Your first home, one step at a time
Buying your first home is a big deal, but it's not complicated once you know what happens in what order. Here's the whole journey, in plain English, from deposit to keys in hand.
Your first home starts with a conversation.
Before you work through the steps below, take a moment to see what the journey can feel like.
Seven sections. Pick where you're at.
Deposit options
How much you actually need, and what counts — savings, KiwiSaver, gifted funds, and low-deposit options.
KiwiSaver withdrawal
What you can pull out, the eligibility rules, and how the timing works around settlement.
Getting pre-approved
What lenders assess, what to hand them, and why doing this before you house-hunt saves you weeks.
Finding a property
How to narrow the search, what to watch for by property type, and where lenders get fussy.
Making an offer
Conditional vs unconditional, auctions, tender, and the clauses that actually protect you.
Due diligence
Builder's reports, LIM, insurance, and everything else worth checking before you go unconditional.
Home loan structure
Fixed vs floating, splits, offset accounts, and what happens between unconditional and settlement.
The bits nobody explains up front
Most first-home buyers I meet have spent hours reading generic articles and still don't feel sure what happens next. This guide is written from the questions I actually get asked — deposit maths, KiwiSaver timing, what a bank checks, when to use a builder's report, how to structure the loan.
Work through it in order, or jump straight to the bit you're stuck on. Then, when you're ready, we have a chat and turn it into an actual plan.
Ready when you are
No fee to you, no sales pitch. Just an honest read on what's possible.
Book a chat with Donna