New Zealand - The Good, The Bad and The Ugly.

[davetapson]

On 5/9/2022 at 9:26 AM, patches said:

Do you wish you could get behind the wheel of a solid Uitenhage Built, German engineered vehicle?

Curiously enough, I had bought a Polo for my commute Oos Rondt to Sandton/Rosebank/wherever at the time. 

I'd had it for two years or so and some clown rear ended me on the R21 / N12 off ramp when the traffic backed up turning on to the N12.  

It felt like a bomb went off - one moment I pulled behind the stopped traffic, next thing "BANG" and my car was flung up in the air.  Anyhow, I was only winded, the car was written off.  "How fast were you going?" I asked the clown "Only 120kmh" sez he.  So, my stationary Polo was rear ended at 120kmh and the worst thing that happened was that my laptop in the boot got a crack in it's casing.

Also "I think I'm quite badly hurt" sez he.  "And I should care, why?" sez I.

The insurance payout on that car paid for a large chunk of my emigration costs.

Edited May 13, 2022 by davetapson

[davetapson]

I see guys at the mall just leave their helmets hanging on their mirrors. 

Is this a thing? 

Or do you have a cheap helmet you use for mirror hanging and a better one for other times?
 

[davetapson]

Also I learned about getting loans here.  Two brokers, get conditional loans with Heartland for 10.5% and 11.65%, The Lending Crowd comes in at 9.06%, no early redemption penalties, can pay in lump sums any time you want.

I tell the brokers, their response... "Oh, we can get you that", one comes back with 9.02 (after I had pushed the button on the 9.06 loan). 

Makes me angry, happy to fleece you, happy to discount against other loans when convenient.  

Next time I will probably still take The Lending Crowd (peer-to-peer lending, you can invest - have a look) but probably play the brokers off against each other to see what transpires.  But that's not really my thing.

[Wayne Potgieter]

16 hours ago, davetapson said:

Also I learned about getting loans here.  Two brokers, get conditional loans with Heartland for 10.5% and 11.65%, The Lending Crowd comes in at 9.06%, no early redemption penalties, can pay in lump sums any time you want.

I tell the brokers, their response... "Oh, we can get you that", one comes back with 9.02 (after I had pushed the button on the 9.06 loan). 

Makes me angry, happy to fleece you, happy to discount against other loans when convenient.  

Next time I will probably still take The Lending Crowd (peer-to-peer lending, you can invest - have a look) but probably play the brokers off against each other to see what transpires.  But that's not really my thing.

Kinda like insurance. 

You get a better deal, and when cancelling your existing policy to move to the new one, all of a sudden your existing insurer found a magical calculator that spits out a better deal. Its why every January I call around for more insurance quotes....

 

[Wayne Potgieter]

Side note. I paid the last progress payment on our new Orewa home last night. The big move is in 2 weeks. Was so excited that I drove to the house that is now legally mine (and sorta ANZ bank) and filled the spa pool.

 

[davetapson]

2 hours ago, Wayne Potgieter said:

Side note. I paid the last progress payment on our new Orewa home last night. The big move is in 2 weeks. Was so excited that I drove to the house that is now legally mine (and sorta ANZ bank) and filled the spa pool.

 

So awesome.

We're facing winter in a 70's ( not particularly insulated) house and I'm thinking why are we doing this to ourselves?

[hayleyearth]

1 hour ago, davetapson said:

So awesome.

We're facing winter in a 70's ( not particularly insulated) house and I'm thinking why are we doing this to ourselves?

We are in a cottage built before 1940, one of the originals on the Bucklands Beach peninsula, it was 12° inside the other morning at 9am... It's not even winter yet. 

We are moving out on the 22 June (eventually after many delays). Looking forward to some warm and dry house! 

(Pic was a couple of weeks back, the house is basically windows!)

[davetapson]

3 hours ago, hayleyearth said:

We are in a cottage built before 1940, one of the originals on the Bucklands Beach peninsula, it was 12° inside the other morning at 9am... It's not even winter yet. 

We are moving out on the 22 June (eventually after many delays). Looking forward to some warm and dry house! 

(Pic was a couple of weeks back, the house is basically windows!)

Another so awesome!!  Congratulations guys, it's nice to see the Saffas coming right...

 

[patches]

23 hours ago, Wayne Potgieter said:

Side note. I paid the last progress payment on our new Orewa home last night. The big move is in 2 weeks. Was so excited that I drove to the house that is now legally mine (and sorta ANZ bank) and filled the spa pool.

 

That's awesome! It's so scenic around there too! Wishing you guys many happy years in the new home!

[patches]

I took the plunge and listed my wife’s Polo on a $1 TradeMe auction…

it’s worked for me in the past. Hopefully it does now or I’ll there may be a few nights on the couch 😅

https://www.trademe.co.nz/a/motors/cars/volkswagen/polo/listing/3596191956?bof=r2xal3Ji

[davetapson]

3 hours ago, patches said:

I took the plunge and listed my wife’s Polo on a $1 TradeMe auction…

it’s worked for me in the past. Hopefully it does now or I’ll there may be a few nights on the couch 😅

https://www.trademe.co.nz/a/motors/cars/volkswagen/polo/listing/3596191956?bof=r2xal3Ji

Looks like it's flying.

 

[patches]

On 5/14/2022 at 11:55 AM, davetapson said:

So awesome.

We're facing winter in a 70's ( not particularly insulated) house and I'm thinking why are we doing this to ourselves?

 

On 5/14/2022 at 1:21 PM, hayleyearth said:

We are in a cottage built before 1940, one of the originals on the Bucklands Beach peninsula, it was 12° inside the other morning at 9am... It's not even winter yet. 

We are moving out on the 22 June (eventually after many delays). Looking forward to some warm and dry house! 

(Pic was a couple of weeks back, the house is basically windows!)

Our 1950's bungalow does surprisingly well, now that I've replaced the ceiling insulation in all-but-one room (a project for another weekend). It does get a lot of natural light, and we do run the heat pump occasionally (aircon for those not fluent in Kiwi speak).

Typically our monthly energy bills are:

• Electricity - $60 (spring, summer autum average) - $90 (worst case winter + wife working form home with heatpump on all day)
• Gas - $60 (for hot water & stovetop)

Haven't got double glazing, underfloor or wall insulation though, and in the event that my dreams come true and we move to the South Island, we won't sell up in Auckland so may have to put a fair bit of money in to meet the Healthy Home standard for prospective tennants.

[davetapson]

1 hour ago, patches said:

 may have to put a fair bit of money in to meet the Healthy Home standard for prospective tennants.

Our house seems to have several exclusions i.e. no insulation under floor because 'impractical to fit'. Practicality it seems is in the eye of the beholder. It does have that foil stuff so haven't fought them over that. Yet. Landlord is pretty good.

[patches]

35 minutes ago, davetapson said:

Our house seems to have several exclusions i.e. no insulation under floor because 'impractical to fit'. Practicality it seems is in the eye of the beholder. It does have that foil stuff so haven't fought them over that. Yet. Landlord is pretty good.

Well that is part where many take issue with the Healthy Homes Standard. In a number of cases getting houses up to the prescribed standard isn't practical. Adding heat-pumps seems to be the easiest fix, but then landlords find that their tenants don't even use them as they don't want higher power bills.

A lot of the time the upgrades that landlords implement translates into increased rent, and when asked, many tenants in lower income households would rather have the option to rent a cheaper place because it doesn't have a heat pump etc.

Then there's the fact that why is it ok for an owner to live in almost any form of leaky/damp/draughty/cold building, but not for a renter?

[davetapson]

Law of unintended consequences, something that social minded govts step into on a regular basis.

We live in a multi-story house running up a slope - monster gas heater at the bottom at the entrance door. Turn it on and it turns the house into chimney - you can feel the got air rushing up and out, helping mostly global warming and to a lesser extent, us.

[Wayne Potgieter]

On 5/15/2022 at 9:33 AM, patches said:

I took the plunge and listed my wife’s Polo on a $1 TradeMe auction…

it’s worked for me in the past. Hopefully it does now or I’ll there may be a few nights on the couch 😅

https://www.trademe.co.nz/a/motors/cars/volkswagen/polo/listing/3596191956?bof=r2xal3Ji

Looks like the price has risen nicely...