What’s it like where you live?

I'm from Dunedin too, we have a kinda crappy but very livable 2br house in a reasonable area, and our mortgage payments are $215 a week. In saying that we did have a bit of family help getting into the place in the first place, so our deposit was a bit bigger than it would have been had we done it on our own. The highest power bill we have ever had is $200 i think, but over summer it averages around $90 a month and winter is about $140. Groceries, around the $100 mark.
Dunedin is great, altho it is cold and would be an adjustment moving from Auckland (probably a slight improvement on Wellington weather tho!!!. Also its quite a bit quieter than the bigger cities - shopping isn't fantastic and the bar scene is monopolised by students for most of the year. On the plus side, there are plenty of study opportunities (university, polytech, teacher training etc...) and you can get pretty much anywhere you want to in 5-10 mins. The job market is a bit skint at the moment, and as someone said don't expect the same level of pay as you would get in Auckland, Wellington or Chch. A job would definitely be something to sort out before you made the move.
But yeah, a good wee place to live!

we moved to Hamilton from Auckland around 5 years ago...we both wanted children and to own our own home and we knew this would not be possible in Auckland not uhless my husband has a 100k a year job. or else we would both have to work and it would mean either having children a lot later (probably over 35) or putting them in daycare at 3 months.

we managed to buy a house 3.5 years ago for just under 250k and while it isnt flash it is ours and (although money is tight at times) I am able to say at home with our children.

The one thing I like about Hamilton is it doesnt matter too much where you live in relation to where you work as it wont take you 1.5 hours to get to work each day. You can drive for 10 minutes and be out of Hamilton..in Auckland you would still be in the same suburb :)

I came to NZ 2 years go and as my DH is a kiwi, he prepared me very well for the lifestyle here. A lot of people from Europe do not realise how easy it is to make money over there. The wages compared to every day living cost are so much lower here.

We started in One Tree Hill in a 3 bedroom house with a big garden for $330 a week. It was damp, neighbors 3m away, very noisy and cold. We were very restricted and even though we were in the middle of town, getting everywhere takes ages... you seem to always be stuck in traffic.

We decided this was not why we moved here so found a house in Helensville. It's a 3 bedroom house but all the rooms are so much bigger than in the other house. This house is dry and so much warmer; as soon as the sun is shining, it warms up. We are up on a hill so we have the best views and better weather than most other people do jn the area. We've got 3 acres of land and a landlord that is fantastic. We pay $380 a week and in winter about $130 a month for electricity and $50 a month for gas. We cook and have our warm water on gas and it seems to save a lot of money. We are also on tank water which saves on those costs. I've seen plenty of houses with 3 bedrooms for lots cheaper in this area, but we wanted to be rural and needed space to have our business..
I go to the Pak 'n Save on Lincoln rd to do my weekly shopping, we've got a big freezer and they do mean deals on meat and fish! Adding it all up, going there is cheaper than going to the Countdown in h'ville.

We expected travel cost to be a bit higher but we bought a diesel car and that seems to help heaps (only worth it if your driving long distances I think). Auckland CBD is only 30 mins away, 40mins if the traffic is bad...
I think massey university would be closest, I guess? that is about 15-20mins away...

Can you tell I LOVE it here?

Edited by Chops1975