On House Hunt, we're tracking the highs... CLINK! ...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, Queenstown couple Will and Grace get some worrying news about the house they've fallen in love with and want to buy. Don't get upset. (WHIMPERS) And can Auckland couple Jess and Simon find a house that suits them both? I don't think there's a lot of room for expansion, really. There's no yard. Right. So you don't like it, then? (LAUGHS) Not really. I think we need to maybe talk about it some more. BOTH GUFFAW The Auckland housing market is spiralling out of control. Five years ago, the average price of a home was around $530,000. Now, it's over $800,000. Even houses in Sydney and Melbourne are more affordable. It's never been so hard to buy your first home here. But 20-somethings Jess Moselen and her partner, Simon Dodd, are determined to give it a go. We have been together for two years now. Um, we have` A fantastic two years. (LAUGHS) A fantastic two years, yeah. Um, not so much for me, maybe. (GUFFAWS) Do you cut out all the guts, honey? Oh. No, don't bother with that. (LAUGHS) These two lovebirds have found each other, but now the hunt is on to find their first home. This is our first big purchase together. Apart from the bed and the... (LAUGHS) bedside tables. This is almost bigger than marriage, buying a house. It's, you know... There's a lot riding on it. Mm. Getting a house is very important. It's right up there, you know, in terms of the NZ dream. You know ` your own little patch. We'll be willing to sacrifice a lot of other things to make it happen. Oh, with that big diamond cup on it? Ah, yeah. That's here at the yard. Simon's a warehouse manager, and Jess helps her mum run the family childcare business. It's a sign of the times that despite their respectable incomes, they're struggling to get on the ladder. We don't have a 20% deposit, and that really freaked us out when the banks put that in. Fortunately we've got parents that have jumped in and said that they're willing to help out, and so that's really the main reason why we can do it now. I think it's basically the only real reason we can actually buy a property ` is from our parents helping out. Otherwise, you know, realistically, you can't save 100 grand. Jess and Simon are aiming for a three-bedroom home on a full quarter-acre site. It's the Kiwi dream, but in Auckland, their budget of $600,000 is rapidly becoming chump change. We have been looking for a couple of months now. We are finding it quite stressful, because we're getting bid out pretty much everywhere we go. We want a three-bedroom with an outdoor area and a garage for Simon. We don't know how we're gonna pay it all off, but that's gonna be the` Part of the` Yeah, it's all part of the fun. Everyone else is doing it, so we may as well roll with them too. This fun-loving couple are born and bred on the North Shore, so naturally, the bridge is the boundary. They've enlisted local agent Terry Connell to help them search for their first home in their preferred areas of Beach Haven and Birkdale. Terry's been selling property around here for more than a decade. She's seen it go from draught beer, to craft beer. When I first worked it 14 years ago, it was a case of locking your doors, um, wondering if your tyres are gonna be there when you got out of your open home. But things have changed a lot. Now you sit here and you watch the Mercs pull out, the BMWs pull out. For suburbs, nothing says you've arrived like a new ferry service. Jess and Simon will have to hurry along if they don't wanna miss the boat. This area is going insane at the moment. There are a lot of first-home buyers back out there again, and, yes, the competition is fierce down here. Terry's tipped Jess and Simon off to a new listing that could be right up their street, and it's in their favourite suburb, Beach Haven. This house on Melba St is a Kiwi classic. The famous 3-bedroom weatherboard bungalow with wooden floors, a garage, a quarter acre and a CV of $570,000. CURIOUS MUSIC It would be nice to have the TV along there as well, I think. Yeah. And a couch there and a couch there. It's already picture-postcard pretty, but Jess and Simon reckon it has hidden potential. A lot of things you could do with it, though. Mm-hm. This is, like, the key space that you could really... Yeah. ...you'd wanna develop. So far so good. But in the kitchen, Simon spots a potential problem. You can't put a TV in here, so you'd have to have a conversation when you're having dinner. (CHORTLES) That's true. We could actually speak to each other. That would be quite nice. And there's an even bigger set-back. Oh my gosh. There's nowhere for a dishwasher. No. You're right. What's in here? That's the hot water cylinder. No dishwasher. Oh well, that's me washing dishes again for the rest of my life. Doing the dishes all night means there's no time to watch TV anyway. So what about the rest of the house? You could get lots of towels in there. You could get lots of towels. We've got lots of towels. I know. (LAUGHS) The master bedroom might be a bit of a squeeze. I think that you wouldn't fit our bed in here. This would be the room that you'd rent out. It would be really tight. But creative Jess sees room for improvement. I think you'd put French doors in. Why? For the style. The style's your department. I don't really care. (LAUGHS) Jess and Simon like entertaining, and the garden is custom-made for city soirees. It's a nice area, this, eh? Yeah. Good for entertaining. Mm. So, with a happy Simon on board, could this be the house for them? I love it. Yeah. We love it. It's awesome. Yeah, sort of really what we're looking for ` the weatherboard, the hardwood floors. There's things that can be done. You can put your own stamp on it. It ticks all the boxes. Yup, it's great. The auction for this house isn't for a couple of weeks, so Jess and Simon think they have plenty of time to think it over. But this is Auckland, and they're not the only ones looking for a house like this. In Queenstown, NZ'S most popular tourist destination, energetic young Brits Will and Grace are also hoping to buy their first home. After ruling out a Central Queenstown apartment,... (SNIFFS) Had bit of a funky odour downstairs. ...and a townhouse with views, they fell in love with this character cottage further out in Frankton. Wow. This is cute. Love the beams. Will and Grace may be new to property, but they're savvy enough to know that cottage charm can equal maintenance nightmare. So they've enlisted inspector Mark van Beers to steer them straight with a builders report. He's being paid to be ruthlessly honest. Noticing a bit of moisture ingress around the chimney up here. When you get moisture into it, it expands. So there we go ` a bit puffy. So to confirm if it's leaking or not, we have a thermal-imaging camera and capacitance moisture meter. Give it a bit of a test. Getting a higher reading there. BEEP! Definitely wet. We've got damage on the window jamb here. This tile's cracked. Yeah, some rough seals going on there. After inspecting the house with a fine-tooth comb, Mark goes down under. Not much room in this one. Yeah, a couple of issues going on. There's a few loose fixings. And the flashing around the chimney ` someone's had a go at having a seal with silicone, but she's pretty rough and ready. It's still currently leaking. You'll obviously need to get a professional roofer in there to do a proper job. Mark's list of concerns is considerable. But will his lengthy report be enough to put Will and Grace off? So that's a bit of an issue, I think, will be that leak on the roof. Yeah. We should probably get that looked at properly. Things like a crack in the tile, that's not really a biggie, I don't think. DIY it. Yeah. We read this, and it looks like a pile of bad stuff, but actually, it's probably just minimal stuff based on that. Yeah. No, it doesn't really worry us about buying it, does it, really? No. It's not really a biggie. Best to be safe. Getting this done is also quite good for your peace of mind, I think, as well. Isn't it? Yeah. Definitely. With a builder's report in the bag, Will and Grace are good to go ` to the bank, at least. Now they face a nervous wait until auction day. SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC In Queenstown, novice house-hunters Will and Grace are steeling themselves for battle. Tonight, the house that captured their hearts will go under the hammer, and now they have to decide what they're willing to pay for it. What do you think we should do as max? 490, 495 is kind of what we wanna spend. 495. Yeah, max. 495, max. And if the reserve goes pretty much over what` you know, over our budget, it goes over our budget, you know? I don't think it will be, but if it is, what can we do? We want it, obviously. We'd love to get this house. We love it, but` Yeah, we'd love to. This is a huge commitment for this young British couple, who until now have been footloose and fancy-free travelling the world. It's pretty stressful. It's still, like` This is probably the biggest step that we've ever taken. Oh, yeah. Me, personally. Like, you know, it's... It's a big step for anyone, isn't it? Um, and, like, relationship-wise, it's massive, really. I've been, um, a bit of a mess all week, trying not to think about it. Missing her mum. Aren't you? Yeah, I'm missing, yeah, my mum. With her family so far away in the UK, the pressure of house-hunting is clearly taking its toll. Don't get upset. (WHIMPERS) Trying not to stress. (GROANS) Uh. I'm just being silly. Got to ride out the storm, I think it's known as. (LAUGHS) Yeah. In Auckland, Jess and Simon love this weatherboard house on Melba St in Beach Haven. But with a couple of weeks until the auction, they're hitting the open-home circuit to see how other places compare. The next one they're looking at is just down the road, in Birkdale. This three-bedroom do-up in Stott Ave is sunny, sheltered and private. With a CV of $530,000, it's cheaper than Melba St. The location's good, but what about the house itself? I mean, it's got nice windows and things. Good ranch slider there. It's quite nice. The kitchen is nowhere near as large or beautifully renovated as the other place. ...knocking through that wall. You're obsessed with knocking through walls. I really want a sledgehammer at some point. You've just gotta have this wall knocked through. And there's limited potential for expansion in the bedrooms. It hasn't jumped out at me. The room's pretty small. But that hasn't put Jess off. There's a lot you could do to it; there's a lot of options. So it doesn't look like it's had a lot done to it, so it seems to have the bones that we're looking for, with the weatherboards and... What do you think? I think there's little room for expansion, really. There's no yard. Right. So you don't like it, then? (LAUGHS) Not really. But` OK. (LAUGHS) All right. I think we need to maybe talk about it some more. BOTH GUFFAW The third and final house on their shortlist is back in their favourite suburb of Beach Haven. This three-bedroom beauty is refreshed, ready to move into and just 10 minutes from Jess' work. With a CV of just $485,000, it's the cheapest house they've seen. This area is really nice. Mm. It's got nice doors and things. You'd have your TV here and straight out on to the deck. Yeah. Good entertaining space. Their words may be positive, but their faces tell a different story. It's not a bad-sized room. I think I've already decided that I hate it here, though. BOTH LAUGH So far this place just doesn't compare to their dream home on Melba St. But will the outdoor space sway them? This is nice. Yeah, this is nice. Nice and sunny. Kiwi blokes pride themselves on their DIY DNA,... (KNOCKS TWICE) ...and Simon's keen to give this place the once over. Did that satisfy you? That's solid. That's solid? What, is that your building skills? Definitely know what I'm doing (!) So is it a solid yes or a solid no? I don't think it's for us. I know what I don't want, and I don't` I don't want something that's already sort of complete; I wanna be able to put my stamp on things. I think we might have our heart set as well, so that could be, yeah, coming into the play. Yeah. This place has just confirmed what they already knew ` Melba St is the house for them. Now they need to decide what they're willing to pay for it. But before they can do that, they get a call that changes everything. Hi. It's, uh, Terry from Harcourts. I thought I'd just give you a quick ring to just let you know that there's been a pre-auction offer accepted on Melba St, and, um, just ringing to see whether or not you had any further interest in that property or if you'd like to pursue it any further. With a rival pre-auction offer accepted, the auction has been brought forward to tomorrow. The pressure is on for Jess and Simon, and they're seeking advice and reassurance from the real estate agent. The offer that has been given is now the starting bid, or is that just the reserve? Um, it will get opened up at the offer that stopped the auction, so you're instantly on the market the minute, um, it gets announced by the auctioneer, and you have an option` all the buyers have an option to bid on top of. Um, you're soon gonna know whether or not, um, you're in the ballpark the minute it gets opened. OK. So within the first call we're gonna know whether or not we've got a chance. Yes. So you either see smiley faces or sad faces. Now they know how it works and what they're in for, Jess and Simon have precisely 24 hours to decide how much this house is worth to them and what they're willing to pay for it. We still really love it. It's got basically everything that we want in a house. Yes, we are gonna have a crack, we think. Yeah. Yeah. I think once we saw this house and the inside, we always knew that we were gonna have a crack. At $570,000, the CV is riding dangerously close to their limit of $600,000. CVs mean nothing in Auckland, so Jess and Simon need a cash fix quick to be in with a chance. In Queenstown, another auction is just an hour from starting. Will and Grace are about to bid on their dream cottage, and the nerves are kicking in. Yeah, pretty stressed. Keep calm, you know? While Grace puts the final touches to her warpaint, Will has his own way of staying calm. Will's coping good. Yeah. He's, um, I think having a glass of wine out there somewhere. He's pretty calm, to be honest. It's how I deal with stuff, I think. Cos I'm always, like, just kind of pretty chilled. And who knows ` when the auction comes, I could be a quivering mess. Which I probably will be. TENSE MUSIC These days, property auctions are the biggest show in town. Will and Grace must sit through the bidding on eight other properties before the one they want comes under the hammer. 950! At 950, welcome to the bidding at 950. Take it. 970, and... GAVEL BANGS ...it is sold. Congratulations. As if things weren't tense enough, Will and Grace must endure the auction of a property they know very well. Stewart St. Great first home, great location. Anywhere at all to start us off? Will and Grace decided against this house because they thought it didn't have enough character. But it's certainly not stopping other bidders. 480. 480 we have. The bidding tips over the 500 mark, well above CV. Will and Grace know that if their auction is as competitive as this one, their dream home could slip away. 531. It's now against you again, sir. It's sold. 531. CLAPPING Finally, Will and Grace's moment arrives. Their agent, Kirsty, is primed and ready to bid for them up to their strict maximum of $495,000 and not a penny more. Douglas St in Frankton. It's a very very affordable kick-start into the Queenstown market. Do we have an opening bid at all? 400. 400,000. Thank you, Kirsty. 420 anywhere at all in the room? Ladies and gentlemen, on behalf... There's another bidder on the phone, but so far, they're holding back. 40! 440 in the room. 460 anywhere at all? 460 I'm looking for. On behalf of the vendors, I'll advance it one more time at 460,000. 460. The bid is here with me on behalf of the vendors at 460. Looking for 480 now. 480 anywhere at all in the room? 80! Thank you, Kirsty. At 480 we have. A good time to mention, ladies and gentlemen, that at 480, we're going to sell this property tonight. 480 is the bid. I'm looking for five. Anywhere at all in the room, 485, ladies and gentlemen. Kirsty's strategy of aggressive bidding is working, but with the price nearing Will and Grace's maximum ceiling, one late bid could spell disaster. I call it once at 480,000. TENSE MUSIC The hammer comes up, then, at 480,000. In Queenstown, Brits Will and Grace are on the brink of securing their very own piece of NZ. But they're close to their limit, right on the edge, and one late bid could blow them out of the water. I call it once at 480. Twice at 480,000. Third, final time at 480,000. Douglas St is going. It is going. It is sold. WHOOPING, CHEERING After an agonising wait, they've done it. I was like, 'Put that <BLEEP>ing hammer down.' The house is theirs for 480,000, leaving them some cash spare to fix the roof. We got it! Amazing! Um, yeah. (CHUCKLES) Is she's excited? Little bit. (GIGGLES) My stomach flipped. (LAUGHS) We're stoked. For that price, now we own a home, so... Yay! We own a home. Double. (LAUGHS) It's mad, isn't it? SIGHS: Oh. I think William needs a drink. (LAUGHS) Yeah. (GUFFAWS) In Auckland, Jess and Simon are dealing with some bad news. A rival pre-auction offer has been accepted on their dream home, and the auction has been brought forward to tomorrow. If they want to bid, they need access to cash, and fast. So once again, they're turning to the bank of Mum and Dad. The bank has said we can go up to 600. Mm-hm. If the bank feels 600,000's your limit, then 600,000's your limit. We've got a little bit more money to play with. I think we could realistically go up to 615. We'll do the deposit for you. So that gives you peace of mind so you can go to the auction. OK. And then we will pay you back once the money comes in. Dad rides to the rescue with some funds, if needed, and some advice ` whether they want it or not. < You don't wanna get into an emotional decision-making here. < It's hard not to; you fall in love with the house. I do love it. It's a big site; it's beautiful wooden floors; it's got good bones. It's well-kept. It's well-maintained. Do not go beyond your limit. Basically, this is our maximum, then ` 615. < All right, stick to it. Do not go beyond it. OK. Thanks to their parents, Jess and Simon have some wriggle room. Their limit for this house is now $615,000. But will even that be enough? UPBEAT MUSIC In Queenstown, Will and Grace have collected the keys to their new home. Now they're settling down to the important business of settling in. It's crazy doing stuff like this. Like, I feel like my mother. (GIGGLES) We definitely feel more settled in NZ now. It's amazing. 100m2. We own a patch of the country now. This is ours. We can do what we want to it, you know? 'Let's knock a wall down.' I was like, 'Why? Because I can.' It's been a rough ride through Queenstown real estate country but worth it. It's still sinking in. We love, like, our bedroom. It's a great size. We put the bed up and everything on it the first day. No, I put the bed up. Yeah, you put the bed up. Yeah. I did the sheets, though. You did. You did the sheets. In the UK, men escape to the pub. But here, Will has his very own man cave. Our` Our garden shed. Actually it looks a little bit like a drug den, but you come inside and it's just unbelievable. So I've got, obviously, all my windsurf gear, which is nice; all our skis, boards, golf clubs... and my very limited, kind of, tool bench at the back there. I just love my shed. Yeah. It's a good shed to have. And Grace isn't allowed in here, so... it's my space. As the saying goes, first comes the house, then comes marriage. Pfbbbt! Nah-ah. Absolutely not. BOTH CHUCKLE No. Hell, no. So no wedding bells. But maybe the pitter-patter of tiny paws instead? Couple of months, we'll get a dog. Oh. Really? For sure. It's ready for a dog. Few months. Couple. Few. It's ready. It's all fully fenced. We'll start with a dog and then give it 20 years and go from there, maybe. Urgh. (LAUGHS) Next time, it's auction day for Jess and Simon. A lot of people are gonna go home disappointed. But will they listen to Dad's advice? JESS: Now I've gotta stop myself from getting excited and overbidding when we don't actually have any more money. And in Wellington, will visa delays prevent newlywed immigrants Sam and Maria buying their first home? I just want to enquire regarding my wife's passport. Captions were made possible with funding from NZ On Air. Copyright Able 2015