[snailandthewhale]

Sorry, I originally posted this in Locations and couldn't make it disappear!

Hello all,

We are arriving mid Jan and will have about 2 weeks whilst living in serviced apartments to find a house.

My question is, when do we start looking? Is it to soon to start emailing rental places now? Is it unrealistic to try and arrange a rental when still in UK?

Can we wait til we arrive and if we do, will there be any nice houses available to rent at such short notice?

Ideally, would like 2 bedrooms and small garden anywhere nice-ish within commute of CBD

I'm getting worried that arriving in summer, everywhere nice is going to be taken already?

Karen

[The Hodges]

Hi snailandthewhale

We are in the same boat, so I hope that we're not competing against each other in January. :D

I assume that you've tried Real Estate (http://www.realestate.co.nz/rental/all/auckland) or Trade Me (http://www.trademe.co.nz/Trade-me-property/index.htm).

I've heard that you can pretty much find somewhere one day and move in the next, but perhaps someone who has experienced it already could answer that question.

We've been sent a book on Where to Live in Auckland (http://www.wheretoliveinauckland.co.nz/) which looks pretty good, but I don't know how accurate or upto date it is.

We're not going to look until we arrive, as we prefer to look at the area and the house, but each to their own and judging by the properties available, it would appear that there are rentals available all year round.

Good luck and see you (hopefully) over there.

[marcia]

Can't give you any advice on Auckland - but wanted to say good luck - obviously things have progressed foryou guys whilst we've been busy the last month or two - haven't caught up on all the posts yet.

My personal opinion would be not to sign up for any rental until you see it - we saw some which were not what we would call habitable, but then again there are a lot of student lets around Palmy and I guess they will put up with anything!! :uhoh

If you see something you fancy why not get in touch with one of the other formumites from Auckland and ask them to do a drive by - Diny kept doing that for us down here.

Anyway all the best - the adventure is just beginning, and the rollorcoaster continues!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Milliemoo]

Hi Karen,

We moved to Auckland 3 weeks ago today :D

I'd been looking at Trade Me etc for weeks before our departure, but in reality, all that does is give you an idea of what your money will get in each area and how frequently properties come onto the market.

We were somewhat limited to what properties we could look at and where because we don't drive. We've always wanted to move to Devonport but we ended up looking all over Auckland because there just wasn't anything suitable. Finally, and 100% down to luck we managed to get a great rental in Devonport. It's an apartment, not a house as we would have prefered, and only a small balcony not a garden. But Oh the joys of clean modern bathrooms and kitchen. Trust me, you'll know what I'm talking about when you've been round a few places.

It would be my advise not to commit to anything you've seen on the net unless you have someone you trust that can have a good look at it for you. One property we saw had so much damp in the bathroom the ceiling was black. In another the 'kitchen' was one unit with a sink in and a free standing electric cooker. :uhoh

It sounds like you can be pretty flexible as to where you can move to. Are you bothered about whether it's a house/apartment/unit? Most importantly, what's your budget. We wanted a minimum of 2 bedrooms but needed something bigger than a unit. You'd be able to get a niceish unit in a niceish area within a half hour commute for about $300-$400 per week, but it you want a modern apartment or small house in a niceish area you'll need at least $500 I think.

Don't be fooled by thinking there are lots and lots of properties on the websites....most of them arn't even worth looking at. Good rentals get snapped up VERY quickly. Ours was listed on Trademe at about 9am in the morning. I spotted it at about 20past and called. Luckily she said we were the only ones she was going to let see it that night and if we like it we could have it. After I'd spoken to the landlady she was inundated with calls. If I'd called just 5mins later we would have missed out.

I don't want to panic you, but it is either very easy or very stressfull depending on how lucky you are and whether you at the right place at the right time. Obviously this might not be the case for the rest of NZ, but in Auckland I'd say this is very true. That said, if your not fussed where you live and are happy to drive into the CBD (as an option) you'll probably find a rental on one of the big housing suburbs quite easily. My experince is really from looking for something in a good area, with local shops in walking distance and public transport links.

A few tips...
*Look at Trade Me as often as you can
*Estate agents only list the properties that they manage on their websites. To get the full list (which can change daily) you need to either request it by email (each day) or pop into the shop.
*If it looks too good to be true it probably is
*Look at the property and how well maintained it is. This will give a good indication about how proactive you new landlord may be to any problems you might have.
*Don't rely on agents to call you if a new property comes onto their books. You can tell them all your requirements and they'll agree to call you if anything comes in....9 times out of 10 they wont.

I hope this doesn't sound all doom and gloom. You could be really lucky and I hope you are :nice1 The fact that we found somewhere, what with all our specific requirements, in 3 weeks just goes to show it can be done. that said, i do have several more grey hairs.

Just give me a shout if I can help with anything.

Milliemoo

p.s I just assumed you were looking for unfurnished ??

[snailandthewhale]

Hi, thanks for all the advice and good wishes.

Hodges- We have been on various sites and we too have a well thumbed copy of THAT book. I asked one of my old colleagues ( ex - Auckland ) to mark all the nice areas within an hour of CBD and he marked practically every page!

Like you Milliemoo I will be dependant on public transport which would appear to severely limit the options. Unless OH chauffeurs me everywhere!

Would like to settle in one area if not one home as don't want to have to change schools and uproot again if we're settled somewhere. Seems luck has a lot to do with it. I'll try and think positive.

In the meantime Hodges, if you view anywhere that's a bit scummy pass on the details to us as we're not too fussy!

Karen