# Napier advice please



## Rosieprimrose (May 9, 2014)

Hello all, I'm new here and moving with my family to Napier in a few months. 
Really need some advice about housing please. Looking at areas such as Napier Hill or down on the flat area in central Napier, we really like being close to the CBD and love old homes. What is the rental market like? Is it hard to find good 3 or 4 bedroom home to rent at the $400p/w mark? We thought renting for a few months before buying. Is it usual to go to a real-estate agent to find rentals, or would most locals just look up classified adds on their own? Many thanks, Rosie


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## Pombat (Feb 25, 2014)

Hi Rosie,

We have just moved to Napier from Suffolk, uk. (Arrived in March) . We spent two weeks in a motel which gave us time to find a house. We used Trade Me ( only allows you to register a nz address so used my husbands work address in nz to register before we left the uk) which led us to several estate agents...some of them, like harcourts have stopped advertising on trade me which was frustrating as i didnt find out for a bit and i was relying heavily on it. There is also a weekly advertiser that comes out on a wednesday ( available from supermarkets like pac n save which has lots of houses for rent privately but no pictures and short descriptions. We went with a letting agency for peace of mind. But, you do have to be very quick off the mark! As soon as you see a place call up about it. Good properties go very fast. There were three people interested in renting the place we are in now! There are several places you dont want to be in....a quick google search of places not to live in napier brings them up....we are in greenmeadows...nr taradale....its got shops, and good bus routes...and lots of activites for our toddler. Ahiriri (spelling?!) is lovely but it will be expensive. Our two bed coats $305 a week and thats at the cheaper end....i would suggest finding somewhere to tide you over and give you time to look properly ...when buying best to have residency visa first i think.....oh, it ried to arrange viewings a week before we arrived but no one would as by this time the houses had been let!!, its a fast market. Being close to the cbd would be fab....but i believe, very busy during the summer with tourists...oh, and a lot of places shut at 8pm - we had a shock when we went to get fish and chips on our first night here....it was shut! I would suggest staying ina. Motel for two /three weeks which gives youc hance to looka round at the city and investigate places you may like to live.....bluff hill/ )hospital hill are very hilly- would make a yorkshire man sweat! Never seen such steep hills...lots of the houses have steps up to them which we decidedw as a pain for lugging shopping/ baby prams etc!!! Love it here tho! Good place for info/ very good free street map is the i-site on marine parade. If u need a friendly hand when u get here just shout,


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## Rosieprimrose (May 9, 2014)

Thank you so much Pombat, must say I wondered if I would cope with the hills and parking, not to mention the walking and the shopping. 
So its early bird that gets the house, thats really good to know. Sounds a bit like OZ, can have up to 50 couples fighting to rent a good house in the right suburb. 
Must say I thought this would be the case, there are very few homes even to buy in Napier, we don't have to worry about visas, due to the agreement between OZ and NZ (thank goodness) but really don't want to get caught buying in the wrong place.
Any other areas you would recommend? Yes the motel sounds like a good idea, we hope to be there by Jan next year, oops, right in the middle of the holiday season, just realised that!!!!!!!!!!


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## napierlass (May 29, 2014)

Hi Rosieprimrose, I'm following your thread. As an ex Napier girl who is returning after 22 years with hubby and 2 kids. I too need to figure out where to live and how much rentals are. Its nice to see Napier on the forum lets hope there are some jobs for us when we get there. I will be lucky enough to live with my parents at first but we will need to get jobs, rent etc just like everyone else whose new to the country. I reckon Taradale/Greenmeadows area is a good place to start too like Pombat says. Good luck x


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## napierlass (May 29, 2014)

Mind you if you like old homes then you need to be on the hill or close to town for the old colonial wooden ones, just outside the cbd are the deco style houses or 1950s bungalows. Taradale is more modern, I guess it depends if you have kids needing schools or not too and what size house you're looking for. My mum pushed a pushchair up the hill x4 kids. She's fitter than a butcher's dog and over 70 now.


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## Rosieprimrose (May 9, 2014)

Thanks all and Hi Napierlass, this moving stuff is such hard work, but exciting too. We are very lucky as we work out of our home and can work anywhere in the world, just need good internet and our kids are out on their own, so for the first time in our lives we get to live just where we want, its an awesome feeling. 
I love anything pre 1950's, even if old homes are cold. BTW, what the heck is a "Heat Pump" anyone know?
Napierlass, I grew up in Wellington, so hills are not new to me either, I walk for an hour everyday, although here in OZ its at 5am to beat the heat!
Looking for a large house with a good size garden, I am a gardenaholic with room for two large cars that we are bringing with us. Looking at the Napier central area, the homes and sections look really small. Think I will really have to downsize the junk, but will bring all our furniture over with us, its expensive in NZ. This will be the 4th time I have moved countries and finally worked out what and what not to take with you. Made a HUGE mistake in moving to OZ, cold climate furniture does not cope with the heat. All our damp Wellington furniture opened up and split within weeks of arriving!


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## anski (Aug 17, 2008)

Rosieprimrose said:


> Thanks all and Hi Napierlass, this moving stuff is such hard work, but exciting too. We are very lucky as we work out of our home and can work anywhere in the world, just need good internet and our kids are out on their own, so for the first time in our lives we get to live just where we want, its an awesome feeling.
> I love anything pre 1950's, even if old homes are cold. BTW, what the heck is a "Heat Pump" anyone know?
> Napierlass, I grew up in Wellington, so hills are not new to me either, I walk for an hour everyday, although here in OZ its at 5am to beat the heat!
> Looking for a large house with a good size garden, I am a gardenaholic with room for two large cars that we are bringing with us. Looking at the Napier central area, the homes and sections look really small. Think I will really have to downsize the junk, but will bring all our furniture over with us, its expensive in NZ. This will be the 4th time I have moved countries and finally worked out what and what not to take with you. Made a HUGE mistake in moving to OZ, cold climate furniture does not cope with the heat. All our damp Wellington furniture opened up and split within weeks of arriving!


heat Pumps are what we call Air con units in Australia (usually reverse cycle hot/cold)

I live in Marewa (often referred to living in town by locals) There are lots of older style (many art Deco Houses here) Our block is 950M2 & garage for 3 cars plus plenty of off street parking. It is a really nice friendly suburb with all the conveniences & we had Fibre Optic rolled out in our street last year, so have access to fast internet here.


Up on the hill parking is difficult. I found Tarradale & Greenmeadows too far out of town.


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