryan & Penny Sawyer...
They are such nice people...! Basically they have a history in real estate, but have got their own properties now in Devonport, which they rent out...
I asked them if it was ok to tell you their email address... I thought it would be handy if you're interested in moving to Devonport...
Well, Penny said for you to drop them a line nearer the time so they can send you more info including pictures of what they have available... (with them you don't need to pay any agency fees!)
Their email address is: bp.sawyer@xtra.co.nz

Hope you don't mind me promoting them...!! I just think they are fab!

Well, good luck with your preps and remember to have fun!!

Hafi :icon_biggrin:

Hafi..... You're an absolute gem! :041:

Thank you sooooooooooooooo much. I will keep that until nearer the time and then drop them a line.

Let us know how you get on in Wellington (Ithink there's quite a crowd down there). When do you have to move?

Milliemoo :icon_wink:

Hi Hafi,

We're renting a 2 bedroom 'townhouse' (basically a 2 storey unit in a row of 4) in Johnsonville which is about a 10/20 min drive North of the city (outside/in rush hour) for $230 a week. It's unfurnished, but that seems to be what a lot of the properties are. It's got a cooker and a dryer, but we picked up a lounge suite/bed/fridge freezer out of the trade qand exchange - it'll do for now while we get settled!

Johnsonville seems like a nice areq so far - been here nearly a month now. Places closer to the city which in my opinion are nice are: Kandallah (a bit more pricey), Wadestown, Karori, Thorndon & Island Bay (again a bit pricier) - these are to the North of the city. South of the city is Miramar (not that nice and right next to the airport so best avoided!), Melrose, Mount Victoria (really pricey!) and a few others but I can't remember the names! Kelburn is right in the centre and quite studenty cos it's near the uni. Avoid Newtown and Berhampore cos we've been told that some areas here are not particularly nice although we don't know about them ourselves. We were looking at 2 bed places and saw that close to the centre you can get something for around $300 - $400 per week, but a little further out you can get more for your dollars. Lower Hutt is another place to consider, but it's only accesible by 1 highway which gets REALLY busy during rush hours, so I'd avoid it if I were you. As for Upper Hutt, locals say that if you live in Upper Hutt, you'd love to move to the city, but if you live in the city, you wouldn't touch Upper Hutt with a barge pole! Make of that what you will!

Any more help, let me know. When are you guys arriving?

Jod
:icon_cool:

Hi Jodie!

This is great! Thank you very much... What is going to happen is that my husband will go to Wellington end of this week and he's got a print of what you wrote to go and see the area's... My baby and I will stay up in Auckland for about 2 weeks before coming over...

I'm really curious how Wellington is...

Hafi
:icon_biggrin:

Good luck with the house hunt - there are many more areas than those I listed that are nice, and we've only been here a few weeks so don't take it as gospel, but if there's anything else I can help with, just ask away! (Another place I;ve heard that's nice is Ngaio, Northland and Aro Valley which is nearer the centre...)

Wellington's quite nice at the moment - today was really warm and sunny actually - yay! Hope the weather holds out and it's nice when you get here - the winds can get a little strong but it doesn;t generally affect day to day life.

Good luck!

Jodie