The exception to the lower tax rule is what Americans would call “sales tax”.  Here there is GST, Goods and Services tax. It is 12.5% and it is levied on everything…goods and services.  Before you clasp your chest and fall back in a dizzy, staggering manner you have to understand that this tax covers an incredible number of things. Since there are no state or city taxes, GST handles just about everything including most medical needs! Between that and an employer-paid levy everyone has health coverage in New Zealand. For those of you that pay monthly health insurance premiums, that 12.5% doesn’t sound so bad now does it? If anyone is injured here they are taken care of, end of story. And that includes an automobile accident. That being the case, the insurance premiums for car insurance are a great deal less than in the U.S. as everyone’s medicals are paid and no one sues anyone! What a concept! And mind you, health care here is some of the best there is. 

You can buy supplemental health insurance as well and that will allow you to get additional medical services such as elective surgery on your own timeline, but you don’t have to have it. The cost for prescription drugs is minimal as well.

At this point I have to relate a story about New Zealand medicine that, as Americans, we found astounding!

A few days ago someone we know (and when I say someone I mean my wife but she made me promise not to tell anyone this story) was eating dinner.  This person, who happed to be named Sandy, had made a nice quiche (yes, I'm a real man, and I ate it!). Suddenly she stopped eating and politely spit out a bit...turned out to be a staple, the kind you use to attach papers together! How it got there we never figured out, but we think it might have come from a package of grated cheese. 

We ate the rest carefully, like when you eat fish and search for those tiny bones before you swallow. Suddenly she gulped and said "I think I got another one...and I think it's stuck in my throat!" 

Well, not ones to panic, we decided to get some sleep and see how things were in the morning. Sandy woke up very early and said she thought it was still lodged in her throat. 

We've only lived here for a short time but we knew where the hospital was. We'd also noticed a medical centre nearby and although we hadn't gotten insurance yet we decided to go there first to see if they could help. 

Now here's where we, as Americans, were blown away. We went into the office (very nice), explained the situation and the receptionist said "no worries" (they say that a lot here…and really mean it).  She had sandy fill out a brief form. We sat down and she was called in within about 10 minutes. A nurse saw her and then a doctor (also very nice). After a bit of checking the doctor gave her a referral to a radiologist for x-rays of her throat and stomach. Total charge? NZ$24. But wait, it gets better. 

The radiologist’s office was just a few minutes away.  We went in and gave them the referral.  She was called in for x-rays within 15 minutes.  Luckily nothing was there and the doctor thought it might have been a bit of eggshell or something.  Phew! Charge?  NZ$35. 

Bottom line; from the time we…um…they left their house they were able to see two doctors, have x-rays taken and get back home in less than 90 minutes. Total cost? Less than NZ$60 or about US$40! 

As anyone from the U.S. knows, the same thing there would have likely taken all day including a ton of paperwork with a diagnosis days later for a cost of four or five times as much and God help you if you didn’t have insurance. That experience alone was a medical miracle to us, er, them!

Okay, back to the more important questions. One that keeps popping up concerns importing animals. Our experience is only with the small ones, dogs and cats. Another thing New Zealand does not have is rabies. Pets coming from the U.S. have a 30 day prison...um...quarantine stay.  It passes very quickly for the dogs as they spend most of the day playing cards like you see in those paintings.  We have Siamese and Persian cats, both about 5 years old that we brought with us. You can handle everything yourself, but after seeing how much needed to be done we opted to use a pet shipping service. There are several pet shipping services out there and prices vary. It seemed like the biggest expense was getting them to California so we purchased a couple of those soft-sided, under-seat carriers and flew with them to Los Angeles ourselves and then gave them to the nice lady from the pet shippers. We sent them to New Zealand a week ahead of us so they wouldn't be under foot (or under the bed) when the movers arrived.

There are certain medical tests, requirements and approvals that take place before an animal can be imported.  The pet shippers helped us with everything. A couple of rabies Titre tests have to be administered prior to immigration and the first one has to be completed six months before they can be shipped so that's something to remember if you decide to move one of these days.

The NZ MAF, Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, handles all of the animal import paperwork.  They are very friendly and cooperative people.  You can check their web site for more details:

• http://www.maf.govt.nz/biosecurity/imports/animals/index.htm 

The facility they stayed in, Qualified Pet Services in Auckland, were great. They have large kennels that give the animals lots of room to move around and play.  They visit with them daily and ensure they are eating, happy and healthy.  Should any problems arise there is a vet (an American it turned out) on the premises at all times.  Here is their web site:

• http://www.qualifiedpet.co.nz/ 

Bringing pets to New Zealand isn’t cheap though. Between all of the paperwork, vet services, etc. it cost us about US$2500 to import both of them.  If your pets are healthy they shouldn't have any problem coming here.  There is a bit of stress to be sure, but animals are very hardy and can usually take it better than us mere humans.

I also get questions about housing…how much does it cost, where should I live, can foreigners buy land, how much are taxes, etc. 

Can foreigners buy land in New Zealand? Yes! Foreigners are allowed to purchase land almost without restriction. If you plan to buy large tracts of property or land that is adjacent to water such as rivers, lakes, streams or the ocean, there are additional approvals required, but it is done all of the time. The land is what is called “Freehold” deeded by the Crown and you don’t have to be a permanent resident to own it.

Buying a simple home is a breeze here. There are no title companies, escrow companies or many others with their hand out. The transaction is all handled by solicitors (attorneys…and wait before you scream in anguish).  You have a solicitor (one can be recommended by the real estate agent) and the sellers have one.  It is very simple and very quick.  The solicitors handle all of the title searches, deeds, etc.  All of the banks are eager to lend money and there are mortgage brokers as well for financing.  If all of the circumstances are right, you could close on a house in 48 to 72 hours!  When all is said and done the cost for buying our home was less than US$800! 

Like anywhere else you get what you pay for here. You can buy a house for as little as NZ$100K or less or NZ$7MM or more!  It all depends on where you want to live and how much you want to spend.  I think the real question in people’s minds is…does it cost more, less or about the same to buy a house in New Zealand? Yes to all of the above. Seriously, I would venture to say that a house in New Zealand costs less than in the U.S. in general.  That being said, it really depends, again, on a lot of variables.  If you want a seaside home in one of Auckland’s upscale areas as you can expect to pay a pretty high price for it, often in the millions.  If you want a seaside home with expansive ocean views and your own beach on bottom of the South Island, you could find one for less than NZ$100K. Would you want to live there?  That would be up to you and the penguins occupying your front yard.

We live along the east coast (South Pacific Ocean) in an area of the North Island that reminds me a lot of another place I used to live, San Diego.  In fact it reminds me more of one of the wealthiest areas there, La Jolla.  All things being equal, if we were to buy the home that we have here in La Jolla it would likely put us back several million dollars.  We paid less than US$400K.  So that is an example of the difference, but again, there are a lot of other things to consider.  “Lifestyle” properties, those with a lot of land inland can be purchased for much less than most places in the U.S.  Mind you, driving to get groceries may be an all-day event!  But if you’re interested in space, you can find it here.  Your neighbours may be sheep or cattle, but if you speak kindly to their owners, they may let you borrow one or two to keep your lawn mowed and hedges trimmed.

There are no property taxes on personal homes here per-se.  There are usually annual “district rates” that are paid to cover some of the infrastructure such as sewer, local road maintenance, etc. but the amount is about 50% less than we were used to paying in property taxes.

So far, it looks like buying property here has been a good investment.  Although things have calmed a bit, the market was on fire over the past few years appreciating as much as 300% and more in some areas.  Most locations have seen a double digit increase annually for the past ten years though.  And there is still plenty left.  It’s sort of sad in a way because large farms are being divided up into sections and sold for housing, much like many parts of the U.S.  But it’s happening at a much slower pace here. 

Most houses are very individual in appearance and smaller than their American counterparts.  Subdivisions are becoming more popular and American style is beginning to influence things more and more.  But we rarely see row upon row of houses that all look about the same…it’s much easier to tell your friends how to find you! 

I often get questions about how Americans are treated in New Zealand, particularly in light of current U.S. foreign policy.  In a word…wonderfully.  As previously mentioned Kiwis are a very friendly people overall.  They are generally polite and quite interested in Americans who only account for about 4% of the total migrants each year.  (That figure is rising and the applications jumped dramatically after the recent presidential election.)  However, like most of the rest of the world, they have a very difficult time understanding the current administration’s policies

On the positive side Kiwis make a clear distinction between Americans and the current administration… although it’s become more difficult for them since George Bush was actually elected to a second term.  In introductory conversations we are politely received. Then we tend to point out (early on) that we are not in agreement with everything the U.S. Government does and politeness turns to warmth. We have met one or two folks that agree with America’s actions, but they are certainly in the minority. 

So it turns out Americans are a bit of a novelty here and we are often asked “Why did you chose New Zealand?”  We tell them about all of the stress, over population, traffic, smog, noise, violence and other issues we dealt with on a daily basis in the U.S. and that usually satisfies them.  I keep stressing that New Zealand isn’t perfect and has its share of problems.  But on a relative scale, this is truly a fantastic place.

As far as how we’ve been treated personally, we couldn’t have been made to feel more at home.  It’s very common for neighbours to show up at our front door inviting us over to tea, a barbeque or some other get together.  Kiwis are very social people and like to hang out together.  We’ve met more of our neighbours here than the past three places we’ve lived put together!  We’ve made many, many friends here and we feel that they will all be friends for life.  We’ve shared dinners with so many people who are looking for nothing more than some good conversation and fun.  We’ve had the privilege of meeting not only locals, but many people from the U.K. (accounting for about 35% of the immigrant population), South Africa, India and many other nationalities. 

We often think about some of the good people we know in the U.S. that have never ventured out of America, or even their own state sometimes, and feel a bit of sorrow that they haven’t had the opportunities that we’ve been blessed with here.

“So what’s it like living there…would you do it all over again?” another nice person writes from New York.  It’s been great so far, and yes, absolutely we’d do it all over again.  We miss some things (mostly family and friends…a lot), but other things make up for it. 

Moving to another country is generally a “lifestyle” choice isn’t it?  There are always going to be trade-offs of some sort.  The air is generally clean and sweet, and water is normally clear and pure, the crime rate is low, there is less traffic (folks from Auckland find that one hard to believe) and the country is chock-full of incredible scenery everywhere you turn.  We feel very safe here.  If you love the outdoors there is no finer place to be than New Zealand. There are so many beautiful places to explore and enjoy. With hundreds of lakes, rivers and streams plus being surrounded by oceans, anyone that has a love of water will think they’ve died and gone to heaven.  New Zealand is home to world-class trout and deep sea fishing too.  Our friends, Lindsay and Adele that we stayed with when we first arrived have a web site now if you’re interested.  It has nice photos of the area too.  Here’s an unashamed promotion for them… 

• http://www.fishingnewzealand.co.nz

If it isn’t already, put New Zealand on your list of all-time great places to visit.  You never know, you may end up like us…living here! 

That’s it for this month.  I hope I was able to touch on some of your concerns about moving to the other side of the planet.  Next time I’ll try my best to cover some other highly important queries such as “Do they have Mexican food there?” (yes) and “What kind of styles do women wear?” (I’ll have to ask my wife).  Both Sandy and I wish you a great, happy, healthy and prosperous New Year!  But if you’re thinking of opening a Krispy Kreme Doughnut shop somewhere, give Finland some thought!

Best regards,

Rick 

The following are Rick's previous articles for the magazine:

• Life In New Zealand ~ Six Months Later
• We Did It! ~ Escaping To New Zealand
• We Did It! - Part Deux ~ Moving To New Zealand 
• We Did It! - Chapter Three ~ The Magic Of New Zealand
• Life In New Zealand...So Far ~ Cars And Fish

• http://www.immigration.govt.nz/migrant/
• http://www.emigratenz.org/
• http://benz1.com/forum/index.php?s=2b5a621987b160a0bac291321e62297d