[Paul & Rach]

Hi

anyone any advice on looking for decent rental accomodation in the Auckland area prior to leaving UK. Is it best to look seriously when you get there or would you line something up beforehand.

Also, most places seem to be unfurnished - given that all our stuf will arrve 2 months after we do - how do people deal with that ? - especially with 2 young kids ?

Paul

[ruthyroo]

I would say use the time before you come to gather some ideas (from people on here / books etc) about where you might like to live in auckland - but don't make any hard and fast decisions until you get here - and definitely don't take anything on until you are here to see it in person. In my experience the quality of rental properties varies hugely and you can't get a real idea of either the house or the location until you see it first hand. Mouldy cupboards, draughty windows, total lack of heating, postage stamp sized gardens / huge acres of grass needing cut every week, mouse droppings, noisy / untidy neighbours, busy roads etc can all be very easily hidden by a photograph! And you really need to spend at least a few days getting to know the 'burbs before deciding which ones would suit you both practically, lifestyle-ly and financially.

For furniture you can rent all the basics if you need to - DTR are who we have used in the past.

[Smiler]

Paul

Like ruthyroo says it is a good idea not to rent til you get here.

But from the UK you can get a good idea of where you want to be and get some prices in your head from Trademe, www.propertystuff.co.nz (http://www.propertystuff.co.nz) or the rental agents websites. Ask on here about areas if you want to find out or look at the local council website.

We had a concentrated first few days, discounted a couple of areas pretty quickly and then really concentrated on the areas and style of properties we liked.

We never passed an agents door without going in and asking what was on their books, got the Dom Post (get the Auckland equivilent) and accessed TM early every morning. This might be hard for you with kiddies to drag everywhere but it will be worth it in the long run. A mobile might be a good idea for making calls and appointments 'on the road' rather than drag back to the motel etc.

There is also Mr Rentals for the basic appliances etc and good old TM/warehouse for other stuff to get by with. Getting by made it all the more exciting when our stuff came and you can always resell or lend to other new arrivals the stuff you don't need after yours arrives. :D


And welcome to the forum. :clap

[Tia Maria]

I agree with the others, wait till you get here. We've seen some awful rentals, which looked fine in the description/pictures. We actually failed to find a rental in our area, and are looking into buying instead. (Its a lot easier!).

It would be useful, if you have an idea of which area of Auckland you want to rent in, to ask those on the forum if there are a lot of rentals there. We found there were a lot of 2 beds in our area, but it was harder to find 3 beds - we also have 2 little ones.

One of the ways we got round waiting for furniture, was to do a little sightseeing before. We flew into Christchurch, and worked our way up to Auckland, this took up a couple of weeks and was a great excuse to see the country.

We then had a holiday let booked in the area we were settling, for 2 weeks (there are lots of nice ones about, and you can book this before flying). However, I would say 2 weeks just wasn't enough, we should have booked for about 4-6 weeks, (which would be round about when the container arrived anyway). As a result we've had to move the kids about a lot, and its been longer before we could settle them into pre-school.

Lots of people find rentals quickly. It was harder for us, as we were looking in a really popular area, for 3 beds, in the holiday season (a few were being advertised for may, but we arrived in Feb).

If you want anymore info - do ask. I know how much harder it is with 2 kids along as well.

Cheers

Tia

[Paul & Rach]

Thanks guys - the furniture rental and the holiday suggestions didn't occur to me.... really helpful - thanks. :clap :clap :clap