[nippa&pippa]

Look like estate agents had busy nights then! Congratulation to Sam B BTW :clap .

We went to view this house http://www.rwhornby.co.nz/show?rd=1&ref=HBY10924, and soon we walked in, the house was feel right for us and place offer straight away!! Can't believe we did that but the house feel just right for us with potential to extend an extra bedroom & study, and turn garage into sleepout for our family when they come to stay.

At first, we aims for old building etc with character in middle of nowhere etc but then we realised that with very young children, our top priority is warm house and practical, within resonable distance to kindergarten, then primary school and children's club like playcentre etc.
Off to sign the 2nd contract tomorrow and hopefully move within 2 months...Yes, hopefully before baby arrive.

When we know for sure on the moving date, then our rental property will be avaliable to rent as we will need to find someone....

[Moorf]

Fantastic Sophia!! Look at all that land! Fingers crossed for straight-forward purchase :nice1

We sure are a lucky lot, all these gorgeous houses people are buying :yes

[Lupin]

Looks gorgeous!!!! Hope you'll all be very, very happy there :)

[wiki]

That's gorgeous! Well done Sophia and family. I hope you'll be really happy there

[speckythecky]

Looks like the estate agents have had a great weekend and have managed to get a couple of lovely properties off their books,

Someone leave somewhere for us, please.

Hope all goes well and you are in before the new arrival

[nippa&pippa]

Fantastic Sophia!! Look at all that land! Fingers crossed for straight-forward purchase :nice1



:yes hopefully 2nd time lucky...finger crossed. (BTW there is more land, 10 acres of it hidden behind that row of trees in the back garden :exit )

[Sam B]

Hey congratulations! Join me in a glass of wine .... erm alcohol-free grape drink for you maybe?! Hooray for buying houses, NZ estate agents, everyone, hic!

[Jo Jo]

Congratulations - it looks lovely.

[nippa&pippa]

Hey congratulations! Join me in a glass of wine .... erm alcohol-free grape drink for you maybe?! Hooray for buying houses, NZ estate agents, everyone, hic!

:laugh Thanks, sam, do you have any ideas when you will move in??

[sizzlingbadger]

That looks fantastic, congratulations :cheers

Well ours went under offer at the weekend, finally. Think the advertising on One News over a week ago on Featherston's property boom did the trick :D So the realtors certainly did have a busy weekend.

[vixxann]

Looks fantastic - cannot wait to hear and see more about it - like to know what the area is like too. Well done :clap

[zardell]

What a lovely home........CONGRATULATIONS.

Julie

xx

[KerryS]

That is one big section you have there Sophia! Congratulations on your new home. Hopefully you'll be all settled and ready for when the baby comes along.

[Tia Maria]

Good news guys, looks like you'll get to move in before the baby comes.

Sizzlingbadger - hooray! that must be a relief, I always found it such a strain having to keep the house tidy for viewings! Have you got somewhere to move to?

:cheers

Cheers

Tia

PS Congrats to Sam B to, I'm just too lazy to go and post on the other thread.:laugh

[Pip]

Sophia - thats fantastic! I'm so glad you found what you were looking for..! and with the ten acres too... brilliant news..

looking forward to hearing more about it tomorrow! lots to celebrate :D

[nippa&pippa]

looking forward to hearing more about it tomorrow! lots to celebrate :D

While drinking and dancing on the table, of course :laugh ;)

See you tomorrow!

[sizzlingbadger]

Tia, nowhere confirmed at the moment but a property I've really fallen for has just fallen through so it's back on the market :clap Although feeling for the other people :( OH hasn't even seen it yet ! But he's going to like it :D We're going to have a viewing today to decide if it's for us, scary stuff :exit

[nippa&pippa]

We're going to have a viewing today to decide if it's for us, scary stuff :exit

Maybe you will be 4th person brought house this week!! let us know how it goes!

[sizzlingbadger]

I'll let you know how things go :nice1

[thezorbster]

Congrats Sophia! All that land, wow - you'll be able to raise a rugby team there! Just found Springston on the map following your suggestion - is it still flat??

[nippa&pippa]

Congrats Sophia! All that land, wow - you'll be able to raise a rugby team there! Just found Springston on the map following your suggestion - is it still flat??

mainly flat with bit of mounds on ground. The views of bank peninsula is so near and got view of alp at front of house. Ideally for us do some of work on land as "hobby" look after few cows (think piles of meat for BBQ:nice1 ), olive trees plus many fruit trees. We have lots of idea to with lands but for now, we just concentrate on moving into house and get house sort out before baby arrive, then go from there. The areas is still flat from christchurch to south Timaru plus as not been further yet. Only start to get hilly at east side of state highway 75 from few kms after tai tapu (bank peninsula) and start get mountain from west of darfield (ie from state highway 77 onward north/west side till you reach mount hutt, then follow state 72 till cavendish) or further north of sheffield. We would love to love in the mountain areas but at the moment with young children and gary's job, it is not practical as so far away approx an hour from chch before you reach mountain side. The housing in state highway 75 areas are so expenisve, I think because of 'mountain views' right next to you and most of houses is expensive in bank peninsula.
I did look into buying house in Lyttelton harbour areas, Locals have told us about the problem with sun set earlier than chrsitchurch, mean colder house, more cost of heating and more damp problem. The road around that areas are very slippy in wet and frost. With lots of people in harbour areas work in city mean heavy traffic to city. Also My OH doesn't want to live in north of chch areas, ie kaiapoi etc because of heavy traffic on motorway and his workplace is at south of chch, so he got another 45mins from motorway before he reach his workplace. He rather spent more time with children than sitting in the car. He had several test runs and took him just 10-20mins from work to house in springston.
To think which areas you want to live, ask around, you learn alot from locals about prevail winds, floods, weather, schools (important if you got children) and any future developments like Moorf warned me about dam and rivers in coalgate, darfield and kirwee areas, or talk to fellow ex-pats about traffic as we are used to UK's traffic!!. Then do test drive the areas from your work to see if you are happy with timing and flow of traffic. Yes, lots of researchs involved but worth it if you want to live outside of chch.
hth :D

[benandclare]

Given current exchange rate we are going to rent for six months when we come to check all areas out first (ChCh) So long as we rent sensibly we'll be better off :)

[nippa&pippa]

Given current exchange rate we are going to rent for six months when we come to check all areas out first (ChCh) So long as we rent sensibly we'll be better off :)

true, ideally if you haven't got young children and new baby on the way. When are you thinking coming to chch?

[benandclare]

If Clare gets the job she's applied for could be early as Sept :raebanana but we'll see:yes

[nippa&pippa]

If Clare gets the job she's applied for could be early as Sept :raebanana but we'll see:yes

Oh dear, just our rental house may become available in end of june...as got over 4months left on contract. Yes house just around the corner from 2 golf course and 1 big one 10mins away.....;)
I am waiting to hear from my landlady about the rental situations as she offer to help on get out cause because of baby, to see what we have to, like look for another poeple to take over or just cancel the contract.

[benandclare]

2 golf course and 1 big one 10mins away.....;)

Now that sounds like our kinda place to live :clap :clap

[nippa&pippa]

2 golf course and 1 big one 10mins away.....;)

Now that sounds like our kinda place to live :clap :clap

:laugh

Our house is in Burnside (accord to locals, up and coming areas because of burnside high school??!!!), I know, right next to airport but to be honest, we hardly hear them as we are NOT in flight path.