[Perksy]

My name is Kim and my husband Graham and for some years now we have talked about emigrating but never done anything about it. We have decided to bite the bullet and see where an application to New Zealand takes us.

It is all very daunting and only a week or so in we already feel we are taking one step forward and one step back. I have just completed our Expression of Interest which (if I have filled it our correctly) has given us a 130 points. We cannot afford to move without a job offer and a job offer would easily give us the points for automatic residency selection. However everyone seems to want residency before you apply for a job so a real Catch 22.

My husband is a police inspector and I am a former journalist and now a media advisor for the police service. I am madly posting my CV on various websites and generally making a polite nusiance of myself. We are booking up to fly out in the next few months so that Graham can take the police recruitment test and go on their waiting list so fingers crossed.

At what point do you put your house on the market? We would need the equity from the house but who knows how long it would take to sell and I would hate to sell up find NZ don't want us or we can't get work!!! Oh so much to consider my head is already in a spin.:confused:

[holland]

Hello and welcome,

With regards to house, it really depends on your local housing market, some sell in a wee, some take months, might be an idea to look at the 'anyone on the market' thread, people post their different experiences.

Whatever you decide, Good Luck

J and G x

[holland]

*week :D ( see above!!)

[Perksy]

I thought selling in a wee was a new phrase I had never heard of!!!. Thanks for the advice I will dip in to that thread.

[IanW99]

Welcome to the forum.

When you first move to NZ it is recommended that you rent first (normally 6 months), this allows you to find the area that you can settle in and learn the market etc. It could be very easy to buy the wrong property if you tried to buy as soon as you arrive as there is so much to consider.

This then gives you some breathing room to sell your property i.e. you can start to sell as soon as you have confirmed NZ and if it doesn't sell before you leave the UK, you still have 6 months before you need the capital.

Does of course assume that you can trust someone to look after / sell you property in your absence

Ian

[Joanne100]

Hi and welcome to the forum.
We r from Church Langley, which part of Essex r u living?
Joanne

[veronica]

hiya, as another essex bod currently living in Chch (3 + years) welcome. what part of NZ are you looking at. if you want any info you think we may have then feel free to PM me.

[Jo Jo]

Hello and welcome.

I'm from Essex originally as well, from a village near Maldon, and I went to school in Colchester, but I moved to London 18 years ago (can't believe it's been so long!)

[TheLanes]

Hello from Cambridge NZ,

We moved out end of April this year, originally from Maldon in Essex.

We are renting at the moment and recommend you go the "renting route" first as we have moved twice (for work) since being out here. Also there is so much more of NZ we want to see and we will only have one chance of picking where we would eventually like to settle.

Doing all our residency bit whilst out here - so far so good!

Sharon, Mark and Joshua

[Maudy]

Hi Kim, I'm also from Essex (and new to this forum), and currently have our house on the market, had a few lookers and 3 people who want it but can't sell theirs, how frustrating. But we are booked up and ready to go on 11th September, 11 days to go...yipeeee:-) we are leaving the estate agent to deal with it, we can't wait around forever as it could take months, I know as it's our 9th move in UK!!!!
Well good luck with it all, and hopefully you'll get a buyer soon. Carol

[Perksy]

Hi and welcome to the forum.
We r from Church Langley, which part of Essex r u living?
Joanne

Hi Joanne

Sorry not been on line for a bit too busy trying to organise flights etc for a visit. We are from Great leighs near Braintee. We know Church Langley well. I suspect Christchurch is a little different to Harlow. Are you glad you made the move? Kim

[Perksy]

So may people from Essex. We are currently in Great Leighs near Braintree. Have submitted an EOI with 140 points, so if I have filled the form out correctly and the 140 points are accepted we hope to receive an ITA quite quickly. We are taking a trip out in November so that OH can take the police recruitment test (he is currently an inspector over here) and we can make sure it is where we want to be. Would love to be in a position to go and rent regardless of house sale here but have a crippling mortgage over here and would need the equity. I am conscious it is coming up to the time of year when house viewing drops off but having it valued and the new race course where we live is nearly ready with a new hotel opening up so hopefully some workers and families will be looking for homes. Now just have to break it to the parents that we are thinking about moving to the other side of the world!

[katiejay]

Hi Perksy
We're also Essex folk. I work in Witham! At least until 9th November (that's 44 working days!). We fly out to NZ on 16th November to live permanently (we hope!). Putting the house on the market was the first step we took, because so many people on this forum seem to be stressed out waiting to sell their property before they can leave! We put our house (Kirby le Soken) on the market in May 06, and sold it in Jan 07.
We were lucky, though, because we've been able to rent from my sister, who has a property here, but now lives in France.
Anyway, we're off soon - no job, no home, no visa, but we're going anyway!!
Is it something about Essex, do you think, that makes us want to move to the other side of the world!!
Enjoy your trip in November - I don't doubt you will fall in love with New Zealand and New Zealanders.
All the best
Katie x

[Joanne100]

Hey Perksy,

Sorry just found ur reply!
Yes chch is much different from church langley and yes we r so glad we made the move shud have done it years ago.
hope u enjoy ur self here and make the big leap soon, maybe all us Essex folk cud get together wear our white stilletos & shellsuits and dance round our handbags sometime soon! lol
take care
Joanne

[veronica]

there is another meet coming up in Chch, the dates on the forum, perhaps we can have a sub meet within it.
Anyone coming out to Christchurch we run a backpackers here so thats a cheap alternative to hotels motels etc. and lots more friendly.

[Perksy]

Hi Joanne/Veronica

You maybe ought to wait until I've been accepted for emigration before you hold an Essex night. The white stillettos and shell suits might lead the authorities to ban any future applications!! When is the next Christchurch meet - I will be there for a few days in December at the end of our three week trip.

Katie - Best of luck for November. You're braver than me to go without a home, job or visa. We got 140 points on our EOI without a job offer so was selected on Thursday and just waiting to see if they agree with the claims we have made. If they have it is full steam ahead on the house selling. Then we will rent in the UK while we sort the job thing out.

[renew]

Hi,
my wife and I are also from Essex, Braintree to be exact. Spooky ...
We are planning on travelling before arriving so are also going down the EOI with job offer route.
A word of warning it takes a while between EOI selection and ITA can be a number of months unless you have a job offer.

Welcome to the forum and to the roller coaster

[IanW99]

When is the next Christchurch meet - I will be there for a few days in December at the end of our three week trip.


The next meeting is on 2nd December

See http://www.emigratenz.org/forum/showthread.php?t=13310 for more details

Ian

[thewoodies]

we have got even further we have been accepted from the pool we have completed all the relevant documents and taken them up to nz house in london - not only have we probably got a long wait we have a manipulitive grandparent9to our kids) who is dong hid best to make things very difficult for us and its making me feel ill - if he carries on it wont matter where his grandchildren live he wont be seeing them if he keeps upsetting everyone - good luck the whole process is stressful ive decided to tackle this like i did my degree as a mature student one step at a time keeping my eyes firmly on my goal - a better life for my kids. good luck we have same probs as you do you sell house first get jobs first and we have enough points without getting jobs - its all down to cash flow really






My name is Kim and my husband Graham and for some years now we have talked about emigrating but never done anything about it. We have decided to bite the bullet and see where an application to New Zealand takes us.

It is all very daunting and only a week or so in we already feel we are taking one step forward and one step back. I have just completed our Expression of Interest which (if I have filled it our correctly) has given us a 130 points. We cannot afford to move without a job offer and a job offer would easily give us the points for automatic residency selection. However everyone seems to want residency before you apply for a job so a real Catch 22.

My husband is a police inspector and I am a former journalist and now a media advisor for the police service. I am madly posting my CV on various websites and generally making a polite nusiance of myself. We are booking up to fly out in the next few months so that Graham can take the police recruitment test and go on their waiting list so fingers crossed.

At what point do you put your house on the market? We would need the equity from the house but who knows how long it would take to sell and I would hate to sell up find NZ don't want us or we can't get work!!! Oh so much to consider my head is already in a spin.:confused:

[thewoodies]

i had white stilletoes in the early 80s im from kent!!! didnt have a shell suit though but have been known to dance round a handbag or 2 - good job nz doesnt need to know that






Hey Perksy,





Sorry just found ur reply!
Yes chch is much different from church langley and yes we r so glad we made the move shud have done it years ago.
hope u enjoy ur self here and make the big leap soon, maybe all us Essex folk cud get together wear our white stilletos & shellsuits and dance round our handbags sometime soon! lol
take care
Joanne

[katiejay]

:raebanana Well, we're here!! We've been here a month now, and my goodness it is so nice to have hills around us after the Essex flatlands! I've not worn heels at all since I got here - not even white ones! Does that mean I'm officially not an Essex girl anymore? It would be nice to throw off that particular reputation!!:laugh

[renew]

Congratulations.
My wife and I are from essex ( braintree) and hope to be out to NZ soon as i just got a job offer. yippeee!!!

cheers

Ian & nicola

[Caroline and Dave]

So nice to hear from you Katie.
We were wondering about you. One day maybe we will be able to meet up ,especially as we have the same Birthday.


Kindest regards

Caroline and Dave

[katiejay]

:cheers Fantastic news, Ian. Really pleased for you! What a Christmas present, eh? Good luck with the next bit, and I hope it goes easy for you.

Happy Birthday, dear twin (Caroline & Dave), for next week - crikey, with all that's going on here, I'd forgotten it's our birthday soon!! I've already had my Christmas & birthday present - I got to come and live in NEW ZEALAND!!!:yes

[craig1234564]

Hi we are in Colchester , thinking of moving to christchurch, what made you choose dunedin?

[katiejay]

Sorry about the late reply! We've been camping and then moved house! We did a reccie in March/April '07 and really liked Mackenzie Country, but thought the job prospects would be better further south (Chris is a welder). It all came down to our situation really. We decided we didn't want to wait any longer in the UK, because we wanted to get over here for the long school holiday break in case we had to move around alot initially. So we came over on visitor's visas with the promise of job interviews for Chris in Dunedin. He got job offers for 3 of the the 4 interviews, and really liked one of the jobs. So that was it - Dunedin. When we visited Dunedin in April, I didn't really take to it, and it wasn't on my 'preferred list' to be honest. It's all on very steep hills and mostly industrial around the harbour. Some of the suburbs are a bit run down as the houses are rented out to students and not particularly well looked after. So I'd turned my nose up at it at the time. When Chris got his job, we looked for somewhere to rent in the City, but it really wasn't for us - tiny gardens, all the houses close together - not much different from Colchester really!! So we looked outside of Dunedin, and within 15 minutes found Mosgiel, which is not unlike Frinton, but without the seaside! Very flat, but surrounded by beautiful hills like a bowl. Dunedin has grown on me very quickly, too. It's a nice city - lovely architecture, really good museums and gardens, good shops, theatres, everything you want really - and way, way less traffic than Colchester!! Within 15 minutes of Dunedin you are truly rural, with breathtaking views, wildlife, lakes and rivers. And further on from the Port, there are the peninsulas with seals, albatross etc. Dunedin has alot to offer people looking for work - industry, offices, and loads of education establishments attached to the university, plus medical careers of course. They have the Highlanders, so we are newly recruited local rugby fans, having inspected the team during the Dunedin Santa Parade!
I still love Mackenzie, but we can go there at weekends....
Katie x :yes