# Living costs what to expect



## LA Smith (5 mo ago)

Hi, I have been offered the opportunity to move to New Zealand with my Family (wife and 4 kids). The company have offered me a wage of $80,000 moving to $90,000 after 1 year. With a 4 bed house, rent paid by them for 6 months then subsidized to $500 p/m for one year, relocation lump sum of $5,000, medical fees, immigration costs and flights paid for. 
The job is in a rural town in the Wairarapa area. My question is will this be enough salary to live on? Cost of living i have read is expensive and depending on what website i go to i get different numbers for the bills!
My wife is a primary teacher & special educational needs coordinator here in the UK and will be looking for a similar role there too. But until she finds that will we be OK is my big question. Ive done my reading on some things and we are keen to go if the numbers work out, the employer is a family firm and seem very supportive with good links into the local community. 

Any help appreciated, and apologies if the post is a bit rambling, trying to multi task with four kids on summer holidays right now!

Thanks,

LAS


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## Kingdragonfly (Apr 29, 2021)

I would leap at that offer, and I'm very picky. The rent subsidy is extremely generous. Here's what rent look like, using the most popular NZ website, TradeMe

You might want to also only look at a home with a heat pump. Wood fireplaces are common in Wairarapa. Double glazing is also a good feature. Often houses will allows pets, if you ask, and offer to professionally clean the carpet. A cat from the local shelter definitely add to your children's comfort level.

In the short term, it's pleasant. This would be a very good "starter" city, if you're long term term goals were a job in the Wellington area.

The nice thing about Wairarapa is it puts you about 90 minutes away from Wellington, which is the cultural center of New Zealand, one of the "hippest" cities in the world.

The city largest city Masterton is known for people making a long distance commute to Wellington, a bedroom community.

A trick I use when house / apartment hunting is using

1. Google map
2. put in the house address
3. look for directions
4. search for "New World"
5 the closer the better

New World Groceries is an popular up-scale grocery store, and is only in more well-to-do areas.

Second trick is finding the decile rating for the neighborhood / schools. 10 is the best, but I think you'll find 7 is more likely for Wairarapa. You find this by Googling the
_


Code:


name_of_your_city decile site:nz

_For your wife, you may considering getting a house near the trainline, so it opens up more opportunities. Last stop is Masterton, which is a nice city.

I have a retired friend who's a local expert, who could give you advice. For due dilligance, I'd strongly recommend using a licensed immigration consultant, though not strictly needed. A city called "Palmerston North" has several. Ones in Wellington would also be familiar with the area, and would have more experience.

You don't see offer like this every day.


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## LA Smith (5 mo ago)

Hi,

Thanks a lot for the advice i really appreciate it, the town is called Carterton where we would be, and to be honest seems like a nice small rural town. The company have set me up with an immigration consultant and he has been really helpful so far. Seems you have some experience in this are did you know as a renter/tenant in NZ are you liable for the council costs, such as bin collections, tax's and such? You are here in the UK and been looking on the local council website trying to find out some costings but no luck so far. 

Again really appreciate the help opinion on the offer. Very keen to move and it appears like they are giving me a big helping hand!

LAS


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## Kingdragonfly (Apr 29, 2021)

re "as a renter/tenant in NZ are you liable for the council costs, such as bin collections, tax's and such"

Taxes and body corporates are never hidden. Don't have to worry about that. The tenancy laws are very much in the renters favor.

There's been a lot of problems with "leaky homes", and now rentals have to have insulation and fixed heating. Though in Carterton that's is mostly vented wood fires. The air quality can be quite bad, and there's a problem with smog, believe it or not. I'd recommend always getting a rental with a heatpump.

It's unusual to get a rental with more than 3 bedrooms, and 1 bath, so depending on the age of your children, this may be a problem.

I personally prefer the further north town of Masterton, since it's bigger.

In the long term, I'd recommend trying to get near a train station to make day trips to the big city Wellington convenient.

House price are outrageous, but dropping. If you decide to stay, and I'm guessing you will, you're in a "buyer's" market.


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