[janmommy]

We have decided to leave in 10 weeks and would like to have somewhere sorted to live before we arrive.

I found What's New Apartments online but I read a few reviews which make it sound bad. Anyone stayed in one of there places? Thinking of either the one on Left Bank Cuba St or 66 Boulcott St.

How can I find decent afforable rentals from the uk?

[buzztalks]

I don't think you can find decent, affordable rentals from the UK.

I think you need to get here, establish a base camp in What's New, then get yourself a rental, a map, access to Trade Me, buy a Dominion Post, and put in the leg-work. You'll soon get an idea of what's 'decent', plus you really need to get a feel for the place. Rent in haste, repent at leisure.

I've just spent the best part of four months looking for somewhere 'decent'.

Can recommend Quest on Johnston as your first stop. Very central, serviced apartments. The most friendly and helpful staff you could hope for. Ask for Murray Leman.

www.questonjohnston.co.nz

good luck!

[buzztalks]

should have read - 'get yourself a rental car' apologies.

Give Warren a call at Bargain Rentals. 04 499 2492

[janmommy]

cheers

[tigerlily]

Some rental agencies will allow you to apply from overseas, but the one we dealt with wanted us to have someone look at the rental on our behalf. So a very nice person from this board did that for us, but after she viewed it we decided it wasn't for us (very shady location- and sun is everything here). So we set up a holiday let for the first 2 weeks (all furnished!). We arrived at a time of year when there is not much available (Jan 1) but still found a place in a few days. Part of that is we were willing to pay between 500-600 a week. Part is we just got a bit lucky. If you need to get in somewhere for $350 a week, start looking in the Hutts. The places close in to town for that amount are small and/or dark and/or damp for the most part.

The neighborhoods all have a unique feeling about them. And with the importance of getting sunshine in your rental, it really is worth waiting to get here and look for yourself. We have 5-year old twins who did just fine with the uncertainty of where we would end up.

The only work around I could see is if your things are being shipped out, and you rent somewhere furnished for the first say 2 months you are here. I do see listings like that on trademe. That would give you more of a settled feeling, with the added benefit of not having to sleep on the floor in sleeping bags while you wait for your things to arrive.

Best of luck with it.

[Jon&Candy]

We're coming out for good in April. We've rented a bach in Belmont for 2.5 weeks while we wait for the container to arrive. We're hoping that this will give us long enough to find somewhere decent for the next 6 months or so. After that, we hope to have enough experience / local knowledge to be in a position to buy.

[Ojai]

How did you find the short term rental? We will need to set that up pretty soon. Is there a rental agency that is recommended for this? I have not had much luck by looking in Trademe and by Googling so far...

[cappuccino]

Try these:

http://www.holidayhouses.co.nz/


http://www.bookabach.co.nz/

[Jon&Candy]

How did you find the short term rental?

I think we booked ours through http://www.holidayhouses.co.nz/ .

It worked out a fair bit cheaper than the cheapest motel we could find as they do good discounts for stays of 2 weeks or more.

[Ojai]

Oh, these are the kind of sites I have been searching for! My wife will be boarding with one of the members of this board for two weeks til we arrive, so I was getting worried about finding somewhere to stay til we get a flat.

[tigerlily]

Negotiate on the price if you are staying more than a week- no harm in asking! Just say something like

if I was willing to book for 2 weeks could you give me a better rate?