First Home Buyer

First Home Buyer

Buying your first home is a big step, and can be daunting or feel out of reach at times. At Good Shepherd, we love making the buying process as simple as possible. We have a team of mortgage experts that are ready to help you on your property journey.

Have a Plan

The first step to buying a new home is reviewing your finance and work out what money you currently have to put towards a deposit, also what you can afford to spend with a mortgage. Generally, banks are restricted by the reserve bank "Loan to Value"(LVR), and prefer to see at least 10% deposit of the purchase price.

The deposit can be made up of:

› Genuine Savings

› KiwiSaver contributions

› First Home Grant

› Gifts or assistance from family

Some lender requires at least 5% deposit comes from your own saving which you have save over a period of time. In NZ, there are a number of great schemes that can assist first home buyers to obtain deposit faster.


In addition to the deposit, understand that there may be some other costs in the process of buying a property.

  • Building inspection 
  • Home Loan Costs - Lender may charge some upfront loan costs, e.g. Loan application fee，Low equity margin fee.
  • Registered Valuation Costs 
  • Legal fees 
  • Home and contents insurance 
  • A Land Information Memorandum (LIM) report


Contact mortgage experts for an assessment

I have my deposit, what is next? Talk to our mortgage adviser for an loan assessment.

Assessing how much you can borrow will help you to narrow down the property search. This means we will look at your savings, combined income and current debt etc,. Normally, the  following documents will be required:

  • Evidence of deposit
  • Confirmation of income - your income source can be Salary or Wages/Self-employed  income/ Rental income / Boarder income/Commission,Bonus,Overtime/Superannuation or Government Benefits
  • Account conduct - The latest three months bank statements
  • ID verification
  • Sale & Purchase Agreement (if you have sined one)

Our mortgage adviser will help you to organise the necessary supporting documents that goes along with the application.


Get your finance pre-approval

Although it is not absolutely necessary to have pre-approval in place before finding a property, but it makes things a lot easier. 

We’re here to help you with the pre-approval process, our mortgage broker can help you negotiate with multiple lenders, our service are free that don’t cost you anything. Our adviser will always act in your best interests and may mean you have a better chance of success with your application the first time around.

In this step, the lender will review your circumstances to ensure you are eligible for a home loan. While the home loan application process varies from bank to bank, which generally takes 3-7 working days. Once your application is approved in principle, your will receive a Pre-approval subject to conditions to be met, e.g. a signed sale and purchase agreement etc,.


Start hunting your ideal house

With pre-approval, you can confidently start hunting for a house within your budget. Remember, don’t only look at finding your dream house, but also take consider if you can afford it.

Once you have found your ideal home, you need to make an offer on the property either through auction process or negotiation and sign a sale and purchase agreement. A copy of the contract with details of your property need to be submitted to the bank to ensure bank is happy to lend you the money against the property. 

If all goes well, the bank will give an unconditional loan approval. At this point, the bank will offer you their terms and conditions for the loan. These will include interest rates, loan term, indicative loan repayments, and any cash contribution to cover off the legal and other expenses that you’ve incurred to date.


Structure your home loan in the right way 

A home loan is a big commitment . The structure of your loan will determine how long it will take you to fully repay the loan. Finding the right mortgage structure is an essential step in the loan process that could help you pay your mortgage off sooner and reduce the overall amount of interest you'll pay.  First home buyers should seek advice from our mortgage broker on how to structure your loan that best suits your circumstances and achieve your finance goals.

Upon your loan structure has been set up, the lender will send out the loan documents to your solicitor for the sign. 

Now you can start preparing to move into your house.