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Not everyone buying property today is an investor with experience and knowledge behind them. There are still many young couples taking that first step onto the property ladder, trying to make the right decisions in uncertain times where the risks can seem immense. Mahurangi Matters spoke to three young couples who are at different stages on their property journey …
Graphic designer Dominique Morgan, 24, and product designer/developer Stanley Coote, 25, started dating when they were still students at Mahurangi College. They both attended Wintec in Hamilton and were drawn back to Warkworth by family and friends.
The idea of buying a house has always been on our radar, but it’s only been in the last 12 months that we’ve started to think a little more seriously about it. We’ve both been self-employed up until now, but Dominique is looking for permanent employment because the banks won’t consider us for a loan if one of us doesn’t have a steady fulltime job. This will mean living closer to Auckland so, ideally, we’d like to find a place within a 45-minute commute from Albany. The North Shore would be ideal, but is probably out of our price range, so more recently we’ve been looking in the Kaukapakapa area.
A while ago we set ourselves three milestones to save for – the first was to set-up Stanley’s business, which we’ve done; the second was to get married, which is happening next year; and buying a house was our third goal.
At this stage, we’re still weighing up our options, but with the price of houses, we’re beginning to come to the realisation that maybe we would be best to try to buy a block of land first. We could put a shed on it or a tiny home, and then eventually build a house when we felt we could afford it.
We had planned a trip to Australia last year with the idea that if we found work we might stay a while, but Covid put a stop to that. Covid is part of everyone’s journey now so we haven’t wasted time worrying about what could have been. We’re actually really happy with what we’ve done and the plans we’ve made.
Family members and family friends who are in real estate have been generous with their advice, and it’s been good to hear the pros and cons of different areas and different types of real estate.
We’re not in a rush, especially with the uncertainty around mortgages rates. We want to find the right property that will be a home for us for the next 20 or 30 years.
Optical store manager Sarah Benton, 30, and builder, Ben White, 34, currently live in Auckland but became the happy owners of 6.4 hectares of farm land near Kaiwaka last September. Sarah attended Mahurangi College, while Ben comes from Auckland but has been working at Tara Iti for the past 18 months. They have been together for three years.
We started seriously looking for a place to call our own early last year. We’d been looking in Mangawhai where 1000sqm sections were selling for between $400,000 and $500,000. At the time, we thought that’s what we wanted. But then we saw a place near Kaiwaka that was $500,000 for five acres but, long story short, we ended up finding our place further down that road. We fell in love with it the moment we saw it, phoned the agent that night and bought it for $400,000.
We used the equity from a house Ben owns at Kai Iwi Lakes and Kiwisaver funds, as well as some savings, to put down a deposit. Because of the employment uncertainty created by Covid we had to jump through a lot of hoops. Luckily, we had a fantastic mortgage broker which made all the difference. If there’s one thing we’d recommend to other couples out there buying a place, it’s get yourself a good mortgage broker.
We’re quite goal orientated and have found it useful to set short-term and long-term goals. Since buying the land in Kaiwaka, there have also been lots of ‘to do’ lists on the fridge. There’s a real sense of satisfaction when the jobs are crossed off but, to be honest, as soon as something gets crossed off, something else gets added.
We are just doing things as we can afford them – power to the site came first, then water tanks and troughs, stockyards and then six head of cattle. We don’t have money, but we do have energy and time. We see ourselves living on the property and farming it one day.
Saving a good deposit is important for anyone thinking of buying their own place and it’s important to think outside the box. You don’t have to go for the end goal first – sometimes it’s better to take it one step at a time and get their gradually. The most stressful part for us so far has been dealing with Council. Our rates have just gone up 28 per cent, which is outrageous. It probably adds an extra $50 a week to our expenses, which might not sound like much but when you are counting every cent, it’s actually a lot.
Warkworth business owners Avalon Stapleton, 23, and Ben Curtin, 32, have just purchased a three-bedroomed house in Wellsford. Avalon, who grew up in Warkworth, runs her business A2B Nutrition, while Ben owns the Warkworth Fitness Centre. They have been together for two years.
Although we looked around for about six months, we actually ended up buying the first home we looked at. It was everything we wanted but, to be honest, we didn’t go into it with high expectations – we don’t mind the fact that it is an older house that needs work.
We have dogs so we needed a place where we could accommodate them and, at the end of the day, it was the house that we could afford.
We went in with no knowledge at all about real estate, so had to learn a lot as we went. The biggest challenges were getting the deposit and dealing with the bank. From our experience, it’s a good idea to shop around the banks. We were denied twice before being approved by the third bank in less than 24 hours.
It’s also important to be realistic in your expectations for your first home. The most important thing is to get in and, quite often, a cheaper home will give you more opportunity to add value while dealing with a smaller mortgage. If you wait too long for the perfect house in the current market, prices will just keep rising too much, so jump on what you can as soon as you can.
Wellsford might not have been our first choice as a place to live but now that we’re there, we’re actually really loving it. It’s got a great small town vibe. Eventually we’d like to move to something with a bit more space, maybe a lifestyle block, so this house is really just a stepping stone towards that goal. It’s not something that we’ve put any timeframes around at this stage.
Advice in a nutshell
Thinking of buying – Think about your goals and what you want from your home. Get ideas from friends and family, and reach out to professionals such as lawyers, conveyancers and mortgage brokers to understand what you need to do and what you can afford.
Finding a property – This can take time, but brush up on things like methods of sale, types of ownership and how to identify potential risks with a property.
Researching the property –Use information from the LIM report, property inspections and the record of title. By doing this, you’ll be able to spot any potential hazards and issues with a property.
Making an offer – You need to understand how the offer process works. For instance, if another buyer puts in an offer, it becomes a multi-offer process. You’ll also want a title search and to confirm your finances with your bank or lender.
Settling and moving in – Take some time to think about what to look for in the pre-settlement inspection and understand what needs to happen between all parties before you can move in.
Source, www.settled.govt.nz
