How we bought a house in our 20s
My partner and I bought our first home in September last year. She was 21 and I was 23.
The argument that it’s hard to get on the property ladder at a young age couldn’t be further from the truth - the reality is that most people our age simply don’t see home ownership as an important goal straight out of high school.
Most look either to university or to working and going wild with their new found wealth and the freedom that comes with it. When I left school I got a reasonable paying job at the local meat processing plant. I always put away part of my pay into a savings account that I couldn’t access online or through debit cards.
Sure, I still spent part of my paychecks on things I didn’t need, such as video games - but, for the most part, that savings account had very few major withdraws during the five-and-a-half years between leaving school and purchasing our first home.
Buying our first home never seemed like it was on the cards for us. We were living in Christchurch, paying exorbitant rates on our flat, while my partner was finishing up her studies at university.
It was our parents who urged us to look at getting on the property ladder, as stories about house prices rising were on the news daily.
After six years of working I had $45,000 saved, before adding my partner’s savings from her gap year and holiday work.
We decided to buy back in our home town of Oamaru. Buying in Christchurch wasn’t an option: house prices were out of reach, and we were also put off by the risk of earthquakes.
Prices in Oamaru were just starting to take off; for a reasonably sized family home we paid roughly half what we would have done in Christchurch.
With all the Government help and incentives, we found buying was far easier than we first thought. We got $22,000 through a KiwiSaver HomeStart grant, so in the end we only had to contribute $12,500 each towards the $50,000 deposit for a $250,000 house.
Looking at prices in the area, I’d estimate that our house price has gone up by at least $20,000 since we bought it. We are currently saving for our next house, and will either sell this house to fund our next or turn it into a rental.
We have taken a middle path between living frugally and saving, and spending money freely.
We’ve had a few great holidays, been overseas, and own a decent mid-range car - but we’ll also argue about whether to buy broccoli because it’s over $2 a head and stay at home at the weekend playing board games instead of going out.
For us, it all comes down to choices. By looking at our finances in terms of years, rather than weeks or months, we’ve made some sacrifices, but ultimately have ended up as homeowners.