In New Zealand, I'm getting close to retirement age, and my house is way too big.

I was looking at downsizing, and moving to somewhere rural. I currently do remote-only IT work.

I am considering short term renting elsewhere, selling current, and buying "new".

Downside is any short term rent I'm paying is just money thrown away, and means I have to move twice.

On the plus side, it would give the maximum options if things went seriously bad: lots of saving, only a rental holding me to a place. There are few jobs nationwide I could fill if I lost my job, so I'd probably have to retire early / temporarily move to Australia if things went south.

Anyhow, does anyone have any experience with bridging loans?

I'd put my my fully paid home, plus the home I'd be purchasing for collateral, but have almost no deposit.

I'm still employed, for 5 years, so I still have salary. I just squeaked past an organization restructuring, so I figure I have a least a year's incoming salary.

Hopefully the NZ economy will pick up.

The Press: ‘It’s insane’: Single job ad attracts almost 1500 applicants

When a Christchurch entertainment venue advertised for an “enthusiastic and versatile all-rounder”, it got more enthusiasm than it expected.

Logan McMillan - who co-owns CodeBreaker escape room, Serve Ping Pong Club and Duel Darts - was astonished at the rate applications flooded in for the customer service role.

“It’s insane.

“It was right from day one. Normally you’d get between 40 and 80 for a job like this - it’s almost up to 1500,” he said.

The position is for 30 to 40 hours’ work a week, including evenings and weekends. It pays between $26 and $30 an hour.

By Monday, three weeks after posting the ad on employment website Seek, it had attracted 1480 applicants.
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