Where to live in Wellington

[Careym]

Hi,
I have just arranged a job offer for a Uk based engineer (I am a recruiter and would be investor(have a bach and a unit)).

Should he accept the offer, can anyone advise good areas I can tell him to look at renting in before buying ? any PM's out there I can refer him to?
He is Married, 2 small children, job is near Te Papa. probably be on one income ($70K) at least for the first few months.

I dont know wellington at all.
Thanks
Carey

[JohnW]

Hi Carey
I suggest your client goes to: www.quinovic.co.nz to check out the rental listings.
Regards

[duvetray]

if hes working near TE Papa but with kids then Mt Vic would be an ideal place to rent, walk to work but also the opportunity to get a house with a small bit of land for the kids, good base to explore wellington, 0ther than that a glut of apartments around courtney place but not ideal when you have small kids

[roseneath_rat]

I disagree, Mt Vic is not the ideal location for renting especially with small kids. Mt Vic = small sections, lots of students.

Most suburbs will be on the bus route to Courtney Place, I'd be looking further out if I were you.

[Careym]

petone??

I was in Petone a few months ago for a couple hours, it seemed nice enough - what are the schools and traffic etc like there? would that be an area to tell him to look at?
carey

[tim360]

I would highly recommend Island Bay, you can rent a 3 bed house for $360, it's close to the awesome south coast, and has a fantastic bus service. It's 10 min dr into town or a 25 min bus ride.

[hawkeye]

It really depends on what lifestyle they are looking for.

We lived on Mt Vic before the kids came along but we choose to move out to Newtown when the kids arrived and we needed a bit more space.

Mt Vic is an awesome place to live but the Primary School wouldn't suit me and the places do tend to have little outdoor space.

Newtown is on the up. Very diverse and you can still walk to work in 35 - 40 minutes if you want to feel virtuous. Island Bay is good and you might even get a seat at the beginning of the bus route because you didn't by the time it reached Newtown!!! (During School Term)

If they have Secondary aged children they might want to consider the various School Zones.

If they are used to travelling in heavy traffic for a long time to reach work then any suburb in Wellington would be fine.

Petone has been on the up and up for a number of years now but I couldn't stand the Motorway in the morning.

I'm a Christchurch boy but I really loved my 8 years in Wellington. Much more diverse and welcoming as many people have to go their for work. Much easier to break into a social circle.

Just a few random thoughts.

N

[roseneath_rat]

Petone will be cheaper than town, but if relying on public transport it would be a pain to get to Te Papa. Suggest sticking to Wgtn City rather than the Hutt Valley.

I like tim360's suggestion of Island Bay, or perhaps Lyall Bay if you wanted a lower cost alternative. Also consider Ngaio.