North Shore - Bad parts

[AMR]

Hi all,

I have been looking at expanding my area of investing to the whole of the North Shore rather than just the few blocks near my place. What are the bad streets of the North Shore, more specifically around Glenfield West and Birkdale/Beachhaven?

[ENP]

Just have a walk/drive down the street at 10pm on a Saturday night to see which are the "bad" streets/suburbs.

[CJ]

Birkdale/beachhaven has a real mix of streets. Some being really good, some not so.

Get a really old map and see which street names have changed - that will tell you which streets had big drug busts/armed offender callouts which made the papers.

I haven't been down that far into the haven in the past 10 years so cant comment.

[Ahar]

Don't know about Glenfield but reasonably familiar with Beach haven.

there are some really scruffy areas in Birkdale/Beach haven....a lot of state housing etc.

IMHO, the bottom end of Lancaster Rd is rough, (ie, the other side of Beach haven Rd) so I wouldn't buy there or into any of the side streets tho' they themselves appear to be ok

Hayman St by the Lancaster shops...and the street off it are the pits....they changed the names some years ago because they were so bad.

Stay out of Tauras Cres....lots of scum there.

Lysander Cres isn't the best either and the middle part of Chippendale leaves a little to be desired.

I thinks that's the worst of them.

But do a drive by......look for tagging, lawns mowed etc but remember a lot of properties are rented and many tenants don't like mowing lawns

I own a property in Rangatira Rd near to the Beach haven shops....and there doens't appear to be any tagging....and I always look for it when I do inspections.

As for the better parts......try the wharf end of Beach haven Rd and anything off it.....quite a favoured area. In fact anything by the coast tho' I believe the bus service is limited to the "Birkdale, Rangatira Rd circuit"....it's really very good, a bus to the city every 20mins. All my tenants love this feature.

[Rizowz]

Don't know about Glenfield but reasonably familiar with Beach haven.

there are some really scruffy areas in Birkdale/Beach haven....a lot of state housing etc.

IMHO, the bottom end of Lancaster Rd is rough, (ie, the other side of Beach haven Rd) so I wouldn't buy there or into any of the side streets tho' they themselves appear to be ok

Hayman St by the Lancaster shops...and the street off it are the pits....they changed the names some years ago because they were so bad.

Stay out of Tauras Cres....lots of scum there.

Lysander Cres isn't the best either and the middle part of Chippendale leaves a little to be desired.

I thinks that's the worst of them.

But do a drive by......look for tagging, lawns mowed etc but remember a lot of properties are rented and many tenants don't like mowing lawns

I own a property in Rangatira Rd near to the Beach haven shops....and there doens't appear to be any tagging....and I always look for it when I do inspections.

As for the better parts......try the wharf end of Beach haven Rd and anything off it.....quite a favoured area. In fact anything by the coast tho' I believe the bus service is limited to the "Birkdale, Rangatira Rd circuit"....it's really very good, a bus to the city every 20mins. All my tenants love this feature.

This is pretty accurate. Generally speaking there is no tagging at all around the area, which is great. I would go so far as to say that its almost just randomised houses which are a bit dodgy in all of these streets though, rather than saying 'xxx is a bad street'. I know this area EXTREMELY well and it has come a long way, even Hayman Pl (Formally infamously known as Doris St) isnt too bad now. A friend (who is a real estate agent too) has a rental down there (ex state house) and tennants are very good, infact that whole street has gone in leaps and bounds in the last 5 years (much like northcote's tonar st - been down that lately?).

Crime/police callouts in the beach haven/birkdale area tends to be centered around 6-7 individual houses where there are some undesirable types, however the overwhelming majority are honest, hardworking good people. A drive down rangitira road is a good way to point out a widening gap between rich and poor; anything on the westerly side of the road and streets off it is very much prime real estate - most of the stuff on the eastern side of the road is a little 'risky' shall we say - your lysander, taurus, etc

State housing numbers eased back quite a bit but have slowly crept up thanks to private landlords leasing to HNZ etc. Quite high proportions are state houses in Taurus cres, but there arent any full HNZ streets or 'developments' like some of the dodgy areas of greater akl.

either side of lancaster rd has its bad bits, by 'lower' i assume you mean the northerly part. The streets off this; O'donn, Frizzell and Ranch have a few untidy places and one or two dodgy folk, however these are quietish streets that are close to the coast, e.g. the very end of lancaster (cul de sac) has some very pleasant homes with good sea views, likewise in paragon ave and the like.

The Western end of Beach haven road is very nice, where it intersects with rangitira, there are some $1m+ properties down here and on the assosciated side streets (e.g. rambler cres) with their own private jettys etc, tennants down this end of the road tend to be very good quality! Likewise with Aeroview drive and streets off it, hadfield st, island bay road etc. Best to do a bit of a drive-by and get a feel for them.

Anymore info you need just ask; I can tell you a lot of things about every street.

Glenfield:

Once again, just the odd pockets of rough in certain streets, sometimes a pocket may only be two or 3 houses. Theres a few of Girrawheen drive (off ellice rd), as well as 1 or two off gladys place off easton park parade. A few rough areas around Spinella drive, Lynn rd and manuka rd in 'bayview', but even spinella is not tooo bad these days. Most stuff in glenfield and birkdale is good working class housing that is not fancy but well kept, just gotta watch for the occasional layabouts!

Still.... I feel safer in these areas than I do in Glen Innes!!! Even in Orakei e.g. opposite paratai drive and up a bit on kepa road there are those less than appealing hnz blocks of flats around Brenton place etc

[perrinia]

first time house owner - getting wiser quickly

Hi
We just moved to Lancaster road in Beach Haven and have been barraged by some of the worst noise and and behavior --- cursing- yelling-drinking- driving their car into 'burn outs' in front of our house--- (no joke i saw some kids feeding their pitbull beer one day) that we have ever experienced. I really wish I read these postings before we purchased. We're first time buyers (with our first kid on the way) and totally stunned by the reality of this neighborhood. When we were looking, the neighborhood was quiet, well maintained and gave us no inkling about what we were getting ourselves into.

My question for you gurus is...what do we do now? We've been here two months and feel tortured by the noise of the neighborhood. For example, its thursday at 2 am and there is party drifting over from hayman place and so I am up too. Is it madness to try to sell it? We have just renovated (my husband is a roofer/builder) so we are just about to finish the last bits. Is it better to give it a year?

We've been on to the council and HNZ but outside of noise complaints there is little they seem able to do. We're at the end of our ropes, delirious from exhaustion and suffering from acute buyers remorse. How do we save this situation financially or emotionally?

Any advice greatly appreciated.

[WGN ex-property manager]

1. Find neighbours who feel the same way you do.
2. Get organised and BOMBARD the council, police and noise control with compaints about every incident. Become the squeaky wheel. Make it so it's actually easier for them to take action fix the problems than ignore you.
3. Get a gun license (NOT a gun, just the license). Police take call-outs from stressed-out sounding people much more seriously if you have a license, because that means you MIGHT have a gun when you say "I'll just head next door and sort them out myself if you bu***rs won't come"

[unhinged]

Agree with most aspects of this post having an association with Beachhaven going back many years. Hayman or Doris St was well known as the worst when I was at high school in the early 80's, followed by Taurus and Lysander. However would have to disagree with comment about the bottom of Lancaster. Our family home is basically the last house at the end of the street and coastal. The people around us are very respectable and have mostly also been resident for 10 to 20 years plus. The middle parts of Lancaster does look run down, but I for one am not aware of an issues with noise. I would consider Lancaster while not in parts a tidy street, it is respectable with some hard working residents

[Rizowz]

yeah def both parts of lancaster have their 'moments', perrinia i am sorry to hear you have had such a tough time. It really sounds like you have drawn the short straw, I know a lot of people who live in the area and seldom here issues of this nature (and i sincerely doubt they're the drunken party animals haha). I take it you are on the part of lancaster with the speed bumps? as i mentioned, the lower part of lancaster -other side of b/haven rd does hav some of those nice coastal adjoining places etc, but i guess any house in any place in the world being a nice place to live is fairly dependent on who's in the neighbourhood etc, likewise where I am (3 mins from lancaster) we have wonderful neighbours and no noisy dogs or cars or anything, but neighbours from hell can strike anywhere i guess. I couldnt really offer any advice with dealing with bad people, but i would suggest maybe you just sit it out for a while and see if things improve, as well as taking the advice given on this post as you wish. As you say, when you first looked at the place it appeared quiet and well maintained, and for the vast majority of houses around there it is but unfortunately it sounds like there are a few bad eggs causing you some grief. I must say though fwiw i wouldn't buy to live in Lancaster rd, but thats just personal choice. Perhaps you could finish your tidying up, and turn this negative scenario into a positive by potentially selling the place all done up for a bit of a profit? You may wish to move out of the area and thats all up to you but i would advise that it generally is a good place to live and raise a family, and that there are some great houses with great people in great neighbourhoods all around the area.

[CJ]

I think sitting it out for a few more months is sensible as well. It could just have been people letting of steam over the Christmas period.

The problem is if all the good people leave an area, it never gets better. I personally think beachhaven is an underrated area in Auckland and it would just take a few streets to be tidied up a bit for a bit of rejuvenation to happen.

I am up the road a bit in Birkenhead (parents are at top of Rangatira) and see no reason why Highbury cant go through some improvement driving up property prices. It will never be a Ponsonby but think it is nice than Pt Chev.

[AMR]

3. Get a gun license (NOT a gun, just the license). Police take call-outs from stressed-out sounding people much more seriously if you have a license, because that means you MIGHT have a gun when you say "I'll just head next door and sort them out myself if you bu***rs won't come"

Would you get done on a threatening to assault charge? Or was that tongue in cheek?

[perrinia]

WOW and thanks

I cannot thank you all enough for your candid, practical, creative and positive advice. I am so grateful we found a forum like this with such level brains to pick. Mine has gone to mush from pregnancy and sleep deprivation so I appreciate the calm and lucid advice. We are near the speed bumps and I agree that giving it a few months to get the place finished is a good mindset to adopt. Beach Haven is lovely and I am glad we stumbled upon it (we're not originally from NZ - have lived here 5 years on the other side of the bridge only until now). But most of all i am glad we found this resource so that when we do move on, we can choose a little more wisely with input from those in the know.

Thank you.

[Sanderson]

Beach Haven/Birkdale

Hi, just came across this thread now, and would love peoples opinions (from experience) with O'Donn road? Also anyone know of the townhouses on Erewhon Place, Birkdale?

Thank you

This is pretty accurate. Generally speaking there is no tagging at all around the area, which is great. I would go so far as to say that its almost just randomised houses which are a bit dodgy in all of these streets though, rather than saying 'xxx is a bad street'. I know this area EXTREMELY well and it has come a long way, even Hayman Pl (Formally infamously known as Doris St) isnt too bad now. A friend (who is a real estate agent too) has a rental down there (ex state house) and tennants are very good, infact that whole street has gone in leaps and bounds in the last 5 years (much like northcote's tonar st - been down that lately?).

Crime/police callouts in the beach haven/birkdale area tends to be centered around 6-7 individual houses where there are some undesirable types, however the overwhelming majority are honest, hardworking good people. A drive down rangitira road is a good way to point out a widening gap between rich and poor; anything on the westerly side of the road and streets off it is very much prime real estate - most of the stuff on the eastern side of the road is a little 'risky' shall we say - your lysander, taurus, etc

State housing numbers eased back quite a bit but have slowly crept up thanks to private landlords leasing to HNZ etc. Quite high proportions are state houses in Taurus cres, but there arent any full HNZ streets or 'developments' like some of the dodgy areas of greater akl.

either side of lancaster rd has its bad bits, by 'lower' i assume you mean the northerly part. The streets off this; O'donn, Frizzell and Ranch have a few untidy places and one or two dodgy folk, however these are quietish streets that are close to the coast, e.g. the very end of lancaster (cul de sac) has some very pleasant homes with good sea views, likewise in paragon ave and the like.

The Western end of Beach haven road is very nice, where it intersects with rangitira, there are some $1m+ properties down here and on the assosciated side streets (e.g. rambler cres) with their own private jettys etc, tennants down this end of the road tend to be very good quality! Likewise with Aeroview drive and streets off it, hadfield st, island bay road etc. Best to do a bit of a drive-by and get a feel for them.

Anymore info you need just ask; I can tell you a lot of things about every street.

Glenfield:

Once again, just the odd pockets of rough in certain streets, sometimes a pocket may only be two or 3 houses. Theres a few of Girrawheen drive (off ellice rd), as well as 1 or two off gladys place off easton park parade. A few rough areas around Spinella drive, Lynn rd and manuka rd in 'bayview', but even spinella is not tooo bad these days. Most stuff in glenfield and birkdale is good working class housing that is not fancy but well kept, just gotta watch for the occasional layabouts!

Still.... I feel safer in these areas than I do in Glen Innes!!! Even in Orakei e.g. opposite paratai drive and up a bit on kepa road there are those less than appealing hnz blocks of flats around Brenton place etc

[Sanderson]

Hi Perrinia, just saw your post now and would love to know what you ended up doing? Are you still living in your place on Lancaster, how is the noise and the area for you now? We are a young family looking to buy and when you have kids feeling safe and secure in your own place is top of the list.

I cannot thank you all enough for your candid, practical, creative and positive advice. I am so grateful we found a forum like this with such level brains to pick. Mine has gone to mush from pregnancy and sleep deprivation so I appreciate the calm and lucid advice. We are near the speed bumps and I agree that giving it a few months to get the place finished is a good mindset to adopt. Beach Haven is lovely and I am glad we stumbled upon it (we're not originally from NZ - have lived here 5 years on the other side of the bridge only until now). But most of all i am glad we found this resource so that when we do move on, we can choose a little more wisely with input from those in the know.

Thank you.

[bebemama]

Gazelle Avenue, Beach Haven

Hello Rozowz or anyone, could I have any info about Gazelle Ave? Good neighborhood? We have 7-year-old boy. I appreciate any advice. Many thanks