Totally off topic - location, location, location

[Fat Tony]

Wonder if any of you could help with a bit of info?

Wife and I were having a nosey round the Harcourts real estate site last night trying to get an idea of what the money from our UK house sale would buy us over in NZ. We won't be buying for 12 months, it was just to get an idea, and no doubt prices will have gone up considerably by the time we're ready to buy - just dreaming at the mo :)

The two properties below fall a bit above our ideal budget, and we just wondered if somebody could shed some light on the areas that these are in as we haven't a clue (planning a visit next year to familiarise a bit). They look fantastic and it seems you get a whole lot more for your money over there, but you never know what's next door/down the road etc on the real estate site, lol

So, anybody familiar with the areas that these two houses are in?

http://tinyurl.com/yzlrjz
http://tinyurl.com/yfgtbx

Thanks in advance :niceone:

[Karma]

Personally... they're both in the middle of nowhere.

But I'm a city boy, anything smaller than Auckland / Wellington is too small.

[chanceyy]

Feilding is a slightly bigger town than Bulls

really depends on what you want

Feilding soil is mostly clay based water does not absorb much in winter ..

Bulls is more free draining (depending on where you are) there is not much there as it is where the main route splits to either head up north or to continue up the west coast ..

its closer to Ohakea air base ( less than 5 mins up the road .. ) but about 30 mins from the two main centres Palmerston North & wanganui .. palmy being bigger ..

feilding is approx 15 mins from the airbase .. not on a main arterial route .. & palmy is only 15 mins away as well is a "bigger" community than bulls (town not villiage ).. & of course at feilding you have the manfeild track ;)

really depends on why you are looking in that area .. i take it you have seen a map of where these two places are ..

[StoneChucker]

Hi. My suggestion is to do what we did, which is rent. Don't dismiss that too quickly, I only mean for a few months. After a few months in NZ, you'll have a much better idea of where everything is, and what the benefits and drawbacks of each area is.

For example, in Bulls or Fielding, you'll get a really nice house, 4 or 5 bedrooms on an acre or two of land (example) for the same amount you'll pay for nice house in an area closer to a city, with only 3 bedrooms on a normal sized plot. Benefit's of the nicer house are a quieter area and a nicer house! :) Drawbacks, miles and miles from anywhere meaningful, little entertainment, few facilities, etc..

It depends what you want, and who you are. Renting for 3 or 6 months will save you in the long run, no point buying a house and not being happy with the area.

[Fat Tony]

Cool, cheers. Answers my question nicely thanks... neither are in the middle of a drug ghetto then, lol

We're hoping to get away from the crowds Weasel. The UK's getting a little cramped. Loved what I saw of Wellington when I came over a few years ago, just considering different areas at the moment.

We've loads to consider when we're finally looking to buy, including schooling for our daughter, which will be one of the main criteria which influences where we end up, so we'll have to do a load of research before then. We just wanted an idea of what to expect for the money (and obvious that will change dramatically depending on the area)

Mansfield track eh? Hmmmmmm... :)

Thanks for the info!

[Karma]

Where you from in the UK?

[Fat Tony]

Hi. My suggestion is to do what we did, which is rent.

Cheers StoneChucker. Yeah, we'll defo be looking to rent for a while to get a feel for things.

We were just dreaming and think ing long-term last night. Running before we'd learned to walk etc, lol

Must be the dark winter nights here in the UK at the mo. Riding to and from work in the dark everyday :(

[ajturbo]

[quote=StoneChucker;827461]Hi. My suggestion is to do what we did, which is rent. Don't dismiss that too quickly, I only mean for a few months. After a few months in NZ, you'll have a much better idea of where everything is, and what the benefits and drawbacks of each area is.

quote]

a few months?????????????:shutup:
hell, after a day would be more the truth!!!
old NZ is a small and unpopulated place... apart form dorkland
also....the houses are just "around the corner" from me...
i realy wouldn't spend that much money on a house around here.... i would aim at the 200-250k mark...just down the road from me ( 1k) is a house on 3-5acers for 250ish.....

[Fat Tony]

Where you from in the UK?

We're in a small village called Bardsey, about half way between Leeds and Wetherby. It's fairly rural and just 9 miles from Leeds city centre, so the best of both worlds really. It's a lovely spot, and one that we'll be sorry to leave to be honest but the UKs going downhill fast.

Stats on the BBC news site last week reported about 500 British citizens leaving the UK a day!

[Karma]

Yeh that doesn't surprise me, and if you're from Woolpack country then somewhere like Bulls probably won't bother you too much.

[Fat Tony]

i realy wouldn't spend that much money on a house around here.... i would aim at the 200-250k mark...just down the raod from me ( 1k) is a house on 3-5acers for 250ish.....

Heads off to look up Himitangi, lol

[ajturbo]

Heads off to look up Himitangi, lol

lol... on my "street" there are 7 houses.... all within 8ks of each other....
it is a private sale ( no not me) contact the owners... (threw me) i know them well... they are my landlords....
i will paint it any colour you want...:sunny:

[Fat Tony]

lol... on my "street" there are 7 houses.... all within 8ks of each other....
it is a private sale ( no not me) contact the owners... (threw me) i know them well... they are my landlords....
i will paint it any colour you want...:sunny:

:lol: If we were looking to buy right now, I'd be round this afternoon choosing a colour

[Lou Girardin]

Come over, rent for a while till you get a feel for people and places.
You may not like some aspects of country living here, like bestiality or incest.

[Fat Tony]

You may not like some aspects of country living here, like bestiality

That's one of the main reason's we're looking to move over. Rather partial to hedgehogs myself.

[MSTRS]

That's one of the main reason's we're looking to move over. Rather partial to hedgehogs myself.

Apart from the accent, they'll be pretty much what you are used to, then.:shutup:

[Lias]

Fielding has ~14000 residents, and is pretty much an agricultural support town and not much else. Bulls is quite a bit smaller again, and isnt much more than somewhere to stop to take a leak on the main state highway (SH1).

Fielding is probably big enough to have broadband these days, but I very much doubt Bulls is so I hope you like dialup if you move there. Whilst fielding advertises itself as being close to a "Major" city, Palmerston North isnt exactly what I'd call Major even by NZ standards, and our "big cities" are towns by UK standards. Palmerston North has ~80,000 residents so yeah, not all that big really.

What sort of work do you/your wife do, as you may find very little demand for a lot of skills in either of those towns. Its ~45-60 minutes away, but alot of people like to live on the Kapiti Coast and commute into Wellington. Paraparaumu or Waikanae might be a better choice if your careers are more white collar orientated, as Wellington will have a much greater range of jobs than Palmerston North.

[Beemer]

What do you do for a living, Tony? That could influence where you live more than anything. Some areas have many jobs in particular industries, etc whereas others don't. We live in Levin (about 50kms south of Palmerston North and 100kms north of Wellington) and housing is pretty reasonable here. We paid less than $300,000 for three acres, five car garaging and a house that was only three years old! We're 8kms from town but it's as peaceful as anything. My husband works in retail and I work from home as a freelance journalist and photographer so it doesn't matter where I am based.

Prices in Feilding and Palmerston North are likely to increase as the air base at Ohakea is gearing up for major expansion so there will be literally thousands of people looking to move here in the next few years.

I have no idea about Feilding, but there are some good schools in Palmerston North and there is also Massey University there if your daughter is nearing that age. Feilding is a good compromise - several friends live there and commute to PN every day for work.

Lias - you posted at the same time I did! Bulls will have broadband I am sure - I doubt very much if the military at Ohakea would settle for dialup! Wellington may have the jobs, but I bet Tony would get fed up with the commute every day - one of the reasons he wants to leave the UK most likely. Also, his daughter would have to commute to school too, which is a pain.

[Lias]

Snap! *punches beemer inthe arm*

[Beemer]

Oi, not so bloody hard, I'm a girl remember!:gob:

[ceebie13]

We're in a small village called Bardsey, about half way between Leeds and Wetherby. It's fairly rural and just 9 miles from Leeds city centre, so the best of both worlds really. It's a lovely spot, and one that we'll be sorry to leave .....

Hey FT, I spent a year living in Boston Spa. That can't be far from you mate.
If you need more advice, there's plenty of ex-pats on here that can confuse you with their wisdom. Me included. Cheers.

[crazybigal]

nice places, shit hole of a place to live!


Wonder if any of you could help with a bit of info?

Wife and I were having a nosey round the Harcourts real estate site last night trying to get an idea of what the money from our UK house sale would buy us over in NZ. We won't be buying for 12 months, it was just to get an idea, and no doubt prices will have gone up considerably by the time we're ready to buy - just dreaming at the mo :)

The two properties below fall a bit above our ideal budget, and we just wondered if somebody could shed some light on the areas that these are in as we haven't a clue (planning a visit next year to familiarise a bit). They look fantastic and it seems you get a whole lot more for your money over there, but you never know what's next door/down the road etc on the real estate site, lol

So, anybody familiar with the areas that these two houses are in?

http://tinyurl.com/yzlrjz
http://tinyurl.com/yfgtbx

Thanks in advance :niceone:

[betti]

Hey Mate

we're about 10miles from fielding and a bit further from bulls, fielding is as most have said small town, probably on a par with skipton, I'm from Lancaster originally, yeah I know the right side of the pennines!, Bulls is basically a crossroads on the way to everywhere else, but probably a good place to buy for investment, with the ohakea airbase expansion the guys have mentioned!.
Renting in the rural areas is much cheaper than town, and Palmerston north is probably on a par with Lancaster size wise, but considerably less people, crime, etc. etc..
As far as the area goes , it does depend on your skills as has been mentioned, but if your a tradesman, trucker or even better have farm experience, yer in!
I'm a chippy and the missus is a nurse in Palmy , no shortage of work round here , and the quality of life/ folk and the ROADS!!!! kick the ass out of the Uk.
Yep even ingleton to Hawes/ sedbergh!.
If yer comin over for a recce drop me a mail and we'll catchup fer a beer, it'll be the best move you've ever made:Punk:

[McJim]

Best of luck.

I actually wrote loads but then thought the Kiwis would gang up on me (so I deleted it all). You'll find out what it's like when you get here.

[Fat Tony]

Best of luck.I actually wrote loads but then thought the Kiwis would gang up on me (so I deleted it all)

LOL :lol:

Wow, thanks for all that guys! Yeah I know we're jumping the gun looking at property n stuff but with the best part of a year to go before we can make the move we've got to do something to keep the dream alive :)

Boston Spa, Skipton, Ingleton, Hawes... hell you guys know where I ride most weekends :)

As for work? You mean we're going to have to carry on working over there? Damn! ;) Unfortunately we're not nearing retirement age so no chance of changing that for some time!

My wife's a sister on an early pregnancy unit, and is trained as both a nurse and a midwife so we're hoping that's what'll help get us in to NZ and that she'll be able to find work fairly easily, leaving me to stay at home and wash n ride the bike everyday. I wish! I work in the web industry (creative director, so not much hands on these day) but to be honest I'm looking to get out of that. Having said that I'm not trained in much else other than design... so that's another conundrum for me to sort out :confused: Sounds like getting my HGV licence and gaining some experience on the local farms around us would be worthwhile :)

Thanks again for your help, and offers to get in touch as and when

Cheers,
Tony