Houses, Houses and more Houses!

This page has been due for an update for weeks now, but honestly there has been very little to report. All we have done for the three weeks since we arrived in New Zealand is look at houses – and more houses!

After four years of renting in Singapore and Bangkok we really did not want to go back into another rented house, so we were quite determined that we would find somewhere to buy before the container arrived.
The house buying process in NZ is really quick and simple; property is relatively cheap and plentiful so we did not think that we would have a problem. Thing is when you are in a completely new area you have so much to learn first, there is all the usual stuff that you need to know, accessibility to schools, transport, shops etc, then you have to determine which are the good and bad areas, what is going to hold it’s value etc. Also being in New Zealand you have the added complications of ensuring that you don’t buy in an earthquake or landslip zone!

So it has been an intensive three week crash course in local real estate and we must have now viewed in excess of eighty houses! That wasn’t too much of a trial at first because I love nosing around other peoples homes, but even I’m all ‘housed’ out. We have seen everything from tiny little sea view huts to imposing town villas. All ages, from Victorian to not yet built, and the prices have ranged from pocket money to telephone numbers!
The variety of housing available is just quite remarkable and what I love is that every single house is detached and completely individual.

One of the hardest things has been to not keep comparing everything to the UK, we have had to keep reminding ourselves to judge a property on its value here and not keep saying ‘Oh imagine what you’d pay for that in England’
Anyway we are now fairly confident that we have a good understanding of the local real estate market and we have made a conditional offer on a gorgeous old house. Not going to say too much about it now, I’ll bore you all with the details if it goes through :)

Everything else is OK, the kids have settled into school and made some friends, the new company has been registered as 'Rivendell Studios Ltd' and best of all we have our new modem, so I'm back online!
It'll be a while before I catch up on all my post though as we are still really busy getting things sorted out here. I'm sure loads of people think that I have forgotten them but I haven't honestly! I will be in touch soon.

Just going back to the new company name, I was really dubious as to whenever we would be able to get the name 'Rivendell Studios' here. You are not allowed to register a company name if it is similar to an existing company and with the success of Lord of the Rings there are hundreds of companies here in NZ with Tolkiensque names.
I really wanted 'Rivendell Studios' as that is the name of the studio building in the UK and I also own the domain name, so I was really pleased when we got it :)

Speaking of LOTR, the jewellers that made THE actual ring for the film is here in Nelson, Jens Hansen, and they have the ring on display in the shop. We haven't been in yet but there are always loads of tourists outside having their pictures taken. It must have been amazing for them being asked to do it.
Jens and his son Thorkild worked on all the rings used in the movie but sadly Jens died before the film was completed and the business is now run by his son. Have a look at their website, it's interesting.