Read Time: 4 minutes
“We used Mum and Dad’s lawyer. It was a disaster."
That’s what my friend told me over coffee.
She’d just bought her first home — and was still rattled.
They missed the KiwiSaver deadline.
The lawyer barely communicated.
The final bill was higher than expected.
And no one ever explained how the process actually worked.
“We just signed what they told us to.”
“I thought it would feel more exciting.”
“I wouldn’t recommend them.”
That conversation stuck with me. Because at the time, I wasn’t working with buyers like her.
Before I started HouseMe Legal, I was acting for big developers—subdivisions, contracts, off-the-plan builds.
High volume. High dollar. Zero first-home buyers.
I was helping the rich get richer. The big get bigger.
When someone like my friend came knocking, we had to refer them away. I couldn’t help.
My hourly rate meant I could not offer them a fixed fee to do the work.
And I started to notice a pattern. Buyers like her weren’t just underserved. They were often misled, overwhelmed, and overcharged.
26.75% of all complaints to the NZ Law Society are about overcharging and poor communication.
Unfortunately, this is the tip of the iceberg.
I was determined to fix it.
Post-lockdown, the market lit up.
Low interest rates.
Buyers came flooding back — anxious, excited, completely unprepared.
The firm I was working for didn’t serve that market. But I wanted to.
I knew I could build a firm that did things differently:
In December 2021, I quit.
No clients.
No income.
No safety net.
Just a belief that first-home buyers deserved better.
That belief became HouseMe Legal.
Our focus wasn’t just about helping first home buyers - it was about giving mortgage brokers/advisors a partner who makes the legal side seamless.
From day one, we flipped the traditional model. Instead of providing legal services once the agreement has been signed, we guide the client from the start.
Think of it like this:
Like a legal buyer’s agent, we help clients inspect the mountain before they climb:
Once the offer is accepted, we dig into the details:
We finish the job with:
The first home buyer we helped... Here’s what they said...
“You made the process really easy. I was so anxious after hearing horror stories from friends. But this felt manageable.”
That was the win that proved I’d made the right call.
Fast forward 3.5 years later, we now have 255+ 5-star reviews on Google.
