21 year old Bailyn and 22 year old Chelsea had been together for three years when they bought their first home. Earlier in 2019, after a little guidance from Isa here at Money Empire (and a lot of saving), Chelsea and Bailyn drove to Harcourts Rototuna to sign a sale and purchase agreement on a four bedroom property in Chartwell.
At the time they told us they were trying to act cool, but they couldn’t believe they’d just bought their first home.
The journey to home ownership
Chelsea is from Whakatane and Bailyn is from Napier, but they met in Auckland when they moved to attend King’s College. Chelsea is studying nursing while working as a personal trainer and Bailyn is a professional rugby player signed to the Waikato Chiefs. After Chelsea and Bailyn moved in together, they knew they wanted to buy a home:
“We found that living together for two years was amazing and a huge step for both of us. We wanted the next stage to give us a sense of home and something to be proud of. We also got our dog Marley and realised we wouldn’t be able to rent a house that allows dogs.”
Like most Kiwi first home buyers, Chelsea and Bailyn weren’t sure where to start when it came to buying their first place so they called us to lend a hand.
“After speaking to Isa, a few ideas were thrown around. A few months later, a plan was set to save enough money over 2 years … we were able to buy a year later with a tremendous amount of help from Isa,” Chelsea said.
Bailyn and Chelsea are now the proud owners of a beautiful 154 sqm, 4-bedroom, 2-bathroom house in Chartwell, Hamilton. They love the fact that it’s a very open house and that the master bedroom has a big walk-in wardrobe and an ensuite. There’s also talk of starting a family, so luckily the new home has plenty of space (and extra rooms) to grow into.
A little help from a friend
Many first home buyers believe they have to do it all themselves but that couldn’t be further from the truth. When it came to their mortgage, Bailyn and Chelsea got a little help from Isa, one of our expert mortgage advisors here at Money Empire. They say getting that expert advice made all the difference:
“In all honesty, we wouldn’t have bought our house if it wasn’t for Isa at Money Empire. He worked alongside us doing everything behind the scenes to make sure we were ok to settle. From calling the banks, writing up our weekly, monthly and yearly budget, talking to solicitors, agents, insurance providers, and even our parents.”
We always aim to make buying a home and managing money easy for our clients, so we were stoked to hear that Isa went that extra mile to help:
“Isa still makes sure we are ok with our mortgage and financials. Dealing with Money Empire was super easy, just all-round amazing. We would most definitely use them again,” Bailyn said.
First home buying tips from Chelsea and Bailyn
We were more than a little impressed with what Chelsea and Bailyn achieved so we asked them to share their tips for other first home buyers. Here’s what they came up with:
- When looking at buying your first home remember it may not be your dream house. You may need to find something that needs a little bit of work but that’s the joy of buying your home – you can do whatever you like with it to create a homely space.
- Make sure you have someone like a mortgage broker that knows about housing as they will make your life 10 times easier.
- Do not listen to anyone else who may make you doubt your decision – if we listened to people, we would not have bought our house.
- Lastly, this is something that got us, but we recommend saving an extra $2,000 which will cover LIM report, builders, lawyer fees, interest etc!
Both Chelsea and Bailyn are happy in their new property and plan to spend the next year or two making the place a home and getting on top of their mortgage. From there, they’re planning to purchase another house as an investment in the next two years, which they’re both super excited about. Are you keen to buy your first home? Don’t do it alone – get in touch with the Money Empire team and we’ll help you make it happen.
