Dont know what to do :(

Hi Ladies

Needing some advice please, sorry that this post may be long

My partners 19 and im nearly 19 aswell, we are renting a house atm for $180 a week, cheapest where we live and also a good home. My partners on a very little wage atm $12.50 per hour. He works for the local council here and is in the process of getting his work to re do his contract with him as they stuffed it up Big Time !! We are having a baby due on 16th April aswell. We are really wanting to be able to buy a house and upgrade our car to a nicer one. But the problem i have is that since we are so young anything could happen to his job atm and we wouldnt be able to pay the loan and everything we need for a new house But on the other hand i know we cant work on what if's. We want to start seting up a nice home for our baby and own it and have the joys of doing that together but at the same time dont want to put ourselves in a bad situation.

Since we are still young we are still learning about things and not too sure how to go about this, it is very complicated to get my head around lol.

Anyone got any suggestions on how we can achieve this the right way without getting into money problems at our young age ??

my advice would be to save up as much as you can for a good deposit. dont get sucked into a no or low deposit deal that leaves you with a large mortgage.

Owning isnt all its cracked up to be though. You have the added expenses of house insurance, water and land rates and maintenance.

Bubie wrote: No we dont have a deposit atm I do think saving for one would be a good option tho

Wouldnt it be your only option? Most no deposit deals require you to earn quite alot as you need to service two mortgages, so I dont even think that would be an option for you.

There is always the option of a Welcome Home Loan, which is 100% finance, but the lending criteria has toughened up quite a lot. It is focused on first home buyers. In saying that, I wouldn't recommend buying a house until you're sure of a stable income...just because the costs can add up, and you also need funds up front to pay for things like lawyers fees, valuations, LIM reports, builders reports....and they can add up to a good $2-3k, which is money you can't borrow. Also remember, on top of the mortgage, you have rates and insurance, plus any maintenance costs.

I just had a quick look on TradeMe at the properties for sale and rent in Gore, and there's some pretty cheap properties out there though...

Still, your best option is saving for a deposit, unless you can get a Welcome Home Loan. And no, the interest rates aren't any higher than a normal home loan, you just have to pay a low equity fee which was 1% of the purchase price when we bought our house 2 years ago.

If you are really serious, get hold of a mortgage broker, and they can go through the sums with you and you can see if it actually is a possibility for you. And remember....you don't have to start with the best house, you have to start with the one that you can afford.

ETA: You could also have a chat to SBS down there...they do Welcome Home Loans and they are a great lender as well, really supportive and friendly.

Edited by minik8e

I would definitely start saving now! But don't stress about it too much, it is possible to one day be owning your own home.

We were in pretty much the same situation as you guys a few years back. We were both 19 with a baby on her way, on minimum wage in a job where we were unsure how stable it was.
We were living in a tiny wee place, 1 bedroom, and out the back of my parents there. Although it was small we survived (actually I often miss my teensy house) but it was great as the rent wasn't excessively high which meant we had a good 5 years worth of savings (and a little help from my parents) DH even changed jobs in the middle to an even lower pay but we survived.
Just last year we managed to buy our first house with a pretty decent deposit. I am so glad we waited for the right time as we aren't having to struggle financially.

Don't worry about the house you are in now, its just a house and the 3 of you living there make it a home. The new baby really doesn't care where it lives as long as it has a roof over its head, and is loved. I am sure eventually you will be able to upgrade your car too but it will feel so much better when you have the money to do so.

Banks have REALLY tightened up. We recently tried to change our bank and were told we would could only borrow 70% of the house value.

Yep, you have to be completely realistic. A house may be just a bit out of reach right now. Concentrate on paying off debt then start saving towards a deposit.

The MOST important thing right now is that your baby has the necessities.

Yeah Kiwisaver's a crock. If you're in it, I strongly suggest taking a contributions holiday and just keeping the money aside. Chances are it'll all be blown by the time we're retirement age anyway.

I havent read all the replies but if your partner has been working for over 6 mths in his job then you will qualify for welcome home loan which can be no deposit so long as you are wanting to borrow within your means. As you are already paying rent of $180 a week you should be ok as it shows you would be able to make payments. Owning your own home down here is cheaper than renting!! We just brought our place and our mortgage is less than your rent even after the rates and insurances come out. Do a budget now so you have an idea as to what you can afford. I made up budgets based on houses i liked that were for sale as most show what the rates are (its also on the council website) so i had a better idea as to how well we could afford it.

If you cant go through welcome home loans then you need at least 20% for a deposit we had to do this because DP had only just started working since we had moved down. We ended up using a mortgage broker and she was excellent.

Make sure you do have a couple of grand saved tho to cover lawyers fees and any reports you might need to get.

Hmmmm, I agree with summerlamb. How is it a crock emz?