‘Debt Free Diva’ finds first home in 6 hours
In four years Tracy Hemingway has gone from owing $94,000 to $0 to $420,000, and this time she’s stoked about it. Kylie Klein-Nixon reports
It was Christmas decorations that made debt management and saving expert Tracy Hemingway, of Debt Free Diva, decide to buy a home. After ridding herself of tens of thousands of dollars of debt in just three years, and saving a deposit in just 12 months, the Hamilton resident committed herself to finding a home of her own when her landlord put the home she was renting up for sale.
It’s the third time she’s been forced to move because her rental home is being sold. When the landlord asked her not to put up Christmas decorations because that might put prospective buyers off, it was the final straw.
‘‘I just had to get out,’’ Hemingway says. ‘‘I was done with renting.’’
Hemingway had expected to take about a year to find a property and have enough money to secure it, but things went about 12 months faster than expected.
She found a home a week after she started looking, had her offer accepted in about six hours, and went unconditional on Wednesday afternoon. She started by speaking to mortgage brokers – seven of them.
‘‘I didn’t have enough deposit, they said. I didn’t tick the boxes, which is fine – that’s their job. But I just won’t take no as an answer.’’
She went to her banks, Kiwibank and Bank of New Zealand, directly. Kiwibank was happy to help but required a letter from Hemingway’s employer saying that her role, which she’d just started, was secure.
Her employer provided her with a letter confirming she was in full-time employment. Just days later, Hemingway found the house, which had been on the market for about two weeks, with an asking price of about $490,000.
The three-bed home, in Hamilton, has a ‘‘nice big deck’’ and a ‘‘little yard’’ for Hemingway’s dog, Teddy, who was instrumental in inspiring her to smash her way out of debt four years ago.
‘‘It’s not a doer-upper, but it needs some work. It needs some paint and definitely some new carpet, so it’s not perfect. But when you buy for under $500,000, you can’t find that anyway.’’
Even at the lower price, Hemingway ‘‘moved bloody mountains’’ to make the sale happen.
Harcourts real estate agent Christine Willis, who sold Hemingway the home, said she was inspired by the first-time buyer’s tenacity and drive. Hemingway wasn’t supposed to go unconditional until later in December, but she made it happen in a matter of days.
‘‘It was awesome to be a part of her journey,’’ Willis says.
Hemingway’s $70,000-plus deposit is made up from her savings and funds from her KiwiSaver account. When all the payments go through, she will have almost nothing left in the bank, she says.
‘‘I’ve been watching the market for months and months and months. I went and saw the house on Sunday; the preapproval came through midday on the Tuesday.
‘‘I put my offer in at 1pm and the real estate agent rang me at 6pm saying, ‘Right, it’s been accepted – it’s gone conditional. Off we go – let’s get this done.’’’
The Hamilton market is piping hot right now, with houses selling days after they arrive in the listings.
The offer before hers had fallen through, creating a slim window of time for her to pounce. Hemingway took it. Since then, she says, the agent has received about six inquiries from other people wanting to put offers on the threebedroom Hamilton home.
‘‘There was another house that I was looking at, a little two-beddy. It was quite nice.
‘‘I went to view it the Monday after I viewed the one I’ve bought, and it was sold by Friday by multi-offer.’’
With the home she ended up buying, Hemingway’s offer was conditional on a building report, a Lim (Land Information Memorandum) report, her KiwiSaver payout and finance, which meant she needed a valuation from the bank.
This was the most stressful element, as she was aware of a bottleneck for valuations in Hamilton at the moment.
‘‘I was just not going to let it go. I was determined to make it happen,’’ she says. ‘‘The problem is no-one tells you what you need to do until you’re in the thick of it. I just handled that with lists.’’
Hemingway’s best piece of advice is to keep watching the market and when you see something ‘‘move, just move on it straight away’’, put conditions on your offer and go for it.
Hemingway’s settlement date is in late January. To pay off her mortgage quickly, she plans to use everything she learnt while busting her debt four years ago. But first, she will do a few renovations to the property.
‘‘I just hope people will read this and keep fighting for [their own home],’’ Hemingway says. ‘‘It is a tough market, really daunting. But get a plan, have a strategy and just jump in feet first and see what you can do.’’
‘‘It’s not a doer-upper, but it needs some work. It needs some paint and definitely some new carpet, so it’s not perfect.’’
Tracy Hemingway