Siblings Curtis and Kayla Epapara were always close, so teaming up to build a house with Kayla’s partner Jerry Moli was a natural step for the trio to get onto the property ladder in Ohauiti, Tauranga.
They pooled their resources to produce the 10% deposit and set up a co-ownership agreement and joint mortgage.
It was the siblings’ dad who suggested the trio buy a house together as they had all expressed a desire to own their own homes. He knew of some people at his work who had gone down the co-ownership path.
“With the three of us putting together everything that we’ve got we could get a house a lot sooner than we were expecting. We had thought it might take Jerry and I five years alone,” Kayla recalls.
“We all get along and we knew that Curtis would probably live together well with us and our two daughters,” Kayla says.
Curtis believes co-ownership also sped up his ability to get a house.
“I was already saving hard and I was also in that state of wanting to buy a house and to get out of the parents’ hair and into the real world,” he says.
“So, it was just perfect timing, to be honest,” he says.
The guaranteed build timeline was lucky for Kayla and Jerry as they were able to move into their house before a new baby arrived.
“We had already started the process and then I found out that I was pregnant, so it was kind of perfect timing that we were able to enter the house before she was born,” Kayla says.
KAYLA
Together we already had the 10% deposit ready to go, whereas if we wanted to go with an existing property, we had to have the 20%.
We were actively looking online at house and land packages and existing properties as well. But I think it was just more realistic for us to go with a new build.
CURTIS
The pricing was really good and the area, where it was, was really good as well.
KAYLA
Generation Homes were quite reasonably priced. We didn’t want to go too high – we had a budget and it just fit within our budget.
Once we had our first meeting with Generation Homes, everything was explained to us – the fixed price and set schedule to build the house – and that made us decide that we wanted to proceed.
KAYLA
It was good. We were lucky with our sales consultant as he was constantly giving us updates of what was happening and when it will happen. If there were any delays or hiccups, he would let us know straightaway.
CURTIS
He always let us know what was going on. He was very on to it.
CURTIS
We had a major issue with the surveyor’s evaluation and our financing. Our sales consultant helped us sort it out. He came back with a new approach and deal for us and introduced us to a mortgage broker, who found the bank right bank for us.
JERRY
We were lucky to have him – he made our experience a good one.
KAYLA
It was quite interesting to see if all three of us would have similar tastes or if we would be completely different.
JERRY
We agreed on the majority of things. There was a bit of back and forth, but we got there in the end.
JERRY
I like the bedroom and the kitchen.
KAYLA
The colours go well.
JERRY
We’ve done well choosing the colours.
CURTIS
To be honest, probably the whole thing. All of the layout of the house.
KAYLA
We wanted to stay on a certain side of town now because that’s where we all work and that’s where our older daughter goes to school. So, we wanted to stay close, so we weren’t travelling.
JERRY
And the best part about this area is it’s close to our parents, so we can drop the kids off.
JERRY
Get a starting point, have a chat with the bank and see where you are, then set realistic goals from there.
CURTIS
Do some research and have a look at house prices around where you live. Set up savings per week.
KAYLA
I have worked in personal banking – home lending and personal lending – so I was able to explain things to Curtis and Jerry and all that stuff. Bankers can use a lot of jargon and people don’t know what it means. So, get a good banker to explain things to you simply as it will make the financial side of things a little bit easier.
As we are co-owners, we’ve spoken about what would happen if Curtis or our family wanted to move out. If you go for joint ownership, you need to have an idea of what could happen. We’ve spoken about the timeframes when me and Jerry and our two girls might move on to something bigger.
