home loans – HandsVentures NZ

Needless to say, the past few years have been a whirlwind of events for everyone, including our family. From the pandemic to career changes to having our first child to now, having our first home.

Howell and I take pride in our capacity to lay out plans, set them in motion, and see it to completion.

From our first year in New Zealand, we already knew the things we wanted and made sure to plan them out so plans would move. We usually set a special day and place when we’ll just go out into nature and present our desires in prayer and discern which ones we are to pursue based on God’s leading. It has been amazing seeing all these desires come into fruition. One of those God has fulfilled is our desire for a home of our own.

In planning for our home, we knew it would entail diligent saving up of money and knowing our preferences even before we seek out for one. So we set up all our finances in a way that we have set up the amount of savings we’ll have and then work our expenses around it. We were not earning heaps but we were earning enough. We lived in a humble 2-bedroom flat for the first four years, planned for cost-effective but fun holidays, and generally lived way below our means during the years we were saving money.

Come 2020, we knew we were ready to pursue our first home. Now we all know what happened in the great year 2020. During the lockdown here in New Zealand, we had time to set our essentials and preferences for our first home. We knew that location is prime factor, options for expansion, and just generally good craftsmanship of the house. Straight after lockdown, we finally set our plans in motion. I remember asking the Lord for a powerful testimony from this process…

We asked friends, family members, and workmates of the things we need to consider, the hows of home loans, and just general knowledge of purchasing our first home. We were referred to a broker who also knows of an opportunity for a private sale – easy as! Unfortunately, none of the people we asked had any experience with a private sale!

A few days after our first meeting with the broker, we were already viewing the property. We knew that properties were on the upward trend then so we locked it in straight after we viewed it for a few minutes. A few weeks after, we already signed the Sale and Purchase Agreement – this was on September 2020. Again, easy as! The catch? We had to wait for the property to be subdivided prior to settlement.

We were promised just a few months for the subdivision to happen. Yep, we can deal with that. We just negotiated that we live in the property while the process of subdivision was being done. And so we moved to our home on March 2021. We were confident because we were a double income couple with no dependents, nothing we need to worry about.

Until…

A year after, year 2022, we were down to one income and we were expecting our miracle baby… Things have become so unpredictable. The processing dragged a while for a myriad of reasons we did not have control of. Add the changes to CCFA rolled out on December 2021, things looked bleak.

A few days before settlement, we received news that our home loan pre-approval wasn’t granted by the bank. To add to the injury, two other banks declined our home loan application. And not only was our 12% down payment no longer accepted, we had to have the full 20% down payment to secure a loan. We had to request for an extension of settlement as well because, how can anyone complete these requirements in a few days? Haha.

A family member helped us acquire the remaining 8%. After which, our settlement date extension was also granted, and we had to comply with the additional requirements by other banks for our home loan to be granted. Thanks to the people who have assisted us, and also to Kainga Ora for their first home grant, we got there in the end. The settlement came through yesterday, 16th June.

It was such an exciting and humbling experience for us. From being the ideal first home buyers, everything changed in just a year. We initially set out to independently purchase our first home without the help of anyone but ended up needing help from several generous and supportive people in our circles. We were not only given financial assistance, but were blessed with the wisdom of these people. A powerful testimony indeed! It wasn’t what we had, not our skills, not our financial management prowess alone brought us through this milestone. We knew God has walked before us and paved the way for us. He also used other people to help provide for what we needed. He has kept His promise in spite of the challenges, and we know we wouldn’t have it any other way…

I write this today from our three-bedroom home located in a private cul-de-sac, seconds away from the city centre, with also a couple of parks and beaches 15 to 30 minutes away. While I cannot give a home tour now because of the busyness of a first time mum, here are a couple of gorgeous sunsets visible from our place.