ROTORUA

Haha Yack,

who is referring to Rotorua’s natural thermal activity. It is common to see – even on a freezing cold day after it’s rained – boiling hot puddles bubbling along on the side of the road! Not to mention the actual tourist resort thermal areas and hot pools. The whole place smells like sulphur (which smells like rotten eggs, or ‘worse’, all accompanied by a hot steaminess!! but in a strange sort of way I love and look forward to that smell, as it’s ‘natural’ and kind of exciting. trust me, bus loads of Japanese and Korean tourists agree.!

Now about the real estate. I was watching it for a bit, as it was always a bit more exxy than the places I was able to afford. And it certainly wasn’t very cashflow positive for a while, apart from the odd deal that whenever investigated, always turned out to be in a bad area that rental managers wouldn’t manage.

So I reckon your first port of call is to a rental agent not selling you the property, asking them about that address, as well as the current rental market and vacancy rates. if all is good, then I say go for it. It’s a fine town, and it’s very much ‘on the map’.

cheers-
Mini

joy to the world

Hi mslodyczka

Try these sites for a map of Rotorua:

6b. Maps etc
http://www.geographx.co.nz/
http://www.tumonz.co.nz/
http://www.livingstoneguides.com/
http://www.wises.co.nz/
http://www.propertytalk.co.nz/images/nz/newzealandmap.gif
http://www.nzmaps.co.nz/

The wises site is probably the best.

Regards

Hi Mike

just some further comments on Rotorua.
Be careful with areas like Fordlands you may struggle to get someone to manage it. Rotorua is a middle sized city of about 50,000 and while it is the North Islands Number One Tourist Center is is very working class. You should be able to find properties that are returning over 10%. As far as capital growth prospects its hard to say, i see the NZ market going flat for a while especially during this time of interest rate rises.
But the most important thing is what Minisaid and get an independant property manager to check out the house before you go unconditional on the offer.
As far as property managers i like Richard Evans at Rotorua Rentals [email protected] Ph 0011 64 7 349 3429. Richards was the owner of Harcourts but sold out a while ago and started the property management Business. He knows Rotorua.
Oh one last thing about the sulphur smell, the locals actually get used to it, i must be unusual because i like the smell, it makes me think “I’m in Rotorua” which i love for a holiday it really is a great area.
Regards westan

I live in New Zealand and for a fee find cash positive deals there, email me at [email protected] to join our database