[srivett]

When I moved to Toronto, the best advice I heard was to "take a walk" around the neighbourhood I was interested in. Turns out availability signs and for rent notices were everywhere, and in no time at all we had a great place, all without having to resort to the wanted ads. Does that happen in NZ - Christchurch in particular? Do rentals advertise on the outside of the building? I don't expect it to be the same as I'm used to, but it would save time if I knew I could "take a walk" and have some luck, rather than spending days scouting out options on Trade Me and making appointments with landlords. The homestay in St. Albans that we're using for our first few days offers free bike use, and it would be a great way to explore our options.

Thanks!

[nippa&pippa]

Very rarely to see sign outside the rental houses....so walk about is bit out of questions...you need car to look around after you get details from estate agents who will hand out a list of properties available to rent, look in newspaper or trademe.com...good luck!

[srivett]

Thanks Sophia. I figured it would be something like that, but it couldn't hurt to check. I'll just have to put some more research into it :)

[constablechuck]

My advice is to look for a stand alone house, we rented a flat in a building that has 6 units, when we moved in all the neighbors were quiet and things were good, then we had a young couple move in next door and they have company over some nights until 2 or 3 in the morning, the coming and going, flat door, car doors opening and closing at all hours of the night makes it tough to sleep and cars parked improperly in the car park have become a real pain, the management company thus far has done nothing, had we rented a stand alone house we wouldn't have to deal with these things.

Just my 2 cents.

We live in Linwood Christchurch, it's not the best or the worst suburb in the area, I've heard that Aranui is a place to avoid and that Merivale is a good location, I have seen signs to let from on houses here and there, hope that helps.

[srivett]

Thanks Chuck. It's always good to have as many opinions as possible. A stand alone house would be ideal - especially if it had a bit of backyard space - but it all depends on our budget. St. Albans seems both reasonable and to have a lot of rentals advertised (at least on Trade Me) so that's where I'm concentrating at the moment. We'll see how it goes - who knows where spontaneity will take us. 3 months left before it becomes urgent!