Papakura Living

[Bytor]

Being a tight arsed git, I've found that buying a house around Howick is too fuckin expensive, so what is Papakura like? Is it a up and coming area or a shithole? Looking at spending $500k which seems to get a lot more house for ya dollar than Howick/Cockle Bay way.
Have 2 kids under 3, so childcare facilities are pretty high on the list as well as good schools for the future.

Anyone live around that way that can give me some info?

Cheers

[Mrs Busa Pete]

Being a tight arsed git, I've found that buying a house around Howick is too fuckin expensive, so what is Papakura like? Is it a up and coming area or a shithole? Looking at spending $500k which seems to get a lot more house for ya dollar than Howick/Cockle Bay way.
Have 2 kids under 3, so childcare facilities are pretty high on the list as well as good schools for the future.

Anyone live around that way that can give me some info?

Cheers
Stick to howick or even pakaranga much nicer area for kids

[McJim]

We have friends that moved out to Papakura recently - so far they think it's good - no problems. They've got 2 young 'uns so I'll ask the wife how they're getting on and get back to you. Cost of houses in East Auckland is obscene though - How can they justify $500K and over for all these houses - do that many people really earn $125K or more per year coz that's how much you need to earn to get on the property ladder out east these days.

[gijoe1313]

Papakura is a nice place. Plenty of range of housing depending on what your budget is - plus you don't get screwed on the rates like other suburbs in Auckland (knock on wood so far!).

Currently there is a lot of development going on in the Takanini/Papakura/Drury areas and its just a matter of popping in and taking a look at the areas yourself.

Alfriston is going through a big patch of change at the moment also. Plus the accessibility to Clevedon/Kawakawa are all good!

I've been living in Takanini for the last 20 years or so - just gotta watch out for the trains! :shifty: The schools available are all good, and if you don't think so - the money you save means you could pack them off to private! I'm teaching at Alfriston at the moment and the area is really starting to come up nicely.

[Drum]

And soon you'll have new traffic lights to help you get on the motorway!
Baaa haaa haaa haaaa. Baaaa haaa haaa haaa.

Seriously though, nothing wrong with Paps.

[Fub@r]

The north western portion, or south eastern parts of papakura are probably the better parts of town.

If not go a touch north and look at Conifer Grove, nice quiet secure neck of the woods.

[Bytor]

We have friends that moved out to Papakura recently - so far they think it's good - no problems. They've got 2 young 'uns so I'll ask the wife how they're getting on and get back to you. Cost of houses in East Auckland is obscene though - How can they justify $500K and over for all these houses - do that many people really earn $125K or more per year coz that's how much you need to earn to get on the property ladder out east these days.


Tell me about it!

We came over from the UK last year with enough money to have been mortgage free if house prices had levelled off 3-4 years ago. Now I've got to double that and take out another 30 year mortgage whilst earning 2/3rds of what I earned in the UK. How the feck do people afford these house prices on the generally lower wages mystifies us. So much for investing in the kids future, health insurance, medical insurance and as for pensions ha not a chance:bye:
I'm just not prepared to financially commit suicide by overstretching the mortgage and buy in Cockle Bay etc, as nice as it is.

Cheers Big McJim for looking into it.

[APPLE]

paps got to many criminals down there man,Takanini's probly the better bet.how bout conifer grove ways?

[McJim]

Tell me about it!

We came over from the UK last year with enough money to have been mortgage free if house prices had levelled off 3-4 years ago. Now I've got to double that and take out another 30 year mortgage whilst earning 2/3rds of what I earned in the UK. How the feck do people afford these house prices on the generally lower wages mystifies us. So much for investing in the kids future, health insurance, medical insurance and as for pensions ha not a chance:bye:
I'm just not prepared to financially commit suicide by overstretching the mortgage and buy in Cockle Bay etc, as nice as it is.

Cheers Big McJim for looking into it.
Sounds like you're in the same boat as me (same area too I'm in Botany) came out here Oct '04. Need to catch up, sink a beer and compare notes - we'd thought about the Papakura route too but the wife has made a few friends out this way - so have the kids so we'll have to see.

[Will]

Gidday

I live in Papakura. Near the motorway. So I am very handy to everything. We have no plans on leaving the area we are in.
Schooling is the thing to watch. Rosehill is good for a state school and there is Strathallan in Karaka if you want to go private.
If I want to get out on the bike, I can go South, East or West very easily. North thru the Auckland traffic is not so brilliant.

Gotta do your homework and look around to find what best suits you.

[Jantar]

Being a tight arsed git, I've found that buying a house around Howick is too fuckin expensive, so what is Papakura like? Is it a up and coming area or a shithole? Looking at spending $500k which seems to get a lot more house for ya dollar than Howick/Cockle Bay way.

Yep, Auckland is expensive.

Down here for $500k you'd get a three bedroom house on 10 acres of land, including pond and established trees and within 12 minutes drive of all the schools, preschools etc.

Right in town, for $500k, you'd get a brand new four bedroom house with double garaging.

[Magua]

My grandparents live in Papakura. I don't think much of the area but their only complaint is the "hoons" who love to speed past the primary school accross the road.

[Winston001]

Good on you for having $500,000 to spend. Down here that is telephone numbers. But nearby in Queenstown it would only get you an average/low end home.

It beats me how people can afford the prices these days, especially given that our wages are not high.

The property market has been hot for about 4 years now and in the natural order of things, it will slow down. Prices won't exactly drop in any obvious way but it will become easier to buy at a lower price. Always depends on how keen the seller is.

Immigration has fuelled housing. That has now substantially reduced so the slow down should arrive soon. A clue - when real estate agents are doing press releases saying how everything is fine - it means agents are complaining to their bosses. They don't need to say that when the market is booming. :D

Finally, gotta say it, Location, Location, Location. I've seen it work time and again over 25 years. But in Auckland you can look for areas which are developing or upgrading. Eg. to my tired memory Ponsonby is an urban ghetto full of Islander families. It was where the famous Dawn Raids took place. Yet I believe it is now trendy. Its a funny old world.

[Troll]

don't do it

Papakura is not that bad but Howick is that much better

Land prices will always go up more in Howick than South Auckland

Manukau council has a deliberate policy to relocate scum out of east auckland into south auckland, lived there for 20 years and watched it slowly go down

Put it this way, when I lived in Papakura but when i went to the flicks I went over Howick way rather than to Manakau City

[Aitch]

Still some reasonably priced housing, and it's a nice little town.

[Edbear]

Go north young man, go north...:blip:

[Indiana_Jones]

<img src="http://www.msstate.edu/Images/Film/RedDwarf_1.jpg"

It's cold outside, there's no kind of atmosphere,
I'm all alone, more or less,
Let me fly, far away from here,
Fun, fun, fun, in the sun, sun, sun...
I want to lie shipwrecked and comatose,
Drinking fresh mango juice,
Goldfish shoals, nibbling at my toes,
Fun, fun, fun, in the sun, sun, sun...
Fun, fun, fun, in the sun, sun, sun...

:blip: :blip: :blip: :blip: :blip: :blip: :blip:

-Indy

[scumdog]

Yep, Auckland is expensive.

Down here for $500k you'd get a three bedroom house on 10 acres of land, including pond and established trees and within 12 minutes drive of all the schools, preschools etc.

Right in town, for $500k, you'd get a brand new four bedroom house with double garaging.

And if you can't afford Jantars area and want to 'slum it' then come down here, 1100sqm section, 3 bedrooms and two car garage (brand new)in a cosy coastal town, good neighbours (Pounawea) on the Southern Scenic Route might cost you $260,000 - $280,000.
Sealed road, 5km from nearest town with swimming pool, district school , doctors, 4-Square,pub, Police, 30km from Balclutha, 125km south of Dunedin.

Last burglary in 2004. (last known crime)

[750Y]

And if you can't afford Jantars area and want to 'slum it' then come down here, 1100sqm section, 3 bedrooms and two car garage (brand new)in a cosy coastal town, good neighbours (Pounawea) on the Southern Scenic Route might cost you $260,000 - $280,000.
Sealed road, 5km from nearest town with swimming pool, district school , doctors, 4-Square,pub, Police, 30km from Balclutha, 125km south of Dunedin.

Last burglary in 2004. (last known crime)

pretty hard to argue with that, & a dam nice corner of the world to boot, not to mention a great environment to raise the kids.

seriously, check out hunua area. fantastic environment for the kids.
I live out hunua way as does another kb-er. we both have young families & my kids love it, so do i. there's a great school too. prices right now are ok, & i noticed a few semi-bargains when moving within hunua several months back.
i drive howick to hunua every day & so does the mrs(separate cars, long story). also the roads are great for riding & you can be at the boat ramp in 30 mins for fishing at kk-bay. you can do the coromandel loop in 3 hours return so leave at 6am be home by 9am with the whole day ahead for family stuff. there's pig/deer hunting in the ranges, bushwalks & mountainbike tracks. waterfalls, dams, f-all cars & relaxed people. take a fresh look you might be pleasantly surprised. i would not buy in Papakura expecting a brilliant return in capital within the next 10 years...other places will however move.. howick is close to maxing out in many ways but there's still some good people round that way. good luck mate

[Beemer]

I don't know how people can afford to live in Auckland. For what you'd pay for a three bedroomed house on a pocket handkerchief sized section, you'd get a mansion in other towns!

People knock Levin, but there are lot of Wellingtonians shifting here and commuting to the city during the week. A few years ago you could pick up a nice house in town for about $150,000. Now you're lucky to get one under $225,000. We live in the country and the house at the end of our road is on the market right now for $445,000. Five bedrooms, double garage, six acres of land - they paid $250,000 for it in 2003! We know, because we had an offer on the place too in case they pulled out. We paid a bit more than that for our place but we've got three acres and a newer home with five car garaging and a pond.

Years ago you'd think someone was a millionaire if they lived in a half a million dollar home - now they're likely to be the local plumber or shop worker! Our place is worth over $300,000 now and although it's lovely, it's not anything amazing - well, I suppose the views and the peace and quiet are! We're eight minutes from town - two high schools, several primary schools, hospital, several pubs - the works.

[Ozzie]

I've lived in good old Paps for pretty much the entire time I have been in the country (11 years) and haven't had any trouble of any kind. Having said that, I don't look for it either. I have lived in a couple of different areas, and as I say, have been fine, but there are some really scody areas that I wouldn't go, day or night (me being picky more than anything else).

House prices in Papakura over the last 5 years have seen a higher percentage capital gain than the majority of Auckland, but, that has slowed now.

Schools are good, depending on area. I have 3 kids, 2 in primary school, they go to Cosgrove, and seem to enjoy it. They have had no trouble either, however the bro factor of the people in their school make me think of moving prior to them starting high school, things could change by then though. In the area, best junior schools are drury, conifer and cosgrove, best intermediate are both rosehill. If you are looking for the area, look for school zoning.

Takanini, in parts is quite nice (very small parts), most is very low income and high violence (domestic if nothing else), Conifer Grove (actually in the grove) is protected by a single route in and out that has 24hr recorded surveilance, apparently it has FA crime and has a nice park and water front walk to take the kids and the dog.

Drury is nice, quite small, and only an additional 2 minutes south on the motorway. It has a quite good primary school, but is in the Papakura catchment for senior schools, which is a downfall. Drury has enough for you to get by if you forget to get something on the way home, a dairy, superette, servo and other bits and bobs.

Hunua, not sure of the schooling, but the area is very nice, and plenty of valuable/pleasurable riding in the area. There is FA in Hunua itself, but it is a very short way from Paps, which has everything you need. Hunua only has a servo, and it isn't open all hours.

If you are ok to wait, the area inbetween Botany and the back of Manukau is under huge development, and is set for 7 new schools in the next 5 years, and targeted at middle income, so worth considering.

Anyway, that's enough, hope that helps.

[Bytor]

hmmmmm lot's of mixed reactions, which is what I expected. What's one man's paradise is another man's gutter. We'll have a drive around this weekend.

Can all you guys living out of Orkland shut it about your 'low' house prices it just depresses me. We never intended living here always preferring the south island or towns like Tauranga and Napier, but the reality is that the work just isn't available large scale in these areas. I was offered jobs in both Tauranga and Napier soon after arriving from UK but the salaries where half of what I earn up here, and yet the house prices are similar. One recruitment company told me that they are really struggling to get people to leave Auckland and move to these areas because they simply can't afford to!!

Auckland is just sucking up all the business away from the rest of the country - something has to change otherwise NZ will become a giant city called Auckland. Sure once we are more established we can move around, but the danger is we will become trapped up here.

Having said that we like it here in Howick. 2 mins to Howick and Cockle Bay beaches, close to decent retail (Botany) and yet 5 mins from wonderful countryside and good riding roads. We could take the easy option and buy in Dannemora but we just don't like it - legoland with FA character. Iv'e yet to meet anyone who doesn't regret moving there.

Anyway thanks for all your suggestions and opinions it's been much appreciated.

[McJim]

I looked long and hard at moving out of Auckland myself - problem is I couldn't find any work anywhere else - I have to agree with Scumdog - Southland is New Zealand's best kept secret - comes in for a lot of flak from other towns coz it's so far away from everything else - I've got in-laws living down that neck of the woods. There are other options around Auckland too - there's Glenfield - still affordable and quite nice on the North Shore, Titirangi is gorgeous, scenic and affordable (coz it's near the Waitakere Range and rains often - kiwis don't like rain. I'm from Glasgow where it rains 350 days out of 365 so I didn't notice it!) I've been looking into this subject for a year and a half so will share my insights - I've also visited every town in the South island at least once this year so far through work so can let you know a bit about this country from an imigrants point of view.