Wellington Meet-Up

Author
Discussion

SlingshotR6

Original Poster:

5 posts

44 months

Tuesday 25th August 2020
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Hi all,

I'm fairly new to this forum, but am wondering if Wellington folks are keen for a meet-up at some stage in the next month or so?

Could drive over the hill for lunch in Greytown or Martinborough perhaps?

Anyone keen?

XOcette

129 posts

120 months

Tuesday 25th August 2020
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I could be interested.

moles

1,794 posts

244 months

Tuesday 25th August 2020
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I’m coming over to live in Wellington hopefully in December corona permitting, will bring my Exige so I’d be up for a meet from January onwards.

Off topic can anyone help me out a bit closer to the time with a rental property, looking for someone local who I can mail to give me an honest opinion of houses that come up (nice area or not and maybe do a drive by) we going to try and secure a rental from over here in the UK so we can move straight in.

mark387mw

2,177 posts

267 months

Tuesday 25th August 2020
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moles said:
I’m coming over to live in Wellington hopefully in December corona permitting, will bring my Exige so I’d be up for a meet from January onwards.

Off topic can anyone help me out a bit closer to the time with a rental property, looking for someone local who I can mail to give me an honest opinion of houses that come up (nice area or not and maybe do a drive by) we going to try and secure a rental from over here in the UK so we can move straight in.
Continuing off topic, it might be worthwhile looking at holidayhouses.co.nz or Airbnb and rent a place very short term so you can check for yourself prior to a long term sign up.
I’m in Palmerston North and rentals are in short supply so you have to apply and be vetted prior to being ‘allowed’ to rent that property. I don’t know if it’s same in Wellington.
Also, if you have personal contents coming on a ship, you’ll be here a few weeks before they arrive.
Finally, in the media yesterday, I heard a mortgage is likely to be cheaper than renting so an Airbnb will give time to look to buy and move in. Doesn’t take three months here to buy!

moles

1,794 posts

244 months

Wednesday 26th August 2020
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Yes we’d love to buy but they have suspended all residency visas and we have to come on a temporary work visa and hope that they open up at a later date for permanent residency.

You not allowed to purchase property on a work visa so we stuck with renting.

We have got a few air b&b lined up for the first month we also bringing a dog as well which makes it harder to find a rental. I see there is not much for rent which does worry me that we might not actually be able to find anywhere at all.

XOcette

129 posts

120 months

Wednesday 26th August 2020
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You will struggle to find rentals that accept dogs - they are there, but your choice will be limited.

Have a look on TradeMe for rentals, it'll at least give you an idea as to what's there and what the prices are. COVID hasn't affected the Wellington rental market as much as some others, so we've not seen as many Air BnB places move back to the rental market.

Do you have some requirements - number of rooms, garage, flat section, etc.? Some nice suburbs near the city are Roseneath, Seatoun, Khandallah, Ngaio. You do have other options round Eastbourne way (other side of the harbour), or the Hutt Valley (on flat). Depends on how far away you want to be from the city. Be aware when looking in Wellington you need to pay careful attention to wind exposure and sun (pay particular attention to winter sun and shading from the hills).

Drop me a PM if you want to chat more.

Edited by XOcette on Wednesday 26th August 10:55

moles

1,794 posts

244 months

Wednesday 26th August 2020
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Ok thanks, just 2 of us and the dog so a 2 bed with small garden looking around $700-1000pw wife’s hospice she will be working in is in Newtown but we not really keen on cities so prefer to be out of Wellington but not fussed if we have to stay in the city.

Like a garage but the Exige lives outdoor now so it’s not a dealbreaker.

Is it true that getting parts for VW transporters is a nightmare. My mate lives in Queenstown and reckons that it’s better to not bring over our camper as when it breaks you have to wait for parts to be shipped from Europe taking months?. It’s a 2015 T5 anyone know if that’s true?.

NZDave

91 posts

250 months

Thursday 27th August 2020
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Hi Moles. Getting parts in New Zealand may be difficult but I have had no problems getting parts for my TVR and motor parts for my Formula Ford race car from the UK. A bit difficult at present but when the world returns to normal, not much over a week.

moles

1,794 posts

244 months

Thursday 27th August 2020
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Thanks food for thought, I won’t derail slingshots thread any more hopefully see a few of you around when we arrive.

mark387mw

2,177 posts

267 months

Thursday 27th August 2020
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Back on topic - Greytown always a nice visit. I probably wouldn’t risk my old TVR smile but recently bought an Audi TT roadster that needs a run out.

Esceptico

7,440 posts

109 months

Sunday 30th August 2020
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We moved from the U.K. to Auckland last year. We brought our dog but amazingly expensive - I think about £5k and it seriously restricted us when looking for a rental property. After moving we did find a nice one but paying a lot for it and I’m sure we could have found a better for less.

Our dog is only 5 and leaving him at home was never an option though!

TV200

73 posts

70 months

Monday 31st August 2020
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Back off topic, I moved to NZ at the start of January and even though I spotted houses to rent and offered to pay a year upfront, none of the estate agents would consider renting to someone without viewing the property in person, irrespective of the offer of rent up front! In the end my new boss took the tenancy out in his own name!
Glad I still own a house in the UK so I'm still on the 'ladder'.

moles

1,794 posts

244 months

Monday 31st August 2020
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Yeah it’s the thing that worries me most about moving over not finding a good house and the fact that we can’t buy a house on a visa as they have stopped all the residency visas.

Staring down the barrel of having to rent for 3 years minimum and wasting £60k on rent is not something I’m getting my head around easily as we have always bought houses.

TV200

73 posts

70 months

Tuesday 1st September 2020
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Residency visas will reopen. If you have a house in the UK, if you can just rent it out, there is no tax on your foreign property income for your first four years in NZ.

moles

1,794 posts

244 months

Tuesday 1st September 2020
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House sold in the UK nearly 2 years ago been living with family since.

Has taken this long to get wife’s medical registration transferred over then covid struck been a rollercoaster ride.

Booked flights yesterday for December 21st can’t wait now.

Any lotus garages/specialists in Wellington?, am planning on using Ken up in Auckland (KW Historics) to do all the import stuff.

SlingshotR6

Original Poster:

5 posts

44 months

Monday 7th September 2020
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I wonder if I can re-name this thread..."emigrating to Wellington" :smile:

Have you got ideas of areas that you're looking at? Happy to provide local knowledge of the area.

We're in Whitby (30km North of Wellington City), lots of ex-pats out this way.

As others have said, the rental market is pretty tight at the moment.

Hit me up on email of you've got questions.

Cheers,
John

Edited by SlingshotR6 on Monday 7th September 11:18

moles

1,794 posts

244 months

Tuesday 8th September 2020
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Thanks John,

Yes sorry for derailing thread not really fussed on area wife’s working in a hospice in Newtown so somewhere commutable to that, up to say an hour a way so as far out as Upper Hutt I guess.


Wanchaiwarrior

364 posts

214 months

Monday 5th October 2020
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I'm in Wellington, renting in the suburb of Brooklyn.

I'm a draftsman and Mrs is a teacher

Been here since December 2014.

Could try and help, but carless at the moment. Couldn't get spares for my Astra H Sri, so binned it.

Living outside of Wellington will hit your commute time quite badly if you do it in rush hour

Exige46

318 posts

236 months

Friday 6th November 2020
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Rentals are in short supply at the moment, and landlords are offloading due to tenancy laws changing, which doesn't really help. What is available gets snapped up extremely quickly. Fortunately bureaucracy is significantly less than in the UK so once out here so if you find somewhere you like the look of the process can happen very quickly. Best to have references etc ready.

We are out on the Kapiti Coast - again full of ex pats. The commute is manageable, but Newtown isn't the easiest place to commute to from out of town. Having said that - I'm not a fan of cities but would happily live in Wellington, the access to the outdoors is incredible as capital cities go, and the suburbs don't have a big city feel as there are no high rise flats and a lot of coastline.

Anecdotally it can be a pain in the butt getting parts out here for European cars - European cars are very much in the minority. Most drive crappy old Japanese imports.

Happy to help - we've been here just over ten years and wouldn't consider going back to the UK.

iain a

329 posts

227 months

Saturday 16th January 2021
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Any further ideas about a welly meet up? I've been out of town over the holidays, but back now an keen to make the most of the good weather.
I have a Caterham and am based in Aro valley.
Short run around town for a coffee... or wiararapa for a longer day out...