What does it cost in your area?
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Topic: What does it cost in your area?
Posted By: xLUCKYx
Subject: What does it cost in your area?
Date Posted: 31 October 2011 at 11:05am
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We have recently moved house from Auckland to Dunedin and have found the cost of certain things substantially different... so just out of interest... what does it cost where you live?
At our local Video Ezy we get new release DVD's for $5 a night - in Auckland I remember them being put up to $9 a night before we left! We rent a 4 bedroom house in a good area with a huge section for $290 a week, and are renting our teeeny 3 bedroom, in average area with pathetic yard in Auckland for $320 a week which is mates rates and the median rent in the area for 3 Bed is $360 and climbing. To go to the local pool, it costs $3.50 for 1 child under five plus the caregiver. It cost $6.70 per adult (and children free I think) at our old local pool in Auckland... Our insurance premiums also dropped when we moved down here too! |
Replies:
Posted By: newme
Date Posted: 31 October 2011 at 11:41am
| Did your income also drop though? |
Posted By: xLUCKYx
Date Posted: 31 October 2011 at 11:44am
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I am doing the same job down here as I did in Auckland - working remotely. DF's income has dropped though however he is getting perks from his job that make up the difference.
I haven't looked much at what jobs pay around here but would say that it would be less. |
Posted By: Nothing
Date Posted: 31 October 2011 at 11:58am
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Nelson is super expensive, not so bad as Auckland but still quite high. A 3 Bdrm house will rent for about $340+ a week, and even a 2bdrm flat is $270+. The local pool is $8 a session (the most expensive in the country). DVD's are $8 from memory. The cost of parking is realtively low tho, and you can often park out of town and walk in for free. We have a sh*t public transport system which only covers the main part of town, no outlying areas. ------------- 
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Posted By: Evelyn4409
Date Posted: 31 October 2011 at 12:27pm
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The house we used to rent in Hamilton - 3bdrm, 1 bathroom, garage was $280 pw. That was nearly 3 years ago now, because we ended up buying a house.
We don't tend to hire DVD's. For $3 more you can buy them from the Warehouse. We have quite an extensive collection of DVD's now. Parking is pretty good. There is one carpark building that charges like $1 an hour after 5pm, so that's pretty good. Otherwise it's free parking at The Base and Westfield. |
Posted By: MamaT
Date Posted: 31 October 2011 at 1:56pm
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We moved from Palmerston North to Nelson about 6 months ago.
Our insurance was dropped from the move because Nelson is less of a risk of being burgled than PN was. When I researched power companies, the rates in Nelson were a wee bit cheaper than that in PN. We do have to pay water rates here, which we didn't in PN. I think the movies were about $5 in PN, I'm not actually sure what they are here, we usually get the deal packages or only when there is a cheap deal. Rent in PN for a good 3 bedroom home was about $300pw, we are currently in a small two bedroom home here in a fantastic area and paying $290 and are on the lookout for a 3 brm home and I'm budgeting $350-$380 for that. The pools are expensive here, but they are fantastic. -------------  
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Posted By: TheKelly
Date Posted: 31 October 2011 at 3:03pm
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We have a four bedroom with a study in a pretty nice area in Auckland with lots of good schools etc around.
We pay $420...which is considered very cheap for where we are... ------------- 
http://lilypie.com"> 
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Posted By: arohanui
Date Posted: 31 October 2011 at 3:05pm
 VERY cheap Kelly!
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Posted By: BessieBear
Date Posted: 31 October 2011 at 5:09pm
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Cripes. We pay $320 p/week in mortgage!!! ------------- Sarah Mum to, Boy 07/2008, Girl 03/2010, Boy 05/2012, Angel  07/08/2014
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Posted By: CrazyCass
Date Posted: 31 October 2011 at 6:26pm
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In Rotorua we own a 2bed on a section thats just over 1/4 acre and the mortgage is $270/WK which is cheaper than rents around here...
When I moved from Akl to Rot my car ins less than halved! ETA - and my income had a 10K raise  ------------- http://lilypie.com"> 
http://lilypie.com"> 
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Posted By: pumpkino
Date Posted: 31 October 2011 at 6:30pm
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We're in Wellington. Rent is generally high depending on where you are and what kind of property you want to live in. At the moment we are in Miramar which is probably on the more expensive side of average - when we were renting we were paying over $500 pw for a 4 bedroom house which still wouldn't be considered that expensive for the area. Peter Jackson has a lot to answer for in that regard - house prices are also very high by comparison with the national trends because of all the overseas people wanting to live near his studios and/or Weta Digital. On the other hand, that means that the area generally is becoming a lot nicer and better serviced by amenities, money is being pumped into the schools etc.
We don't rent DVDs as it costs about the same to buy them from the Warehouse. Swimming (at Council pools) is $1.20 for under 5s, $3.50 for 5-14 yr olds and $5.70 for adults (if swimming otherwise $1 for spectators). You can get family passes which make it cheaper but only if you have three kids (or one parent and four kids). I have also lived in Palmy and generally everything is much more expensive here. Especially parking - here it is $4 an hour in town, with a max time limit of 2 hours unless you go to a parking building which is usually more expensive but you can stay longer. In PN I used to park outside Centrepoint for $2 all day! So I hardly ever go shopping in town - much easier to drive out to Westfield or North City where there is free parking and you can stay as long as you want. The public transport system is OK for us because Miramar is quite well serviced but only if you want to go into town. The buses aren't particularly pram friendly either and it's not cheap. |
Posted By: Richie
Date Posted: 31 October 2011 at 9:32pm
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We rent a 3b/room plus sleepout house in average area in CHCH for $275wk...... but that is cause we rent off my BIL. I think he would easily be able to rent it for $320 judging by what other houses for rent in this area are going for. We are currently wanting to move to a nicer house in a better area but find we would have to pay close to $400 to get something even semi decent, which is a bugger as we will be going down to one wage in the new year and paying that probably isn't an option -------------  
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Posted By: Babe
Date Posted: 31 October 2011 at 9:59pm
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We're on the West Coast and rent here for a decent 3 bedder is $280+p/wk generally more like $320-380 (thats for something with decent heating and insulation which can make all the difference through a crappy winter), vege prices are ridiculous, new release dvds are $9 and the pool in Greymouth just put their preschool entry price up to $5. DHs pay went up sure but thats coz of the lack of competition and the mine work more than anything else. I've had to double our living budget since moving down here and thats after living on a significantly lower income for the 18 months before we moved when DHs hours got cut with the recession, paying a mortgage and having more overall bills and costs. Food alone is costing us almost 4 times as much down here.
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Posted By: MuppetsMama
Date Posted: 31 October 2011 at 10:45pm
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We're in Franklin and own our house - $274 a week on mortgage (we had 20% deposit)
Rates are about $1200 a year but we pay fortnightly. DVDS are $8 but we have 2 calendars a year (we are signed up separately) and only ever use the vouchers ($4 new releases or 2 for 1) or get 8 day movies on a tuesday when they are $1. Swimming pool is about $3 for a preschooler, $4 for an adult *I think*. Groceries are about $160-200 a week, and I do my own baking and make own lunches - DD is on formula though. |
Posted By: MamaT
Date Posted: 01 November 2011 at 8:50am
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Wow Babe I'm surprised how expensive it is on the coast, crazy!!! I suppose the remoteness of it is the reason? -------------
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Posted By: Kalimirella
Date Posted: 01 November 2011 at 10:52am
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We live in Hastings and from looking in the newspaper etc the average rent for a 3 bedroom home (depending on area) would be $300-$350. DVDs are $4-$5 for a new realease and $1 for weekly Thats from Civic Video.
The pools are annoying and I don't even care how much they cost because you would hardly ever get a chance to swim as they are always booked out to groups and schools etc so the times you can swim are strictly limited and as far as I'm concerned theres no point if you can only be there for 1 specific hour or so. As for us, we board with my partners parents so we pay $175 a week and that covers everything, food,rent,power etc. Sometimes there is an extra internet charge and thats it. ------------- Kiara is 3 and Teagan is 2, now we're expecting our long awaited 3rd! http://lilypie.com" rel="nofollow"> 
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Posted By: Babe
Date Posted: 01 November 2011 at 1:07pm
The rents are so high because yeah you kinda have to live on the coast to work here which cuts your options down (like y'know to work in wgtn you can live as far away as palmerston north if you want but not here) and alot of the rentals are owned by like Fonterra or the mines or people who work for them and come down from auckland usually on occasion for set times and want a place to stay then rent it out the rest of the time for auckland prices. We were looking at a place that was near DHs work and its on the market and its only a 3 month at a time contract and it was $320p/wk. You can get cheaper places but you have to drive further which pushes costs up even further. We could get a cheaper place further out for $250ish but it would be in an area similar to Highbury, Palmerston North. Its abit astounding, same with the dvd and pool prices but then again nobody seems to question it. As for the food uhm I actually have no idea why its so much more expensive but I know its not freightage. It only costs $50 to get something like 5 TONS of fruit and veg over here so :shrug: dunno... Atleast living in Auckland you get a huge range of shops and activities lol on the coast you get the huge prices, miles of driving to get anywhere and a handful of shops and activities  damn!-------------
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MamaT wrote:Posted By: High9
Date Posted: 01 November 2011 at 7:19pm
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We are in Wellington.
Rent in a average area - not flash, not slums... $350 for a 3 bedroom, 2 level house with huge back yard and open plan. Cheap for a 3 bedroom as $350 is min you can expect to pay for one. Most are about $370+. Video store... New Release is about $8 but specials that happen weekly can make them half price. Weekly movies are about $4-5. Pools, well I've found it depends what one you are going to... All by the City Councils... A flash one/recently upgraded/new you can expect to pay more. However, we live week to week and have no choice but to make it work. We have $350 a week rent and then put aside $50 each for power and internet as well as $50 into our savings. $100 a week for grceries ($200 a fornight) - meat, vegies, toilet paper, basics/necessities and no luxuries unless there is enough left over after the basics! And then what ever is left is entertainment, petrol, luxuries. We also put away $50 for emergencies, car rego/wof, etc week. We could have chosen to live further out in Wellington as Babe described with choice but for us we chose a suburb where we have friends/family - our support network as I am working part time, DP is working part time and studying too so that for us is important as living far out our petrol would increase or transport fares/cost. ------------- http://lilypie.com"> 
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Posted By: blossombaby
Date Posted: 01 November 2011 at 9:50pm
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we are in lower hutt - pay $350 for a small 2 bedroom house nothing exciting nice bathroom kitchen could do with a revamp, close to everything for us tho daycare, parks, public transport, our parents, fairly quiet area. - dp works in the hutt i work in the city -
we will be looking at buying a house soon - much the same as we are renting i guess but will be looking at 350,000k ekkkkk our super market bill is high 250-300 per week but that cause we REALLY need to cut this down that includes $30 formula ------------- http://lilypie.com"> 
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Posted By: minik8e
Date Posted: 01 November 2011 at 10:09pm
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We live in a fairly decent area of NP, and pay $320pw for a nice 3 bdrm house, dbl garage, on a decent section. It's fairly cheap for what it is, although I think it may be to do with the fact we are directly under the flight path for the airport....not that we ever really notice!!!
Pools here are $4.50 for an adult, preschoolers/under 8s are free however it's $3 for an adult WITH the preschooler....but in saying that, it's $3 regardless of whether you have one or five children with you. Food prices are generally pretty good, much the same as normal I guess? We budget on $150 pw for groceries, which includes nappies for daycare and home, plus lunches and everything else. Parking in town is $2 per hour, with a max of 2 hours at a time, although there are three carparks and one street which offer $1 ph parking that is unlimited. Our public transport system is pretty shocking, and we aren't within walking distance to town at all (might take about 1.5-2 hours to walk???), so we tend to drive everywhere. It takes about 20 min to drive to work for me (but I have free parking) and takes DP about 3 mins lol |
Posted By: emz
Date Posted: 01 November 2011 at 10:12pm
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I consider things relatively OK in Chch (haha, other than ground shaking!)
Rent varies, in an average area you're looking at aourn $300-400 for a 3-bdrm, depending on section size, garaging etc and school zoning. More in better areas and vice versa. It really depends atm though, people are paying crazy prices for an undamaged rental. Outlying areas are now basically on par with city prices as demand is excessive. Movie rental depends - we go to United Video so it's pretty cheap, I think $4 for a new release but we go for $2 Tuesdays a lot of the time. Food is OK - we pay $120 a week for the 4 of us, but we eat pretty basically to save money. We do however shell out on takeaways once a week when I have meetings, so that's an extra $30. Pools for kids (public) are about $3 for a preschooler and parent. Parking was pretty good - $2.60 an hour or $12 a day in town. Obviously not needed as much anymore pretty good public transport system, especially now they have a bus depot again.
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Posted By: High9
Date Posted: 01 November 2011 at 10:37pm
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Oh parking in Wellington... Well on Saturdays if you go to Tournament parking it's $4 for 12 hours... Otherwise they charge the same as the street $4 per hour. Street parking tends to have 2 hour limit from memory. Umm Wilsons carpark are a rip off now. $5 first hour but I think the most you ever pay is about $15 for 5 hours or something like that...
Bus - Newlands, is or was $4 an hour to town or $2 to the next suburb - one way. If you have a card it's about $3.20 and $1.50. ------------- http://lilypie.com">
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Posted By: CarrieMum
Date Posted: 02 November 2011 at 12:04am
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We live in Brisbane, Australia. We rent a 4 bedroom house in a suburb about a 20 minute train ride or 15 min drive into the city and its $560pw. Daycare costs $65 per day (no nappies or food included) but we get 50% of that back from the government every fortnight. The GP costs $60 per visit but we get 50% refunded from the government straight away.
Im a nurse and I get paid $36.75 per hour in a large public hospital in central Brisbane. I work 3 days per week. Our 4 bedroom house that we own in Auckland is rented out for $510pw. We are moving back to NZ early next year to be closer to family and will be moving to Hamilton where we're expecting to pay about $450-$475pw rent for a 4 bedroom, close to new house. |
Posted By: kiwigal
Date Posted: 02 November 2011 at 12:23am
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We had our own house in a good area of Sth Auckland and built it just over 8 years ago when the market was good. We have sold it back in April and moved to Hawkes Bay to be near family and I was originally from here. We are living in a rental until we buy again. Our rent is just over $300 a week for a very small 3 bedroom home on a good section. We hardly ever rent out rentals as we preferred to buy them. Pools are $3.40 for 5 years and over and $4.50 for adults. Our food bill varies quite a lot depending on what we need or run out of something during the week. We are family of 4 and my youngest is still in nappies and have two black labradors. Parking meters are $1 or 2 for one hour. Right in Napier they have 120 min parking so I park there a lot of time and walk a couple of blocks into town to saves me giving them money to park somewhere for an hour. |
Posted By: snugglebug
Date Posted: 02 November 2011 at 1:58pm
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On the north shore in Auckland we pay $395 a week in rent for a 2 bedroom place, it is attached to a bigger main house but separated from it by the garages of the two places, with its own lawn etc. But yeah looking at the rent prices others say that is quite shocking.
We pay $160-$170 a week to feed 3 of us including toiletries and nappies, but it used to be more before I stopped buying baby food jars. Pools are $7 or $8 for an exercise class. Movie rental is about $8 for a new release
My DH earns a reasonably good salary but we don't get working for families anymore since he got a payrise, so we are struggling more than we did on less income. My rent would be considered cheap around here :S ------------- Me 28, DH 29 DS born 20 Nov 2010 (4 years old) #2 due October 7 http://lilypie.com" rel="nofollow"> 
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