[Hannah-NL]

How about it, seen a pretty house there, very pretty, so I'm dreaming, but is it a "good" suburb to live in?

[kiwi]

so long as it is lower cashmere and not spreydon/sydneham (do you have a street addy? look it up)

lower cashmere is on the heathcote river and very pretty
Nic

[Hannah-NL]

Thanks for reminding me, I had this link: http://www.wises.co.nz/map/ saved earlier.
I have found it, on the river sounds very nice! :nice1
Cashmere road, close to school, highschool and hospitals.
Says Somerfield as area tho... hmm...

[kiwi]

somerfield is fine...cashmere primary is up the hill, the high school is on the flat.

It is a really treey area, and sheltered from the wind (easterly)
good choice!

[wilson182]

so long as it is lower cashmere and not spreydon/sydneham (do you have a street addy? look it up)

lower cashmere is on the heathcote river and very pretty
Nic

Hey Kiwi, what wrong with spreydon/sydenham????? Cashmere is lovely, but expensive. :nice1

[Moorf]

Personally, I'd rent in an area before buying - several areas have been classed "not good" on this forum and I heeded them at first, but after living in Chch for 6mths now I would re-classify some of these areas from our point of view!

Lower Cashmere is going up in price - up on Cashmere Hill is expensive - check out the areas for yourself before committing - one persons undesirable area is not the same for another.

Spreydon/Sydenham are fine by all accounts, plus not everyone can afford to jump straight in at the top and, like in the UK and other places worldwide, need to get on a rung of the property ladder and work their way up. It's no different here!

[Hannah-NL]

Oh yes definately would be renting first, but would want to buy as soon as possible - we have to keep in mind tho we want to have good schools not too far away for the kids (15 and 11) We might be looking around first for a bit more. This house seemed nice, so wanted to know if the neighbourhood was similar ;)

[Moorf]

Hannah - give me the details and I'll gladly do a drive-by for you and get some pics of the area. :P

[Hannah-NL]

Thanks Moorf, that would be great, I can see you doing a "drive by photoshoot" now :laugh

[Moorf]

:laugh In that case I hope the area isn't toooo dodgy!! :uhoh

[Hannah-NL]

Oh I think it will be ok, if you see the link I sent you by PM, you'll see, I hope :yes

[kiwi]

did I say anything was wrong with spreydon?

NO.....I just said make sure it is lower cashmere, as the price is 30% more and you dont want to be paying that if it isnt.....

love real estate agents....they are the ones getting the 'boundaries' wrong, dont shoot the messenger!

[Tanya]

so long as it is lower cashmere and not spreydon/sydneham (do you have a street addy? look it up)

lower cashmere is on the heathcote river and very pretty
Nic

did I say anything was wrong with spreydon?

NO.....I just said make sure it is lower cashmere, as the price is 30% more and you dont want to be paying that if it isnt.....

love real estate agents....they are the ones getting the 'boundaries' wrong, dont shoot the messenger!



No you didn't but you didn't also make it clear why you said not Spreydon/Sydenham

[kiwi]

this is the 3rd time you have had a go at me, twice on this forum and once on uk2nz.....give us a break

[Tanya]

I am merely pointing out that you didn't make it clear why not those suburbs - why is that having a go ???????

Wilson182 asked why not those suburbs - you got defensive

did I say anything was wrong with spreydon?

NO

Perhaps an explanation why you said kiwi wrote:
so long as it is lower cashmere and not spreydon/sydneham would have been a more informative answer,

[adamsat]

All this is relative and I think you need to have a look around yourself.

Compared to where I was born and brought up, nowhere in Christchurch, seems on my limited exposure, to be a bad area.

[Tanya]

All this is relative and I think you need to have a look around yourself.

Compared to where I was born and brought up, nowhere in Christchurch, seems on my limited exposure, to be a bad area.

Exactly - each to their own
:nice1

Tanya

[kiwi]

sorry I will be more presice in my answers from now on, I know Debs lives in spreydon, she said on wednesday night when we met , and I am sure she realised it was said as a 'NOOoooooo"

anyway, I am sure if I offended her, she will let me know, just as you did
Nic

[wilson182]

Not offended at all, you Guys

I know (from meeting Kiwi) she tells it like it is, and i was just pulling her leg :nice1 :cheers :nice1

[Moorf]

OOps, I too thought Kiwi wasn't keen on Spreydon - especially after she lists it as a "not so good" area :oops: , as Adamsat says, worth checking out the areas for yourself :nice1

Hi,
here is a list of some areas...
The Good

NORTH
Waimari Beach (N/E)
Burwood
Redwood
Casebrook
North Shore
Avondale
North Brighton

SOUTH
Cashmere
Huntsbury
Murray Ainsley
Beckenham
St Martins
Halswell

WEST
Ilam
Russley
Merivale
Fendalton
Burnside

EAST
St Andrews Hill
Redcliffs
Mt Pleasant
Sumner
Scarbourgh

----------------------------
Not So Good

EAST
New Brighton
Aranui
Linwood
Bromley

SOUTH
Waltham
Sydenham
Spreydon

EAST
Addington
Upper Riccarton
Hornby

THE... CITY
Most of it!

[JJG]

I emailed the education dept in Christchurch about schools and areas, they were very helpful. Please find it below and I hope it is useful for everyone else in our position.


"It's quite a difficult question to answer for you really as it is a matter of personal preference. Working in the city gives you flexibility to live in most areas of Christchurch as Kilmore street is pretty much right in the middle of town. Commuting in Christchurch really isn't an issue, it only takes me five minutes by car to get to work and the longest commuting time would probably be about 20 minutes, unless you lived rural or on the hill. Christchurch is a safe city and I would never even give a second thought to children playing outdoors.

Obviously like any city there is more desirable places to live and this is very much reflected in house prices. I'll try and give you a bit of commentary about the different suburbs in Christchurch but this is very much my view. I would probably suggest having a good look around Christchurch before deciding where to live.

All Hill areas - 15 - 30 minute drive from central city (Includes, Sumner, Clifton, Redcliffs, Mt Pleasant, Cannon Hill, St Andrews Hill, Huntsbury, Cashmere Westmorland) - Lovely properties, with great views, good schools, very expensive real estate, Sumner is a beachside suburb.

North West Christchurch - 10- 20 minutes (Includes Avonhead, Burnside, Harewood, Bishopdale, Papanui, Merivale, Fendalton etc) Nice properties, the 'better side of town' and most expensive - very good schools. Personally I don't like these areas as they are closer to the airport, further from town, the beach and the hills, but again it is a personal preference. Merivale and Fendalton are the most expensive and exclusive.

South Christchurch - 20 minutes (Includes Hornby, Hei Hei etc) Getting a bit more industrial, average houses, good schools.

South East Christchurch - 10 - 20 minutes (Includes, spreydon, Cashmere, Barrington etc) Nice areas at the base of the hills. Good schools and good average/above average priced properties.

North East Christchurch - 5 - 15 minutes (Includes, Shirley, Avonside, St Albans, Dallington etc) Very good schools, nice areas with good / above average priced properties

East Christchurch - 5 - 20 minutes (Includes Aranui and Linwood and New Brighton, South Brighton and North Shore) Aranui and Linwood definitely the lowest price housing, average to poor schools, the perceived rougher areas. Brighton however is the beach and is a lot better.

I hope this give you a bit of an idea. Some website to have a look at would include:

Property - rental and purchase
www.gillmanrentalhomes.co.nz
www.harcourts.co.nz
www.ljhooker.co.nz
www.the-professional.co.nz

Education
www.minedu.govt.nz
www.nzqa.govt.nz
www.mynzed.com
www.educationchristchurch.com

Christchurch Sites
www.christchurchnz.net
www.christchurch.org.nz
www.canterburypages.co.nz
www.localeye.info
www.bethere.org.nz
www.whatsonechristchurch.co.nz
www.ccc.govt.nz

Christchurch Maps
www.wises.co.nz "

[kiwi]

She was looking at lower cashmere with high school kids, spreydon gets you into cashmere high...and is 30% cheaper...if you want to live there go for it, the primary school should be looked at.... If you know spreydon and you know lower cashmere you will see why it is on the 'not so good places' ...why would it be on the good places to live?

This list helps those not familiar with any suburbs, I think it is a really good mix of places (not all of them are on there like shirley, hei hei etc just because...they arent good or not so good...just there)

I wouldnt want to live there...but lower cashemere is ok, in my opinion..still wouldnt want to live there either....but each to their own.

I will keep my opinions to myself in future,
all the best
Nic

[Hannah-NL]

Hi Kiwi and all, I indeed asked as an outsider for some info about Lower Cashmere, and I got lots of info. :nice1
I myself do not mind if the info is positive or negative or in between, I'm just trying to get a feeling of if a nice house I saw on the web would be in a nice neighbourhood too.
I feel a bit guilty now for bringing a discussion up about good or bad.
It's just some of those pictures make you dream away and make you think :"What if" :smile
Please keep all those opinions coming, and dont get mad at eachother, so far I think this board is great, I can't help it ;)

[Karoline]

Residents slow to get pollution message

21.03.05


Christchurch is facing another winter smog threat as far too few people voluntarily take steps to clean up the city's pollution.

Smog levels in the city exceed recommended health levels on average 30 days a year, but many people are failing to face up to the problem, new figures show.

The regional council, Environment Canterbury (ECan), has been encouraging people to replace polluting wood and coalburners and open fires, but the response had been less than expected.

"People need to change the way they heat. We can't afford as a city to continue having degraded air," ECan air-quality councillor Richard Budd said yesterday.

The city needed to progressively convert 35,000 burners to cleaner forms of heating by 2013 to meet tough new Environment Ministry national standards.

About 10,000 of these could be clean-burning fuel burners.

If the city failed to meet these standards, no new air discharge permits could be issued, and health and economic growth would suffer, Mr Budd said.

Last year, ECan hoped nearly 4000 people would convert their homes to cleaner heating methods, but only about 1800 did.

So far this year, about 900 people have converted out of a targeted 4800.

ECan's Clean Heat Project - which offers some people fully subsidised new heating if they also insulate their homes - had been enthusiastically received, but far fewer people than expected had taken advantage of the offer.

Under its air plan, ECan hoped to introduce mandatory requirements to force people to convert. But until that plan became operational, there was no way to force people to change, Mr Budd said.

ECan operations director Ken Lawn said the council intended to launch an aggressive marketing campaign in the next few months.

"We have a significant air pollution problem and 90 per cent is from household solid fuel burners."
--------------------------------------------------------------
....Sorry Hannah, don't want to spoil it for you...Hopefully they'll get more people to change it! :roll:
How they would solve this in the Netherlands: they make a law that it's forbidden and then you get a fine, when you haven't changed it...

:mrgreen:

[Hannah-NL]

Yep thats the way they do it over here, they make laws for every thing.
Like I usually say, soon when you have to f**t you need a license to do so :laugh

If we can get things right, we wont be living IN Christchurch itself in the end, probably in one of the surrounding smaller towns..
The Cashmere "thing" would be temporarily, if it ever happens.

Uhm I have heard and read good things about Rangiora? But I might be totally wrong there of course.

[Moorf]

Our friends up high on Cashmere Hill said they look down on Chch in the winter and it looks like a lake... of smog! Luckily we'll be living in a coastal area where the winds keep the air clear :nice1

Eventually everyone will be forced to change as per the Ecan rules, I suspect most are waiting until they HAVE to do it... as is human nature.

Rangiora grew on me Hannah - first impressions weren't good but having been there a few times and seen what's on offer and the amount of house and land you get for your money it's definitely somewhere you should take a long hard look at.

BTW Hannah - I've taken some pics of that house and area, just need to wait on Woz to get home as I had prob's transferring them! :oops:

[markkellaway]

Nic,

Please DON'T keep your opinions to yourself, you make a valuable contribution and I'm sure I'm not alone in saying you've helped many of us both thinking about the move and actually going through it.

Opinions are just that, opinions, all are valid and enable those of us further afield to at least get some ideas. If one person says "I wouldn't live here" and another says "I would" it doesn't mean eother is wrong, just means that we have to dig deeper.

Mark. :P

[A & M]

Hannah-NL,

We have been in Rangiora since January, so happy to answer any specific questions about it. Have you looked at www.rangiora.net ?

Mandy

[Yogi]

We hoping to head to ChCh when the medicals saga is done and we sell up here.

I had identified 2 possible areas for us as Rangiora up north or in the southern hills in Cashmere/Westmorland. Are these particularly expensive areas? Would I have much trouble picking up a decent sized plot (hopefully 800m2 +) in a reasonable location for around NZ$ 150-200k?

Would also appreciate ideas of how long a commute to CBD from these areas and quality of schooling etc?

Cheers,

Yogi.

[Moorf]

Yogi - do you want a house on that plot too for up to $200K? :?

Cashmere for $150-200k? Probably not if you want a house.

More likely to get more for your money in Rangiora. :nice1

[Yogi]

Nope just a decent sized plot.

Having seen a lot of Kiwi houses, I have to say they are fine places but I am too accustomed to life's luxuries (like no draughts and central heating) that I'd probably want to have my own design built anyway.

Is that out of the question in either location?

Cheers,

Yogi.

PS. Both places have broadband don't they?

[Moorf]

Currently in the Cashmere Hill area there are sections for sale and the prices are approx $160K for a 700sqm plot to $175k for a 900sqm plot.

In Rangiora, however, it looks like you'll get 700sqm for anything from $95k - $135k.

[A & M]

Yogi

Rangiora to CBD about half an hour, although I haven't driven it in rush hour.

Schooling - we have 2 children at primary school in Rangiora. There are 3 primary schools and a high school. Happy to answer more questions about the schools if you are interested.

Mandy

[Yogi]

Sounds interesting, are those plots in good bits of Cashmere/Rangiora and well situated for sun and views etc?

Cheers,

Yogi.

[Moorf]

Sorry Yogi - without visiting them I can't comment on their position/sun/views etc.

Just thought I'd give you an idea of prices. :nice1

If you check on Realenz ( www.realenz.co.nz) then you can contact agents about plot positions etc.

[A & M]

Rangiora is completely flat, but if you live on the west side of town, where there is a lot of building going on, you get good views of the mountains.

Mandy