Moving to the Waiarapa from Lower Hutt

[Joti]

Due to my husbands recent redundancy and his general state of unhappiness in his career for the past few years we have decided on a lifestyle change. We both work full-time and have a 3 year old son. I have recently been promoted to a managerial position in a job i enjoy so have decided to take our son out of care and my husband can be Daddy day care for a while. He is passionate about starting up his own business in Rural security and we have considered downsizing our mortgage and moving to Featherston where house prices are cheep. That way we can manage on my income while he gets his business up.
As you can imagine its a fairly daunting decision for us so i would love for any feedback for those who have done a similar thing and if anyone can advise if Featherston is a good place to live and why is it so cheap??

[Fern49]

Featherston is a very quiet country village.

Featherston

Township at the southern gateway to Wairarapa, 34 km south-west of Masterton at the foot of the Rimutaka Range. With a 2013 population of 2,253, Featherston is a rural servicing and distribution centre, and home to many Wellington commuters.

Until recently, it was the ‘ugly duckling’ of south Wairarapa’s towns but, like Greytown and Martinborough, it is presently being gentrified. Antique and collectible stores now line the main street, and new cafés have opened.

The Fell Engine Museum houses the world’s only Fell engine (once used on the steep Rimutaka Incline, over the Rimutaka Range). The Featherston Heritage Museum explores the history of the Featherston Military Camp.
History

Featherston was first known as Burlings, after Henry Burling, who opened an accommodation house near the Māori settlement of Pae-O-Tu-Mokai in 1847. In 1856 the provincial government surveyed the spot for a town, naming it after its superintendent, Isaac Featherston. The town’s initial development was hindered by high land prices, but after the railway came through in the 1870s it became an important service town. It was made a borough in 1917.
People

In 2013 Featherston had a higher proportion of people with no educational qualifications (almost 30%) than the national average (21%). Its median income ($23,900) was lower than the national average ($28,500), and the unemployment rate (10.5%) was a third higher than the national rate (7.1%). Featherston was one of Wairarapa’s most economically deprived towns, second only to Eketāhuna.

[kiwieagle]

Featherstone is cheap because it is a place with drug and crime issues.

[Fern49]

Featherstone is cheap because it is a place with drug and crime issues.

With drugs being 'commonplace' in NZ, find me a place that doesn't have those kind of issues somewhere.

[kiwieagle]

With drugs being 'commonplace' in NZ, find me a place that doesn't have those kind of issues somewhere.

Yes, there are drug and crime issues in all sorts of places in NZ. However, some places have bigger and more pervasive problems than others. Featherston is one of those places. That is not a value judgement about the people, but an explanation as to why property prices are low. The relative low property prices when compared to other places in Wairarapa could mean that Featherston may be revitalised. There are certainly many people who want to make that so and anything is possible in the future.

Obviously these are complex issues and this only my opinion to the OP's question as to why Featherston is so cheap.