Well it feels like it’s been a long time coming but yesterday I went unconditional on my first home. A modest 86sqm Bangalow in ‘affordable’ Palmerston North.

Paying rent has been quite painful to me for some time.  Having left the family farm when I was 15, I guess I feel like a gypsy with nowhere to set down roots. No one wants to spend time and energy making somewhere home or building up a garden if they could have to move with 3 weeks notice, and no one wants to contribute to someone wealthier  than themselves become even more so.  Rent is dead money.

I’ve been actively looking for a house for a year. It’s been painful and frustrating, especially for my friends who have come to open homes, ducked their heads under floors and into roof cavities. And even more so when I’ve changed my mind.

It is a relief but it’s also a worry. The next biggest things I’ve bought have been cars. Now the only car I’ve even bought without my dad’s help was a real lemon! And with the property market going like crazy dad had no time to take a couple days off to make sure I’m not buying a condemned derelict shack.

So here starts my adventure. If I’m honest this could go either way….