Discipline helps realise home dream

A couple signed up for their first home on their 26th birthday, and a year later have now moved in, writes Colleen Hawkes.

Wesley Bell and Jenny Lin not only share the same birthdate, they also have the same discipline when it comes to saving for their first home.

The Auckland couple, now 27, signed up for a terrace house, off the plans, on their 26th birthday. They moved into their twobedroom home in West Hills in December.

They bought their 80 squaremetre home from Universal Homes and were able to secure a fixed-price contract. ‘‘The developer could absorb the cost increases. But we’ve had friends who have been stung [with other projects],’’ Bell says.

The couple say they started out with higher expectations about what they could afford. But soon realised competition was fierce at the time they were looking. ‘‘We reserved this one over a weekend, and by the Thursday, all 40 had sold.’’

Their house cost $719,000, which put it above the KiwiSaver HomeStart grant loan cap (at that time $700,000 in Auckland). They put down $5000 to secure the property, and the final deposit came to $73,000. They have used KiwiSaver funds and other savings to raise the funds.

Bell, a structural engineer, says their home and ANZ mortgage are in his name only, as Lin was studying when they applied and could not get a mortgage. She is a dietician and now has a job. He was able to secure a rate under 3% and the repayments are around $600 a week.

‘‘We could have gone a bit higher, but we didn’t want to max out the mortgage – we would have been struggling with a rate increase. We can put a bit away towards a holiday.’’

And how did they do it? They both lived in their respective family homes before moving in together, paying $170 a week in board. And they both had student loans, which was a problem for Bell. ‘‘I had to pay off my student loan first before getting the mortgage.

‘‘But paying $170 a week in board was not as much as I would have been paying had I been living in the city, and having to share the cost of rent and utilities.’’

‘We’ve never had a credit card’

The couple also stopped spending. ‘‘There was no eating out, no expensive travel and no buying things we didn’t really need,’’ Bell says. ‘‘Covid helped with the saving [not being tempted]. We did travel to Tauranga, but stayed with family.

‘‘We’ve never had a credit card and never do ‘buy now, pay later’. The first thing our mortgage broker asked us, was, ‘Do you have any debt, because that will really affect your lending ability?’’’

Bell says he and Lin also kept up-to-date with podcasts on financing a first home. ‘‘But there was still a lot of stuff about KiwiSaver we weren’t really aware of, which is why I think it’s important for every firsthome buyer to engage a good mortgage broker and solicitor. It can be quite daunting.

‘‘We did have a problem getting our KiwiSaver funds out in time – it took about 20 days. But Universal said we could give them proof of the KiwiSaver funding and 5% cash up front, and we were able to do it.’’

The couple could then focus on the fun part of buying a first home – furnishing and personalising their space. Lin says they love the layout – the front door opens to a spacious dining area and kitchen, and the sunny living room beyond opens out to a courtyard garden with a lawn. There is a powder room on the ground floor, as well as a bathroom upstairs.

‘‘It’s very practical,’’ she says. ‘‘Everything really flows very smoothly. It has been really well planned. And we love that it is very low-maintenance, and that we have a spare room.’’

‘‘Lots of young first-home buyers are looking for lowmaintenance properties,’’ says Bell. ‘‘With both of us working, we are not here that much.

‘‘There’s a big misconception between what you think you need and what you actually do need.’’

The couple bought new furniture for their home, helped by Bell’s 3D modelling of the space, which ensured everything would fit, and Lin’s great eye for design.