Aucklanders have taken to social media to share the shock they got when they realised the reality of a suburb they're from didn't match its reputation.
In a r/auckland Reddit thread this week, locals wrote of how their perception of an area changed once they moved into a home there - for better or worse.
One user said he thought the west Auckland suburb of Massey "can't be that bad" - only to have two cars and a motorbike stolen and domestic incidents happen regularly around their house.
"[We had] P labs blowing up or being raided up and down the road, gang parties keeping the neighbourhood up for days straight," IndividualCharacter wrote.
"Didn't think about [it] before we moved in, but the only reason we didn't get burgled was the landlord had already put bars across the windows."
Over in south Auckland, Reddit user tutiramaiteiwi said despite its public perception, Manurewa is a nice place to raise young children - "no joke".
"The botanic gardens are great for little kids and they are free… Getting an appointment for anything is so easy, and you can get one [on] the same day if you need it.
"Most things on here are free (e.g. family fun days). And it's possible to afford one parent to be a stay-at-home."
Fellow southern suburb Mangere East was also described in glowing terms by Bartholomew_Custard, who said he "believed all the usual terrified middle-class white people propaganda" about it before moving in there.
"Been here just over a decade. It's totally cruisy. People are generally nice. Handy to the motorway, train station, shopping centre. It's not all Police 10-7 here in south Auckland, despite what the general population may think."
Most of the criticism was reserved for areas where lots of development has taken place in recent years, namely west Auckland's Hobsonville Point and North Shore suburb Albany.
Tonfx said they thought Hobsonville would be "a great place" to buy a home, but within months despised it.
"I hated how narrow the streets were and the fact that a lot of the houses (like the one I was in) didn't even have a garage or carport. Terrible traffic in the mornings and night since a lot of the more popular streets only had one lane..."
"It's like the developers and planners just thought about how they could squeeze the max number of houses into a parcel of land instead of how people will actually live and use the space."
Meanwhile a Reddit user who moved to Auckland from Christchurch said they chose to settle in Albany, thinking of it as "nice-looking" at the time. Now they describe it as a "suburban hell".
"I'm in my mid-late 30s and making friends seemed impossible. There is nothing to do except dropping cash at the Westfield and wandering the empty streets with the other retirees," wrote vinegarmammaries.
"I suppose it could be right for some people, but if you are young/young of spirit, or can't handle banality, it is absolutely not the place for you."
They added they'd since moved to Grey Lynn, in central Auckland, and had fallen "absolutely in love with the diversity and vibrancy" of it.
