Meet these Wellington first home buyers

We decided about 2 years ago that we wanted to purchase a home together, so we began the hunt! However looking back now, I don’t think we were financially ready 2 years ago haha!

Since my partner is a builder, the biggest thing for us was finding the right balance of something liveable and a doer-upper we could add value to. We wanted enough space to tweak the layout of the home, so a 3 or 4-bedroom was ideal. Plus a garage, and most importantly, SUN! That was one thing we were not willing to compromise on.

Our home buying journey has been a long one! We first got pre-approved for a mortgage in December 2022, and have finally purchased a property in February 2025. I can’t even count the number of open homes we went to, but it was so worth it! Visiting so many properties not only helped us figure out what we really wanted but also gave us tons of inspiration for how we want to make our home look and feel.

Three times, and you know what they say… third time’s a charm! Over a year ago, we put an offer on a home, and looking back, we’re so glad it didn’t work out. Another one we loved, but we decided not to go through with an offer. In the end, everything worked out the way it was meant to.

Where do I begin? Finding the ‘right’ home was frustrating at times. We wanted something solid with good bones that we could renovate over time. But we kept running into houses that either needed too much work or were already modernised, so striking that balance took longer than we expected.

The biggest surprise for us has been how much due diligence and admin comes after purchasing. Getting all of our finances and bills set up has been a huge learning curve and to be honest, quite stressful, but we got there in the end.

We purchased our home at an auction, which was both terrifying and exciting. Luckily, my Dad handled the bidding for us, which took a lot of the pressure off. If you have a clear plan, I’d highly recommend having someone else bid on your behalf to help keep emotions in check.

Before the auction, we set a firm maximum price, which I think is crucial for any sale method, but especially for auctions, where it’s so easy to get caught up in the moment. There were two other parties bidding, so we let them go back and forth before making our move at the last minute. Thankfully, it worked in our favour.

I used to work at a real estate agency so I was lucky to already know a lot!

Yes! We spent so much time going to open homes over the years that weren’t even what we were looking for or in an area we were interested in. Our key criteria was a home that we could add value to and we were so eager to buy our first home that we would go to as many homes as we could each weekend, even if they were already done up, which looking back wasn’t the best use of our time. I wouldn’t say it was a complete waste of time, as it opened our eyes to the potential we could add to our future home!