Nice suburbs for family in New Plymouth?

[motoman]

Getting to the point the Mrs and I are planning a family. Whilst we wont live there Immediately its kind of a long term investment/long term place of residence probably 10 years from now.

We both love Taranaki for the outdoor life style.

Any suggests on safe family Friendly suburbs? We both surf, but realise you pay extra for seaside, so happy to live out of the city, the main consideration is it being a safe neighbourhood.

Our max buy price would be $400k.

[lois]

hello, having brought up 4 daughters in "the Naki" I think I am qualified to answer your query. we started off in Vogeltown, a great starter suburb, with middle of the road family homes, close to vogeltown primary, highlands intermediate and then girls high and boys high all great schools, when the kids got older we moved to a bigger home in Frankleigh park, a leafy suburb with sports grounds and larger 2nd homes, when they started leaving we moved into central new Plymouth close to the city, cafes, eastend, Fitzroy beach and walkways. all of new Plymouth is lovley and it will depend on what your family needs are and the beach will be not more than a 5 minute drive from nearly all of new Plymouth. no traffic jams here. usually you can park right outside the shop you want to go to and the lifestyle is great. happy hunting and welcome to the naki.

[motoman]

Im thinking central and Fitzroy.

Im not 100% familiar with Vogeltown but reminds me of Vogels bread, which I like ;-p

Seriously, its a very hard city to gauge whats a safe, family area. Bell blocks mostly new sub divisions?

I fell In love with the place the time I have spent there, totally not the city I expected after being there 25 years ago, its almost one of NZs kept secrets. Perhaps not from investment perspective but lifestyle, if you are into hiking, running, ecology, photography, fishing, surfing.

[lois]

we have done really well with property investment here as the rents are quite high for the outlay. a $250=$300k house can earn $350 per week. bell block has come up in value it used to be the poor cousin but as the city has grown outward it has come of age. will depend on where you want to work its a bit of a bottle neck at the waiwakaio bridge at the moment soon to be fixed. you will probably want to be close to good schools if you have children ours all walked to school so all the areas around schools are good but I would not go to paritutu area or marfell, saying that there are some awesome views around ngamoutu road, crownhill, back beach is great for sun sets and for surfing. In Fitzroy you may have to spend more than 400. Strandon and central are all really desirable areas. my daughter is an ecologist and loves the mountain tramps etc.. good move you will love it.

[motoman]

At this stage its a property for us to move back to after 10 years overseas with what we hope will be a couple of young ones.

Both of us surf. Id say in likelihood my partner would find work at the council and Id find work either at the council or the energy company.

Thanks Lois.

[heisenberg]

For your purposes I'd avoid Marfell and some areas of Spotswood and Moturoa. Agree with above, vogeltown and frankleigh are good suburbs for families. Merrilands also quite nice and easy access to beach, if you go further up mangorei road you quickly get into a beautiful area which almost feels like you're in the country but you're only 5-10mins drive from city centre, plus mangorei primary school is building quite a good reputation. Fitzroys my favourite but you will pay more, you could however get a good deal around strandon where you can buy right by beach or a few blocks back for a bit cheaper, strandon also has access to both of the girls high schools and St. John bosco which is a very popular primary school.

Great place to live, best of luck!

[lewyh]

I lived in Fitzroy, it was nice and I'm quite picky.

Merrilands (close to town) was nice, but I got my car windows smashed there once.

New Plymouth is a funny place. You have trashy people living near nice ones. I would probably buy in Fitzroy if I was going to buy anywhere in NP.

Good luck with your move.

[MRGHomes]

Hello there,
At present what are the best suburbs in Taranaki to invest? What do the renters prefer? Also can I request info from council about the range of rates depending on the suburbs. I have read in property magazine about the growth of Taranaki and I am really interested.
Also can anybody recommend local property managers that I can probably meet to ask insights as well.
Any information will be very helpful.
Many thanks in advance