Link Love (the Year-end Edition)

I'm SO excited to be spending my first Christmas / summer in my own house. It's the best feeling!

I got a bit excited about Special Housing Areas back when they were introduced - parcels of land where development was intended to be fast tracked. Of course, I didn't wind up buying in one - between location, affordability, and properties actually getting built (or not) things did not align.

To be honest, it feels like SHAs, and new construction in general have been a bit underwhelming to date. A bunch of SHAs recently got cancelled (probably just land banking for the gains), it's damn near impossible to actually find information on those that are proceeding or to figure out how to try to buy one, and meanwhile a number of new apartment projects have fallen through of late.

Interestingly, a couple of large scale housing projects driven by Chinese developers have been announced in the last few weeks. Hope they'll do it right. Unfortunately, I think it's fair to say most Auckland apartment/townhouse complexes of a certain era are pretty shoddy (and I've lived in 3 of those myself). They tend to leak and require recladding, if they haven't already been reclad by now that is.

Those complexes I lived in? They haven't really appreciated in value over the years, plus owners have had to fork out who knows how much to repair them. Overseas, newer developments might be sought after for their amenities, but here they often spell trouble - an acquaintance who recently returned to NZ with his British partner fell victim to this, and are now in their second leaky townhouse in a row (I thought they might have learned from the first... but ah well).

To be fair, as a renter I'd rather live in a newer but leaky house - they're warmer and drier, whereas older houses are where I've had to deal with mould and damp. But as an owner? I'd buy an older one over a 2000s era house any day. (Brand new excepted - things have improved since the crisis came to light.) Insulating a roof is a lot cheaper than recladding a whole house.

This week's links

What you probably don't know about negotiating How to get through your performance review I can absolutely get behind these 5 core money beliefs! Reflections on a layoff It's not about money goals When it pays to buy what you wanted in the first place

Relationship advice - distilled from 1500 people (I love this one - That said, I cannot emphasise how vital it was for me to talk to other people about my marriage struggles. Don't shit talk your partner, but don't bottle up emotions, either. Of course you need to communicate with your partner. But some things you genuinely need outside perspective on.)