Changing lanes of lifestyle

Former Aucklander Shane Williams is very pleased to leave Auckland traffic behind and move to Hawke's Bay. Photo / Duncan Brown

Former Aucklander Shane Williams said he "did all right" when he sold his Auckland house and relocated to Taradale with his family.

The logistics manager at NZ Miracle Water's bottling plant in Hastings said he spent up to two hours a week less commuting and weekends were spent on cycle tracks, enjoying the local cuisine and visiting many of local sights and activities.

When they decided to leave Auckland with his family they decided to move to either Tauranga, Hawke's Bay or New Plymouth.

He said Tauranga was becoming as traffic-intensive as Auckland, New Plymouth experiencing a petroleum and dairy dip leaving Hawke's Bay, where his wife Louise (nee Gibb) was born, a clear winner.

"Things are a lot easier here," he said.

"The work/life balance is much better, my son can walk to school, there's plenty to do - and time to do it. From a business point of view people are much friendlier and easier to deal with."

Property investor and former Hastings District Councillor Chase Arquette last week sold a recently-renovated 4 bedroom house on Napier Terrace by tender.

"I wouldn't say we made a huge profit on it," he said.

"It was purchased in the boom of the previous market so we bought it at the highest point," he said. "By the time we did renovations to it this time, I would say we came out about even."

He owns "more than 10" Hawke's Bay properties to fund his upcoming retirement but the Napier property "didn't quite fit" his investment portfolio after renovation.

"There are a lot of different investment vehicles out there, such as shares and interest, and it depends on the person and what they want to get out of the investment.

"It comes down to what they are comfortable with - how much they are prepared to borrow - their ratio of debt to equity on the property."