What did you do?

[fefifo72]

Hi just a quick question what did you guys do for accommodation when you arrived in Auckland.
My plan was to get hotel apartment for 7 days costs about 1000 to 1300 NZ dollars. And arrange for an estate agent prior to leaving UK to meet us and to take us to see houses for rent. I am finding it difficult to get a grip of areas defo looking at North Shore but where in North shore I have no idea.
Does this sound like a plan that would work or is it a load of rubbish.
What worked for you
Any input greatly appreciated.
Cheers for all your help

ps Do estate agents charge us a finders fee?

Fee and family

[Sun777]

Hello Fee,
We rented out a hotel for 1 week, stayed with family friends for 3-4 weeks before finding available good place to move in. I'd suggest you could check into a motel and get pulse of the property market here in about 2 weeks time before renting out a place.

Typically the cost while moving in is 2 weeks rent in advance, 4 weeks (or any other amount negotiated) for deposit and agent fees (which is 1 week rent + gst). I'm not sure if you mean agent fees as finders fee?

Hope that helps! Check below links about deposits & rental, which will give you some more information.

http://www.emigratenz.org/forum/showthread.php?t=34458

http://www.emigratenz.org/forum/showthread.php?t=34415

[fefifo72]

Cheers for the info thought getting the visa was stressful. House hunting when you are at the other side of the world is a stress maker in a whole new dimension LOL
fee

[Kea]

It's a landlords market at the moment. Agents are unlikely to give you a personal service. You'll need to do the leg work yourselves I'm afraid.

[rogercruse]

... I am finding it difficult to get a grip of areas defo looking at North Shore but where in North shore I have no idea.

We didn't have any real idea ourselves but simply got the lists of rental properties from a couple of real estate agents. When to a nearby coffee shop with a road map and a fancy mobile phone to access google maps to check travel times by public transport. Then returned to the agents to arrange viewings of our short-listed properties.

The rental property market is volatile and anything good is snapped up instantly, so be sure you explain to the agents what you what (& don't want!), your expectations and your budget. Check that you have their latest list as these are updated daily.

We visited five properties in one day before we chose our current property in Campbells Bay.

Good luck!

[martyb125]

we stayed in some dodgy motel (courtesy of ADHB) thanks - NOT, spent two weeks searching for rentals from howick to whangaparaoa and back again - very stressful with bored kids! Helps if you got an idea of where you want/need to be before you arrive....oh and whether you looking for an unfurnished rental to move all your wordly goods in when they arrive - which is what we thought at first but then found it much easier to take fully furnished (to get out of motel) and take our time looking while waiting on our container- found a lot of rental properties disappointing and not necessarily like anything you've seen online before you get here

[aziramai]

We have found a 1 bedroom serviced apartment in the CBD for $85 dollars a night. We have booked for 12 nights with a hope that with some serious leg work we can get a rental sorted in that time. The plus side for this was it came with laundry facilities in the flat and all the kitchenware - plus it was comparable price range wise with some really dodgy places.

We don't have kids to worry about though and are not shipping pets so are hoping that general elbow grease would work ok.

[fefifo72]

Getting so stressed about finding some were to lay our weary heads when we get there LOL

Hubby says go with the flow we will get something that suits us when we get there it is part of the adventure. (wonder if he will feel the same after a week at looking at rentals in a city that we have no idea of directions, buses, trains etc LOL.

Up side of things hubby has his first skype interview tomorrow night looking forward to him sitting in his suit and tie at 9pm in our living room
Have everything crossed just keep thinking that he might strike it lucky and get the job and they can set us up with a stop over appartment till we find something to rent ( Could we be that lucky ????)

Once again thanks to all your valuable input it is a huge help

Fee

[Duncan74]

Yes, some employers will pay for a place for 2 weeks (average, some may be 1, a few more) and the quality of that will vary. House hunting is a full time job, they don't tend to do viewings on a night / weekend, so definately plan on that before you start work.

[nickiware]

We had a two bedroomed unit at the Takapuna Motor Lodge which was great. They have a pool and the room had kitchen facilities. They organised a rental car for us, sold us a street map and off we went. You have to see the rentals, make nice with the agents and they will look after you (kind of!) I would suggest it depends on where you are working as to where you want to live - near the motorway/buses for commuting. The North Shore is lovely but good rentals will go quickly. The North Shore Times comes out Tues/Thurs/Fri, local free paper with good rentals section, they are also online.