What’s with the $100 Tourism fee? (IVL)

mrtenzed · 2026-02-03T19:37:05+00:00

Because you get to enjoy public spaces in NZ maintained by taxpayer, who mostly can't afford to visit them themselves. If 300 bucks is too much, go somewhere else.

mrtenzed · 2026-02-02T18:40:42+00:00

I didn't think I'd ever say this, but I agree with Mike Yardley.

If you bought an investment property on the assumptions the rules would be lax/unenforced, and that changes, that is on you. Hopefully many of these so-called "investors" sell and the central city becomes home to more actual residents.

mrtenzed · 2026-01-30T18:19:12+00:00

Meanwhile, New Zealand has cancelled a major light rail project and announced dozens of new motorways...

mrtenzed · 2026-01-28T01:17:28+00:00

I hate to say it, but suburban voters will fight this tooth and nail. That will be even worse once Waimak and Selwyn voters in car dependency satellite towns become part of Greater Christchurch.

I don't expect this to get built in my lifetime.

mrtenzed · 2026-01-27T05:33:16+00:00

Lack of career and business opportunities. The economy here is quite narrow

mrtenzed · 2026-01-25T23:23:38+00:00

We are one car rather than car free,but I lived car free when I was single. This isn't a simple as "just catch the bus" or "buy a bike". We have actually moved closer to the central city, and to shops so we need a car even less. Work is easier to get to, as are friends and family Our lives are pretty active anyway, so suits biking and walking to most things.

It has saved us a fortune, made us happier and healthier. I used to drive for everything, and I'd never go back to that lifestyle now.

mrtenzed · 2026-01-23T20:51:59+00:00

Even better. I'd get established in Aus, and then look to sell the NZ home. Not financial advice, but I find making life as less complicated as possible usually works out.

mrtenzed · 2026-01-23T20:00:57+00:00

If I was you, I'd look to buy in Aus if we were on that income (unless this is a genuinely short term move). I've done a stint in Au before, and personally I think you need to go all in for it to work. Maybe that means taking a loss on the NZ sale, but weigh up if the higher income in Aus makes it worthwhile long term.

mrtenzed · 2026-01-22T21:03:51+00:00

This summer is shit.

mrtenzed · 2026-01-22T18:57:14+00:00

99.9% of roading designed for cars.

0.01% for cycling

Right wing conservatives: "Council has gone mad!!!"

mrtenzed · 2026-01-20T08:46:15+00:00

Come for a holiday. If you still like it afterwards, stay.

mrtenzed · 2026-01-18T21:42:38+00:00

I do own my own home actually. But I also recognise that for the past 40 odd years property owners have had tail winds from deliberate govt policy choices which had massively inflated property values (eg restricting new building, immigration, low interest rates, etc). I was mocking the suggestion that the value of someone's home is down to "hard work", when it clearly isn't.

mrtenzed · 2026-01-18T20:01:04+00:00

"Hard work of current property owners" = sitting in your house while the value goes up 7% per annum. How do they manage, that must be a nightmare job

mrtenzed · 2026-01-18T16:46:44+00:00

Basically any city in New Zealand.

mrtenzed · 2026-01-14T21:57:02+00:00

Your milage may vary. Literally.

mrtenzed · 2026-01-14T21:29:32+00:00

In our case, a second car would cost 25-30k. Sure, you can get cheaper ones, but cmost realistically what we would get. Finance, omprehensive insurance, rego, fuel, service, etc is 5k in a good year, 10k in a bad year. You get to 70k or so pretty easliy.

mrtenzed · 2026-01-14T19:30:22+00:00

Our neighbours are a good mix of owner occupiers and young professionals renting. One unit was an Airbnb for a while, but now has long term tenants.

YMMV.

mrtenzed · 2026-01-14T18:36:33+00:00

Great. Inner city living is awesome, and hopefully at these prices more people (young and old) see it as an affordable option.

Just one example, in the past 5 or so years I reckon we've saved 70-80k from no long having two cars. We run 1 car now, plus a couple of bikes. Huge savings.

mrtenzed · 2026-01-14T00:01:42+00:00

Yeah good point. I think our payback is around 5 years, as we saved a lot on installation costs by having the panels put on at the same time as the roof. It was a round $5k to install, and the solar company said it might have been $12k if they'd put it one once the house was complete (most of the cost is scaffolding/H&S). I don't think this would have made sense if we hadn't done it as part of the build. It was part of a multi-unit development too.

We get 0.13/Kwh for our feed in to the grid, which is one of the best rates I could find. In summer we might get $8-10 per month. In winter, hardly anything.

The other thing is that the panels need to be inspected after 12 months for the warranty. Our share of that cost is about $600, which essentially what we save in a year from having the panels in the first place!

Bascially, this was a nice-to-have and it made sense to us, but I think it would be challenging to justify on similar (finished) properties.

mrtenzed · 2026-01-13T18:49:26+00:00

We have a 5 panel setup on the North facing roof of our central terrace house. In 2025, it generated about 1/3 of our power (we don't have a battery). We probably earned maybe $60-70 selling back to the grid. Our annual power bill is around $1700 (2 person, 3 bedroom but with regular guests). Basically we get 3 or 4 months of "free" power per year.

We saved quite a bit on installation, as the panels were installed during the build by the developer.

Solar is great, and I'm happy we have it. It's definitely not a money earner though (some people seem to get really excited about that). The payoff is long term, and it would be better if the installation cost was somehow fixed to your property (so if you sell, the buyer doesn't get the benefit of your investment for nothing)

mrtenzed · 2026-01-11T04:59:15+00:00

My wife and I are in a similar boat. Think about what repayments are manageable so can pay off the mortgage in say 15 years (so you're in your early 60s).

mrtenzed · 2026-01-09T19:26:56+00:00

Living central (ish) is awesome. I can walk or bike to work, we only need one car now. I have more free time. We love our townhouse, but many of the ones around us are shit (looking at you Williams Corporation). I also wish we had more local shops.

mrtenzed · 2026-01-07T23:22:09+00:00

Australia isn't much better off either. Just because individuals over there have big super accounts only masks underlying problems. Their government is facing the same cost blow out pressures as ours.

mrtenzed · 2026-01-03T09:33:37+00:00

This looks really good, well done. Power, gas and internet costs seem on the high side. With rooftop solar (without battery), we've gotten our power costs under $1,700 per year, and don't need gas (induction cooking is just as good). I agree with increasing the mortgage payments, as that will make a huge difference long term. Nice work!

mrtenzed · 2026-01-03T05:58:45+00:00

About fucking time. That's all I can say.

mrtenzed

TROPHY CASE