[northernfive]

Hi there
Wonder if anyone can give us their opinions on Riverstone terraces (Upper Hutt)

We've been looking at houses around Silverstream, as we are currently renting here and like it, good for Kindie and commute ok for Hubby.
But the houses we are looking at are old and most importantly...COLD !!!

We thought we could deal with that, but unfortnatley we are soft poms! We came from a new house in the UK with state of the art heating and insulation and the coldness of the these old houses has been a BIG shock!

So, we have had a drive around Riverstone Terraces and are surprised by how affordable the houses are for us - disadvantage being we have to drive to any amenities - but surely they will build them as time goes by ??

Is still ok for Kindie and hubbys job and it gives us the essential things we are looking for ....Warmth !

Anyone know much about it ?

Cheers!

[IanW99]

See thread by KD17 We're buying a house (http://www.emigratenz.org/forum/showthread.php?t=13893)

Sure they will have some advice for you.

Please don't think that all new builds are really warm though, although insulation rules have improved over the years they are still way below what you would expect for other countries e.g. UK.

Of course if you are going to buy a new build then you can specify additional insulation, double glazing etc.

Location is also important e.g. make sure that the house gets plenty of sun and is not blocked by other houses, hills etc, and the rooms that you spend most of your time are north facing.

Depending on your heating source, check out all the options as well, there can be a big difference in the amount of energy they use between a standard option or high efficiency option.

Ian

[andreamatt]

They seem to be clearing lots of land for sections up there; I'd check how much more development there will be - are there plans for a school, etc.?

Andrea

[Big Puku]

Hi Northern five
There's plenty of land/house packages available through www.gillies.co.nz that are reasonably priced and it means you can spec your own house to how you want it.
If you're looking to buy a house already built up at Riverstone, you just need to look round at the usual stuff re:heating etc as you would any other house,as Ian says.
We live up here after renting in Silverstream and like it.There are plans in progress for a playground and eventually a dairy and you can see on the gillies website future stages for development.
PM if you want anymore info

Cheers

[brianw]

just a pity Riverstone has ZERO tv reception and ZERO broadband ...

[KD17]

just a pity Riverstone has ZERO tv reception and ZERO broadband ...

That's actually not true... I work in communications with Telecom being our major customer, and new cabinets have recently been installed with new fibre so it's going to be an excellent reception.

As for Riverstone itself, we are about to move into our new house next week :raebanana. The area is very good and there are quite a few caveats on the purchase agreement, such as not to be a noisy neighbour, not to plant tall trees or repair cars in your drive etc., all there to keep the neighbourhood to a certain standard - which I am sure may only hold for a few years, but not a bad thing in my opinion.

The houses all have double glazing and insulation as standard and usually burgular alarms, but not all come with heating as standard. The location of Riverstone is that most of the houses will get all day sun (as opposed to Totra Park where, if you are next to the hill, you will get very little afternoon sun)

The prices range from around $450 to around $800 (guessing that top figure there) some of them however, I feel are built a little close together, including ours, but we will be fronting the hills so will not really have anyone in front of us.

It is true that there are not any ameneties at present, but Gillies are looking into putting something up there in the near future, so there will be something as Big Puku says, but unlikely to be schooling.

The only real downside, in our opinion, will be getting out of the Riverstone junction, if you want to turn right to go into Wellington - it's pretty darn dangerous and we will be turning left to either go through Trentham (where Keith works for the Army) or I may well catch the train in.

I estimate it to take approx 30 mins to get into Wellington CBD out of rush hour traffic, and approx 45 mins in it.

We feel we have made an excellent choice of a first home, which meets all that we wanted and should have excellent resale value in the years to come. I don't think you can go far wrong buying up there, Oh, you might want to consider that I think it may also be on the fault line - but then again I work around it so hey! that's life in Wellington...!

Good Luck

Debby & Keith

[Chiba]

just a pity Riverstone has ZERO tv reception and ZERO broadband ...

I view that as two things in its favour! :D

[brianw]

kd17, if a new cabinet was installed, was is here in riverstone, as telecom told me today, after a challengingly "discussion" with them, they said there is no bandwidth available here in percy kinsman cr. either they dont know what they talking about or i am plugged in to pre-historic coklin dslam.

chiba, i like a little tv, to watch a bit of sport and news, but sure i'f you want to live in the dark ages that is your choice, may i then suggest pitcairn island

[Chiba]

chiba, i like a little tv, to watch a bit of sport and news, but sure i'f you want to live in the dark ages that is your choice, may i then suggest pitcairn island

Haven't had a TV for years.
Try not to surf much at home.
...and I'm a software engineer who's been earning a living building internet websites for over 10 years. :yes

I'm not moving to NZ so I can sit indoors watching the zombie box and surfing the 'net. YMMV.

[Big Puku]

just a pity Riverstone has ZERO tv reception and ZERO broadband ...

Not true - we've been in Riverstone for a year, and always had broadband - it's actually quicker here than it was down the road in Silverstream. TV-wise it's Freeview or Sky, not that much out of cental Upper Hutt seems to get good reception?

As for Riverstone itself, we are about to move into our new house next week :raebanana. The area is very good and there are quite a few caveats on the purchase agreement, such as not to be a noisy neighbour, not to plant tall trees or repair cars in your drive etc., all there to keep the neighbourhood to a certain standard - which I am sure may only hold for a few years, but not a bad thing in my opinion.

Hope the move goes well :) The covenants are quite restrictive, although they seem to work on the whole, it doesn't appear to stop certain people being inconsiderate - like parking cars/coaches etc on front lawns, being noisy etc. As the developer would need to take legal action to enforce the convenants, I don't think it would ever happen!

The houses all have double glazing and insulation as standard...

Not quite true, they all will comply to building regs - so as a newish subdivision they should all have insulation, but most don't have double-glazing!


The only real downside, in our opinion, will be getting out of the Riverstone junction, if you want to turn right to go into Wellington - it's pretty darn dangerous and we will be turning left to either go through Trentham (where Keith works for the Army) or I may well catch the train in.

I estimate it to take approx 30 mins to get into Wellington CBD out of rush hour traffic, and approx 45 mins in it.
You seen they're starting work soon on the junction to make it safer? I don't find it a prob personally, although you sometimes have to wait if turning right into Riverstone if it's during evening rush-hour.
Commute-times by car to Wgtn CBD would be 45mins-1 hour IMO - this won't get better with all the Dowse-Petone roadworks next year (do it by motorbike :) takes me 30 mins!)

We feel we have made an excellent choice of a first home, which meets all that we wanted and should have excellent resale value in the years to come. I don't think you can go far wrong buying up there, Oh, you might want to consider that I think it may also be on the fault line - but then again I work around it so hey! that's life in Wellington...!

I would agree, there's plenty of people who knock Upper Hutt & Riverstone (usually people who've never been) but we've been really happy here and would certainly look at buying again in Riverstone!

Make sure you check out the Riverstone forum too: http://www.riverstonelounge.co.nz/

Matt

[KD17]

Thanks for that Matt

Not quite true, they all will comply to building regs - so as a newish subdivision they should all have insulation, but most don't have double-glazing!

Lucky us then?

Commute-times by car to Wgtn CBD would be 45mins-1 hour IMO
Can't wait for them to complete that junction. I'm clearly under estimating the time its gonna take me to get into work then! Think I'm gonna go by train from Trentham :yes

Debby & Keith

[brianw]

Not true - we've been in Riverstone for a year, and always had broadband - it's actually quicker here than it was down the road in Silverstream. TV-wise it's Freeview or Sky, not that much out of cental Upper Hutt seems to get good reception?



fair enough, Freeview or Sky. but on the broadband, i have had the run around with telecom for 3 weeks now. 600 Kbs down and 100 bs upload, yes thats bits per second upload. Totally unusable and telecom don't want to believe me. i have yet to have a telecom techie come out to my house.

[Big Puku]

fair enough, Freeview or Sky. but on the broadband, i have had the run around with telecom for 3 weeks now. 600 Kbs down and 100 bs upload, yes thats bits per second upload. Totally unusable and telecom don't want to believe me. i have yet to have a telecom techie come out to my house.

Sounds like it needs fixing mate! I've heard of a few broadband probs in Riverstone (mainly around new builds and having to wait for connection) - but 100bs is unacceptable! (we get ~2Mb down/500Kbs up on an unrestricted plan on the lower slopes of R/Stone)

Matt