Hoon Hay - CHCH people help

Hmm Addington, unless you live in Linden Grove, I wouldn't go there if you didn't have to. Shirley - some parts are nice but I personally don't like the area as a whole (but if you buy down the St Albans/Mairehau end it's a bit nicer than a lot of places around The Palms).

Wigram area in Hornby is up and coming, but more expensive. 'Upper Riccarton' is also Hornby but have slightly nicer areas as a whole. The problem with Hornby is the lack of good schools, in particular high schools.

Gosh this is really hard to write, giving suggestions without offending each other on our respective suburbs

Yea Wigram is nice (the new area on the old air base). My sister and her hubby and kids live there and love it, but it is expensive.
I went to Riccarton High and it wasn't a bad school, I turned out alright lol. My younger siblings went (well, my brother still goes there) to Lincoln High and they both really enjoyed it there and did well at school. There is a school bus that goes from Halswell out to Lincoln. But yea, there are limited decent schools over this side of town.
As for Addington - nope,I wouldn't go there.
I work right in town (on Cashel street, just over Barbadoes) and drive from my place in Hornby to Mum's place in Halswell to drop DD off (15min drive) and then straight down Lincoln Rd then Moorehouse Ave to get to work and it's only a 15mins drive, 20mins at most, so traffic isn't that bad really. I do start at 9.30am tho so that might make a difference.
Don't know much about Shirley. I have a few mates who live over that way and seem to like it. But I think there are still 'dodgy' streets there. And a bit of quake damage over that way too.

Umm, Shirley is ok in parts...its quite close to where I live. I have friends that live in the pocket off hills road and there are some lovely houses in there. I probably wouldn't go too close to the palms but only because there are not many parks etc round there.

Is 300K your max amount? It does limit where you can buy in terms of areas. I have a friend who is classed as Addington and its a nice wee street but I would have called it more city than anything. Most houses are going to have superficial EQ damage, its not really avoidable and as long athe owners have put a claim in then it will be fixed by the EQC.

Your working close to town, where is your DH working? And have you got a daycare in mind?

Well, thanks for your input, has been pretty handy! We have an offer on a house in Hoon Hay lol...can't wait to move in!

PS for Chch people who might be interested, we are staying in these units which are like self contained 'apartments', VERY small but also really cheap. Anyway, I will def be recommending them to anyone who needs somewhere to stay coz of the cheapness factor and the owners are lovely tho they talk lots hehe. So if anyone on here or anyone you know needs a short term place to stay while their houses are getting fixed flick me a pm and I can let you know the website