First Home Buyers:
Three Different Cases

When first home buyers come to me, most of them are already choosing houses. They're scrolling listings, going to open homes, maybe they've picked a suburb. The property comes first, and the plan gets built around it afterwards.

That's backwards.

The answers change everything: how much you borrow, what you buy, where, and even whether you live in it at all. Helping people work this out is a big part of what I do.

Here are three first home buyers I've worked with. The details have been changed to protect their privacy. Same goal for all three: their first property. Three completely different deals.

The situation

Both nearly thirty, both working, renting. They're planning their first child in the next year or two, and they didn't want to start family life in a house a landlord could sell at any moment.

What mattered most

Stability. Not the biggest house, not the best suburb. A home of their own, and a mortgage that stays comfortable when the baby arrives.

The plan: up to five years in this small home, settled and secure. Then, with more equity and a clearer picture of the family, they can change the setup. They didn't wait years for a 20% deposit. They bought what they could carry, and kept the option of moving up later.

Sometimes the best first home is simply the one that gets you on the property ladder and still lets you sleep at night.

The situation

A family with a son, Leo, 13. For five years they had rented a large house in a good suburb, at $1,000 a week, and the rent hadn't moved. Leo was settled at a school they loved, the beach was ten minutes away, and both of them had a short commute. Life worked. They just didn't own any of it.

What mattered most

Location. Buying in that suburb was far beyond their budget, and buying somewhere cheaper meant a new school for Leo at the worst possible age. They weren't willing to make that trade.

When Leo finishes school, that equity becomes the capital for a home of their own, wherever they choose to live then.

Sometimes the best first home is an investment property that builds your capital while you live where you want to be.

The situation

Closer to forty, no children, both working and renting. They like the life they've built. But work felt less certain than it used to, and they wanted to cut back their hours one day, not depend on two full salaries for thirty years.

What mattered most

Extra income: a home that earns a buffer of its own.

Home and income: a bigger house the rent helps carry, with extra risks to weigh first.

What the three cases have in common

On the surface, nothing. A small townhouse, an investment property in another area, a big house with a tenant downstairs. Underneath, two things.

All three wanted property as part of their assets

Not because prices always go up, they don't. But every mortgage repayment builds equity over time, and property spreads their wealth beyond savings and KiwiSaver. Each had a different reason for wanting that.

All three knew why they were buying before they started looking

That was their first step, not the open homes. Each had a clear answer to one question: what do we need this property to do?

• Sam and Emma needed stability.
• David and Anna needed to stay in the right location.
• Tom and Mia needed income.

Stability. Location. Income. Three different priorities, three different deals, one principle.

Don't start with the property. Start with your priorities, and the right deal follows from them.

If you're thinking about your first home, start there. Before the listings, before the open homes, sit down with the two questions above. That's the conversation I have with every first home buyer, and it's usually the most useful hour of the whole process.

If you'd like to start on your own, my free First Home Buyer Guide goes through these questions in more detail, along with the rest of the buying process.

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First Home Buyer Guide

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