[jumpingjackflashman2]

i am in manchester uk and am thinking of making the move with my partner and son. if we sell our house we would come with about 150k g.b.p. which i think is about 350k nzd? my idea is that we could buy 2 maybe 3 properties and have no mortgage and income from 1 or 2 rents. what in your opinion would our standard of living be doing this? i.e. would we still need 2 incomes as well or just one? also, is it allowed for us to come over and buy a property and live in nz and THEN apply for work, permit and pr?
thanks in advance,
Eddie.

[gotourvisa]

Hi
I live in west Auckland and property prices here are quite High. £150 = roughly 440 dollars now and would buy you one nice house where we live. There are good areas and bad area and all areas in between. There are a lot of people doing what you have suggested and at the present moment it doesn't look a good idea. It is only good on a rising market, all predictions are of a slowing market with prices settling or even going down. I have thought of the same idea when I came over here a couple of months ago but have decided to rent for 6 months to a year to see what the prices are going to do. each area of NZ is different so it might depend on where you are planing to settle.

[Marco]

HI,
I live in Wellington. For that around NZD 450.000 you could buy a basic house here, but certainly not 2 or 3!!!
And what the market is going to do?
How know?
We just bought a property, because renting was quite expensive as well. We paid NZD 500.00 per month for a reasonable house in a reasonable area.

Hope this information is of assistance to you.
Anita

[Yogi]

What are property prices like in Wellington? Am finding it v. difficult to figure what we'd get for our budget when we get there? Probably would like Jo'ville area with a budget thereabouts same as above poster.

Cheers,

Yogi.

[Ebeee]

Hi Yogi,

If investing in property here I would tread very carefully. I currently work in residential lettings in Wellington and see some frightening sights in properties.

Admittedly a lot of Wellington properties can look very appealing and are often very nice houses, however, some are a heap of crap!

If you are serious about investing get a builder you can trust to turn the place upside down before parting with any money. Many properties built in the last 20 years or so have 'leaking' problems due to their construction. Also, many have the DUX plastic pipes which were eventually removed from the market due to their being pretty unreliable and leaking. Many houses still have this system and there is no obligation on the seller to reveal this or the fact that they have had problems with the system. It can also result in higher insurance premiums and in extreme cases a refusal for insurers to pay out for leaks and damaged caused by them if you knew there was a problem and did nothing to rectify it. The UK system of copper piping is/was expensive in comparison, but far more reliable. There was a large article in the press this weekend regarding this issue and it certainly keeps the plumbers busy.

You also need to bear in mind the position of the house and the construction material. I see a lot of houses that are in the shadows in the winter months and suffer a lot of damp problems. Certainly consider a ventilation system if buying in any of the valley locations. A hose at one side of the street can cost far more than one at the other as a result of the amount of sunlight.

You also need to bear in mind that up in the hills your property can spend several days in the mist and rain. I've seen rain water driven into places you would not believe (oh errrrr!) by the winds around Wellington. I manage one Million $ property in the hills that is rotting away as a result of shoddy building and water damage. It really is a shame.

Yes, many of the houses look awesome in the sun and are very appealing, but use your head and not your heart. Get a builder you can trust and learn as much as you can before parting with your cash. Unfortunately, if you get it wrong it can cost you more than you make, unfortunately, I approve the invoices from the tradesmen and can validate this!

From what I've seen, the earlier houses are far better built, sort of pre-1950's. 1970's and 80's throw up some design faults, though with increasing regulation things should improve.

I'm not trying to scare you, just offer some honest opinions. If you get it right, you can make a sound investment. If not, well....you could live to regret it. Whatever you do, do not accept at face value what a real estate agent tells you, they are profit driven and you won't see them for dust if things go wrong. They have some very creative ways of selling property here!

Good luck in whatever you choose, and I hope it works out well.

Regards,

Ebeeee

[Avalon]

Yes, many of the houses look awesome in the sun and are very appealing, but use your head and not your heart.

Whatever you do, do not accept at face value what a real estate agent tells you, they are profit driven and you won't see them for dust if things go wrong. They have some very creative ways of selling property here!

Ebeeee

:nice1 Saves me writing it!

[montana]

Not sure where you want to move - but we are in ChCh and just looked at houses this weekend. Looks like you can get a reasonable 3-4 BR from $400,000 (NZ) and up. There were some in the 200's but they weren't in great neighborhoods. We looked mainly at 4 bedrooms which were mostly around $500,000 but it was reasonably encouraging because they were great houses. Maybe I have a skewed view from living in California though....

Good luck!