My experience in house hunting

[Connor]

Why I move here I am a citizen if you think any one dislike anything in the country should move out it is your point and I would stand strongly against it, we all here to share ideas for better community not for all of us.
Your experience in Egypt is same like any middle eastern country and other countries faced by terrorism if you go to china they do a very high security level in the airport I was passing with a bike multiple nut tool and they throw it away I saw a boy with a wooden word and they insist to take it from him they inspect every one after the metal detector what ever it beeps or not.

I hope you understand what I am saying that lack of security and poor education is governing the house price significantly further more the building material and part of this the council fees and regulation, when looking to homeless people in street no excuse for not pointing issues.

I already give up looking for now and the deposit can keep me renting the rest of my life in area I like but I talking as common issue for similar cases and the cause of the house escalation price I know may benefits from his and would be strongly against seeing zero increase,but I show no mercy to those.

I think it's good to be reminded of why you choose to live here instead of in Egypt and bear that in mind when making criticism of New Zealand, while bringing up Egypt for comparison.

What is the issue? Homeless people? I hardly think complaining about security and schooling is that relevant to homeless people. That you were not able to buy the kind of house you want (and perhaps think you deserve)? 730k will buy you a house in a good neighbourhood with good schooling, if you are realistic and does not have an entitlement issue. But for some reasons, you say you can't find one.

[McDuck]

I think it's good to be reminded of why you choose to live here instead of in Egypt and bear that in mind when making criticism of New Zealand, while bringing up Egypt for comparison.

What is the issue? Homeless people? I hardly think complaining about security and schooling is that relevant to homeless people. That you were not able to buy the kind of house you want (and perhaps think you deserve)? 730k will buy you a house in a good neighbourhood with good schooling, if you are realistic and does not have an entitlement issue. But for some reasons, you say you can't find one.

Yeah..I just spoke to a young relative, he's white, educated, and just back from tim in the US. He said he felt much safer on the streets of California than walking round Auckland. That's just a straight up young fella telling it like it is.

[Wellington Broker]

Yeah..I just spoke to a young relative, he's white, educated, and just back from tim in the US. He said he felt much safer on the streets of California than walking round Auckland. That's just a straight up young fella telling it like it is.

Did he visit South Central LA? Compton? Or was he sightseeing in Beverley Hills?

[McDuck]

Did he visit South Central LA? Compton? Or was he sightseeing in Beverley Hills?

Yes we discussed all that, he said it was a general comparison thing.

[Connor]

Yeah..I just spoke to a young relative, he's white, educated, and just back from tim in the US. He said he felt much safer on the streets of California than walking round Auckland. That's just a straight up young fella telling it like it is.

Did you ask him why and which area he compared it to? I used to live in the US, in the south, every bang made me think of a shooting.

Here are some objective comparison:

http://www.nationmaster.com/country-info/compare/New-Zealand/United-States/Crime

NZ does better than the US on almost every measure.

By cities:

https://www.numbeo.com/crime/rankings.jsp

Auckland performs better than main California cities like LA, San Francisco and Sacramento and only a little worse than San Diego.

Auckland is a great city to live in, I wasn't born here but I appreciate what it offers after living in many different places and traveled to a lot more.

[ammar]

Did you ask him why and which area he compared it to? I used to live in the US, in the south, every bang made me think of a shooting.

Here are some objective comparison:

http://www.nationmaster.com/country-info/compare/New-Zealand/United-States/Crime

NZ does better than the US on almost every measure.

By cities:

https://www.numbeo.com/crime/rankings.jsp

Auckland performs better than main California cities like LA, San Francisco and Sacramento and only a little worse than San Diego.

Auckland is a great city to live in, I wasn't born here but I appreciate what it offers after living in many different places and traveled to a lot more.

I think NZ should have done much better compared with US. Besides, NZ should be compared to the Scandinavian countries, Singapore.

[Learning]

I think NZ should have done much better compared with US. Besides, NZ should be compared to the Scandinavian countries, Singapore.

Every place has its good and not so good areas. Comparing a couple streets here with a couple there is pretty much pointless.

[propertybuyingNZ]

not that it matters much if we discuss property prices / trends but education:
PISA test (comparing 15y olds)

11th place NZ
39th place Egypt

http://www.usnews.com/news/best-countries/overall-full-list

[Courham]

Hi Craig that's an interesting change for your kids- what school did they end up going to? I went to a low decile school - MRGS (decile 4) based on zoning while my younger brother went to MAGS as we moved to Mt Albert. Roskill was beginning to pick up academically because of the increasing numbers of Indian and Asian students that were going there but the facilities, teaching and the networks that my brother formed in MAGS were much better. I don't think its just white flight, most new immigrants like khaled want to move to a neighbourhood which has a good school and the decile system is easy to understand.

Interesting article on decile rates and pass rates. Looks like pass rates are improving across the board but better performance in the higher decile band

http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/educ...mbers--deciles

I moved my kids from a decile 8 country school (we moved to the country when my daughter was year 2 to give them country upbringing) but moved back to town for year 8 to Timaru South (decile 2-3). I was sick of the "monoculture" at their country school, Timaru South had about 20% international/migrant pop (quite high for down here) so the kids quickly had friends from a whole range of ethnic backgrounds & countries. Educationally too it was better for them. Only downside was the talk of drugs etc that they picked up, but that is also part of life and something they needed to become aware of. One day they came home shocked and said most kids in my class's parents weren't married/didn't live together, whereas in the country 90%+ did.

Until last Thursday my role at polytech was to work with youth. I helped develop programmes, recruited and supported high school kids coming to polytech one day per week to to trades related training (carpentry, automotive, hospitality, engineering etc) which counts towards their NCEA. Seen big lifts in NCEA achievement for these practical, hands on learners that are simply bored in regular classrooms (and we also see better engagement at school the other 4 days most of the time too). Has been a real success story.

An interesting read on NCEA results. I take the NCEA pass rates with a grain a salt. I know one very high decile school down here that has encouraged students that are failing to leave midyear to go to community college so not to upset their stats! You've got to drill deeper than NCEA, look at ERO reports etc as not all schools are equal when it comes to supporting their students to succeed.

Craig

[Don't believe the Hype]

Maybe another good comparison which I don't have the data for might be the no. of Kiwi's who move to Egypt vs. the no. of Egyptians who migrate to NZ. The nett no. their might give a fairly good indication of the consensus view of which place is a better option covering all facets of life - house prices, safety, education standards, social freedoms, cost of living etc.

[Learning]

An interesting read on NCEA results. I take the NCEA pass rates with a grain a salt. I know one very high decile school down here that has encouraged students that are failing to leave midyear to go to community college so not to upset their stats! You've got to drill deeper than NCEA, look at ERO reports etc as not all schools are equal when it comes to supporting their students to succeed.

The government's decision to publish National Standards results was the most damaging thing done to schools ever.

Schools are funded based primarily on their numbers and good results draw more inrollments. So schools are financially incrouged to falsify, fudge and miss represent their results.

If 2 kids are falling behind while 5 are on the edge many would feel pressured to ignore the 2 and concentrate on getting the 5 over the line to make the school look better.

These are long term lives the government is stuffing.

[Davo36]

Doubt they let NZers into Egypt to live. And if they did, the women would have to wear the hijab etc.

[sidinz]

Doubt they let NZers into Egypt to live. And if they did, the women would have to wear the hijab etc.

I lived there, but didn't last. Had to leave after a few months as I didn't take to it at all. And I went there after living in Mexico for over three years. I didn't wear a hijab, but one of the reasons I left was because I was followed and/or groped every time I walked anywhere.

OP is delusional when he says that every family can afford an apartment in Egypt. They have real poverty there - the absolute stuff, not the relative stuff that our newspapers trot out - and no social welfare. Many doormen/porters in apartment buildings sleep in a chair/cot/on the floor in a corner as they don't have homes to go to. OP must have led a very sheltered/privileged life there.

[PTILoveYou]

I understand your frustrations KE, but blaming the market or other investors in Auckland does not change a thing.

Only worry about things you can control, and not things you cannot control.

Be positive, keep hunting the deals, look at crosslease properties if you can't afford full sections, look at more areas than the areas you can't afford.

Lastly, schools don't teach ethics and financial literacy, so as long as your kids don't go to a too bad of a school, they will succeed with your good parenting and guidance.

Good luck house hunting and keep a positive mindset!

[sidinz]

Lastly, schools don't teach ethics and financial literacy

yes, they do.