Am I blind or do they not seem to elaborate?

https://www.stuff.co.nz/life-style/homed/first-homes/3004032
01/new-builds-absolutely-not-recommended-for-firsthome-buyer
s

loose.unit8 - 2021-09-09 13:10:00

I don't know, whole story is weird.

I'm super confused by the guy who sold his house for $950k + and now has his family of 4 living in a caravan ???? And his whole contribution is that he thinks he is being altruistic selling his property privately?

Mind you, I'm not interested enough to read it more than once to make sense of the *cough* magnificent piece of journalism.

desi1969 - 2021-09-09 13:55:00

I understand what they are saying, but that is one badly written and sometimes contradictory article.

sparkychap - 2021-09-09 13:56:00

It's easy enough to understand, to me being a bit older it seems these younger buyers do not do enough research, nothing new here. Always remember the golden rules with realestate.

msigg - 2021-09-09 14:29:00

The couple is eligible to get the maximum $20,000 HomeStart grant due to pouring all their savings into KiwiSaver.

“Years and years ago, we were sold this idea of KiwiSaver and how wonderful it was to put all this money into it for years and you'd be all set to go to buy your first house.”

Now, KiwiSaver was just a “chokehold around your neck”, she said.

“We absolutely regret putting money into KiwiSaver for that purpose.”

...because, they're going to lose it.
The house cost has gone up, they can't get the extra money, contract says basically, tough luck for them.

It doesn't say we regret kiwisaver, it says we regret it FOR USING AS a house deposit.

lythande1 - 2021-09-09 15:20:00

lythande1 wrote:

The couple is eligible to get the maximum $20,000 HomeStart grant due to pouring all their savings into KiwiSaver.

“Years and years ago, we were sold this idea of KiwiSaver and how wonderful it was to put all this money into it for years and you'd be all set to go to buy your first house.”

Now, KiwiSaver was just a “chokehold around your neck”, she said.

“We absolutely regret putting money into KiwiSaver for that purpose.”

...because, they're going to lose it.
The house cost has gone up, they can't get the extra money, contract says basically, tough luck for them.

It doesn't say we regret kiwisaver, it says we regret it FOR USING AS a house deposit.

So they are losing it because they are forfeiting the deposit?

loose.unit8 - 2021-09-09 15:30:00

Kiwisaver was never sold principally as a way of saving for a first home deposit... it was a way of saving for your retirement and by the way you can use it as part of your first home deposit !!
From the narrative in this post it appears that "alarm bells" were rung at a couple of places, but this couple choice to discount them !!

onl_148 - 2021-09-09 15:47:00

lythande1 wrote:

The couple is eligible to get the maximum $20,000 HomeStart grant due to pouring all their savings into KiwiSaver.

“Years and years ago, we were sold this idea of KiwiSaver and how wonderful it was to put all this money into it for years and you'd be all set to go to buy your first house.”

Now, KiwiSaver was just a “chokehold around your neck”, she said.

“We absolutely regret putting money into KiwiSaver for that purpose.”

...because, they're going to lose it.
The house cost has gone up, they can't get the extra money, contract says basically, tough luck for them.

It doesn't say we regret kiwisaver, it says we regret it FOR USING AS a house deposit.

That is right but....
Their bank had pre-approved up to $550,000, but was “strongly, strongly” advising them not to go ahead.

“They gave us the very stern warning that they have seen many cases like this that have spiralled out of control”, cases where cost over-runs had hit $60,000-plus, McPherson said.

They chose to go ahead, now that what the bank warned them could happen has happened they complain and seem to make kiwisaver out as the problem.

I do think the govt needs to make allowances for things like this and allow them to still have the grant.

Edited by maddie44 at 3:56 pm, Thu 9 Sep

maddie44 - 2021-09-09 15:55:00

loose.unit8 wrote:

So they are losing it because they are forfeiting the deposit?

No because they can only get the grant if the cost of the new build is less than $ 550K. They signed a deal at $ 545K, not realising it was subject to cost increases, and already $7K up so over the $ 550K cap.

sparkychap - 2021-09-09 16:11:00

They regret putting money into KiwiSaver lollol be loads singing from that hymn sheet the day their kiwi saver matures and they discover it's worth bugger all because it's been eaten up by inflation.

houseofdad - 2021-09-09 16:48:00

With another $41B added to the tab - the Government will be stealing it all off us soon anyway.

pcle - 2021-09-09 17:13:00

The cap is to low when was that set?

gamefisher - 2021-09-09 17:36:00

gamefisher wrote:

The cap is to low when was that set?

Maybe they need to lower their expectations and reduce their build slightly.

sparkychap - 2021-09-10 08:29:00

sparkychap wrote:

Maybe they need to lower their expectations and reduce their build slightly.

Worked for you in life - well kind of ...

houseofdad - 2021-09-10 08:38:00

It's hard....the bank didn't like it because they knew new builds do this....but I guess the couple were desperate to get into a house.

I wouldn't buy a new build even without the dodgy price increase, too many made badly out of crap.

lythande1 - 2021-09-10 08:46:00

sparkychap wrote:

No because they can only get the grant if the cost of the new build is less than $ 550K. They signed a deal at $ 545K, not realising it was subject to cost increases, and already $7K up so over the $ 550K cap.

But were "strongly, strongly advised" not to proceed. The fault of whom?

amasser - 2021-09-10 09:22:00

pcle wrote:

With another $41B added to the tab - the Government will be stealing it all off us soon anyway.

By what mechanism do you see the government gaining access to kiwisaver funds in private / individual accounts ?? Would it not just be easier to raid your cheque / current account ??

onl_148 - 2021-09-10 09:53:00

houseofdad wrote:

Worked for you in life - well kind of ...

It certainly did, mals, lost a few kgs off my build recently, feeling awesome.

sparkychap - 2021-09-10 10:01:00

amasser wrote:

But were "strongly, strongly advised" not to proceed. The fault of whom?

Yes when a bank recommends they don't lend you money, the alarm bells should really be ringing.

You wonder what their lawyer would have said as well...

sparkychap - 2021-09-10 10:10:00

onl_148 wrote:

By what mechanism do you see the government gaining access to kiwisaver funds in private / individual accounts ?? Would it not just be easier to raid your cheque / current account ??

Which Sir John did by supporting Open Bank Resolution but then he was and is again a Banker..!

gazzat22 - 2021-09-10 11:48:00

onl_148 wrote:

Kiwisaver was never sold principally as a way of saving for a first home deposit... it was a way of saving for your retirement and by the way you can use it as part of your first home deposit !!
From the narrative in this post it appears that "alarm bells" were rung at a couple of places, but this couple choice to discount them !!

+1

gazzat22 - 2021-09-10 11:51:00

gazzat22 wrote:

Which Sir John did by supporting Open Bank Resolution but then he was and is again a Banker..!

And exactly how does OBS give the government ability to plunder personal bank accounts?

sparkychap - 2021-09-10 13:05:00

sparkychap wrote:

And exactly how does OBS give the government ability to plunder personal bank accounts?

They're doing it now. Printing away furiously. Oh - you didn't notice? That's the trick right there.

pcle - 2021-09-10 13:07:00

pcle wrote:

They're doing it now. Printing away furiously. Oh - you didn't notice? That's the trick right there.

And that's got nothing to do with OBS.

sparkychap - 2021-09-10 13:08:00

onl_148 wrote:

Kiwisaver was never sold principally as a way of saving for a first home deposit... it was a way of saving for your retirement and by the way you can use it as part of your first home deposit !!
From the narrative in this post it appears that "alarm bells" were rung at a couple of places, but this couple choice to discount them !!

And you could also use it to 'pay off' the mortage and be debt free - however I really doubt many will use it for that.

brouser3 - 2021-09-10 15:01:00

pcle wrote:

They're doing it now. Printing away furiously. Oh - you didn't notice? That's the trick right there.

Are you referring to the way printing money fuels inflation and inflation devalues savings?

loose.unit8 - 2021-09-10 15:27:00

sparkychap wrote:

And exactly how does OBS give the government ability to plunder personal bank accounts?

Read it and enlighten yourself.! Its actually OBR..

Edited by gazzat22 at 3:48 pm, Fri 10 Sep

gazzat22 - 2021-09-10 15:46:00

gazzat22 wrote:

Read it and enlighten yourself.! Its actually OBR..

Sorry slip of the keyboard. And I've read the OBR details and haven't seen any reference that would allow the govt to just take deposits. I must have missed it, so if you can enlighten me I'd appreciate it. Cheers.

sparkychap - 2021-09-10 17:16:00

sparkychap wrote:

Maybe they need to lower their expectations and reduce their build slightly.

This. Or have a talk with the builder about which bits they could do that will cut costs and no affect council sign off. We did with us doing the interior painting and wallpapering, digging the services trench and a few other minor jobs which meant we could go ahead after being advised of a $4k "miscalculation".

hers.nz - 2021-09-10 17:23:00

sparkychap wrote:

It certainly did, mals, lost a few kgs off my build recently, feeling awesome.

You can't just rely on Jenny Craig's though, you need to pump some tin!

Edited by houseofdad at 4:58 am, Sat 11 Sep

houseofdad - 2021-09-11 04:53:00

i agree completely ,kiwisaver is a scam. How many of us will even live to see 65. 40,000 in kiwisaver couldn't save me and my family from the housing crisis(been caught in it two years). went through hardship withdrawal provided all evidence, due to hubby being high earner, we are last for social housing, cant afford to buy and because we have 5 children, no one wants us in real estate regardless of our references etc. well be out of our temporary accommodation in 3 more months and by the looks of it homeless, as we stab every avenue. regardless kiwisaver kindly payed us out $7000 of $40000, that might buy a nice yurt,

mamaash - 2021-09-12 11:12:00

It was enough to help a family member and partner buy a house 18 months ago, in ChCh, after renting different houses but they only had one child. Certainly not a scam for him as he was hopeless at saving before then.

kacy5 - 2021-09-12 19:22:00