Money, Money, Money...

Things are moving forward now and we've found a house on the internet which both my wife and I love. Our relatives are going to check it out; they're very conversant with the Christchurch property market so we trust their judgement implicitly.

What does concern us the high price the owners are asking. We went did an online market valuation and the guide price was substantially lower. If the property checks out we may well make a bid, but not anywhere near the price they're looking for.

Meanwhile, we're busy filling in all the forms required to sell our own house in the UK, an offer for which we have accepted. Once we have that equity we can put it towards our new home in NZ. We'll still need a mortgage, and I've just come off the phone with a very helpful representative from the London office of ASB who what information they'll need for us to submit an application for a mortgage. I also discovered that unlike many of the other banks, which quite rightly will only activate the NZ account once you arrive in country and prove your identity at a branch, ASB can do this in London as they have an office here. This is much easier for us if we want to take advantage of the current exchange rates by moving our cash across now, and then have access to the money to purchase a house before we emigrate. Unfortunately interest rates are not too good for borrowers in NZ so we will be paying more - good for savers though!

NZ Forums

I've been surfing some of the NZ migrant site and I came across move2nz. It has a good range of forums and a good sized population. Each has their strengths I think and I'll continue surfing, learning from all of them!

PS - If you haven't had a chance to read A Brit in the Boonies yet, you must make time - it's hilarious!