The Star: February 16, 2023

The Star Thursday February 16 2023
10
NEWS
Latest Canterbury news at starnews.co.nz
First home-buying friends team
up to make $300,000 profit
• By Catherine Masters
TWO FRIENDS have proven it’s
possible for first-home buyers to
team up to take on the housing
market and come out winners.
Sick of paying rent “just
friends” Keeva Irving and Nathan
Lewis got together about
five years ago to buy a house
which they sold two weeks ago
for $300,000 profit on the purchase
price, enough to make a
big difference to their respective
home ownership paths.
The house on Sevenoaks Drive
in Bryndwr cost them $550,000
in 2017 and sold at auction for
$850,000.
Both work in project management,
which is how they met.
In their mid and late 20s at the
time, the pair put their business
hats on to conduct extensive
research before the subsequent
purchase of their house, which
they lived in together and sometimes
with flatmates to accommodate
their separate travels.
Irving said they each saved like
crazy for the deposit and they
specifically wanted to buy in an
area with good schools and good
resale.
“We literally got the white
board and a cork board out and
we had a map of Christchurch
and we drew around the school
zones. We said ‘we don’t want to
go here, here and here and we’re
flexible on those areas’,” she said.
Each listed their wants – she
wanted a log burner and a
garden – and cross-referenced
against areas, their budget and
the number of bedrooms.
Irving said they were clinical
about the purchase because they
knew they were buying to one
day sell.
“It was quite hard because we
had a lot of people say to us it
won’t work and it could get complicated
and everything like this
so we were quite aware it was a
business decision.
“We had to remove a certain
DEAL: Keeva Irving and
Nathan Lewis outside the
home on Sevenoaks Drive
in Bryndwr which they
recently sold at auction for
$850,000.
amount of emotion and there
would be times when he’d be
travelling and I would take on
the responsibility and vice versa.”
Irving said they did not have a
watertight legal agreement, saying
they were told because they
were not a couple they would
have been affected by the brightline
test if one of them wanted to
buy out the other.
But they each made their will,
which involved having a conversation
about what would happen
if one of them died, and the
result was an agreement that one
person would have first option to
buy the other out.
Sometimes there were difficult
conversations over the years
and sometimes it was difficult
to work out the financial split
exactly when one of them was
travelling, but Irving says it has
worked out around 50/50 and
they have not had a cross word.
They re-mortgaged last year
to take out $60,000 each. Irving
said with the sale of the house
each of them will get around
$140,000 once the legal fees and
commission are taken out.
That is money each can use for
their current properties – she has
bought with a partner and Lewis
is building with a partner.
Her advice for anyone contemplating
buying with a friend is to
make sure there is mutual trust.
“Don’t just go in with someone
because they’ve got some money.
You have to trust. You have to
be able to have those difficult
conversations but continue the
friendship, and you have to be
able to pull your weight and
know they’ll do theirs and look
after each other and be open and
honest financially.”
The pair both had full control
over the finances and also had a
kitty of money so if something
needed doing, they could access
the kitty and get it done.
For this pair, the end result
has been fantastic. They were
happy with a pre-auction offer
of $760,000 which brought the
auction forward but on the day
they watched rapid bidding send
their profit up.
“I’m still quite shocked,” said
Irving.
Bayleys Christchurch general
manager of sales Rachel Dovey
said not many friends bought
together but Irving and Lewis
had an exceptional trust level to
make the deal work.
“It’s not common. I think
you’ve got to have very good
friendship and you’ve got to have
a good financial understanding,”
she said.
“You’ve got obligations to the
bank and when people are coming
in and out, like flatmates,
you’ve got to keep your ducks in
order.”
Dovey acknowledges it is probably
easier for first-home buyers
to get on the housing ladder in
Christchurch because prices
are lower than in Auckland and
other centres.
“The median sales price is in
the $700,000s so technically a 10
per cent deposit is a lot cheaper
than $1m sale which is $100,000.
“We do see a lot of young people
who own property here and
values have gone up so some of
those people bought at $400,000
or $500,000.”
–NZ Herald
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