Moving to NZ (Received visas)... Question regarding long term stay, bringing funds...

[jb22]

My wife and I received our resident visa and are moving over in October.

I was wondering if anyone had any good resources for long term stay accommodations in Auckland for 2 to 3 months while we look for a place to rent. We'd like to avoid an extended period stay in a hotel, mainly to save money but also to have amenities like a kitchen. We also want to avoid the pressure of trying to find a place in a hurry.

How have others brought over their savings? I'm going to look into seeing if I can open an account in NZ or maybe switch over to an international bank such as HSBC. I have yet to speak to my bank here so I may have not clued into an obvious options.

A question regarding shipping items over. We don't plan to ship over our furniture and such, rather sell them off and purchase new/used items once in NZ. Any suggestions for shipping a few boxes of items, most likely clothing and nick-nacks. I know we could go with FedEx or maybe even regular post but curious what other options are available. Can we avoid customs fees when importing personal items?

At the moment we believe we will end up in Auckland from initial job research but Wellington is also an option. Suggestions on areas for a young couple - we spent a year in Melbourne living around St. Kilda and we really enjoyed that area.

Lastly, looking for links to stores in NZ to research costs of everything from furniture to electronics to household items. Any good merchants people would recommend. I don't believe Ikea has a presence in NZ so there goes our contingency plan!

Thanks.

[kiwigser]

Originally Posted by jb22

My wife and I received our resident visa and are moving over in October.

I was wondering if anyone had any good resources for long term stay accommodations in Auckland for 2 to 3 months while we look for a place to rent. We'd like to avoid an extended period stay in a hotel, mainly to save money but also to have amenities like a kitchen. We also want to avoid the pressure of trying to find a place in a hurry.

How have others brought over their savings? I'm going to look into seeing if I can open an account in NZ or maybe switch over to an international bank such as HSBC. I have yet to speak to my bank here so I may have not clued into an obvious options.

A question regarding shipping items over. We don't plan to ship over our furniture and such, rather sell them off and purchase new/used items once in NZ. Any suggestions for shipping a few boxes of items, most likely clothing and nick-nacks. I know we could go with FedEx or maybe even regular post but curious what other options are available. Can we avoid customs fees when importing personal items?

At the moment we believe we will end up in Auckland from initial job research but Wellington is also an option. Suggestions on areas for a young couple - we spent a year in Melbourne living around St. Kilda and we really enjoyed that area.

Lastly, looking for links to stores in NZ to research costs of everything from furniture to electronics to household items. Any good merchants people would recommend. I don't believe Ikea has a presence in NZ so there goes our contingency plan!

Thanks.

I will not try to answer all your questions but regards money transfer, we used the bank initially, but have since used currency online in Christchurch, friends recommended them.

Currency Online - Foreign Currency Exchange, Money Transfers, International Payments

Its worth contacting them and they will guide you through the process, the main thing being you watch the exchange rate (dire at the moment) and choose when to jump, you then have a couple of days to transfer the money held at that contract price. No I do not get a kickback.

For electricals try:
The Good Guys New Zealand

Noel Leeming - New Zealand's leading appliance, computer, gaming and whiteware store

There are several more

General DIY :

Bunnings Warehouse - Lowest prices are just the beginning - Bunnings Warehouse

Furniture:

Furniture City

Food:

Online Supermarket: Online Grocery Shopping & Free Recipes at countdown.co.nz

All food has 15% GST

Accommodation will depend on whether the world cup has finished or not, do not even try central Auckland whilst that's on.

Do not use HSBC, they charge $15 per account per month in NZ, they are not interested in Joe Bloggs only business accounts.

Try Kiwibank, NZonline banking based in the Post Office

Kiwibank - Banking New Zealand

I must emphasis I have no shares in any of the above companies, I just use them myself.

[Darla.R]

Originally Posted by jb22

My wife and I received our resident visa and are moving over in October.

I was wondering if anyone had any good resources for long term stay accommodations in Auckland for 2 to 3 months while we look for a place to rent. We'd like to avoid an extended period stay in a hotel, mainly to save money but also to have amenities like a kitchen. We also want to avoid the pressure of trying to find a place in a hurry.

How have others brought over their savings? I'm going to look into seeing if I can open an account in NZ or maybe switch over to an international bank such as HSBC. I have yet to speak to my bank here so I may have not clued into an obvious options.

A question regarding shipping items over. We don't plan to ship over our furniture and such, rather sell them off and purchase new/used items once in NZ. Any suggestions for shipping a few boxes of items, most likely clothing and nick-nacks. I know we could go with FedEx or maybe even regular post but curious what other options are available. Can we avoid customs fees when importing personal items?

At the moment we believe we will end up in Auckland from initial job research but Wellington is also an option. Suggestions on areas for a young couple - we spent a year in Melbourne living around St. Kilda and we really enjoyed that area.

Lastly, looking for links to stores in NZ to research costs of everything from furniture to electronics to household items. Any good merchants people would recommend. I don't believe Ikea has a presence in NZ so there goes our contingency plan!

Thanks.

The chances of NZ getting an Ikea are somewhere between zero and nill but there are other ways of getting their products. I believe there are companies that will ship over a consignment for you but I have heard varying accounts of how reliable they are. You can travel over here and bring things back with you or you can shop around on Trade Me (a NZ auction site) and in the classifieds for Ikea branded items.

I advise you to buy most, if not all, of your items second hand. There is always a high turnover of people entering and leaving the country and there are some very good bargains to be had, far cheaper and sometimes of a superior quality than what can be bought new.

[jb22]

Thanks for the links. My comment regarding Ikea was more of a joke although they can be a good solution or at the very least a one stop shop for various items. Although I've had enough experience putting Ikea furniture together for one lifetime!

I think our biggest concern is accommodations for a month or two once we arrive. Do most people just stay in hotels?

We are going to look into second hand furniture. I know of sites such as Craigslist, Gumtree and Sella. Any others worth looking at?

[kiwigser]

Originally Posted by jb22

Thanks for the links. My comment regarding Ikea was more of a joke although they can be a good solution or at the very least a one stop shop for various items. Although I've had enough experience putting Ikea furniture together for one lifetime!

I think our biggest concern is accommodations for a month or two once we arrive. Do most people just stay in hotels?

We are going to look into second hand furniture. I know of sites such as Craigslist, Gumtree and Sella. Any others worth looking at?

Buy online and sell with NZ's #1 auction & classifieds site | Trade Me


Ikea have tried several times to get here, but potential traffic problems have caused planning issues

[kiwigser]

I am sure you will getter better advice from other contributors, but self contained apartments are one way, but something totally different if you have transport are holiday parks. October is still early in the season and you should be able to negotiate a deal.

Find a Park | Top 10 Holiday Parks New Zealand

Avondale Motor Park : Kiwi Holiday Parks

Good luck

[jb22]

Originally Posted by kiwigser

I am sure you will getter better advice from other contributors, but self contained apartments are one way, but something totally different if you have transport are holiday parks. October is still early in the season and you should be able to negotiate a deal.

Find a Park | Top 10 Holiday Parks New Zealand

Avondale Motor Park : Kiwi Holiday Parks

Good luck

Thanks for the idea but I think we would like something more like a furnished apartment while we look for an apartment to rent, ideally in the city or close to public transportation to we can easily access various parts of the city to get a good sense of where we'd like to settle long term.

[topcat83]

Originally Posted by jb22

Thanks for the idea but I think we would like something more like a furnished apartment while we look for an apartment to rent, ideally in the city or close to public transportation to we can easily access various parts of the city to get a good sense of where we'd like to settle long term.

Try looking at Waldorf Apartments, Heritage Apartments & Oaks on Hobson - they'll all do short, medium or long term rentals.

[Darla.R]

Originally Posted by jb22

Thanks for the links. My comment regarding Ikea was more of a joke although they can be a good solution or at the very least a one stop shop for various items. Although I've had enough experience putting Ikea furniture together for one lifetime!

I think our biggest concern is accommodations for a month or two once we arrive. Do most people just stay in hotels?

We are going to look into second hand furniture. I know of sites such as Craigslist, Gumtree and Sella. Any others worth looking at?

We have gumtree over here and I think there's a NZ version too. I prefer it to the auction sites because you can just phone up, make an appointment to view, buy and be home all within an hour or two.

Hotels are expensive, some rental agencies may have some sort term furnished lets on their books, or you could get a bach (holiday home) out of season. Next step down is a motel or a mobile home or camper van. Your October arrival may overlap with the end of the rugby world cup so there could be a shortage for the first few weeks but after that it should free-up quite well.

In both NZ and Australia I stayed at motel type accommodation until a permanent solution came up, one benefit was that they got cleaned and changed out plus there were no utility bills to pay which meant I could use heat / air conditioning to my heart's content.

[Addicted to NZ]

I do not know what your plans are. How long term is long term?When you ask about savings....are you referring to RRSP's?

I can at least tell you what we did...

We shipped almost all our household items over to NZ (currently in storage in Auckland..approx $475 NZ/Month). We used Crown to ship our 40ft container from NB to NZ house at of cost of approx 19.5k Cnd (includes the 3k for insurance). This is door to door....with no surprise fees or charges. This doesn't cover any possible MAF fees (we only had 2 items....and told em..go ahead throw em out).

Why? We figured if we sold all our household items, we might get 1/4 what we paid for them...and then add the cost of buying in NZ. Then add the pressure of having to get rid of things (basically giving things away for free), as the leaving day gets closer. Even though we shipped almost our entire house...I was literally begging people to take stuff....or I would be throwing it out. Shipping your entire house over to NZ does create a little stress, cause there is huge check list of items you can and cannot bring into NZ (MAF concerns mostly).

For the electronics we have - Plasma TV, kitchen appliances, treadmill, shop power tools and other Home Theater devices. We picked up five 2000 Watt step down transformers (240/220V to 120/110V). These should ensure that the Canadian devices work. The problem we might run into is the 50Hz they use in NZ vs 60Hz in Canada...no one is sure if this will or will not cause the TV or Home Theater amps to not work quite right

In regards to RRSP's, we collapsed ours and they deducted 15% for tax purposes (normally it is 25%, Tax Treaty with NZ). The cheque had to be sent to us in NZ (out of Canada in order to get 15%). You also have to be considered a non resident of Canada to get the lower deduction (supposedly in order to be able to get it, oddly we didn't have to produce any proof..other then getting cheque mailed to us here in NZ). It was a pleasant surprise when the company entered the country (that we lived in) the deduction on the employees screen automatically went to 15%...they couldn't deduct more even if they wanted to (system wouldn't let them). We stressed a little that they may insist taking 25%.

I should mention our accountant and financial adviser did not know about the 15%. But then again...they hadn't dealt with our situation.

Revenue Canada has a Non Resident Tax Calculator

Hope this helps...these are the only things I can help with. Please note...I am no RRSP tax expert, but can only tell you our experience.