[diforsyth]

I'll be arriving in Auckland in September and have so far booked a couple of weeks in motel. Within this two weeks I'd really like to get the ball rolling for buying house. Am I being unrealistic with my timescales?

I'm looking to buy in Orewa, have been there before and will be working Albany so feel it's a reasonable sensible decision.

What is the average time for buying a house and moving in?

David.

[kiwidebs]

It took us about four weeks from having our offer accepted to moving in. We could've done it quicker but we had to wait to get our money over from the UK amongst other things. It is definately an easier process than in the UK.

[jaycee]

Hi David, my purchase took four months, from initial enquiry to settlement, although there were a number of delaying factors: there was already a conditional offer in place, I was in the UK, I needed a NZ mortgage, it was over the Christmas holiday, and I had to extend the settlement date as I couldn't get my finances sorted in time. All of that at least doubled the time it took.

I would guess that if you are already in NZ, don't need a mortgage (or have an offer in principal) and your seller is sorted, it could be done in a few weeks. That's if you can find somewhere you like pretty quickly :) Maybe start looking on the web before you fly out (if you haven't already!).

As Debs said, it's simpler, and cheaper (in terms of lawyer's fees etc.) than here.

[off2nz]

Hi
We've just been through this, having arrived in Auckland at the very end of May. We stayed in motels for a few weeks whilst trying to decide which area we wanted to live in and then looking at houses. From the day that we found our house here and put in an offer that same day to the date we moved in was just under 3 weeks. During that 3 weeks we also applied for a mortgage with no problem at all.
Hope that helps.

[Nienke]

We looked at houses for 1 week, found the house we wanted and put in an offer that same day which got accepted. Within two weeks we had arranged all the finances and builders reports etc., and we could have moved in within 3 weeks, but our container with our stuff was still at sea so we waited a couple of weeks longer.
It all happened so very fast!

[Avalon]

9 months :laugh

Well, actually about 2 once we found somewhere ( a lot of time spent haggling over price and conditions).

It can be really quick - but I would advise caution in jumping in feet first - make sure yu get INDEPENDANT advise before signing anything - even an offer. And do be wary of using people that the real estate agents recommend.

We signed a 6 month renatl aggreement and then extended it - as we knew we didnt want to buy straight away, and wanted to get a feel for the place first.