That Home Loan Hub
Welcome to That Home Loan Hub, your ultimate guide to mastering the world of home loans and property. I'm Zebunisso Alimova, here to simplify the complexities of real estate and provide you with expert insights and the latest trends.
Whether you're a first-time homebuyer, an experienced investor, or simply curious about the property market, this podcast is for you. Join me each week as we unlock the secrets to property success and help you make informed decisions. Let's dive into the world of property together!
That Home Loan Hub
My Shares Doubled And All I Got Was A New Kitchen
Markets don’t wait for permission slips. We open with a candid look at why agriculture and some NZX names are surprising on the upside, and how those signals can help everyday buyers read what’s next for property. One quick portfolio check turns into a useful takeaway: listed property stocks often move months before the housing headlines catch up, giving first-home hopefuls and investors a way to learn the cycle in real time.
From there, we dive into the construction landscape. It’s been bruising, but green shoots are real: enquiry for new builds is lifting as job confidence steadies, and the main roadblock is often selling the current place to free up capital. We talk through what actually gets banks to yes, starting with a myth-buster: first-home buyers can build with as little as 10% deposit when using a fixed-price contract from a recognised group builder. Labour-only projects, where you swing the hammer yourself, tend to require 30 to 40% because lenders assume income disruption. Investors get a powerful edge too, with new-build exemptions that can bring minimum deposits down to 10% under RBNZ settings.
We get practical about cost: the base price rarely tells the full story. Site works, landscaping, driveways, curtains, and energy upgrades add up fast, so pushing for a complete inclusion schedule matters. Then comes the lender fit. Not all banks assess variable income the same way, and a tidy deal presentation can compress timelines dramatically. A real client story brings it to life: weeks of friction with a home bank turned into approvals within two days once the file was reframed and sent to the right lenders. The takeaway is simple and empowering—if the numbers stack, the solution may be choosing the right contract, clarifying the total cost, and knocking on the door that already wants your deal.
Ready to turn interest into action? Follow the show, share this with a friend who’s eyeing a new build, and leave a review with your top question about deposits, contracts, or lender choice so we can cover it next.
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Hello and welcome back to that Homeland Hub. Hello, James. Aloha. You did the same thing, but with aloha. I love it. All right, James, what are we talking about today?
SPEAKER_00:Okay, dokie. Well, well, so I've got a real interesting mix of clients at the moment. It's been a real it's been a very tough year for a lot of industries in New Zealand. And I think probably the only industry that's doing well was agriculture or um the primary sector.
SPEAKER_01:And before you go further, I looked at my shares yesterday for Fonterra because I suddenly got a$5 dividend. And I was like, ooh, I've got a$5 dividend. This is cool. Because I'm not really investing in shares, I just buy random shares. And I realized I have shares with Fonterra. And then I looked back, their shares were like at$4. And now they're at$8.
SPEAKER_00:Doubled, yeah.
SPEAKER_01:They doubled.
unknown:What?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, so this is what can happen sometimes on the market. And um, if you like, if you look at some of the property stocks, um, you know, I'm thinking retirement villages, carrying income property, uh, vital healthcare properties, go back a year and how low they were. And you know, the market, financial market, is always about six months ahead of what the actual economy is doing. So if you have an interest in property, you don't quite have enough money to buy a house, but follow the property stocks on the New Zealand share market. Um, so you got your Ryman, you got your vital healthcare property, uh, you know, Kiwi income. So it's a great way to learn about property.
SPEAKER_01:Awesome. Um, cool bananas. Well, I'll put you back onto construction. I'm so sorry to distract you, but yes. So agriculture was doing really well. Now, construction. What's happening with construction?
SPEAKER_00:Okay, so it's been tough, right? So, and um so it's been a tough year for construction. Not a lot has been going on. Um, however, I have noticed in the last two or three months that um because I have a family member that's in uh does new home sales for in in that area, and she is beginning to get a lot more uh interest coming through about people wanting to build. So um that's really good because it was pretty quiet m in the middle of the year, picked up at the start of the year. Yeah, then it got a bit um it went a bit flat with all the stuff that's happening overseas, I think. Yeah. Um so the middle part of the year was really slow. But yeah, we're getting a little beginning to get a lot of interest in these new houses, uh, these new houses, building new houses. So I think that's quite interesting, and they're quite competitive with you know, buying a new house building a new house with a and buying a secondhand house, I suppose you'd call it.
SPEAKER_01:Second hand. I love it, second hand. Um yeah, it's interesting because I also noticed I have a couple of clients, they've got um sections, you know, in Waikanae and a few other places, and they were trying to sell those sections because there was a lot of um, you know, anxiety around will they still have their jobs or not with the government restructures? And they thought, we're not gonna build, we're just gonna put it on hold for now. And then suddenly they decided, nope, we're good, the jobs are safe, let's build. Yeah. So now they're coming back to looking at building, which is um, yeah, so the confidence is lifting there. Definitely. I've seen the same.
SPEAKER_00:I think the the main thing holding a lot of the builders are all the clients that I'm dealing with, the main thing that's holding them up is actually selling their existing property. That's just taking a little bit longer than the what they they thought it would. So they've got the capital to build the new house.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. Um, but other than that, yeah, they um What three things people should know if they want to build a house? Their first home, what should they know?
SPEAKER_00:Well, that's a really good question, Zevaniso.
SPEAKER_01:How much deposit do they need?
SPEAKER_00:Well, that's another really good question. Ask me all the questions. Do you want to throw it back at me? Hold on a second. I've just done one of those, so I should be able to remember. Uh we have to go phone a friend on that one, sorry. Call a friend? All right, friend is here. I'll phone my friend Zevenis, so friend is here.
SPEAKER_01:Right, guys. If you are looking to build your first home, you need as little as 10% as well. So 10% deposit, and usually the banks like fixed price contracts. They don't like um sometimes you know I had like builder clients in the past and they're like, oh, I just want to build my own home. The way the bank looks at it is that if you're building your own home, you're not making any money during that time because obviously you're concentrating on building your own house. And usually they would like a little bit more deposit in those situations. So they want like 30 or 40% deposit. If it's uh labor-only, because we call them labor-only contracts. But if it's a fixed-price contract, let's say it was a big group like DJ Gardner, Stonewood Homes, um, landmark homes, etc. etc., then um, yeah, you can get away with stand and same for investors. Um, a lot of people don't realize, but if you're an investor, if you've got 10% deposit, you can actually get a new build. And that's a really awesome loophole for those that are thinking they need 30% to get on the property ladder because investment um new builds are exempt from RBNZ rules. Okay. So there you go.
SPEAKER_00:That's very useful. Yes. Maybe I should be doing the interviewing.
SPEAKER_01:That's okay. That's okay.
SPEAKER_00:The second thing I would say is um is just to make sure that when you're dealing with the construction companies, that you're you're aware of the full price of what it's going to take from beginning to finish because there's different uh standards that the that the construction companies have. So you want to make sure that the full pri you're aware of the full price right from the beginning, rather than having a whole lot of add-ons at the end that you weren't really prepared for. Um so that's it, that's something that catches quite a few people out. Um obviously there's you know, there's a bit of competition between the construction companies and they want to make it as attractive as possible to you initially. Yeah. So just be aware of those what the full price is gonna be. Uh, third thing.
SPEAKER_01:Third thing, what should I do?
SPEAKER_00:Well, you want to have a decent uh uh financial advisor.
SPEAKER_01:Decent financial advisor. Oh, that's a good one. That's a good one.
SPEAKER_00:All right, yeah. Whether you call me or you about it, isn't it?
SPEAKER_01:I'll tell you a funny story. I had a client ring me and he's like, My little brother, he's building a house. He's about to sign this, you know, package for land and house, and he is dealing with this bank, and this bank is being very difficult. Can he call you? I was like, Yeah, that's cool. He already signed sales and purchase agreement, like literally battling with his own bank to get a mortgage approved. He calls me in. I talk to him and I'm like, I don't see a big problem here. I mean, it was a little bit a hairy one, but you know me, like nothing is really much of a problem. So I was like, nah, we can make it work. Um, we had approval for him within two days, which was phenomenal. And he was blown out of the waters. And then on the third day, I had another bank come in with the approval. And um, he had a really decent deposit, had 200k deposit, you know, 800k build and package, land and build package. So I couldn't understand what was going on there. But I think it was just a mixture of his job that he was doing. He was doing two jobs, his wife was doing two jobs, and his bank couldn't wrap their head around how it all works in terms of income for them. And yeah, we managed to get them around and stuff. And I think again, that makes a difference if you have a person that knows what they're doing. And look, without bragging, I've already built several properties myself, and I've put through, you know, hundreds of clients through their own build projects, whether it's labor only or fixed price or turnkeys, done hundreds of them. So I think it's knowing how to propose a deal the way the bank will like it that makes all the difference. Yeah. And yeah, we managed to get him approved and hopefully he'll settle next week and ready to go. But he was like, I can't believe how easy it's been. Because he was just sitting there battling with his own bank for weeks and weeks at a time, and yeah, wasn't getting anywhere.
SPEAKER_00:Well, that's sort of what's what's happened with us as well. Most of the clients that are coming, uh coming to me uh have been sort of turned away by the banks or they've been put off by the banks. And yeah, they are a little bit more complex, but it's just e you know, because we're doing them all the time. It's it's it's just easy for us to analyze the situation and know what the banks want and which banks are more likely to go for which application.
SPEAKER_01:Um, that's all good. Awesome guys. Well, that's a wrap. And um if you've got any topics you want us to cover, please let us know. We're here for you. We're here to provide you with information we can. And um yeah, so keep us going. Thank you so much. See ya. See ya.
