Originally Posted by
Roger
Fact is its never been easy to own a house in Auckland. I needed 20% back in 1991, actually $30,000 on my first house which cost $128,000.
I saved $10,000 a year for 3 years. The FIRST $200 I earned each week went into a home loan savings account. I lived a very, very frugal lifestyle of the rest of what I earned. Stripped just about every single item of discretionary spending out of my budget, (booze, entertainment, travel, were simply not options, a very cheap crappy car which I drove the minimum possible distance, and lived like a frugal monk for 3 whole years. Worked part time from home doing accounting jobs too as well as my full time salaried position.
A few weeks ago I saw a three bedroom basic starter home in Papakura for $399,000. 1960's weatherboard with 1960's décor. Perfect starter home I thought for someone. Trouble with young people today is they don't want to start at the bottom of the ladder, I know because we tried to help one of our daughters get into a basic 2 bedroom flat in West Auckland and she and her boyfriend turned their noses up at it, apparent a basic 1960's or 1970's 2 bedroom flat in a very modest suburb with dated décor isn't good enough these days !! Whatever happened to getting in at the bottom and rolling your sleeves up and using some hard work to do it up and make a profit ?