# Prepping for permanent move



## Grumpymumum (Feb 24, 2018)

Greetings

I'm looking for opinions on a few matters and would appreciate any feedback. 

1. I coupon and buy in bulk. Anything and everything. For example - I have toothbrushes to last 5 years, clothing & shoes for my kids for 3 years, personal hygiene & makeup for Africa, etc. 
Will I have to sell these items or can I bring them to NZ? 
My husband tells me I may end up paying GST on some items. Still cheaper I bet, but would like to know the fees we will incur if possible. 
Anyone ship items over in bulk?

2. My husband has a vast collection of tools and gardening items. Easily worth $75k and has every intention of bringing them. I'm concerned with the biosecurity aspect of used items such as these. You can never get them 100% clean.
He builds furniture - so 95% of our furnishings will be wood. 
Will fumigating the container suffice? 

3. Shipping container (full 40ft container) quotes seem to be US3000-S3500 and include cargo pickup and ocean freight. Does not include off loading the container in NZ. Does this seem fair? I was expecting to pay much more (maybe taxes and offloading in NZ will add up)
Does anyone have discharge fees in NZ? 

4. Can anyone offer personal experience with insurance and property tax (just rates?) 
We pay, per year - $2400 for auto insurance, $1900 for homeowners, $9000 in property taxes. So when browsing homes and vehicles in NZ I find it hard to decipher what the actual running and living costs will be. 
I hope to purchase a Prius and a holden or ford truck/ute for my husband. 

I'm very unsure what our budget for a home should be when factoring the added costs and fees outside of a mortgage. Can anyone advise? 
We'll be in the Waikato or Bay of Plenty. Hope to spend no more than $700k. We have no desire to be house poor, but realize the housing costs are increasing *gulp* Land is more important than the actual dwelling. 

Oh! One more thing  Is there a good website for accurate property values? Most listings have no listed price. It's very frustrating for someone shopping from over seas. Will a realtor have the list price or ballpark range the sellers wants? 
Are auctions generally cheaper? Would you say that the listing price is usually NZ$150k-200k above RV/CV?

Thank you and have a wonderful day!


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## escapedtonz (Apr 6, 2012)

Hi and welcome to the forum.

(1) You can bring virtually anything (except MPI restricted items & items prohibited by Customs) & in any quantity. The restrictions on quantities only really affect controlled items like prescription medication, currency, liquor, tobacco etc. 
So long as you have owned the goods for at least 12 months you will not attract GST in NZ.....that's the legal rule. This applies to everything including vehicles, caravans, motorbikes etc.
When we came over we filled a 40' container with stuff we had owned from our 5 bed house in the UK. We were also advised by our international removals company to fill our container to maximize the cost of the shipping and because the cost of living in NZ is so high so we added lots of newly bought items. As instructed we removed all new items from their new packaging (so they didn't appear new), packaged them with the rest of our used goods, destroyed all new packaging/receipts and declared they were all used items that we had owned at least 12 months.
That probably saved us maybe $500-$1000 in GST charges.
Customs didn't even inspect our container on arrival in port so it wouldn't have mattered anyway even if everything in the container was new, but that's a huge risk to take.
If you do pay GST on any goods it is calculated as 15% of the value of the item in NZ + shipping to get it here.

(2) The only real biosecurity issue is with tools, outdoor tools, outdoor gear, sports gear and equipment. Yes it is supposed to be absolutely spotless and disinfected. You can do this easily and cheaply enough. It just takes time. When you complete the shipping inventory all items that could be a biosecurity hazard will need to be identified so it's a good idea to have these packaged together so they are together on the inventory and easily kept aside when they arrive in NZ. MPI will check the shipping inventory and select the items they want to inspect. If they are satisfied then all good, you just pay the inspection fee and you get the clearance paperwork. If they aren't they'll give them back to the shipper to fumigate them at your cost. They won't be confiscated. Just means your hard cleaning work may be ignored and you end up paying for the items to be fumigated anyway........which has to be done by a registered cleaning company I might add. You may question whether it's worth cleaning them in the first place.....it is, as if overlooked by MPI you may inadvertently introduce a biosecurity risk in to NZ.

(3) We paid approx GBP 5000 - 6 years ago just for full packaging service door to door, the shipping and container hire fees. As far as I know the NZ customs/MPI fees cannot be added at point of origin as they aren't known. We paid approx another NZ$500 this end in MPI fees which covered 32 packages of biosecurity risk items being inspected and a 2 man tent being washed by the shipping company as MPI found a couple grass seeds. 
Don't forget insurance for the shipping container and all the goods inside, for damage during packing, damage during transit, damage during shipping, for total loss of the container etc etc. This can either be done as a % of the total goods in the container or you can insure specific items. This will normally cost another 20% on top but worth it for the piece of mind. 

(4) We have 2 cars and pay a total of NZ $925 per year for comprehensive insurance with minimum NZ$400 excess, windscreen cover, rental car cover and breakdown cover all included. Based on maximum no claims bonus.
Our house insurance is in two parts. We have a policy for the building and a seperate policy for the contents. Buildings insurance is $1200 per year for a house that would likely cost $0.5M to rebuild and then $604 per year for $125 000 worth of contents. Excess $250 for these policies and covers accidental damage / loss at or away from home.
We live in the most expensive area in the country for rates. We pay around NZ$3000 per year for a property with a combined CV/RV (Council Valuation/Rateable Valuation) of NZ$875000. The higher the CV/RV then the higher the rates will be and there is no cap. You will also pay around NZ $400 per year to have a refuse bin/recycle bin to have it collected at the roadside. You do not pay rates if you are renting.
Note: It is not mandatory to have car insurance. It is advised but not legally required here. 
The other costs to keep a car on the road - i.e. vehicle license, road user charges and WOF's aren't that expensive. Vehicle license is around $150 for a petrol car and $200 for a diesel per year. Road User Charges or RUC's are $63 per 1000KM's for diesel vehicles (because diesel fuel is not taxed at the pump) and a Warrant Of Fitness WOF is around $50 per year. You can easily get online deals for annual servicing $100-$150 per year.

I live in Tauranga (BOP) and work in Hamilton (Waikato) so have lots of experience with renting and property in both. Costs of both property rent and purchase prices are steadily rising all over NZ. Tauranga is now the most unaffordable place in the country to buy a home. The median price for property in Tauranga is now $700k but wages are low and cost of living high.
To work out how much you can afford to pay in mortgage, you need to know all your other weekly/fortnightly or monthly costs first then subtract from income, subtract a little for a contingency (emergencies/savings etc) then see what you have left which will determine how much you can afford on the mortgage which will relate to how much of a property you can afford. It is essential to get it right. We used to pay out around $475 per week in rent plus utility bills and we now pay approx 750 per week in mortgage plus utilities and other fees for insurance/rates etc on a mortgage of $630k 28 years. You will usually need at least a 20% deposit on a home loan. companies will only usually pay out up to 80% Loan To Value LTV.
Fees on top of a mortgage :-
Insurance for buildings and contents.
Property maintenance items.
Refuse collection.
Water/wastewater if on town supply.
Gas if connected.
Electricity.
Broadband internet.
Sky TV.
Vehicle insurance/vehicle license/WOF/Maintenance/Fuel.
Any costs associated with lifestyle properties - maybe gardening services, shelter belt trimming, mulching of garden waste etc ?
Costs for schools/uniforms/stationary, the doctors and dentist.

Look here for historical property prices https://homes.co.nz/ and https://www.qv.co.nz/property-trends/residential-house-values
Majority of listings don't have a price and yes this means it is difficult to get an idea of how much a house will go for. They are usually sold by auction or by negotiation to maximize their worth. Estate agent costs are high here - maybe 4% of the selling price. Yes they know what the seller is after and may give you a range but they won't commit to a price unless instructed by the seller. The agents 100% work for the seller here. No auctions are not cheaper. No a listing is not usually NZ$150k-200k above CV/RV....all depends on the house, the area etc. Some go for millions over CV/RV, others (but not many and usually in the less desirable places) go for less than CV/RV.


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## Grumpymumum (Feb 24, 2018)

Hi Escapetonz, and thank you very much for such a detailed response! I've read some of your previous posts, and hoped you would reply  so thank you again!

Boy, you have quite the commute. My husband tells me it's roughly 90 minutes from Tauranga to Hamilton. Does this mean you often work from home? 

Do you have any recommendations on items to purchase/bring from America or things to avoid bringing? My mother in law purchases bedding and a few other household items and makeup when visiting us. 
We also have a 5bedroom house. Our current house is twice the size of the average kiwi home. I imagine we will sell/donate quite a bit throughout the year. Would you recommend purchasing couches in the USA? Our current ones are powered, so they will be staying in the states. I'm aware the exchange rate is in our favor and hope it increases!  

My husband has been in touch with a few recruiters. Mainly to gage salary expectations and what have you. They were all pretty similar. $125k-$160k total package. I'm not sure what total package entails.... maybe Kiwisaver or private health insurance (I didn't inquire) Using the low end salary on Westpac home loan calculator doesn't yield anything overly helpful. It seems the only factor for deciding the loan amount is a 20% deposit. We will purchase our vehicles outright and have no credit card debt.

I thought trash, water & sewer were covered under your council rates. Maybe I'm confusing renting vs buying....?

Thanks!


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## escapedtonz (Apr 6, 2012)

Grumpymumum said:


> Hi Escapetonz, and thank you very much for such a detailed response! I've read some of your previous posts, and hoped you would reply  so thank you again!
> 
> Boy, you have quite the commute. My husband tells me it's roughly 90 minutes from Tauranga to Hamilton. Does this mean you often work from home?
> 
> ...


Not really. Its only 107KM's and takes between 1hr 5 mins - 1hr 10 mins. I travel at shift times so traffic is relatively quiet and a new 16KM long 110KM limit bypass (racetrack) reduces the commute slightly 
If you drove from Tauranga CBD to Hamilton CBD then yes it'd likely be 90 mins.
I seldom work from home. I have a fixed desk in a National Grid control room with 18 screens so it's only when we have the odd day of day/project work do we get the chance to work from home.

I'd bring along everything apart from possibly electrical items as the voltage and frequency is different here than the US so just means you'd need to buy lots of transformers/rectifiers. White goods and electronics can be expensive for the better named stuff but if you shop around you can get some decent deals. other than electrical I'd bring absolutely everything and if you don't want it this end just sell on or give away. Yes I'd purchase furniture - a couch in the US and bring it. It'd be cheaper for sure.

Total package will possibly be a base salary, an income protection insurance policy, a life insurance policy, private health cover for the family and Kiwisaver plus a few other small benefits for retail purchases, hire cars and that sort of thing no doubt.
You will still have to pay to see a doctor or a dentist, however dependent on the type of private health scheme you may get a % refund ? We get around 80% back from all GP and practice nurse fees (apart from the ones that aren't government funded) but nothing on dental. Unlikely any private health scheme through a company would include dental as it is exorbitant price here. NZ$500 for a single filling 

Trash here in Tauranga is not included in rent or rates. Iy is run by private contractors. The council do have a free trash service but you have to buy specific bags from the supermarket $11 for 5 and then place them out on the kerb each week for collection, BUT where do you put the festering bags all week while you wait for the collection. That is why we pay for bins at $400 per year. Dependent on where you live wastewater/sewerage may well be included in rates but you'll be on a meter for the town water that you use but it isn't expensive - maybe NZ $60 per quarter? If you live rural you may not have town water supply or sewerage. You may have tank water and a septic tank which is all your cost to fill and clear. Not included in any rates.


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## Grumpymumum (Feb 24, 2018)

Thanks again Escapetonz 
I'm also searching through your posts/replies for more info  
How stalker-ish does that sound LOL ;p 




escapedtonz said:


> Not really. Its only 107KM's and takes between 1hr 5 mins - 1hr 10 mins. I travel at shift times so traffic is relatively quiet and a new 16KM long 110KM limit bypass (racetrack) reduces the commute slightly
> If you drove from Tauranga CBD to Hamilton CBD then yes it'd likely be 90 mins.
> I seldom work from home. I have a fixed desk in a National Grid control room with 18 screens so it's only when we have the odd day of day/project work do we get the chance to work from home.
> 
> ...


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