Rebecca, Jennings, kids and Rebecca’s father have moved into their new home out in Sunnyvale. They tell the story of their journey here.
“Before moving into our new home through Housing Foundation, we had been renting together for 13 years, from when we got married.”
“I hated giving my money over. Now we are giving our money for our future. It puts us in a really good position to think about the future financially. If you dream big, you can work towards your goal.”
“While renting we have had to move 3 times due to landlords selling, one time twice in the same month.”
“We are all about family and we couldn’t forecast, it was really stink. Not fair to be lugging three little ones around. Our family is number one. We were prepared to do whatever we had to do to get them in a good place. We were in the landlords hands.
We had been planning and talking about buying our own home for years. Including meeting with a mortgage broker to see if our current financial situation would work. Then through word of mouth, we found out about The Housing Foundation.”
“It seemed too good to be true. I was nervous filling in the application. When we met with Nigel we had lots and lots of questions and he answered all of them clearly and honestly.”
“What made it easier was we didn’t have a credit card, no dog leashes. No Hire Purchase. We had one and got ripped off. We have learnt from that. We live simply within our means.”
If you want stuff, save. Be disciplined.
“My Dad gifted us the deposit from his redundancy payment, he lives with us. He has realised exactly what his contribution has done – he has seen what it has made. His attitude is completely different – he has pride in the house because he invested in it. It’s great having him living with us. He has the attitude that it is the best money that he has spent in his whole life.”
“Family members were concerned and wanted us to make sure this wasn’t a scam. We had to make sure all our T’s were crossed and I’s dotted, which is good financial practice. I have also been aware of Tindall Foundation and ASB community trust (who fund Housing Foundation) so know that they only give to legitimate causes.”
It’s been in the news recently that Pacific Island people are the lowest homeowners in Auckland. We are from the Cook Islands. But thanks to Housing Foundation we aren’t one of those statistics.
What we like most about our new home, Jennings – “My favourite place is the ground floor. We are community minded people and we like to welcome people into our home, often have movie nights. Marae styles. Plenty of room to move everything out of the way for mattresses, can put a projector on the wall if we want.” Rebecca – “The last couple of days have been really cold. Back in the old place we could see the breath coming out of our mouths, that’s how cold it was. But we can sit in here really comfortably. Jedi, Te Ama and Kinah – “Great”, “Awesome”, “Really big!” “I like the backyard cause you can fit a trampoline and a pool and a swing”
“We tell others there is no magic pill, but it is do-able. People don’t realise what they can have, there is a lack of education. We feel privileged to be able to sit in this home and we want everyone to know that this is available to them.” “Housing Foundation is transparent and honest. The people on the ground are good at connecting with the families. Your processes already in place are easy and understandable. I didn’t believe that this was an option.”
“Our dream became a reality. It impacted on the people that were alongside us, our dream became their dream.”