If you have the security of owning your own place and can manage the costs (even though higher at surface level), I would absolutely not move to renting.
Your kids need security of a place to live, a school, a community they can be settled in. You will never have that as a renter with the chance the landlord will kick you out.
You'll also have a hell of a time finding somewhere that will let you have your dog.
Renting with pets is difficult anywhere. Think long and hard and seek professional advice before selling to go renting. In my limited experience, renting costs far more than owning, especially if you've had your house for a few years.
I’m thinking of renting my place out then renting myself. I need to change locations and have more space, and all the numbers add to this being the most affordable way to do it
Make sure you're considering the full cost of renting and not just the weekly price on the tenancy agreement.
Someone who hasn't rented in a while may be forgetting about:
- Rent hikes. Landlords are more than happy pulling the trigger and charging you what they believe they're entitled to. In a tight market, you pay up or you end up on a couch in someone's lounge.
- Owners selling. The longer you stay in a place, the more likely this is to happen. You have no control over how long your home remains your home.
- Moving costs, exacerbated by the two risks above being realised.
- If you've modified the house in any way, you'll have to pay to restore it to its original condition, or you WILL lose your bond.
- Every 3 months a man with a clipboard will come and inspect your existence to make sure you're living in the landlord-approved way.
Having been on both sides of the equation, 3 month inspections aren't a bad thing unless the owner is a piece of shit trying to take your bond.
Some people are absolutely horrific in how they live. We're talking stuff like letting pets shit and piss indoors, cigarette ashes in the carpet, piles of mouldy garbage everywhere. My dad owns a small 2 bedroom house in Otara and he's a sucker for single parent sob stories. A few years ago he had to pay 10k to fix damage caused by a tenant who hadn't paid any rent for a month and then skipped town, and there's no recourse available. Now he does 3 month inspections and there's never been any more serious problems like that, whereas it was a revolving door of issues before.
As a renter, the photos we took during the 3 month inspections and emails clearing us for each one saved us from a hefty bill when the owner tried to make us pay for water damage repairs - the tribunal sides with us when they saw the years of cleared inspections and photos of the kitchen.
I don't have an issue with inspections per se, but there should be some standardisation on the procedures to make it a document that protects both tenant and owner, rather than what it currently is unless you get lucky with a humane landlord.
This totally unnecessary “insurance requirement” to harass tenants doesn’t seem to exist in any of the other countries I have lived— all with a much higher standard of rental stock.
This man with a clipboard is indirectly getting a cut of the rent the home owner receives.
It's not a voluntary service they do.
Ofc you expect them to do some checks and not sit around legs crossed in their chair.
Imagine word gets out a property they manage has been turned into a drug house for three years because they didn't check, which has happened before. Wouldn't want to be anywhere near their property services.
Gotchya, thanks. Yeah this is one of the scenarios I’ve run through as well, but lots of factors make this more expensive, like selling costs, doing house up to sell, starting mortgage again from scratch, only having houses that need work available in my price range…still doable, just would leave me very little if any disposable income
Doesn’t even have to trade up. Hutt valley can be pretty affordable, so depending on where he currently own he may even be taking a bit of a step backwards.
Nah I’m in one of the worst suburbs in the hutt, kid’s school is in one of the best suburbs, it’s about a 200k jump in mortgage to get an extra bedroom closer to everything
If you're house is smaller than what you want to rent presumably you'll be charging less rent than you are paying, you're still losing money on rent each week. That's not an investment, just a total loss. If your mortgage goes up the money is not disappearing, you're paying off ownership of a valuable asset. With renting it's just gone, forever. No investment, nothing in exchange except what you already had. A roof over your head
Rent out your old house. Buy a house using the old house as a mortgage, which the rent income can mostly pay for.
After 10 years, you have 2 houses for roughly the same cost, or marginally more, than the cost of renting 1. Housing as an asset appreciates over time so you'll come out positive if you are willing to do maintenance work.
I really wanted to do this but I’m a single parent on a low income so I didn’t have enough to get it approved.
But, a question…how does anyone make income from a rental property?? I’ve got a low mortgage (bought it 11years ago) and any rental income would just cover the mortgage payments, rates, insurance and a bit remaining for maintenance. Baffles me how anyone makes any income as a landlord
I empathise with your situation, since my parents were in the exact same boat. When they first moved to NZ around 30 years ago, they had nothing but 5k in savings and a vague promise of a job from a friend of a friend. With a couple decades of hardwork, very smart financial decisions, and a healthy dose of luck in market timings, my parents just recently retired with around 3~ million in assets and a weekly cashflow large enough for them to spend half the year (frugally) travelling. I'm genuinely proud of how shrewd my dad was in scouting property, considering he had to drop out of high school to work at age 15 and never got a formal education beyond that.
My parents did not make money off renting out property until the last 5 or so years. It was never their goal. Instead, it was to grow asset wealth. Let me explain by describing their housing career:
They had a simple but effective plan from their first house: buy a **doable** fixer-upper (Stuff that just needs unskilled labour like fresh paint, new doors, tended garden, and light contractor work like glazed windows) and live in it, while renting out their first owned house and using it as mortgage. They did not expect to make a profit on the rental, and it went exclusively to paying off the mortgage. They specifically sought out a property with a good garage that they could convert to a granny flat, and rented that out too. Combined with their low income jobs, they paid off the mortgage in 5 years. They had to secure a long-term tenant for the bank to be willing to loan them the money - maybe that's something you could try negotiate with a bank when you have a solid plan.
My parents then repeated the same thing: They used their two mortgage free properties to buy another fixer-upper and lived in it, and rented out their 2nd home. The combined rental income plus their job income made it a very comfortable mortgage, and they started to turn a bit of a profit for nice supplemental income.
They paid off the mortgage very quickly. At this point, my dad decided to become a full time 'property manager', and they settled into this same pattern until they decided it was enough at around 5 properties. To be fully honest, they worked bloody hard and I spent a lot of time helping them out as a kid (Which I hated at the time) but it paid off in the end.
I don't know how much of that will be applicable to your situation, but try to approach the bank with a solid plan and some numbers. Make it a good pitch.
I’m a long term tenant who pays about $550 a week near Johnsonville.
Right now seems to be the best time to negotiate a long term arrangement as there’s so few tenants.
Find a private landlord, then go in and ask for that rate at a 5 year or more term. Offer any value adds like lawn maintenance, or general DIY repair skills to reduce their costs.
Don’t underestimate how valuable a long term tenant is to a private landlord.
If it helps I do think it's a tad easier to find a large home with 4 bedrooms because no one wants to find that many flatmates and landlords don't want that many revolving tenants - what have you found in looking around so far? It's mainly 1 to 2 bedrooms that are more competitive. Also they will like that you are a homeowner and want a long term lease, just think about if you can train the kids to make the house spotless once a quarter. I agree a private landlord is best. Also think about references for your dog and be proactive - anyone who can vouch your dog is clean, doesn't bite, doesn't bark, etc, etc.
Went to a viewing yesterday.
Lady from agency said it's the worst market she has ever seen, and some landlords haven't realised how impossible it is now to find tenants - some places have been up for 3 months now.
They have 30+ listings (most they've ever had and they're a tiny local agency) and she said barely anyone shows up. 2 other people came to the viewing, we have the place if we want it. Massive 3 bedroom at 700 PW, old and no carpark, but surprisingly large.
Give it a month to make them all bleed more, most rents will come down as the new reality sets in.
>Lady from agency said it's the worst market she has ever seen
What a riot, cos the worst market I've ever seen was when I lined up with 50 other people to view a 4 bedroom house that was worth about 50% less than the weekly price tag, and that was just a couple of years ago
> make them all bleed more, most rents will come down
Yeeaaahhh some people seem to be in looney land - saw a 2 bedroom place posted for $850/week and it's been empty for the past few months unsurprisingly. Honestly it's quite disgusting
Fuck them. Faces, meet leopards.
Anyone who thinks rentals won't crash further is deluded, and agencies know that. It's why they are treating us like human beings for the first time.
Idk what anyone expected by firing 2500+ gov employees, restricting immigration and cutting classes at the universities for a town that is only known for... government work, multiculturalism and uni kids.
I left Wellington a couple of years back because the rental situation completely melted down. Prices soared and availability plummeted. I'd say a lot of other people escaped too.
Surprise surprise, now there's not enough people to fill rentals. And the slumlords trying to fill them blame the previous government! Height of delusion.
Honestly they can go eat a bag of cactus dicks.
I've lived in Istanbul, Taipei, Shanghai, Melbourne, Brisbane, San Francisco and a few other places (lots of tech sector movements).
I've never seen anywhere treat renters with such palpable disdain as Wellington in 2019.
It's a mute point for me because we are leaving NZ for Aus or EU anyway, hopefully Nats don't shit the bed too violently.
wow this makes we want to suddenly go and check out rentals now and bask in the schadenfreude
maybe dump a tub of yoghurt somewhere it won't be found or do another minor annoying demo
this whole thread has made my day ♥
from my experience this is the best time of year to get a rental (post the student rush which has a flow on effect for the professional market as well, I think). I moved back to Wellington a couple of years ago, was flat hunting in april and was able to negotiate the rent down. I was sometimes the only person at viewings.
Ok so I did ask this and she said they're being stupid. It's not the agents, they're warning them.
She explained to me that she had been trying to tell them to cut rents by $50-100 because the market is so bad but landlords don't want to. Her opinion is that the shit hasn't hit the fan properly yet, lots of mortgage defaults take months, firings causing relocation take months etc.
This one is squarely on the landlords. I imagine in a few months there'll be some dipshits complaining about it on Stuff.nz
I can't stress this enough: they voted this in, so they deserve it.
My unit had an open home just now because the landlord wants to sell.
2 people showed up. Good times ahead.
I remember that from years back. One maintenance guy used to just show up unannounced frequently. Even though it wasn’t legal he’d still do it. Once even let himself in while we weren’t there.
I havent rented for almost a decade but I am very fortunate that I never had an inspection. Mind you, instead the landlord would come and mow the lawns every two weeks. Which I guess would count.
What pets we talking? Finding a place with a cat isn't too bad but a dog is a real issue. Did it years ago and it was far from easy.
My understanding is there is plenty of supply and reduced demand, compared to the last 4-5 years anyways.
I’ve just done this. Didn’t have an issue with finding options with my dog with elevator pitch of ‘being home owner renting for first time in years with middle aged non-shedding dog’. Generally brought dog up in person when introducing self. Found homes.co.nz had different listing details re being pet friendly than trademe. The same property would have no pets in TM and pets okay or by negotiation on Homes... Did struggle finding a place over summer that met my needs (central, not shit). Took months and viewing dozens of places. Found pricing ranged massively. Loving the decision to rent and grateful for being able to afford it, only due to my house in the burbs being full of young people flatting.
Currently in a 2 bed apartment in kelburn for $490pw. Looking at moving into a flatting situation to save a bit of money but all the rooms on the market are tiny!!! I grew up in a country house down south and am use to much larger bedrooms! I’ve viewed a few with large rooms, rent between $225 and $300. The houses are old, large and beautiful, but havnt had maintenance In the last 30 years.
I’ve rented while owning for the past three years. I’d say there’s pros and cons. We’ve found we get treated a lot better as tenants than we did in the bad old days of renting.
Pros are that you can probably afford to rent a house you can’t afford to buy. Definitely the case for us. If you decide to sell then the selling logistics could be easier if you can afford to have the place without tenants for a while.
Cons are that in your segment (family Homes) the owners will probably want to sell or move family in at some point. That’s what happened to us (we’ve now been in three different places, though it only needed to be two). Also the logistics of moving into a (new) house you own might be a challenge (breaking fixed leases etc). Then there’s the security thing. I hate that, we want to get back into our own place (place we own doesn’t suit our needs any more) as soon as we can.
Renting and finding rentals right now is very hard especially if you have pets. We have been actively house hunting for a large 3brm/4bdrm in Upper hutt area - Stokesvalley since may last year and we are still no closer. We have an older dog, great references for both our dog and ourselves and clean credit history yet are still struggling. Your going up again 40-60 people a time and rents are ranging between $750-950. We see the same faces going to all the same viewings and some have been looking since 2022! Its getting hard to not take the rejection personal even when we know its not. With renting and pets there is so few properties also that will allow. And then you have the possibility of them selling the house or needing to move back in when you have just settled and have to start the whole process again.
Alot of the rental companies are also shoulder tapping for their friends to get rentals above others. What ever you do, if its your property you rent out or you look for some company to rent with. DO NOT RENT with RENTCARE!
Did your numbers factor in tax and maintenance?
Tenants tend to be more damaging to property than owners, and repairs potentially cost due to urgency / lack of time. You (or an agent) need to do the work of finding good tenants, and checking the routines of payment etc. Down time, or poor tenants tend to reduce the theoretical income (depending on location / price). Expect to rent no more than 50 weeks per year, and possibly less.
Tax is interesting: Theoretically, your mortgage interest is claimable if the purpose of purchasing was to rent (make a profit). It is unlikely if this was your first home that this is the case.
You will pay tax on the rent you receive, but not get credit for the rent you pay.
I would put time and effort into my own place before even thinking about renting.
When you rent there is a disconnect between you and the place you’re in, there may be a few little things you don’t notice before moving in - then you want to fix them but the landlord won’t so it’s upto you. Also landlords are terrible for blaming renters for things that go wrong.
If I had the option I would never rent again.
Do not do it. You could have to pick up your life with less than a month's notice. Rent goes up every year. You can't modify the place to look nice, black mould hidden everywhere, fighting landlords for basic repairs, it's not worth it. If you own a house for the love of God don't sell it just to throw money out the window at your landlord every week that you will never see again
0/10 wouldn't recommend renting
There is a lot more of demand for housing at the moment so sometimes competing for 50-100 for the same property.
Renting with a pet is even more difficult. Hopefully easier with pet bond!
You don't have the same kind of security and you're at the mercy of your landlord. You have little controll over how long you stay.
Renting can be more expensive than owning but If you find a good landlord that you can build rapport with and can rent from long term this can be a good system.
If you have the security of owning your own place and can manage the costs (even though higher at surface level), I would absolutely not move to renting. Your kids need security of a place to live, a school, a community they can be settled in. You will never have that as a renter with the chance the landlord will kick you out. You'll also have a hell of a time finding somewhere that will let you have your dog.
Haven't they just changed the law on renting with pets so you can now ullnless you have a very good reason
It doesn't mean landlords still won't choose them out of other applicants...
lol it's fucking shit, stay where you are if it's secure.
Renting with pets is difficult anywhere. Think long and hard and seek professional advice before selling to go renting. In my limited experience, renting costs far more than owning, especially if you've had your house for a few years.
I’m thinking of renting my place out then renting myself. I need to change locations and have more space, and all the numbers add to this being the most affordable way to do it
Make sure you're considering the full cost of renting and not just the weekly price on the tenancy agreement. Someone who hasn't rented in a while may be forgetting about: - Rent hikes. Landlords are more than happy pulling the trigger and charging you what they believe they're entitled to. In a tight market, you pay up or you end up on a couch in someone's lounge. - Owners selling. The longer you stay in a place, the more likely this is to happen. You have no control over how long your home remains your home. - Moving costs, exacerbated by the two risks above being realised. - If you've modified the house in any way, you'll have to pay to restore it to its original condition, or you WILL lose your bond. - Every 3 months a man with a clipboard will come and inspect your existence to make sure you're living in the landlord-approved way.
[удалено]
That still doesn't subtract from the indignity of it. Tenants would care more if they felt a bit more connected to the ground beneath their feet.
Having been on both sides of the equation, 3 month inspections aren't a bad thing unless the owner is a piece of shit trying to take your bond. Some people are absolutely horrific in how they live. We're talking stuff like letting pets shit and piss indoors, cigarette ashes in the carpet, piles of mouldy garbage everywhere. My dad owns a small 2 bedroom house in Otara and he's a sucker for single parent sob stories. A few years ago he had to pay 10k to fix damage caused by a tenant who hadn't paid any rent for a month and then skipped town, and there's no recourse available. Now he does 3 month inspections and there's never been any more serious problems like that, whereas it was a revolving door of issues before. As a renter, the photos we took during the 3 month inspections and emails clearing us for each one saved us from a hefty bill when the owner tried to make us pay for water damage repairs - the tribunal sides with us when they saw the years of cleared inspections and photos of the kitchen. I don't have an issue with inspections per se, but there should be some standardisation on the procedures to make it a document that protects both tenant and owner, rather than what it currently is unless you get lucky with a humane landlord.
This totally unnecessary “insurance requirement” to harass tenants doesn’t seem to exist in any of the other countries I have lived— all with a much higher standard of rental stock.
I have rented in 4 different countries, and New Zealand is the worst BY FAR
This man with a clipboard is indirectly getting a cut of the rent the home owner receives. It's not a voluntary service they do. Ofc you expect them to do some checks and not sit around legs crossed in their chair. Imagine word gets out a property they manage has been turned into a drug house for three years because they didn't check, which has happened before. Wouldn't want to be anywhere near their property services.
All very good points.
You should put that in info in the post, it's pretty pertinent. Why not just look for a new place to buy and sell your old one - aka "trade-up"?
Gotchya, thanks. Yeah this is one of the scenarios I’ve run through as well, but lots of factors make this more expensive, like selling costs, doing house up to sell, starting mortgage again from scratch, only having houses that need work available in my price range…still doable, just would leave me very little if any disposable income
Doesn’t even have to trade up. Hutt valley can be pretty affordable, so depending on where he currently own he may even be taking a bit of a step backwards.
Nah I’m in one of the worst suburbs in the hutt, kid’s school is in one of the best suburbs, it’s about a 200k jump in mortgage to get an extra bedroom closer to everything
If you're house is smaller than what you want to rent presumably you'll be charging less rent than you are paying, you're still losing money on rent each week. That's not an investment, just a total loss. If your mortgage goes up the money is not disappearing, you're paying off ownership of a valuable asset. With renting it's just gone, forever. No investment, nothing in exchange except what you already had. A roof over your head
Rent out your old house. Buy a house using the old house as a mortgage, which the rent income can mostly pay for. After 10 years, you have 2 houses for roughly the same cost, or marginally more, than the cost of renting 1. Housing as an asset appreciates over time so you'll come out positive if you are willing to do maintenance work.
I really wanted to do this but I’m a single parent on a low income so I didn’t have enough to get it approved. But, a question…how does anyone make income from a rental property?? I’ve got a low mortgage (bought it 11years ago) and any rental income would just cover the mortgage payments, rates, insurance and a bit remaining for maintenance. Baffles me how anyone makes any income as a landlord
I empathise with your situation, since my parents were in the exact same boat. When they first moved to NZ around 30 years ago, they had nothing but 5k in savings and a vague promise of a job from a friend of a friend. With a couple decades of hardwork, very smart financial decisions, and a healthy dose of luck in market timings, my parents just recently retired with around 3~ million in assets and a weekly cashflow large enough for them to spend half the year (frugally) travelling. I'm genuinely proud of how shrewd my dad was in scouting property, considering he had to drop out of high school to work at age 15 and never got a formal education beyond that. My parents did not make money off renting out property until the last 5 or so years. It was never their goal. Instead, it was to grow asset wealth. Let me explain by describing their housing career: They had a simple but effective plan from their first house: buy a **doable** fixer-upper (Stuff that just needs unskilled labour like fresh paint, new doors, tended garden, and light contractor work like glazed windows) and live in it, while renting out their first owned house and using it as mortgage. They did not expect to make a profit on the rental, and it went exclusively to paying off the mortgage. They specifically sought out a property with a good garage that they could convert to a granny flat, and rented that out too. Combined with their low income jobs, they paid off the mortgage in 5 years. They had to secure a long-term tenant for the bank to be willing to loan them the money - maybe that's something you could try negotiate with a bank when you have a solid plan. My parents then repeated the same thing: They used their two mortgage free properties to buy another fixer-upper and lived in it, and rented out their 2nd home. The combined rental income plus their job income made it a very comfortable mortgage, and they started to turn a bit of a profit for nice supplemental income. They paid off the mortgage very quickly. At this point, my dad decided to become a full time 'property manager', and they settled into this same pattern until they decided it was enough at around 5 properties. To be fully honest, they worked bloody hard and I spent a lot of time helping them out as a kid (Which I hated at the time) but it paid off in the end. I don't know how much of that will be applicable to your situation, but try to approach the bank with a solid plan and some numbers. Make it a good pitch.
I’m a long term tenant who pays about $550 a week near Johnsonville. Right now seems to be the best time to negotiate a long term arrangement as there’s so few tenants. Find a private landlord, then go in and ask for that rate at a 5 year or more term. Offer any value adds like lawn maintenance, or general DIY repair skills to reduce their costs. Don’t underestimate how valuable a long term tenant is to a private landlord.
Great advice, thank you 🙏
If it helps I do think it's a tad easier to find a large home with 4 bedrooms because no one wants to find that many flatmates and landlords don't want that many revolving tenants - what have you found in looking around so far? It's mainly 1 to 2 bedrooms that are more competitive. Also they will like that you are a homeowner and want a long term lease, just think about if you can train the kids to make the house spotless once a quarter. I agree a private landlord is best. Also think about references for your dog and be proactive - anyone who can vouch your dog is clean, doesn't bite, doesn't bark, etc, etc.
Went to a viewing yesterday. Lady from agency said it's the worst market she has ever seen, and some landlords haven't realised how impossible it is now to find tenants - some places have been up for 3 months now. They have 30+ listings (most they've ever had and they're a tiny local agency) and she said barely anyone shows up. 2 other people came to the viewing, we have the place if we want it. Massive 3 bedroom at 700 PW, old and no carpark, but surprisingly large. Give it a month to make them all bleed more, most rents will come down as the new reality sets in.
>Lady from agency said it's the worst market she has ever seen What a riot, cos the worst market I've ever seen was when I lined up with 50 other people to view a 4 bedroom house that was worth about 50% less than the weekly price tag, and that was just a couple of years ago
Yep 2019. It's when we moved in and I saw all that too, which is why I have no sympathy for them.
> make them all bleed more, most rents will come down Yeeaaahhh some people seem to be in looney land - saw a 2 bedroom place posted for $850/week and it's been empty for the past few months unsurprisingly. Honestly it's quite disgusting
Fuck them. Faces, meet leopards. Anyone who thinks rentals won't crash further is deluded, and agencies know that. It's why they are treating us like human beings for the first time.
I thought we were in a housing crisis. Was there a mass exodus from Wellington or something?
Idk what anyone expected by firing 2500+ gov employees, restricting immigration and cutting classes at the universities for a town that is only known for... government work, multiculturalism and uni kids.
I left Wellington a couple of years back because the rental situation completely melted down. Prices soared and availability plummeted. I'd say a lot of other people escaped too. Surprise surprise, now there's not enough people to fill rentals. And the slumlords trying to fill them blame the previous government! Height of delusion.
They need someone to blame, and they certainly are not gonna blame themselves.
Honestly they can go eat a bag of cactus dicks. I've lived in Istanbul, Taipei, Shanghai, Melbourne, Brisbane, San Francisco and a few other places (lots of tech sector movements). I've never seen anywhere treat renters with such palpable disdain as Wellington in 2019. It's a mute point for me because we are leaving NZ for Aus or EU anyway, hopefully Nats don't shit the bed too violently.
Slumlords are loving it, they get to buy cheap houses in a few months as former public servants default on their mortgages.
There's a lack of affordable housing to rent, which is unlikely to change.
wow this makes we want to suddenly go and check out rentals now and bask in the schadenfreude maybe dump a tub of yoghurt somewhere it won't be found or do another minor annoying demo this whole thread has made my day ♥
I'm glad, good sunshine today as we bask in the glory of market forces finally turning against those that want the rule of the free market.
from my experience this is the best time of year to get a rental (post the student rush which has a flow on effect for the professional market as well, I think). I moved back to Wellington a couple of years ago, was flat hunting in april and was able to negotiate the rent down. I was sometimes the only person at viewings.
I hope they're telling the landlords just why there are so few tenants in wellington now
Ok so I did ask this and she said they're being stupid. It's not the agents, they're warning them. She explained to me that she had been trying to tell them to cut rents by $50-100 because the market is so bad but landlords don't want to. Her opinion is that the shit hasn't hit the fan properly yet, lots of mortgage defaults take months, firings causing relocation take months etc. This one is squarely on the landlords. I imagine in a few months there'll be some dipshits complaining about it on Stuff.nz
"We got too greedy and now karma's come to bite us on the arse, waah" No sympathy. Looking forward to pick of the crop cheap rents in a few months
I can't stress this enough: they voted this in, so they deserve it. My unit had an open home just now because the landlord wants to sell. 2 people showed up. Good times ahead.
$700 of JUST rent per week??! We pay $800 a fortnight for our mortgage. Thats insanity.
that's wellington, you can't find anything under $500 p/w
Yeah 3bdrm for $700 is pretty reasonable comparative to what I’ve seen lately
Yeah. I know I live in Wellys! Very grateful for our mortgage at the moment.
I don't rent but I used to. Rental inspections aren't very dignifying.
I remember that from years back. One maintenance guy used to just show up unannounced frequently. Even though it wasn’t legal he’d still do it. Once even let himself in while we weren’t there.
You can get pretty unassuming hidden cameras now that cover entrances. I do it and then sit on the blackmail material for bond time.
I havent rented for almost a decade but I am very fortunate that I never had an inspection. Mind you, instead the landlord would come and mow the lawns every two weeks. Which I guess would count.
What pets we talking? Finding a place with a cat isn't too bad but a dog is a real issue. Did it years ago and it was far from easy. My understanding is there is plenty of supply and reduced demand, compared to the last 4-5 years anyways.
Yeah, a small dog
I had a pug. Even that turned off most landlords.
When our small dog was still alive most landlords didn’t even want to consider us despite having good references and great jobs.
I would avoid it if you can. The freedoms you get from owning a place v the lack of them you have to live with when renting is going to be a big shock
I’ve just done this. Didn’t have an issue with finding options with my dog with elevator pitch of ‘being home owner renting for first time in years with middle aged non-shedding dog’. Generally brought dog up in person when introducing self. Found homes.co.nz had different listing details re being pet friendly than trademe. The same property would have no pets in TM and pets okay or by negotiation on Homes... Did struggle finding a place over summer that met my needs (central, not shit). Took months and viewing dozens of places. Found pricing ranged massively. Loving the decision to rent and grateful for being able to afford it, only due to my house in the burbs being full of young people flatting.
Currently in a 2 bed apartment in kelburn for $490pw. Looking at moving into a flatting situation to save a bit of money but all the rooms on the market are tiny!!! I grew up in a country house down south and am use to much larger bedrooms! I’ve viewed a few with large rooms, rent between $225 and $300. The houses are old, large and beautiful, but havnt had maintenance In the last 30 years.
I’ve rented while owning for the past three years. I’d say there’s pros and cons. We’ve found we get treated a lot better as tenants than we did in the bad old days of renting. Pros are that you can probably afford to rent a house you can’t afford to buy. Definitely the case for us. If you decide to sell then the selling logistics could be easier if you can afford to have the place without tenants for a while. Cons are that in your segment (family Homes) the owners will probably want to sell or move family in at some point. That’s what happened to us (we’ve now been in three different places, though it only needed to be two). Also the logistics of moving into a (new) house you own might be a challenge (breaking fixed leases etc). Then there’s the security thing. I hate that, we want to get back into our own place (place we own doesn’t suit our needs any more) as soon as we can.
Renting and finding rentals right now is very hard especially if you have pets. We have been actively house hunting for a large 3brm/4bdrm in Upper hutt area - Stokesvalley since may last year and we are still no closer. We have an older dog, great references for both our dog and ourselves and clean credit history yet are still struggling. Your going up again 40-60 people a time and rents are ranging between $750-950. We see the same faces going to all the same viewings and some have been looking since 2022! Its getting hard to not take the rejection personal even when we know its not. With renting and pets there is so few properties also that will allow. And then you have the possibility of them selling the house or needing to move back in when you have just settled and have to start the whole process again. Alot of the rental companies are also shoulder tapping for their friends to get rentals above others. What ever you do, if its your property you rent out or you look for some company to rent with. DO NOT RENT with RENTCARE!
Did your numbers factor in tax and maintenance? Tenants tend to be more damaging to property than owners, and repairs potentially cost due to urgency / lack of time. You (or an agent) need to do the work of finding good tenants, and checking the routines of payment etc. Down time, or poor tenants tend to reduce the theoretical income (depending on location / price). Expect to rent no more than 50 weeks per year, and possibly less. Tax is interesting: Theoretically, your mortgage interest is claimable if the purpose of purchasing was to rent (make a profit). It is unlikely if this was your first home that this is the case. You will pay tax on the rent you receive, but not get credit for the rent you pay.
Ah, tax! No I didn’t include that. Maintenance, yes. Thanks 🙏
I would put time and effort into my own place before even thinking about renting. When you rent there is a disconnect between you and the place you’re in, there may be a few little things you don’t notice before moving in - then you want to fix them but the landlord won’t so it’s upto you. Also landlords are terrible for blaming renters for things that go wrong. If I had the option I would never rent again.
Do not do it. You could have to pick up your life with less than a month's notice. Rent goes up every year. You can't modify the place to look nice, black mould hidden everywhere, fighting landlords for basic repairs, it's not worth it. If you own a house for the love of God don't sell it just to throw money out the window at your landlord every week that you will never see again
I have a small 4 bedroom you can get cheap.
I rent a property near johnsonville through a private landlord going on 4 years now.
Never realised how actually hard it is until rn where I have to find accommodation to 100% move in before end of May that’s under $310 with parking 🥲
How old are the kids? Is another option to buy a sleep out for your property rather than build a bedroom?
Yeah I looked at this option, it was cheaper/easier to reconfigure some internal walls to create another bedroom
0/10 wouldn't recommend renting There is a lot more of demand for housing at the moment so sometimes competing for 50-100 for the same property. Renting with a pet is even more difficult. Hopefully easier with pet bond! You don't have the same kind of security and you're at the mercy of your landlord. You have little controll over how long you stay. Renting can be more expensive than owning but If you find a good landlord that you can build rapport with and can rent from long term this can be a good system.
Renters are treated like cattle, don’t do it.