Wellington

[ebianca]

More serious questions.

Well we will be heading to Wellington when we make our move to NZ (probably Jan/Feb).

My husband will be working in IT so will prob be working in Central Wellington.

What areas would be a good place to live where we could get a nice 3/4 bed house with a good size garden for the girls. Need to be near good school too as eldest would be due to start school in August.

Don't mind commuting- prob max of 45mins.

Would be looking to rent for the first 12months or so until we find our feet etc so what kind of price should we be looking at?

Any advice would be appreciated.

Beth

[LilAmy]

Hi Beth,

We pretty much love most suburbs around Wellington and the great thing is it has excellent public transport.

I couldnt comment on pricing for a house to fit you all in as Stu and I have only ever rented small places but certainly some nice places to rent are:

Kelburn - By the botanic gardens, 3mins by cable car into Lambton Quay (centre of wellington) 10-15mins by bus ($2.50 one way tix). This is a cute very family orientated village and has a local school in the centre of it. We lived there for a few months when we first arrived and met lots of young families. Only problem is it is about 2 degrees colder than the rest of Wellie!

Hataitai and parts of Kilbirnie - It's about a 10min bus ride into town again only $2.50 lovely family homes there but I'm not sure what the schools are like. Again it has a lovely little street with a local dairy, some eateries chemist etc everything you need. And is close to Pak n Save and Woolworth for food shopping.

Island Bay - About 20-25mins by bus $3.50 one way fare. It's georgous but pricey there. Again not sure about schools.

We stayed in Miramar for 6 months which is about 15mins by bus $3.50 one way and we liked it there. Its more affordable for your money and is an up and coming area. The only issue we had was the noise from the planes. There were a couple of schools in walking distance but I dont know their reputation.

Mt Victoria is also lovely just quite expensive and hilly if you have a few kids.

Unfortunately I dont know much about the other area's in Wellington. You would most certainly get more for your money further a field in Johnsonville, Petone, and the Hutt Valleys but I dont know much about those areas.

As for pricing I can only tell you what two bedrooms places cost:

Miramar we paid $350 a week this was fully furnished, own carpark, private back garden

Kelburn we paid $200 a week fully furnished, no views, no garden or parking and it was attached to our landlords house

Te Aro, Central Wellington $650 fully furnished, all bills included except internet no parking very noisey at night!

If you need anything else just yell!

To be honest there's not really an area you should really avoid most in central and around Wellington are decent.

[hatter5]

It is hard to find a property with a good sized garden especially a flat one in Wellington. We rented a back section house with a small strip of garden surrounding it and a driveway and our kids were fine running around the house and we all adapted in no time.

Schools don't seem to be a problem - even those with a lower decile rating are good.

A contractor at work stated he happy to use state schooling for his kids and didn't see the need for a private education which he could have afforded.


"For a house in the Northern Suburbs of Wellington you can expect to pay anything from $400K to $600K. If a 20 minute train commute into CBD isn't too off putting then certain suburbs of lovely Porirua are worth considering - a new build 4 bedroomed single level house for around $500K. In the not so lovely suburbs then an ex state house would cost around $300K."

Kapiti coast is another option and is commutable - Paraparaumu/Raumati are 40 minutes on the train (fast train) to CBD but longer if driving.

The weather is also better than central Wellington.

[Dawn]

We spent a few days in Welli and checking out the area Beth and we were disappointed. Welli is beaut, you'll love it. It has a fantastic feel and the whole thing around the bay is indescribable. It is truly stunning and that was on a grey day in the middle of winter. But as for finding a place you and your girls? I can empathise with that and that is why we ended up back in Hamilton.

We were dead set on Welli (well as dead set as you can be from the other side of the world) being the centre for performing arts and all but it just didn't hit the spot as far as the family life is concerned,

Go with an open mind Beth. You're making a fresh start and you can make that start anywhere. Bear that in mind

[hatter5]

"We spent a few days in Welli" tut tut :]

We drove through Hamilton for maybe 20 minutes to get to somewhere else, totally missing out the Dick O'Brien shrine. Bovvered Nah.

The lifestyle choices based around an IT job (that you can afford to live on) are basically Yuckland, ChCh or Wellington.

Unbiased opinions are free..

[LilAmy]

Hi,

It's interesting hearing the comments on Wellie. When we first visited Wellie for a few days in 2005 I didnt like it. It rained and it was soo windy and I remember thinking Cambridge Street and Courtenay Place were old and run down looking.

When returning late 2006 to live here I was much of the same impression and felt quite low for the first few weeks. Once we'd been here a bit longer I was surprised to find that my impression of Wellie changed.

A lot of people misunderstand it I think. It has many beautiful suburbs and you only truly get the feel for them if you spend a good amount of time in them and see what it is like to live there. Just like anywhere.

As Hatter said re IT work you are really limited to Wellie, ChCh and AKL as you wont get the same wages anywhere else.

You can live on the outskirts here and travel in say somewhere up the Kapiti Coast and have a lovely rural feel of life but still manage to earn the dollar.

It's really interesting hearing peoples impressions on different places. Just shows how differently we all think about things.

I think it's all a personal opinion and it's only you that can make the choice.

We're off travelling in a week for a few months again and we'll return to Wellie to start with but I dont know if we will settle here. I think we'll use it as a stepping stone to save some cash before hitting more rural NZ....

[Dawn]

We loved Wellington as well Amy. It really appealed to us, we loved the feel of the place. It really did 'speak' to us. The way the houses cling to the hillsides clustered around the bay, the poetic feelings of liberation the harbour initiates in word and image, the excitement of the unknown that all port cities hold is tangible, almost like each ship large or small holds a portal into another culture. I sat for hours down there just watching the comings and goings of an exotic world I know so sadly little about.

There just wasn't the space for the same dreamer to ride her horse with the wind blowing through her hair nor for spirited children to roll down hillsides strewn with wild flowers and that is why we couldn't stay.

We'll be back though. So look out!!

[MotherBear]

Originally Posted by LilAmy

We're off travelling in a week for a few months again and we'll return to Wellie to start with but I dont know if we will settle here.

Sad to see you go again, Amy, but I'm sure you'll have a wonderful time. Enjoy your adventures and we'll look forward to seeing you when you return.

[Jodie]

OK - house prices in Wellington? We sold our 3 bedroom house on 670m2 section in Paparangi (the hill between Johnsonville and Newlands in the Northern suburbs) for $395k in May. It was an unexpectedly high price to be fair - the agent didn't expect it to go for more than $385k (it was on the market for BBO $375k!!) but at the time there was very little around in the 'first time buyers' market so we were quite lucky. It was a pretty up together house - not particularly huge (about 90m2 I think but for 2 of us it was fine) but we'd put a new kitchen in and done a bit of renovation. It had polished wood floors and tidy bathroom, and fantastic sun and quite sheltered from the wind (VERY important in Welly!!) and we had a lot of interest so that's a good starting point for you.

Paparangi/Johnsonville is about a 30 - 40 minute drive into town in rush hour (the motorway gets really busy) or 10 mins outside rush hour. The train takes 20 mins so is a pretty good option for peak times (and i think it was like $3 each way or less if you get a multi-ticket card).

Johnsonville has a great little hub - 2 supermarkets, 2 bars, a little mall with clothes/DVD/book shops etc and food court. They're talking of putting another level on the mall so will get more facilities in the future too. Johnsonville itself has some good areas, as does Churtomn park (houses here are newer and a tad more expensive - probably startijng around $450k upwards for 3/4 bedrooms I'd guess.

Newlands (which is the other side of the hill to Johnsonville) is a mixed area. It's not rough, but there are some fantastic areas and some stunning views over the harbour (but these houses generally face south and get slammed by the southerly - not great in Welly as you'll learn!) then there are some cheaper areas and you get what you pay for.

Newlands College serves pretty much all these suburbs I think, but there's also a couple of schools in J'Ville and Onslow College in Khandallah (about 5 mins closer to town - quite an expensive suburb with nice housing and views) i think is supposed to be qiute good... sorry - we haven't got kids so only going frm what I've heard about the schools :o)

Anyway, thats all for now - any more questions about the Northern suburbs then give me a shout. We live there for 3 years so have a reasonable experience of the area!

Cheers,
Jod