[stojsa]

Hi guys,

PLEASE, PLEASE help us!!!
Can you dear people tell us if my husband (Health care assistant) and I (Early childhood teacher) can afford to live a decent life in New Zealand?
We heard that house prices are around $250.000 and that both of us are gonna have $33.000 (after tax) per year and that weekly cost for food and everything else is around $1.000 !? :confused:
So, we'll ask again-is it possible to afford a house and a decent lifestyle with that kind of money?
Every advice would be appreciated.

GOD BLESS YOU ALL!!! :)
Ned & Sania

[Moorf]

I'm afraid I know nothing about the salaries for the occupations you mention, but in my opinion in areas where the housing is $250k the jobs are either lower paid, there's a fair commute or opportunities are scant... in the only City I have personal experience of, Chch, a $250k house isn't going to be in the nicest of areas (imho :uhoh )... but then I don't know what lifestyle you want, or need, and a "bad" area for me might be an area you would be happy with...

[firstkings]

I'll be taking home quite a bit less than that per week. My wife will not be earning. We have 4 children. Posts I have seen previously suggest I'll be fine.

I have found these pages helpful

http://www.nz-immigration.co.nz/cost-of-living/living-expenses.html

http://www.newzealandnz.co.nz/discussions/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=49;t=000299;p=0

The latter helped stop my jitters!

Two questions though - do you have children? (BIG expense!)
do you have equity from the UK for a house deposit?

You should be fine,

if not I'm stuffed!

David

[stojsa]

OH MY GOD !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :confused:
Thanks a lot David and Moorf, we are so confused now as we calculated and it seems that we are gonna have $1,000 less per month than we thought and we are now having second thoughts .
I can't believe it !!!!!!!!!!!!!!
David, we don't have children yet, but thinking about it seriously and working on it :yes ! We don't have any equity unfortunately and links you sent us were so useful.
Moorf, we just want to live in safe area and about lifestyle we want, need... we are so modest.
THANKS AND BIG HELLO TO YOUR FAMILIES !!!

Ned & Sania xxx

[willsken]

From my research I think that if you will be $66000 after tax between you and you live in a modest way then you will be fine. There seems to be plenty of people who manage to live on less. :)

[stojsa]

Nicola, thanks for your reply :) , but we are gonna be $33.000 (both of us) after tax. We are far away from $66.000.

[jdbob]

I have to wonder about the accuracy of the site Living Expenses (http://www.nz-immigration.co.nz/cost-of-living/living-expenses.html)

They show petrol at 1.16 per litre. I bought petrol in Lower Hutt a week ago and it was 1.57 per litre.

[veronica]

stojsa, bit puzzled at what work you will be doing if the two of you are working full time and only earning $33k. between you. the minimum wage is $10.15 for an adult, and multiplying that by 8 hours, then by 5 days and again by 52 weeks would give an annual income of over $21k for one makes $42,000+ for two. ok there will be stoppages but my daughter does temp office work just clerking and reception and is getting around $15 an hour, are you sure you aren't going somewhere that is exploiting you.

[stojsa]

Veronica, we checked on www.kiwicareers.govt.nz and we calculated million times, so my wife would have around $25,000 per year for start-it could be first five years and my wage would be around $17,000, which makes $42,000 per year minus tax of 19.5% and it is $33,800 net.
We are talking about Early childhood teacher and Health Care Assistant wages.
Can you check this site PLEASE and tell us what you think about it?

Thanks, speak to you soon :)

[Singel]

Rule of the thumb, if your mortgage/rental is less than 40% of your take home pay, then you should be able to live comfortably.

Based on your combined take home pay of $33k per year ($687.50 per week), your mortgage/rental should not exceed $275 per week.

[firstkings]

According to my calcs....$275 per week corresponds to about $140,000 in mortgage. Please correct if I'm wrong...

[stojsa]

Hi Singel and thank you so much :) .
Is it possible to find accommodation for that kind of money somewhere in Christchurch?
We visited so many websites, but being a Newzealander you would help us with this info much better.

Ned & Sania

[stojsa]

David, you are right mate :yes and with $140,000 mortgage we can't afford place to live!!!
EVEN MORE CONFUSED!!! WHAT TO DO????? :confused:

[Moorf]

I would say that, for $275/wk you should be able to find somewhere to rent in Chch or it's outskirts. I did a quick search on the L J Hooker site for rentals in Chch for c. $275 and it came back with two in decent areas - one was a three bed house - so it's entirely possible for you to perhaps rent for a while until you know how your finances work out.

If you look through the papers here I am sure you will find many more rentals in that price range.

As for purchasing for $140k - I would think that is highly unlikely in and around Chch itself, a small house that needs a full renovation, on around 800m2 of land, was sold out here in our village just recently for $220k and we are just over 50km from the city.

Sorry I based my previous post on $60k income...I misunderstoond. But without wanting to scaremonger I do think you'll be struggling to get by on a joint income of $33k - although I know plenty of kiwi's who do just fine on that sort of income.

[stojsa]

Thank you Helen :) ,
we are definitely having second thoughts.

Speak to you soon.

Ned & Sania

[Singel]

Based on BNZ's current mortgage rates of 7.50% fixed for 2 years : http://www.interest.co.nz/

For a loan amount of $170000 over 30 years at an interest rate of 7.50% p.a., your indicative repayment* is $274.31 / week.
BNZ mortgage calculator : http://www.bnz.co.nz/Home_Loans/1,1184,19-173-449-2190,00.html

Here are our monthly expenses for 2 adults, no kid :
- groceries $700 including eating out
- council tax $100
- electricity $85
- gas $35
- road tax $17
- car insurance $70
- hosp/life insurance $180
- petrol $200
- telephone/internet $120

On top of the above, we also have expenses on Sky TV ($44), NZ Herald subscription ($78), Alarm monitoring ($33) and GP visit, short holidays, etc................ it all adds up :no

These will give you some idea about the daily expenses and you will find that it is so crucial to stick to the "less than 40% of your take-home pay rule on your mortgage/rental".

Ned and Sania, have a look at this real estate website in Christchurch : http://www.realtor.co.nz
Looks like you still could get houses that are below the price of $180k.
Forum members living in Christchurch should be able to let you know where are those undesirable areas.
:cheers

[firstkings]

I too had originally thought you you meant $66,000 net. Sorry!

I've just done quick check on www.realenz.co.nz

You can do a search for residential rentals. Choosing Canterbury and then including surrounding suburbs and choosing a max rent of $270pw - reveals over 50 properties - some houses, some flats. Almost all of them look better than where I'm living now!

Hope this helps...

David

[firstkings]

Singel,

Thanks for that...I shall update my spreadsheet now!

I had based my calcs on 9% interest rates. (Ever the pessimist!)

Cheers

David

[Moorf]

I also did a quick search for your price range stojsa and found a couple in Rangiora for around $199k.


"Areas" is a tough one - very subjective. For instance, I personally wouldn't live in the Linwood/Phillipstown/Aranui areas and I think it's pretty obvious when you drive thru those areas what the population of them is like...... when I saw the "cheap" NZ houses on the net from the UK it was very exciting - a detached house with a nice garden for THAT? Wow, I thought.... and when you get here you see where that house is situated and suddenly the price makes sense..... :o

Cheap or not... you still get what you pay for, for me at least the "cheap NZ house prices" attraction is long over......

[stojsa]

Singel :) and David :) THANKS A LOT !!!
YOU ARE ALL SUCH A GOOD FRIENDS!!!
You gave us a little hope, but we are still worried :no .
GOD BLESS YOU !!!

Ned & Sania xx

[stojsa]

Helen :) thank you very much for everything you are doing for us!!!

Ned & Sania xx

[jubjub]

I'd take the figures you see on the goverment web site with a big pinch of salt. I don't believe that people really earn $17,000 a year. I'd suggest you contact a health authority and try and get job values from them directly, I think it'd be way higher.

The other cost of living we prices were fairly close, although petrol is way off, $1.16 was the price this time last year, but it's gone up everywhere.

I do think prices in NZ are cheaper relative to incomes, than in the UK. For instance we had a very nice brunch for two today at the oasis cafe on Eastern beach in Auckland (off topic but it was fab and I heartly recomend) , with a couple of coffees plus OJ. Total cost was equivlent to 1 hours wages pre tax in NZ. In the UK, we'd have been looking at 2 - 2.5 hours income.

[wilson182]

I'm afraid I know nothing about the salaries for the occupations you mention, but in my opinion in areas where the housing is $250k the jobs are either lower paid, there's a fair commute or opportunities are scant... in the only City I have personal experience of, Chch, a $250k house isn't going to be in the nicest of areas (imho :uhoh )... but then I don't know what lifestyle you want, or need, and a "bad" area for me might be an area you would be happy with...

Have been begining to check out house prices in the Rangiora area, and some 3 beds seem to be at around $260 - $300k. I have only been looking in the real estate windows at the moment, although there is one for sale in our street and it is on a back section. I am not sure if all the house in this range will be on back sections or not, we havent really got that far. (and this is not necessarily a bad thing, depending on your point of view.) PLUS they do seem to be very nice houses, not unlike the house we are renting currently, which IMHO is just the kind of house I would be happy to buy. The houses here are newer and more likely to be permanent materials (Bricks etc)...OK, to expand on Moorfs comments, She is quite right: in Rangiora you have a fair commute to town (30-40 mins) and the opportunities for local employment are scant. However, IMHO it couldnt be classed as a "bad" area, Its just not in "town"......

[StevieD]

That is a valuable way of looking at things JubJub, look at it in hourly pay as opposed to exchange rate. I mean, how much does it cost for just a couple of coffees in Starbucks? I you added OJ and food to that it would come to much more than many peoples "hourly rate". Had 2 hot chocolates and 2 basic coffees last week with a pack of caramel wafers, and that came to £10!! Quite scary really and off topic, sorry.

[stojsa]

Thanks everyone for your help :) , we do appreciate it !!!

Ned & Sania

[Moorf]

At the library I was paid $12 / hr - I'm not sure I could find brunch for two for $12 around here...... I could get a wheelbarrow of chips from the chippy for $5 but not brunch in a nice cafe .....

[foolsgold99]

Brunch for 2 was very nice, although my salary is probably pretty good by NZ terms.

I tend to try and put every purchase into context of how long I have to work to pay for it. Surprising how many things I discover I don't really want when they equate to quite a few hours.

[Hannah]

Hi Ned and Sania,

I think you are right to find out as much as you can before you leave to come here. Healthcare assistants will earn around $10.50-$13 here. If you have qualifications in this area, or if you train while on the job, you can earn more as pay will often increase after gaining qualifications (as a way of encouraging better standards through training).

As you do not have children you can afford to look at smaller properties which will be cheaper. Bear in mind also that if you work at a hospital they often have very cheap accomodation. This may be an option for you to start with while you get yourself settled and are more confident about where you want to live. In the hospital where I work there are rooms to rent in shared houses for around $75 a week. There can be couples who live in these houses, sharing with other people. The great thing is that you have no bills as these are included (electric, gas, rates) and not far to travel to work!!!! (as they are on hospital grounds or nearby). Worth checking this out as a starting point for when you arrive. You can stay there just a week or two or longer term. They may have different options (houses for rent for just one couple?) so check this out too. There are generally vacancies in our hospital accommodation too. If you get a job with a hospital, just ask their accomodation department. Our hospital accommodation can even be rented by those who don't work at the hospital but who work in other caring industries.

Just a thought,

good luck, hannah

[stojsa]

Thanks a lot Hannah :yes
It was very helpful.

Ned & Sania