On House Hunt, we're tracking the highs... We own a home. ...and lows... It's just too expensive. ...of ordinary Kiwis across the country... Getting a house is very important. ...as they hunt for their first home in one of the most overpriced markets in the Western world. This time we're with Shandel Ngan Woo as she battles spiralling prices in South Auckland. I just want a slice of the pie, and it's just too expensive. And in Blenheim, house-hunting schoolteachers Chris and Joanna put each other on time out. How about you buy a house and then I go and buy a house? DRAMATIC MUSIC Copyright Able 2015 The northern South Island province of Marlborough has everything going for it ` sunshine, wineries, great scenery and plenty of space. Blenheim, in the heart of Marlborough, has a buoyant property market, and prices are on the up. Trying to get a first foothold here are teachers are teachers Joanna and Chris Charteris. They've been married for two years, and for Chris, it was love at first sight. I was immediately attracted to her. I thought she was gorgeous. Um, I thought she was out of my league. (CHUCKLES) The first time I asked her out, she actually said no, but I guess that only encouraged me further, and I just kept hassling her until she eventually agreed to go have a drink with me. Got to know him and actually realised that we had a lot in common. He was kind and caring, and he makes me laugh. He's understanding. All the things that I lack, she makes up for, I reckon. Like, I think she balances me out really well when it comes to... BOTH: ...finances. (LAUGHS) Common sense. (LAUGHS) He always asks what he can do to make me happy. Happy wife; happy life. Yeah. The happy wife would be even happier in her own home. Jo's a maths teacher, so naturally she's in charge of the budget. Our limit would be 400,000, but we are hoping to get a home in kind of the low 300,000. Jo's a self-confessed shopaholic. Yeah, I buy a lot of junk. (LAUGHS) But it's cheap junk, so it's OK. We would like to have a big garage with some shelving so we can store all of Jo's stuff. And Chris has a quirk or three of his own. I've got load of OCD-type things that Jo's had to get used to, like, um... He has to have his shoes perfectly aligned with the shoelaces in special kind of order, so when we first started seeing each other, as I would walk out, I used to kick his shoes. BOTH CHUCKLE Try and break his habit. After trawling the real estate ads, they're starting the search for their dream home here in the popular suburb or Witherlea. This three-bedroom house is close to good schools, parks and has a CV of $345,000. Could it be a serious contender? Looks like a really nice home. Kind of a shame it's next to a noisy road. Busy road ` that's two words you don't normally see in a real estate listing. Um, I really like this space. Yeah, it's nice and big. It's got a lovely big kitchen. Yeah, massive kitchen. It's quite flash space, but it's a little bit dark. So this must be the master bedroom. En suite. Cool. Look at the wardrobe! Jo's found the Holy Grail ` a room just for her shoes. That can be Jo's space, and that can be Chris' space. Yep. Beautiful en suite. But cleanaholic Chris immediately spots a cause for concern. I'd still have to use the squeegee on that, though. Like, shower time's supposed to be relaxing, and that's just a chore at the end of a relaxing time. I'm just, yeah, not a fan, but I s'pose I'll have to get over it. And as the viewing progresses, that's not the only thing stressing Chris out. Those are all right. Something funky going on in there. Chip on the wardrobe as well. Past domestic incident, perhaps. You can hear the noise when the... It's not double glazing. No, it's not double-glazed. Lots of storage. Check the water. WATER RUNS Outside, the garden is perfect, so long as Jo and Chris don't plan to become naturists. The neighbour's house, the second storey kind of looks straight down into the yard, so it will impact on the whole privacy thing. > Before starting their family, Jo and Chris want a family dog. Chris wants a collie. Jo wants something smaller. Luckily, the garden will suit them both. This is, like, the ideal space for a dog. Yeah. Big dog as well. Lots of room to run around. No big dogs. (CHUCKLES) Buying their first home is a huge step for the couple, and Chris wants to make sure they're insured against the future. His dad lost money on a home, so naturally he's a bit anxious about the whole process. We're mainly concerned about how we'd resell the property in a few years' time. It ticks a lot of boxes, but there's still a few too many ifs. If only resale was all Shandel Ngan Woo and husband Steven had to worry about. It's sold! No way! Really disheartening. I... Bit lost for words, really. They're searching for their first family home in South Auckland, where prices are going ballistic. At this stage, I'm thinking, 'Wow, are we ever gonna get on the property ladder?' Sometimes you just can't compete with investor dollars. Armed with a budget of $400,000, they're looking for a three-bed family home, ideally in Otara, the suburb they know and love. People say, 'Oh, you live in Otara?' because we tend to be portrayed in the media as, you know, um, an unfortunate area to live in, a lot of poor people. But it's what you make of the area. Not everybody's bad. I mean, even if you asked me if I had a million dollars, what would I do with it, I think I'd` yeah, to be honest, I'd stay around here. But without a million dollars to spend, Shandel's been forced to spread her search from Otara, where her family live, further south, to Manurewa. It's not her ideal location, but it could be more affordable. With a CV of $370,000, at least this solid weatherboard bungalow is on budget. Once again, Shandel's best friend, Stephy, is here to lend moral support. Uh, it's, um, very dark. Yeah. Is this the sitting room? Cos it's quite... It's a little bit small. It is pretty small and awkward. Oh, OK. It's the old kitchen? Yeah, this looks pretty` pretty original, but then again, I think it's s'posed to be retro, and retro's back in fashion, so... And for the things that you have, Shan, that bench is not gonna be enough... for you to put all your things on there. Yeah. Yeah, I know. I'll probably... It's really dated. It's old. For Shandel, three things are top of mind ` price, potential and a safe environment. Ah. Oh my God, Shan, there is holes on this door. They look like punch holes. Well, maybe we could get a discount, then. We could bring the price down. This is not the house where Once Were Warriors was...? (LAUGHS) I'm not sure. I'm not sure. Only two out of three isn't bad. Oh, a little bit more. So this house has probably got a lot of history. Oh, OK. Even the modest aspiration of a bath for her kids is down the drain for now. Look how small the sink is. It's all right if we're Thumbelina, maybe. I don't it was planned out properly. I really don't like this place. So far, so depressing, but outside, Shandel notices at least one distinguishing feature of this property. Oh wow. You would probably only fit one car in here if you get to use it. Probably no cars. I think Steven would wanna bags this for his man cave if anything. Oh, OK. Yeah. (CHUCKLES) There's no` Look. For Shandel, security is always an issue. So that's not safe. Oh, yes, here's the window. (LAUGHS) It's down there. (LAUGHS) They're windows. Anybody can come in here or jump in. But that's not the only lurking danger. Oh my gosh, what's this?! Part of a rifle. Looks like a gun. This is, like, a AK-90... (GASPS) OK, that's` that's... Oh, OK. Um... That's pretty dubious. I mean, I'm not a gun expert, but that pretty much looks like a... Uh, what people lived here? Oh my gosh, sorry. Oh my gosh, and there's some more holes. (LAUGHS) That... (LAUGHS) Oh my gosh. OK, let's go. Let's go. Nah, let's get outta here. (LAUGHS) It's the final straw that sends them out the door. This house may not be for Shandel, but others have seen its potential. It's already attracted seven pre-auction offers, and the realities of the South Auckland housing market are hitting home. Feeling so dejected. You know, for a house is this current condition, and if it's already had seven offers, I'm already feeling like I've got really no chance, and I'm` I'm left again just hung out to dry. It's just really sad. It's really disheartening. It's South Auckland. You know, I'm not looking to live in Remuera. I just want a slice of the pie, and it's just too expensive. Yeah. It's OK, Shan. It will happen someday. Don't worry. It will happen. Thanks, Stephy. Just stay positive. Sorry. Yeah. WHISPERS: Watch this. WHISPERS: Watch this. TAP! Huh? Huh. Huh. This is Glowie. Together with our Community Services Card, Glowie could help us save on power. And because he's pre-paid, Mum's in control of her dollars. She can even top up from here. He even changes colour when it's top-up time. But now it's play time! Get smarter about power. See if you could save with GLOBUG. (GIGGLES) In Blenheim, Chris and Jo Charteris are looking for their first home. The second property they're viewing is in the centre of town. This three-bed weatherboard house has the character Jo loves, but it's been newly renovated, so Chris is hoping it will have less wear and tear than the last place. With a CV of $310,000, could this be the one? Kia ora, guys. Gidday. How's it going? Hi. Good, Chris. How are you? Joanna. I'm Michael. High-energy local agent Michael Rea is simply busting to show and tell. INTRIGUING MUSIC Wow. It's a lovely big kitchen. Straight to the kitchen, Joanna. Good to see. Yep. (LAUGHS) Do you think we're gonna get all our appliances in here, Chris? Uh, no. It'd probably be pretty tight. It's really nice, though, eh? It is very nice. Why's she got a, like, surveillance system? Like, is this place, is this area, a burgled neighbourhood or anything like that? No, I wouldn't imagine so, Chris. OK. But a big, strong man like you, you'll be able to protect the property. (LAUGHS) Just get a nice big dog to help me. Nah, nah, it's nothing like that. Yeah. > < No. (CHUCKLES) Open plan, which is quite nice. It's what we wanted. Nice big lounge. It's got a heat pump. Yeah, it's a really nice place. It feels nice and light. Compared to the other place we looked at, I think it feels better. Two rooms in, and this house is starting to feel like home. Ooh, it's got lots of storage for all my shoes. Think she'd see it as a bit of a challenge, see if she could fill it up. OK, so this is the master bedroom. This is quite nice. Yeah. To have that open, and it's, like, really private, I think that's quite cool. And then you could bring me a coffee and breakfast, and we could have it out there. Now, then, Jo. It's a home, not a hotel. It's very cool. Beautiful outdoor area. So we could do, like, entertainment out here, which would be quite nice. In the evening, you'll get all your sun streaming in here, so you can chill out on the deck, obviously have a nice barbecue. If you really wanna max relax, you got those sweet chairs under the tree as well. We could fence it off and have, like, a little dog pen. It would have to be a small dog. Lots of space and storage for Jo; not much glass to clean for Chris ` except for this bit. What do you think about this glass? Do you like it? Uh, as long as I don't have to clean it. It probably would get dirty. The place does tick a lot of boxes for us. Um, we do` Well, I really like it, and I hope` hope Chris does as well. It's got a lot of, like, modern renovations done to it, so I guess it kind of blends the whole character thing that Jo likes and the kind of modern aspect that I'm more looking for. Yeah, yeah. So, um, it's looking really promising. So house number two in Chris and Jo's quest to find Blenheim bliss is definitely an advance on auction number one. But their search isn't over yet. The next house is back in popular Witherlea. It's this modern three-bed home on Hope Dr, and it's rather magnificent, but it comes complete with a premium CV of $425,000 to go with its superior address. Oh, that's pretty flash, Jo. Yeah, it does look quite flash. Hi. Hey, guys. Agent Bryan Palmer cuts straight to the chase. One particular selling point will hopefully seal the deal. I think this is what you'll really really like. OK. Yeah, sure. Oh wow. It is nice. It's a good bit of yard, Jo. It is. Good enough for a dog? I can see one, two, three, four children playing out there. (LAUGHS) Not on a teacher's salary, mate. Chris might have to head for the headmaster's job if they're gonna have four kids. That's where our coffee machine could go. Compared to what we've looked at so far, I think this is kind of the style of house that I'm looking for. Wow. This is pretty awesome. Chris checks the bathroom for glass infestation. He'd clean five acres of it if this house was the reward. You'd have to squeegee down the walls, though. (CHUCKLES) Yeah. OK, third bedroom. They all feel, like, quite spacious. And it's in really good condition. Both Chris and Jo can really see themselves in this house for a long, happy time. Perfect. I can tell it's probably a bloke who's set this up, eh, so a like mind, I think. He's got the sport gear in here. They love this house, but it's over $100,000 more than the last place they viewed. So, it's priced at 455. What do you think of that? I` I'm... not really sure, to be honest, Bryan. (LAUGHS) OK. Uh, it's definitely at the top of our budget, but we are willing to go to the top end of our budget. It's their dream home, but with an asking price of $455,000, it might just stay that way. For Jo and Chris, it's time to talk, review and decide. Do they blow the budget for their dream home on Hope Dr? Or keep it conservative and choose the cheaper Scott St address? Would you like to put an offer on either one of these places? I would. OK, which one? To be honest, I would like to put an offer on Hope Dr at 395. I would go at maybe 390. Just so you can move up to 395. The thing is, Chris, we don't wanna insult them. She's gonna reject the first offer no matter what. She'll count it. Never know. > No, you do know. This is how negotiations work. Jo and Chris are new to the game of house-hunting. You're frustrating me. But offering 395 on a place that's asking 455 is optimistic. Money talks, but the lower you go, the harder it is to hear. We'll just see what they come back at, and, um` and if not, then we might give Scott St a go. OK. South Auckland house-hunters Shandel Ngan Woo and husband Steven are desperate to buy but reluctant to overborrow. This house in Manurewa was far from Shandel's dream home, but it could be within their $400,000 budget, so she wants to see what price it will fetch at auction. When you see people coming out, and you just know, 'Oh, yeah, investor, investor, investor,' and you're just thinking, 'Wow, what is this eventually gonna go for?' She's about to find out. The auction gets off to a flying start, with bids soon making a mockery of the CV of $370,000. 380,000. > 380,000 the bid. Good strong bid at $380,000. 400,000. A chance over and above. 400,000 here. The first few bids fall on Shandel's ears like a succession of bombshells. $400,000. < 410,000. 410,000. Good bid, sir. Even if Shandel had wanted the house, it's all academic now, with each bid taking her further away from her dream. At $420,000. Third. 425,000. > 425,000. Good bid. $425,000. 431,000. At 431,000. 432,000. Now 432,000. At $432,000. Shandel's starting to feel like home ownership is just something for other people. First call at 438,000. 440,000. 440,000, and a good bid. We are on the market to be sold. There's no tomorrow. So $440,000. It's all here. 442,000. Now 442,000. At $442,000. < So 442,000. Again, your call. First time. < Second time. Third, final time. $442,000. Selling away. Sold. Well done. $442,000. The house finally sells to investors who plan to rent it out. Shandel's left reeling. Uh, I think we'll be looking at moving to Ngaruawahia at this stage. Having a home to call our own ` personally, I think that dream is maybe more of a nightmare at the moment. Coming up ` Joanna and Chris learn a painful lesson in real estate for beginners. < You need to let go a little bit. People buy and sell houses all the time. ELECTRONIC MUSIC There's a steep learning curve in the real estate game, and overnight in Blenheim, Chris and Jo have learnt a basic lesson. Not surprisingly, their offer of $395,000 for the $455,000 dream home was firmly rejected. They've turned their attention to the more practical Scott St property. We've kinda come to the point where we really think that this house is going to be the right one for us. We're a little bit excited at the prospect of owning our own home. But first they need their offer to be accepted, so they've come to see agent Michael Rea, and things are about to get serious. So, this is the agreement for sale and purchase. So obviously with all the details that you've provided, I've prepared this for you guys. It's obviously on the market at negotiations over 319. > What would you like your initial offer to be? Would you like to do the honours? Um, we're gonna put 295. You think that'll be your best offer to start with, or would you consider going a little bit more? From the perspective of the owner as well, it'll be a bit of a shock to obviously be at 319, and obviously to consider something just starting with a 2. It's, like` Although it's not that far off, it's just that psychology thing sometimes. Would you look at maybe doing an initial offer around 300, which is five grand more? What do you think? Yeah, I'm happy with that. OK. Yep. Let's do it. Cool. Righty-oh. Buying a home is one of the most emotionally gruelling experiences, because it's such a huge investment. Not surprisingly, Chris and Jo are stressed to the max. Very good. So are youse excited? Um... Depends. (CHUCKLES) Yeah, we're kinda not... Depends on the outcome. We are excited, but, um, we don't wanna, like, get our hopes up until it's, like, a done deal. Yeah, absolutely. Yep. Now they face an agonising wait to see if their offer is accepted. After months of house-hunting, Shandel is discovering the sobering truth ` she's been pretty much priced out of her own suburb, with investors sending prices sky-high. And it's something that's happening to a lot of people trying to buy their first home. I feel dejected. I really feel deflated. I don't know how much worse it can get before it gets better. Relentlessly positive, Shandel's not about to give up on her dream just yet. She'll keep searching. I like to think that I'm an optimistic person. I always like to look at the glass that it's always half full. But the way that the housing market is going, it's really hard to keep that, um, optimism. Keep looking. Keep trying. Yeah. Oh, and are you gonna buy a Lotto ticket this` tonight? (LAUGHS) Yeah. Yeah. (LAUGHS) But in sunny Blenheim, the clouds are gathering for Chris and Jo. They've increased their offer on Scott St to $310,000, but the vendor's come back with $315,000. And Jo has another problem to deal with. A sleep-deprived Chris has woken up feeling rather anxious. See, I'm not sure about 310 now. I just don't know why you've gone off it. Just realising I'm not fully at peace with spending all that money and locking ourselves into this deal that we could possibly regret in the future. I really like the property, and I don't think I would regret it. My heart's in this home. Yes, um, I can see that. But we wanna make sure that we're gonna be happy living in here for a significant amount of time. (GROANS) Last thing we wanna do is buy a home and then find out that there's loud neighbours. I'm gonna need some sort of counselling after this. (CHUCKLES) Well, they do say buying a house can be more stressful than divorce. For Chris, the breaking point may not be far away. It's a big decision, yeah. But you need to let go a little bit. People buy and sell houses all the time. Well, maybe we should look at the Property Press again and just go through it one more time. < No, I don't think so. Yeah, I think so. Don't think about resale, Chris. Think about a house that you'd be happy in. (SIGHS) You can't say just buy a house that you'd be happy in. OK. SOFT, TENSE MUSIC (SIGHS) How about you buy a house and then I go and buy a house. Next time ` Jo and Chris' stress levels soar... Just feel over it. There's not a lot of empathy between me and her, to be honest. ...as they gear up for the biggest investment of their lives. And wanted ` an entry-level three-bedroom home in West Auckland. Do they still exist? It's on a slope. A lot of Asian in the auction, and they have tons of money, but unfortunately I'm not one of those. (LAUGHS) Captions were made possible with funding from NZ On Air. Copyright Able 2015