Wellington!!!!!!!!

[ebianca]

We will be settleing in Wellington once we land in NZ.

We have no job lined up yet but imagine it would be in the city centre for the line of work OH does.

My question is what areas are worth looking at- don't want more then an hr commute to work and need good school for the girls and a couple of local shops.

Want to be able to get a house on a decent size plot so the girls can have a good sized garden to play in and maybe grow some veggies etc.

[Jodie]

What kind of money wuld you want tp be spending? We lived in Johnsonville/Paparangi area for 3 years which was very family-friendly, it's got its own little shopping centre with mall and 2 supermarkets, schools, swimming pools, restaurants, 2 small bars, every take away you could ask for :) - pretty self contained and a 10 - 15 min drive into town outside rush hour, 30 - 40 min drive between 8am - 9am. Or you can get the train (20 mins) into town for about $3, and the bus was about the same too (obviously a bit longer in rush hour for the bus).

We were v happy there. Had a 1960's 3 bedroom house on a 640m2 section (pain in the arse to mow for us non-garden lovers but hey!) - that sold in April/May for just under $400k and I think house prices are still around the same down there (we moved to Tauranga so bit out of the Wellington loop now) maybe slightly lower these days. For a 4 bed you'd be looking at $450k plus in that kind of area I think.

Churton Park is also around there with much newer housing but a bit more expensive (bigger houses on the same size sections as ours was so not as much garden).

You can obviously move closer in or further out from thre but that gives you a good base!

[ebianca]

Well i've been doing some researching and have taken a liking to Porirua.

Has anyone been there or lived there to give me any info?

[Jodie]

hm... personally I wouldn't want to live in Porirua itself. The shopping centre side is ok (but that sall thats there - the mega centre and a mall), but the other side is, well, a bit 'rough' to put it bluntly. When we were in Welly I knew of a few people who parked their cars at the train station to commute to work and they got broken into etc. I certainly wouldn't have wanted to live there. So just be careful when looking at renting/house prices etc. They're a lot lower for a reason!

That said, Whitby, Paremata and maybe even Plimmerton are classed as Porirua I think but they're away from the rougher side and they're all very nice and near the water (but the prices are a lot higher to show for it).

[Taffy]

Thats a good tip for house shopping in NZ. If it's cheap, it's usually in a bad area or more than 2 hours from the nearest town! There are some cheap houses to have in good areas, but they are snapped up by developers and investors pretty quickly.

[hatter5]

Porirua's reputation seems rooted within its demographics.

Without checking exact figures a guestimate of 55% of European descent, 35% Pacific Islander & Maori with the remainder Asian (all ethnicities).

A lot of Islanders come to NZ for a better life too but without the luxury of ?'s to lift them onto the property ladder. The vast majority are honest and hardworking families living on incomes that I would have no hope of surviving on nor would I wish to live in State Housing.

Fortunately for everyone else in NZ (excluding AKL & ChCh) all the crime occurs here so rest easy.

Actually thinking about it the Bay of Plenty has been in the headlines over the past few months with high numbers of Drink Drivers and Boy Racers.

We came to NZ to be open-minded and to integrate with all New Zealanders.

[ebianca]

Looking at other areas aswell- anyone any first hand advice on the Hutt Valley- seems i may have a better chance of getting the house i want there- 4bed with good sized garden for kids and veggies etc and still commutable into Welli for OH job.

[Dawn]

Beth, you really need to keep an open mind because NZ is nothing like you expect it to be. The towns, and most of them are actually more like townships, are like nothing you've seen anywhere in the UK. Don't forget that a lot of the roads aren't that great for commutes, most of them are single lane and the Hutt roads into Welli will be busy. You'l be lucky to find a house with a decent patch of land in Welli, that's one of the reasons we decided not to settle there although we really liked the feel of the place.

I'm not saying you won't get what you want, I'm saying keep an open mind and be prepared to reconstruct any mental picture you have when you get here. The unfamiliarity could blow your mind if you are too set in your ways.

[hatter5]

Hutt Valley has an even worse reputation than Porirua depending on who you talk to.

Don't get too hung up on where to live permanently as you'll have to judge places as you find them.

I would concentrate on finding a rental - for us the Johnsonville area was great in that it ticked a lot of boxes - as this will be harder than you think. Motel costs quickly add up.

Contact my wife, she can give you her experience as she actually lives in the area day in and day out whereas I commute and spend my day at work.

[ebianca]

I am pretty open minded as to where we end up living.
It is OH that is drawing us to welli for job reasons and seen as we can't get to stay in NZ without the job then Wellli it is.

We have booked a holiday let in Tawa for the fiurst 8 weeks and will go from there.
OH will be fine with a commute of about an hour- he does about 1 1/2 hrs at the mo to get into Manchester everyday.

I may have to sacrafice my garden slightly but anything will be better than what i have here as i don't have one- i suppose there are plenty of parks around.