MY RIDES NOT HERE YET BUT WILL HAVE TO BE BOOKED SOON

As you know we are moving to Wellington soon and will be looking for a 'permanent' place to live.

When I say 'permanent' I don't mean the dictionary meaning:

permanent
/ˈpəːmənənt/

adjective
lasting or intended to last or remain unchanged indefinitely...

... as, sadly, The Old Girl and I won't be lasting indefinitely, in fact, we only give ourselves a decade before we shuffle off .

"For in that sleep of death what dreams may come, / When we have shuffled off this mortal coil, / Must give us pause"

          - Hamlet 

We are looking for a townhouse close to the city that will suit us in our dotage. Because we (I) don't want to live in a rabbit hutch, the townhouse will have to be of a reasonable size, say three bedrooms with an attached garage. The Old Girl doesn't want a garden or any sort of grounds to have to look after hence the townhouse instead of a house or cottage. Downsizing from our current 5 bedroom house to even a 3 bedroom one has had to mean getting rid of lots of furniture and stuff.

Downsizing to a city like Wellington, instead of say, a town like Eketahuna though means that what we have got from selling our large house in Whangarei will probably only buy that rabbit hutch especially as we (read she) want to live in or within walking distance to the city centre.

 

The desirable areas like Oriental Bay, Mount Victoria and Thorndon are proving to be too expensive for a large townhouse and the less desirable areas like Te Aro, Mount Cook, Brooklyn and Newtown haven't yet shown us anything we want.

This has led to us sitting down and thinking about what we really want.

Initially we (mainly The Old Girl) wanted an apartment in the inner city giving us access to all that the inner city has to offer in terms of music venues, restaurants, shopping, cinema and theatre. All good but, having rented an apartment in Cuba Street we've discovered that an inner city apartment also brings noise (inside and outside the building), inconvenience in bringing stuff in or taking it out, lack of storage and having to run the gauntlet of drunk, crazy, aggressive and foul-mouthed 'homeless' people. I'm pleased to say that she has pretty much given up on the apartment idea unless a super duper one pops up but I can't see that happening.

I suggested the townhouse option knowing that she wants a low maintenance property, with no gardens and that is a 'lock-and-leave prospect should we travel in the future. This opens the door to cottages though as long as they are not too big and don't have the grounds that need looking after. We've looked at a couple of these and would have made offers if the timing had been right.

Should no close-to-the-city townhouses or cottages come our way over the next few months we then might consider suburbs a short bus ride or cheap Uber taxi ride away from the city. Suburbs like Brooklyn, Newtown, Roseneath and Island Bay come to mind and some might have nice views like we are used to.

However - back to the shuffling off theme. We really only want a place to live in for say a decade before we are dead or infirm. To this end we shouldn't compromise on the location and the facilities that a townhouse has to offer and also not worry about the resale in the future. The worst house in the best street idea or, to use another cliche, you're not looking at your own house when you are inside it.

 Long-term renting is one option or, secondly, taking a risk.

There's a decent sized townhouse for sale in Kelburn, close to the cable car and university. The location is ideal. We could buy it within our budget and there doesn't seem to be a lot of urgency because potential buyers are put off by it being a 'monolithic cladding flat roofed dwelling'. These are the ones that have had water issues over the last couple of decades -  the proverbial leaky homes. The property files tell me that the townhouse was re-cladded in 2009, 10 years after it was built suggesting that it was the result of a legal claim and settlement. The building report highlights some minor remedial work being necessary. The real estate agent suggested re-cladding in cedar wood to put it in a higher price bracket for future sale. We are going to see it next weekend if it hasn't been sold and If it looks suitable we will get a detailed engineering report to see if the damned thing will stand up for another 15 years. After that who cares. As long as the issues are cosmetic and aesthetic (flaking and cracking stucco can be a bit unsightly) and not fundamentally structural allowing leaking then we would be happy.

Hey ho! Another adventure.

I know that I've used this Warren Zevon song before in a post but I like it.

Mind you, in a similar vein this Bob Dylan song's good too.