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Your New Townhome

First Home Buyers Guide

Buying your first home is exciting and scary at the same time. Navigating your way through the process isn’t always straightforward, that’s why we’ve put together this guide to help you      through this process.

Buying a new home has many benefits over buying an older home.

A brand new home will generally be warmer and have less maintenance. This is because it will be built to current building standards which includes higher standards of insulation, double glazing and other things.

Your new home will include brand new appliances, with warranties and user manuals.

It will also be in perfect condition, with no damages, wear and tear, earthquake damage, or other immediate maintenance requirements older homes often come with.

It is also possible you may get more financial support to purchase a brand new home versus an existing home.

When buying a new home you typically need a 10% deposit as apposed to an existing home which typically requires a 20% deposit.

You may also be eligible for a First Home Loan via Kāinga Ora which only requires a 5% deposit.

A First Home Loan can make it easier for you to get into your first home by lowering the required deposit to 5%.

Find out if you are eligible here.

On 22/05/2024 the New Zealand government announced it would discontinue the First Home Grant.

Kāinga Ora is no longer taking applications for First Home Grants but will continue to process the applications that were received before 1pm on 22/05/2024.

If you have been investing in a KiwiSaver fund for 3 years or more then you should be eligible to withdraw your KiwiSaver. You can check your criteria here.

Before you start searching for properties it can be helpful to apply for Pre-Approval. That way you will be confident in the price range you can look in, and in the offers you make when you do find a home you love.

Apply for a Full Approval if you have made an offer on a property. Your mortgage broker/bank manager and solicitor/lawyer will help you with the process.

Once you have found a house you love, the next steps are:

  1. Speak with one of our team about making an offer and completing the Sales and Purchase Agreement
  2. Your offer should be subject to things like Finance, Insurance and Solicitor’s Approval.
  3. If your offer is accepted, your next step is to complete your due diligence within the specified timeframe. Contact your solicitor or lawyer and have them review the agreement, LIM, Title and other aspects of your chosen property.
  4. Contact your bank or mortgage broker and send them your purchase agreement so they can help you with the finance.
  5. Contact your Insurance company and any other services you have stated in your purchase agreement.
  6. Once everything is approved, you can confirm your purchase and your solicitor and bank manager/mortgage broker will work through the financial and ownership side with you.
  7. Then on settlement date, we hand over the keys!!!

Talk to us if you’d like us to refer any services to you such as Lawyers, Mortgage Brokers or Movers. We have some amazing businesses we collaborate in our community and would love to help you with these.

That’s ok, we understand how daunting it can be!

Our team are here to make the process as easy as possible for you.

If you have any questions or would just like to talk to one of our team about any of our properties, please do feel free to reach out.

High-quality low maintenance homes