Moving to Auckland (A help request thread)

Community
#1

Hello people, and especially hi Aucklanders.

Next year, I’ll be moving to Auckland for my school (The Media Design School).
Problem is, my parents have told me to find a house for myself.
I’ve never even searched for a house, leave be one in a city, leave be a city in a country I’m foreign to XD.
So I would like to request some hints and tips etc. on how to find a house… or appartment, or just a place to live for a few years XD.

#2

It used to be that you needed to check out the Classifieds in the newspapers (like for ads for people looking for a flatmate), not sure how frequented that is now, sites like TradeMe seem to have taken that over - I just checked and there’s a Flatmates Wanted section: trademe.co.nz/Browse/Rentals/Default.aspx.

Your school may also have some kind of hostel arrangement (check the docs you got from them when you applied), which is useful when you’re away from home for the first time, or you could try to find a boarding situation with a family - also less daunting. Other than that, you could use your social networks to find a place by word of mouth.

Where are you coming from? Auckland living costs are quite expensive by NZ standards.

#3

Neat!

I’m an American who has lived in NZ for 8 years - and for the past 5 months I’ve lived in Auckland.

Stephanie is right - depending on where you’re coming from you might be surprised at the cost of living here. You’ll likely not find your own apartment (as is typical where I come from) but you’ll “flat” with other people - i.e.; share a house/expenses with others.

Take a browse on Trade Me as Stephanie has suggested - that’ll give you an idea of the average costs. If you’re not sure about a certain neighbourhood, ask us here. Each neighbourhood has their pros and cons in regards to quality of life, access to public transport, etc …

From time to time friendly people on Diatribe are in need of a flatmate, so it wouldn’t at all be inappropriate for you to post a ‘flat wanted’ ad. Tell a bit about yourself and what sort of weekly rent is in your budget.

Hope that helps, and have fun at Media Design school!

#4

Okay, thanks for responding, and so fast XD.
I’m in Morrinsville atm btw… or well, just outside of Morrinsville.
The cheaper the better basically though, I can live with a bed, food, and a place to put my computer XD. But I’ll take a look at trademe etc. =D.
Any things I should be careful of? Any things I should be looking at? What things are important? Are there any hidden costs I might have to look out for?

#5

Public transport costs. Auckland is a sprawling city and it is ridiculously difficult to get around by public transport particularly if you want to go anywhere other than the city centre. For example, if you wanted to go from Avondale (West Auckland) to Otahuhu (South Auckland), you’d need to get into the city first then change services to head out south. It is not convenient, and it is expensive. As a student, you want to make sure that whichever direction you live in (north, south, east, west) you live within “three stages” of central city, closer if you can wrangle it. The biggest problem is that most of the suburbs that ring the central city tend to be quite expensive and not ideal for students - that said, there are definitely affordable nice neighbourhoods in the two and three stage areas.

#6

If your going to be here for a while you may want to keep an eye on this forum as people are often looking for flatmates that understand a living room covered in foam and ados.

#7

I just want one big enough for me & my dog lol (yeah, I know, good luck in Auckland)

#8

I guess I’m lucky the Media Design School is right in the center of auckland? Like, 100 meters from the Sky Tower XD.
And I have 'till the end of this year to find a place to live for the next 3 years at least.
I’d actually like to flat with an actual LARPER, I might actually be able to do some ‘crafting’ then XD. (I always think, Ooh, that’d be nice to do, but never actually get to doing it.)
And I would finally have someone to spar with =3.

#9

Heya,

Auckland is awesome, but yes living costs are high, on a par with any major city in the UK (where I came from…) When looking at places remember a few things…

  1. there is only one bridge… if you are on the north shore and trying to get in to town expect long delays during peak “rush hours”
  2. the Rugby World Cup has made what was already a horrible rental market go into overdrive atm… prices on places will come down a bit I think after RWC and Xmas/New Year is over… a lot of houses are being let short term at silly money. There was already a shortage of nice places to rent and this has just made it worse… so take it easy on finding a place I would concentrate on finding areas you like that are not that expensive first, the actual price you pay next year might well be better than what is on offer now.
  3. Bills are high here, food shopping can end up a lot more than you are expecting, as can electric and water if you have to pay them. So make sure to build a full budget :slight_smile: spreadsheets with all costs are a god send for getting a clearer idea. I am sure some of the guys on here can give you a good idea on what your food costs would be, then think about how much your phone, internet, Sky/TV, transport and other bills will come to. Figure all that out before you commit to a rent that leaves you short :slight_smile:
  4. If you can avoid using estate agents over here then do, they are like leaches, they do very little for you and will charge you quite a lot for what little they do do. (personal view from experience so far)
#10

Thanks for the advice =D.
Unfortunate to hear that the costs are EVEN HIGHER than expected… Sigh As if school in itself wasn’t expensive enough… I’ll be paying my parents back for the rest of my life XD.
And for some reason I wasn’t actually planning on using a real estate guy O.o

#11

You can’t get a student allowance/loan? Bummer.
Also, I know it’d be a wrench, but you’d find it a lot easier to find a place in your first year if you weren’t bringing your dog with you. (But maybe build up contacts so you’ve got a good dog-friendly place for 6 months down the track?)

#12

That was me with the dog Steph lol.

#13

[quote=“Lokisson”]That was me with the dog Steph lol.[/quote]Bleh. Monday morning! Oh, wait, it’s Tuesday. Double bleh.

#14

[quote=“Kamica”]Thanks for the advice =D.
Unfortunate to hear that the costs are EVEN HIGHER than expected… Sigh As if school in itself wasn’t expensive enough… I’ll be paying my parents back for the rest of my life XD.[/quote]

Don’t panic :slight_smile: Lots of students manage to live, eat and study in Auckland, so it is far from impossible. I think we just wanted to make sure that you were prepared for the worst, rather than have illusions about costs.

#15

Well, the problem at the moment is, even though our family has immigrated here, it’s not yet official, in other words, we don’t have residency yet, and that’ll take a while to get. In the mean time, I’m an international student, which means 3-4 times the cost, and no chance of getting money.

#16

Oh. Yeah, that makes it heaps trickier.

#17

trust me, put together a simple spreadsheet with a budget plan that covers everything you can think of… :slight_smile: I works wonders for getting that warm fuzzy feeling that things will be ok :slight_smile: