Papakura

[HelenH77]

Well I made the move and got a job pretty quickly - so far so good.
My husband and I are currently looking at houses to buy and are we are thinking 'What about Papakura' - we want to live in South Auckland (we have family here), but a strict budget and it seems that you get more for your money in Papakura - I know it's further out, but we're currently living in Manurewa it's only another 10 min's out (it also feels safer than Manurewa)....
Does anyone live in Papakura or have any experience of the area?. Ideally we'd live near the centre / train station?. Any advice apprecaited.
Have also had a look at Totara Heights, Papatoetoe and Otahuhu - but keep going back to Papakura. Also I know that a train line is going in to connect Manukau to the train line, so this opens the area a bit more up for me.
Alternatively any suggestions for West Auckland would be cool - not given the area much thought, but would be nice to get some locations for comparison.
FYI - I really want to live where you can walk to a shop and to the train station (I currently work in the CBD).
Thanks in advance

[Hols]

Hi,

Were flying out early August from the UK, we also want to live South of Auckland as my partner will be working in Penrose. We are looking more towards the East, Howick and Bucklands Beach area. I have done a bit of research at it looks really nice with restaurants etc and also close to a beach. Also we are looking at Papakura as a potential area, looks nice. Getting excited now!!!

Can I ask where you are working? I am a Social Worker looking at potential jobs in the district health board. Hope I can get something quite quickly when I arrive, as my partner starts straight away!

[mooncalf]

Papakura has two sides. Stay away from the side nearest the railway tracks.

[HelenH77]

I work in Admin in Auckland CBD, not sure what the social worker job situation is like - but if you try Seek/Trademe it should give you an idea of what is out there.
Bucklands Beach / Howick is lovely but out of my price range, Papakura seems to be affordable and have some of the things that I'm looking for (walk to the high street / transport to CBD) - I know that parts of it are rough and I need to get stuck in researching the area and make sure I try and find a good bit!.

[YouMeAndThree]

[QUOTE=HelenH77;415316]
Bucklands Beach / Howick is lovely but out of my price range,

How about Pakuranga? Just a little further out than BB, but quite a bit cheaper.

[PaddyRocks]

Hi we are hoping to be moving out to auckland soon (visa pending) and looking at howick / bucklands beach / cockle bay
we are both nurses and have secured jobs with cmdhb

[HelenH77]

Hi - I have only recently noticed 'Pakuranga', I think the problem with the whole 'where shall I live' question is that the longer you are here the more you get to know areas - a few weeks ago I just had nothing but negative feedback about Papakura - but I liked it in that it was on the trainline and had a high street, and I've now met some people from there who have said that it is fine as long as you know the area and buy in the right spot. But now that my husband has secured a job I'm liking the look of Papatoetoe and Onehunger - the Londoner in me whats to be near transport links to town.
As we have a limited budget I know that the areas we'll look at will have good bits & bad bits and it's a case of wanting to get some feedback from people who live in the areas, instead of people saying 'Papakura - it's just awful' even though they don't live there and just hear the negative stuff.
I guess I really need to just visit areas and make my own mind up as what's important to me may not be important to the next person....

[mooncalf]

Hi - I have only recently noticed 'Pakuranga', I think the problem with the whole 'where shall I live' question is that the longer you are here the more you get to know areas - a few weeks ago I just had nothing but negative feedback about Papakura - but I liked it in that it was on the trainline and had a high street, and I've now met some people from there who have said that it is fine as long as you know the area and buy in the right spot. But now that my husband has secured a job I'm liking the look of Papatoetoe and Onehunger - the Londoner in me whats to be near transport links to town.
As we have a limited budget I know that the areas we'll look at will have good bits & bad bits and it's a case of wanting to get some feedback from people who live in the areas, instead of people saying 'Papakura - it's just awful' even though they don't live there and just hear the negative stuff.
I guess I really need to just visit areas and make my own mind up as what's important to me may not be important to the next person....

We looked at a lot of houses in papakura and decided against it. Although the nicer/pricer side of Papakura is the new planned development of addison http://www.addison.co.nz/ This is about 12-17 percent premium compared to the old stock housing in the area and worth a look.