The Whole Process in 12 Minutes

Stage 1 — Get clear (weeks, not months)

Before any numbers, work out what you are actually buying: which suburbs you would genuinely live in, how many bedrooms you need, whether you can handle a project, and whether you are buying for three years or fifteen. Three years is usually too short — the buying and selling costs eat any gain.

Then get an honest read on where you stand. Deposit, income, debts, KiwiSaver balance and how long you have been a member. Nothing about this stage costs money.

• Write down your must-haves and your nice-to-haves, separately.
• Check your KiwiSaver membership date — three years is the gate for a withdrawal.
• Pull three months of bank statements and look at them the way a lender would.

Stage 2 — Get your deposit sorted (usually the long part)

Most first home buyers land somewhere between 5% and 20%. Twenty per cent avoids a low-equity margin. Five per cent is possible through the First Home Loan, which is underwritten by Kāinga Ora and issued by participating lenders. Ten per cent is the most common real-world outcome.

Your deposit is usually made up of savings, a KiwiSaver first home withdrawal, and sometimes a gift or a guarantee from family. Each of those has its own paperwork and its own lead time.

• KiwiSaver withdrawals take around ten working days and go to your solicitor's trust account, never to you.
• A gift needs a gifting certificate; a guarantee needs the guarantor to get independent legal advice.
• Under 20%, expect a low-equity margin on your interest rate — real money every fortnight.

Stage 3 — Get finance ready (two to six weeks)

Pre-approval is a lender saying, in writing, roughly how much they will lend you subject to conditions and a property they are happy with. It normally lasts around ninety days and can usually be renewed.

Two rules shape the number: LVR (how much you are borrowing against the value of the home) and DTI (how much you are borrowing against your income). Banks also test your repayments at a rate two to three per cent above the advertised one, so your affordability is set by a rate you will hopefully never pay.

Stage 4 — Get searching (one to six months)

Now the Saturdays start. Look at the title type before you fall in love: freehold, cross-lease, unit title and leasehold behave very differently, both for your lending and for your life.

Check how the home is being sold. Auctions require unconditional bidding, which is brutal on a small deposit because you need finance, a LIM and any building report done and paid for before auction day. Price-by-negotiation and deadline sales usually leave room for conditions.

• Get the LIM and the title early on any home you are serious about.
• Log every open home you see — after six weekends they blur together.
• Homes built roughly 1994–2004 need extra weathertightness care.

Stage 5 — Make the offer

Your offer is a sale and purchase agreement, and once both parties sign it, it is binding. Your protection lives in the conditions: finance, LIM, builder's report, title approval, and sometimes a general due diligence clause.

Send the agreement to your solicitor before you sign anything. Not after. This single habit prevents the most expensive mistakes we see.

• Every condition needs a realistic working-day deadline.
• The deposit (often 10%) is usually payable once the agreement goes unconditional.
• Under the Real Estate Authority rules, the agent works for the seller — but must treat you fairly and disclose known defects.

Stage 6 — Settle and move in

Between unconditional and settlement, your solicitor handles the legal transfer and your lender prepares the loan documents. You arrange insurance — cover must be in place from the settlement date, and your lender will want to see it.

The day before or the morning of settlement, do a pre-settlement inspection: everything that was there when you signed should still be there and still work. On settlement day, money moves between solicitors and you get the keys, usually early afternoon.