New Zealand - Prices down but....

Strings

bendix wrote: »

There seem to be a lot of NZ experts on this site, most of whom have probably never been there.

I can say with my hand on my heart that I can comment with ease on this subject. Partly as I am from NZ

phil_b_2

Generali wrote: »

There is also a lively market for 2nd hand houses (without the land) and companies that specialise in moving the houses elsewhere. BTL LLs use them to get a cheap house up quickly in expanding mining areas.

That's quite bizarre, but also very cool. I can just imagine ebay being flooded by 'insta-homes', empty plot of land one day, a full house the next!

Many houses in Australia kinda just look like big sheds though. Couldnt imagine it working over here.

Generali

phil_b wrote: »

That's quite bizarre, but also very cool. I can just imagine ebay being flooded by 'insta-homes', empty plot of land one day, a full house the next!

Many houses in Australia kinda just look like big sheds though. Couldnt imagine it working over here.

A mate bought a chunk of a farm near Orange and put a second hand house on it as a BTL. He didn't pay anything for the house except the cost of having it moved. He rents the house and land to a young couple that can't afford to buy a bigger farm, especially now that foreign Governments are getting into buying Aussie farmland.

Most Australian houses require you to be quite at one with living with the natural world, it's a bit like camping only without the separate shower block.

TBH as a Northern European who is used to double glazing and central heating I struggle with it a little.

In some respects it's horses for courses. However, these days Aussies want to live the aircon/central heating life and the draughty houses don't really suit that as they are expensive to keep comfortable by 'artificial' means.

pinkteapot

phil_b wrote: »

That's quite bizarre, but also very cool. I can just imagine ebay being flooded by 'insta-homes', empty plot of land one day, a full house the next!

Many houses in Australia kinda just look like big sheds though. Couldnt imagine it working over here.

Happens in the US as well, and here's some photos - pretty awesome sight:

http://dawnhousemovers.com/variousjobs1/

Wonder how much a house in the UK weighs compared to these construction types...

Generali

pinkteapot wrote: »

Happens in the US as well, and here's some photos - pretty awesome sight:

http://dawnhousemovers.com/variousjobs1/

Wonder how much a house in the UK weighs compared to these construction types...

Over here they tend to cut the building in half to move it. Of course it may well be moved a thousand miles or more so it can't go at 10mph or something.

vivatifosi

Generali wrote: »

Most Australian houses require you to be quite at one with living with the natural world, it's a bit like camping only without the separate shower block.

TBH as a Northern European who is used to double glazing and central heating I struggle with it a little.

In some respects it's horses for courses. However, these days Aussies want to live the aircon/central heating life and the draughty houses don't really suit that as they are expensive to keep comfortable by 'artificial' means.

I think this is something that shocks people who go to Australia and NZ for the first time. The house I grew up in, which is in Melbourne, like many Aussie houses including my uncle's Queenslander, was built on a platform. There aren't the same foundations as there are here and we'd regularly climb under the house to get balls that we were playing with in the garden (while watching out for spiders that loved living there).

Because it was warm in the Summer we had something called a "sleepout" on the back of our house which was like a big closed verandah with doors that opened totally so that one side was fully open to the breezes. The whole family would sleep out together in the summer when it was too hot. AIUI these are less common now as people have fitted window-rattler A/C units.

Finally it is not unusual even now to have houses with corrugated tin roofs. It's amazing to live in one during a thunderstorm, the noise is quite extraordinary. I really miss it at times.

phil_b_2

Generali wrote: »

Most Australian houses require you to be quite at one with living with the natural world, it's a bit like camping only without the separate shower block.

TBH as a Northern European who is used to double glazing and central heating I struggle with it a little.

I'm sure I would definately crave the solidity of UK brick houses after getting so used to them!

pinkteapot wrote: »

Happens in the US as well, and here's some photos - pretty awesome sight:

http://dawnhousemovers.com/variousjobs1/

Wonder how much a house in the UK weighs compared to these construction types...

That looks very strange and very terrifying. Only in America could you even get roads wide enough to tranport those things :eek:

Generali

vivatifosi wrote: »

I think this is something that shocks people who go to Australia and NZ for the first time. The house I grew up in, which is in Melbourne, like many Aussie houses including my uncle's Queenslander, was built on a platform. There aren't the same foundations as there are here and we'd regularly climb under the house to get balls that we were playing with in the garden (while watching out for spiders that loved living there).

Because it was warm in the Summer we had something called a "sleepout" on the back of our house which was like a big closed verandah with doors that opened totally so that one side was fully open to the breezes. The whole family would sleep out together in the summer when it was too hot. AIUI these are less common now as people have fitted window-rattler A/C units.

Finally it is not unusual even now to have houses with corrugated tin roofs. It's amazing to live in one during a thunderstorm, the noise is quite extraordinary. I really miss it at times.

We've got a tin roof and the noise is amazing in a rainstorm. In a hailstorm you can forget about watching TV or listening to it at least.

MiL's place was built on a hill on stilts onto earth rather than foundations. It slid a fair way down the hill before they got it shored up so the place has a charming wonkiness to it, a bit like a Tudor cottage only not of course.

Mrs Generali's Grandmother lives up in Townsville in a proper Queenslander. No fly screens, no air con, no heating (she's from Portsmouth, Hants but complains about the cold if it drops below 25C). Lots of cold water to drink and 3 showers a day and she's laughing.

bendix

phil_b wrote: »

I'm sure I would definately crave the solidity of UK brick houses after getting so used to them!

I thought so to, but it wasnt the case at all.

I grew up in the UK but moved to those houses in my twenties and - after a few months - learned to love the airiness of them, plus the ease with which it was possible to make massive alterations for next to no cost at all.

Much much better than our stolid and staid structures.

Strings

bendix wrote: »

I thought so to, but it wasnt the case at all.

I grew up in the UK but moved to those houses in my twenties and - after a few months - learned to love the airiness of them, plus the ease with which it was possible to make massive alterations for next to no cost at all.

Much much better than our stolid and staid structures.

Agreed, we extended and changed our family home many times over the years. Plus I loved having a massive backyard as standard and having at least 8 metres between each house

Depending on where you live and the local planning condition, you have to have the house at least 1.5 metre away from the boundary on one side, with a minimum of 3 on the other.

Only in a very few zones, are you allowed to have no outdoor living and you must have the ability to park two cars off street