[Paul and Linda]

Hi All,
I would like to know if anyone has experience or knowledge of Upper and Lower Hutt and also Wainuiomata? We may be heading that way in a few months time PR in hand :hopeso .

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers :nice1

[miep]

Hi,

Lower Hutt has some nice areas (Woburn) but is very suburban, it even has a big shopping mall! Upper Hutt is very cold in winter and quite far from Welly if you have to commute and apart from a few supermarkets there is really nothing there. No restaurants, bars or nice shops. House prices are much lower there and sections are generally bigger but if you want a rural life you might as well go over the hill and live in the wairarapa.
Wainui is dreadful, I can't think of any other way to describe it. It probably has the highest number of people on a benefit than any other part of Welly and this is reflected in the state of the houses, the number of boy racers, all night parties etc.
The bit between Wainui and the coast and Moores valley have nice bits with established lifestyle blocks but you have to drive through Wainui to get anywhere and it gets really cold in winter aswell.

Petone, the coastal part of Lower Hutt is improving rapidly and is near a huge beach and closer to town than the rest of the Hutt. Further down the coast is Eastbourne, a collection of bays with some really nice houses, many with great views and a much better climate. The downside is that real estate is much more expensive than anywhere else in the Hutt and most parts of Welly.
Location, location, location!

My advice would be to rent somewhere for a while and have a good look around to get a feel for the market, it's very easy to buy a dud here!

Best of luck, Miep :cool
From a HOT Wellington, 30 deg inside!

[Paul and Linda]

Thanks for the advice Miep,
I think Petone is sounding good as is Lower Hutt, don't fancy the temp in Upper Hutt in the winter (I've read about winters in uninsulated unheated house in NZ) :wah

Thanks for the opinions on Wainui. I had read something similar although the houses do look nice. Even though I like the idea of living in a valley I have also seen piccies of the recent floods! :?

Cheers :nice1
Paul

[haggis4U]

miep
You mention Wairarapa.
Was there on holiday a few years ago, and thought it was quite nice.
Anyone settled there, what's it like to live in??

[miep]

The Wairarapa is very rural, lots of agriculture including olives and wine. Martinborough is nice and greytown is really up and coming with some really good restaurants and a fantastic chocolate factory. Anyone for milk chocolate with seasalt? Trust me is tastes much better than it sounds! :nice1

Job wise there's not much going unless you're in agriculture or hospitality. But if you live in Featherston it is only an hour by train to Welly. That's too long for me but quite a few people do it because for them the lifestyle overthere makes it worth it for them.

Going bach to the Hutt, I forgot to mention the western hills; Belmont and Korokoro have some really nice spots. Still fairly affordable but with some great views and good sun. Also lots of wind (no shelter from the cold southerlies) but you just can't have it all can you.

Cheers, Miep :cool
Still in a very sunny Welly. Have had great weather for weeks now!

[haggis4U]

Miep
Thanks for the info.
Glad you are liking the weather

[Paul and Linda]

Thanks Miep, we've just got our passports back so as soon as the house sells we'll be winging our way to Welly.

I've finally seen sense and agreed to do the B+B thing for a week or so rather than try to sort anything out in advance, could get stuck with a reet dodgy property!

Paul

[RoadRunner]

Miep,
Is the Upper Hutt really that much colder in the winter?

I've just returned from a one-week trip to Wellington. My husband and I really liked the lower part of the "Upper Hutt." And we noticed it was actually less windy and a tad warmer than other areas (e.g., CBD or Tawa/Jville). Of course, this is summer time though... Are you saying it is the reverse in winter - colder than CBD/Tawa?

I agree with your comments about Belmont. We went into one open house there. The house was almost new and had the most gorgeous view of the harbour. Our only problem is price - it was on tender but the expectation was that it would sell for around $725,000! :eek Way too much for us! There were several brand new homes being built in Belmont that also had harbour views but they were going for around $630,000. Still way too high for us!

Thanks for any other comments...
RoadRunner

[miep]

There are much better deals to be had in Belmont! 725k would be pretty much top of the range overthere. I think it will be possible to find something suitable for under 500k easily. You will probably have to install heating yourself but with the flimsy way of building here its much easier to retrofit heatpumps than it would be in a solid house. New houses that look solid usually aren't and are likely to suffer from leaky building syndrome or other ills. Insulation is minimal even in new houses and older houses usually come with bigger sections. If I had to buy right now I would go for a cheaper older house and spend some money on it to bring it up to spec rather than buy new.

Getting back to (lower) Upper Hutt, Yes it is warmer in summer but also colder in winter. We have a friend who lives there and one morning he had -6 in Whitemans valley (how do you like that for a name!) while we had no frost at all (in Eastbourne). And because it is a relatively cheap the houses tend to be of even lesser quality than elsewhere. Read - no insulation and ill fitting windows.

Right, I'm considering beer no5 now so will stop here before I become truly incoherent.

:cheers Miep

[baboonworld]

UH Girl from age one here!!

Silverstream is nice and not too cold. Pinehaven is colder but you can get that "bush" feeling and a big section.

UH North is nice too - esp. Emerald Hill and Te Marua.

The new developement on the hill (Riversdale??) is really popular with UK's and has nice new houses (perhaps smaller plots though) or you can build yourself (best option if you want to make some $$$$$$$)

I saw a house on the internet that wasnt quite finished on the hill at Riversdale (used to be called Craigs Flats) and with a little bit of work it wouldve been excellent!! (about $500 i think)

Loads of UK's end up there (including my parents) and maybe me again !!!

[andersonclan]

As there seems to be so much expertise here on the Wellington area I hope you can help me!

We're in the process of moving to Welly - where I'll be working - but looking for a rural type of life - hubby's desperate for a farm (any type sheep, deer, fruit). Any suggestions on somewhere not too bad to commute from (I do at least an hour a day here) where we can live the good life.

Also some suggestions on good junior ruby clubs!

Many thanks

Margaret

[baboonworld]

Whitemans Valley / Mangaroa Valley or up near Newlands (starts with M......, near the sea and great if u want a boat)

What about Horokiwi?

All poor for public transport i bet but nice for rural.

Of course what about up the Kapiti Coast - Otaki even - or Waikanae.

i saw a camping type facility on the internet for sale near Otaki - reasonably cheap - so for any outdoors types who dont mind looking after strangers !!! Had horses and stuff. Anyone want me to find it again PM me.