Free, self-paced, no sign-up
First Home Buyer Academy
Forty short lessons from the lawyers who only act for first home buyers. Pick a pace that matches your timeline. Each lesson takes a few minutes and ends with one thing to do.
How much time have you got?
Sprint
8 lessons · About 45 minutes
Buying in the next two weeks.
You have found a place, or an auction is coming up, and you need the eight things that matter most.
Eight short lessons, five or six minutes each. Money, method, offer, checks, settlement. Read them in order, do the one action at the end of each, and you will be ahead of most buyers in the room.
Start the Sprint
Jog
22 lessons · About three hours, spread over a week
Buying in the next one to three months.
Pre-approved or close to it, looking seriously, and wanting to understand the process before it starts.
Twenty-two lessons that follow the five stages of the journey. Everything in the Sprint plus the deposit mechanics, open homes, conditions, auction preparation, due diligence and the settlement week. One stage per evening works well.
Start the Jog
Climb
40 lessons · About six hours, at your own pace
Getting ready over six months or more.
Saving, sorting KiwiSaver, maybe buying with family or a partner, and wanting the full picture before you start looking.
All forty lessons, including the ones most buyers only learn the hard way: ownership structures, relationship property, cross-leases, new builds, unit titles, negotiating after a bad report, and what happens after the keys.
Start the Climb
Pre-approval
Where you are on the climb
Buying a first home runs in three stages, and the legal tasks in each are ours, not yours.
What it actually costs
Budget for the reports and fees before settlement, not just the deposit.
Pre-approval is not approval
Pre-approval is a budget, not a yes to the property you have found.
Your KiwiSaver: eligibility and timing
Get your provider's eligibility letter before you make an offer, and allow up to three weeks for the money.
The deposit is two payments
The 10% goes to the agent when you go unconditional. The rest of your money goes to us before settlement.
Family money: gift or loan?
If parents are helping, decide whether it is a gift or a loan and put it in writing before the bank asks.
Insurance and the bank
Your bank needs house insurance in place by settlement, with the bank noted on the policy. Many buyers arrange it from the day they go unconditional.
Who will own it
The names and the ownership type on the front page decide what happens if one of you dies or you split.
The relationship property conversation
After three years together the family home is shared equally by default. A contracting-out agreement is how you change that.
Buying from overseas or as a new resident
Check your residency status and get an IRD number before you make an offer, not during due diligence.
Finding a home
Auction, tender or negotiation: find out first
The sale method decides whether you can have conditions. Ask before you fall for the house.
What to check at the open home
Photograph everything, ask the agent for the title and LIM, and look for work that needed a consent.
Reading the agent's pack, for free
Send us the agent's title, LIM and draft agreement before you offer. The pre-offer review is free.
Spotting unconsented work
Consented and compliant are different things. A CCC is the proof. A COA is not the same.
Is this cross-lease a problem?
If the house has changed shape since the flats plan was drawn, the title is defective and the bank may not lend.
New builds: the clauses that bite
The developer's further terms replace the standard agreement. Read them before you sign, not at 90% built.
Working out what it is worth
The CV is not the value. Recent comparable sales are.
Making an offer
Send us the agreement before you sign
An offer is a contract. Once the seller signs, you are bound. The protection goes in before you sign.
Choosing your conditions
Conditions are your exits. A due diligence condition is the widest one.
Working days and the first day
Day one is the working day after signing. Weekends, public holidays and the Christmas break do not count.
Price, letters and leverage
Settlement date, deposit size and clean conditions are leverage. A cover letter that reveals your ceiling is not.
Due diligence clause vs standard conditions
A due diligence clause is the widest exit, but a seller may read it as a weak offer. Know when to use each.
Auction prep: the three-week plan
Every check happens before auction day: title, LIM, building report, bank approval for the property, KiwiSaver in trust.
Auction day and passing in
If it passes in and you are the highest bidder, you usually get first right to negotiate. Have a plan for that moment.
Why we don't recommend pre-auction offers
A pre-auction offer brings the auction forward. It does not replace it, and it is usually unconditional.
Multi-offers, backup offers and letters of intent
A multi-offer is a one-shot tender. A backup offer ties you up. A letter of intent is not a contract.
Due diligence
What due diligence actually covers
Title, LIM, building report, finance, insurance and the agreement itself, all before the condition date.
The LIM: order your own, read the attachments
The LIM is the council's file. The real information is in the attachments, not the summary.
The building report found problems. Now what?
Ask your inspector which findings are serious, then ask the seller for one specific thing.
Reading the title: easements, covenants, encumbrances
Every interest on the title either gives someone rights over your land or restricts what you can do with it.
Unit titles and body corporates
With a unit title you are buying into a body corporate: levies, rules, minutes and a long-term maintenance plan.
Negotiating after a bad report
Ask for a repair before settlement with a holdback, or a price reduction with a number. Not both, and not vaguely.
Finance condition: confirming the property with the bank
Do not confirm the finance condition until the bank has approved this property in writing.
Confirm, extend or cancel
Every condition ends in writing: confirmed, extended by agreement, or cancelled. Silence is the worst option.
Settlement
Going unconditional: what changes
The deposit is paid, the exits close, insurance starts, and the countdown to settlement begins.
Loan documents and the signing meeting
Sign the loan documents with us at least three working days before settlement so the bank can release funds.
The settlement statement
Price less deposit, plus or minus rates and other adjustments, equals what has to arrive on settlement day.
Pre-settlement inspection
Inspect two or three working days before settlement, with the same checklist and photos you used at the open home.
Settlement day, hour by hour
You sign nothing on the day. The money moves, the title changes at LINZ, we call you, and the agent releases the keys.
After the keys: admin, wills and what's next
Update your address, file the reporting letter, and make a will. The property does not go where you assume without one.
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Talk it through
Found a place already?
Send us the agreement before you sign. A free 15-minute call with a property lawyer who only works with first home buyers.