The 21-year-old landlord
Lettuce and mayonnaise sandwiches have paid off for Llewelyn Griffiths, who has just bought his first house at the age of 21.
The architecture student picked up the keys to a two-flat property in the Wellington suburb of Northland, opposite the Botanic Gardens, on Wednesday.
He can’t afford to move in yet – that will have to wait until he finishes studying. But he and the friend he went into partnership with are now landlords to two young families.
Griffiths started saving money when he was seven. Initially, it was just money he got from his parents but, by age 10, he was doing a paper round in the Waikato town of Cambridge.
He worked at the family farm in nearby Putaruru every holiday, and all the money he earned went straight into the bank.
‘‘I was either saving for university or for a house but, in the end, the house won,’’ he said.
More recently, Griffiths has had jobs flipping burgers in Courtenay Place, working in a warehouse and acting as a research assistant, all while studying at Victoria University.
‘‘I don’t really need an expensive life, I just take care of things. I still have things most students have . . . I don’t just act impulsively.’’
In fact, during his first few years of study, he basically lived on a diet of low-cost lettuce and mayonnaise sandwiches. All up, through saving and working, he managed to save more than $40,000 for a house deposit.
Griffiths wouldn’t say how much he paid for it, but did reveal that the property had a RV of $620,000.
Ever since he was in high school, Griffiths knew that he wanted to buy a house, and he even started going to open homes.
The architecture buff made the call to get into the market now, before the Wellington property boom got totally out of control. ‘‘It has been going up and up and up, so that is why I made the decision. I have to do it now.’’
He missed out on a few tenders – one in which his offer was $400,000 short of the sale price – before putting a successful bid on the Northland house about a month ago.
Mortgage adviser Bruce Patten, who bought his first section in the Auckland suburb of Howick for $40,000 when he was 20, said Griffiths’ efforts were ‘‘rare, but not unheard of’’.
‘‘You just have to decide what your priorities are. It may be that he decided he wanted to [sacrifice now] and have a life later on.’’
Federation of Family Budgeting Services chief executive Raewyn Fox was also impressed by Griffiths’ efforts.
‘‘We always try to stress the concept of saving but, when a family can’t feed their kids, you have to pick your moments.
‘‘Everybody has to decide what their goals are and weigh up what you’re prepared to do without. But if you don’t have goals, you’ll never achieve anything.’’