You Don't Need 20%: The Ultimate First Home Deposit Guide (2026)

Bullish on 2026

Daniel: Hello and welcome back to the first episode of the Blueprint Finance Podcast for 2026. And needless to say, we're fired up, Rory.

Rory: Absolutely, mate. We've been looking forward to this one. To the listeners, we hope everyone had a safe break and a good recharge. We did, absolutely, and we're ready to go.

Daniel: Yeah, yeah. Well, you walked into the office with a bit of a spring in your step, mate.

Rory: Well, it's a new office, mate.

Daniel: So, we've changed locations again. Third in three episodes, right?

Rory: Yeah. We had the old office, we did an episode at Pod Labs, and now we're in our new office and a new studio. Self-built.

Daniel: Yeah, absolutely. And what did you do over the break? Was that you at R&V walking through the mud?

Rory: I got lit. Nah, nah, nah.

Daniel: Took your newborn baby to a music festival?

Rory: Yeah, right. You know me, mate. No, I'm a family man at the moment, you know, so got the 14-month-old little girl and did a road trip to Wellington actually. Family, a bit of beach, very wholesome.

Daniel: Yeah, very wholesome.

Rory: No, awesome. That's so good, man.

Daniel: You were at R&V though, weren't you?

Rory: Mate, we'll save that for another episode. Well, look, we're really excited to have the team back and firing for 2026 and it's got off to a bang, you know? And as a mortgage adviser, you get a pretty good pulse check on what's happening in the national economy, you know, 'cause you're talking to business owners and workers from all over the country.

So, I'm super fired up about this year. I don't know about you, but I feel like business confidence is just starting in January.

Daniel: Yeah, you're bullish.

Rory: Bullish.

Daniel: You're very bullish on 2026 in New Zealand.

Rory: On what basis? Give us the highlights reel. Give us three key points why the 2026 outlook looks hotter than 2025.

Daniel: I just think we're poised for growth, you know what I mean? We've passed through the rain clouds. The storm clouds are sort of evaporating now. We look at just the key indicators with business confidence and interest rates, right? Interest rates now have come down and stabilised at this point, or it's slightly under the national average.

So we've got a position where people aren't hamstrung by their obligations. They can feel confident to invest money in their businesses, hire people, and just push positivity and effort into their businesses. You know, just walking down the street, across the road here on Great South Road, seeing other business owners.

Rory: Bit of a spring in their step. I don't know if it's just the summertime.

Daniel: It's January, mate. Everybody's got a little bit of optimism under the belt.

Rory: This is gonna be the year. The story's changing. You know, we did "Survive to 25." We're done with that now.

Daniel: Yeah. What's the slogan for 2026?

Rory: Take risks in 2026.

Daniel: Nice, nice. We actually looked at some of the numbers from last year and sort of thought, surely things can't get worse.

Rory: Yeah.

Daniel: What were the key things that we...

Rory: So, unemployment sitting about 5.3%, and typically averages around three. Business closures were about 2,800 and that broke some records.

Daniel: Highest since 2010.

Rory: Oh my god.

Daniel: Yeah. So, the GFC, this post...

Rory: Yeah, yeah. So those are scary numbers, eh, but look, there's still a lot of activity out there and people that have done really well in what's been a bit of a dented economy. So, hopefully more people thrive this year, eh?

Daniel: Yeah, what I mean. Well, you can't get too caught up in headlines because during this whole recession that, like we said, is coming to an end...

Rory: Yeah.

Daniel: Based on our conversations, there are people who have been quietly doing the right thing, quietly working hard and quietly thriving. You know what I mean? Just looking at some of these statistics for home loan customers in general in New Zealand, 40% of home loan customers over the last 12 months are paying more than the minimum. 40%.

Rory: That's massive.

Daniel: So all of that, you know, constantly, you and I have been talking for the last two years, "Hey, when you get the lower interest rate, keep your repayments the same."

Rory: Yeah. They've been listening, the folks have been listening.

Daniel: They're taking your advice, aye. Absolutely.

Rory: That's huge, man. 40% of people are paying off their debt faster than the minimum, which is really good. I mean, obviously some of them are, you know, you're forced and instructed to do that by the lender. I feel like that's a very positive sign to say, look, now that rates are coming down, surely we can keep these trends going and increase the wealth for New Zealanders. You know what I mean? So that's super exciting. But that's just touching on what's going on in our country and what we want to achieve in 2026.

But we are speaking today to those people who follow us, who interact with our business, who we've spoken to on the phone and have meetings with, who are the first home buyers.

Daniel: Yeah, because last year really was the year for first home buyers.

Rory: Yeah. I was talking to a statistic with Yori, 27% of home transactions last year were first home buyers. So generally you're sitting between 20 to 23%. So you're right, it is massive. It's massive. And 36% in Wellington. 36% of transactions in Wellington were first home buyers.

Daniel: It's amazing, eh? And obviously there were a few gloomy statistics from last year, but that's really positive.

Rory: It's a positive one, right? Because you often see in the media, you know, when the investors are dominating. It's never fun for anyone except for the investors.

Daniel: Totally. And we always hear how it's getting harder and harder for the first home buyer, but those statistics say that it's still happening.

Rory: Yeah. I mean, what we've found, obviously, a bigger portion of our customers are first home buyers than that, 'cause that's part of our niche. But it's really encouraging and what we find in this sort of market is first home buyers can move a bit better. It's not so much demand on property where every property's going to auction and there's multi-offers and you just keep missing out. First home buyers can go through the process, get their KiwiSavers sorted, get properties under contract, do the proper due diligence, and it's been great to see those home buyers taking advantage of it.

Daniel: For sure.

Rory: I hope this goes on for a wee while longer and things don't get crazy. You know, everyone's always fearful of that 2020-2021 market where people were just priced out and it was a shambles, but...

Daniel: We're in a sweet spot right now.

Rory: Well, that's what it feels like. That's what it really feels like, where first home buyers can really take advantage and get in now and feel good about it, you know?

Daniel: Yeah. Not feel like they're overpaying and stuff like that.

Deposits and Income Requirements

Rory: So we are talking to the first home buyer today, Dan, which is your little niche, eh? It's my favourite. You sit at that conduit between the renter, per se, and then those lovely folks that become homeowners, and so we're going to talk about how do we get there, right?

Daniel: Absolutely. Yeah. This is going to be titled "Deposit Builder 101." We're going to talk a bit about the loans that first home buyers have access to right now in 2026, but the focus is more so going to be on how do we actually get the money we need for the down payment? Because that is what everybody talks about. That's what everyone sees as the big obstacle. So bust down the myth, like that's why I'm so passionate about it, and it gets me so fired up because a lot of people get burdened by the headlines. You know, "hardest it's ever been to buy a house," all those sorts of things. Of course, if someone's always sending you those messages, you're going to think that into existence and you're going to tell yourself it's too hard.

Rory: That subliminal messaging, eh? If you are hearing it constantly and you've never sat down with a strategist like yourself, who knows the pathway...

Daniel: Yeah.

Rory: ...and perhaps how clear and attainable it could be, then it's easy to be misled.

Daniel: Yeah, exactly. And the truth of the matter is, you know, some people, once they think about home ownership, they're ready to go. Maybe they've got a great income, they've got access to money, they're ready to go. But for most regular people, from the day you start thinking about it, it can take three to four years. You know? That's the truth. And I mean, you know, if you live for 80 years, it's actually still quite a small portion of your life. But you have to take a long-term perspective on the situation to get the result. But guaranteed, you can do it, you know?

Rory: For sure. Yeah, for sure.

Daniel: So we'll get straight into it and we'll start off with deposits and deposit requirements.

Rory: So when we're planning this episode, you always find this stuff really intriguing in terms of what's moving in the market, what people need as a down payment.

Daniel: For sure.

Rory: But starting off, you know, often you hear about the 5% deposit. So this one's always an elusive one. You know, there's always a restricted amount of banks who are offering a 5%. There's certain government schemes that allow you to get in with 5% down.

Daniel: I mean, that's a surprise to me actually, 'cause I always think, you know, the magic number is 20%. And then you are talking to me about fives and tens.

Rory: Yeah. So, the big stat Rory's throwing around here we talk about is that, you know, over 50% of our first home buyers have less than 20%. So it's actually more common than not to have less. So what we always talk about is, what percentage of buyers have less than 20% deposit? It's actually over 50%. About 52, 53% of our first home buyers have less than 20%.

Daniel: Yeah, that's amazing. What would be an average? 10?

Rory: Yeah, between 10 and 20. And then a very small portion would get the 5%, 'cause there are some stringent requirements around the 5%. So ten's pretty common. And then if you have a gap between 10 to 20, it actually changes the interest rate that you get. So if you've got more deposit, say 15%, you get a slightly better interest rate, 'cause remember, the bank adds the LEM, the low equity margin, on your interest to cover the insurance to pay, 'cause you're a slightly riskier loan than if you had 20%. So it is a slightly higher cost. But, you know, for an $800k loan at 10%, it's usually between, you know, $150 to $200 a fortnight extra.

Daniel: And that premium is temporary, right? So you get to your 20% and it's...

Rory: Often not such a barrier, right? Because if people have got incomes, the hardest part could be the deposit, right? So if you were buying a million dollar home, a $100,000 deposit is a big difference to $200,000 in terms of the time it's going to take you to save.

Daniel: Yeah. And it's mean, like, not wanting to buy into market speculation, but, you know, it secures that price. So, you know, you don't, if you versus that versus saving 20%, it secures that price. And it also means that you guys can begin the journey of paying, you know, and building the wealth there.

Rory: So that's really, really good. I'm a big advocate for low deposit. I bought my first home when I was running for using the low deposit team, and it springboarded me, you know, so, you know, it just goes back to it, using debt and leverage wisely. You know, it's just about making a plan and making sure the loan's affordable.

So those options are available across the banks. And the first thing to do is understand what deposit you need. Then the second thing will be touching on the income. So we don't really want to make this whole episode about what income you need, but you do need to understand what income level you need to be at to service the loan. It's a pretty easy calculation to figure out unless you're self-employed, that can be a bit more complicated. But if you're earning wages or a salary, it's very easy to figure out how much you need. There are some calculators online, but I highly recommend going to a mortgage adviser and having an accurate conversation and you're planning for your first home. Figuring out what income you need online with the online calculators is kind of like just googling your flu symptoms, you know what I mean?

Daniel: Nothing wrong with that.

Rory: Yeah. It's step one.

Daniel: It's step one. Exactly.

Rory: Yeah, step one. Make sure you're in the ballpark. But it's all, you know, most advisers, all advisers, you have a free conversation with them to figure out where you're at.

So, that's what you want to do, book that appointment and get the plan in place.

Daniel: Yeah. Because you, you know, have these conversations all the time and people are sometimes a lot closer than they realise to having that—they're either there or like on the doorstep of walking in the front door, you know?

Rory: Yeah, exactly. Or they might be two or three years out, but then they can walk away with a really clear pathway of, we just need to save a bit more. Or if we can increase our income somehow, or, you know, get that qualification and the promotion, etc, then it's all going to change, you know, and that's a different pathway, but needs to be understood.

Daniel: Exactly. I think we've covered that really well. So the next thing is, you've had your meeting, you've gone in, had a chat to Dan about your mortgage goals...

Rory: You had a chat to Rory about your insurance.

Daniel: Yeah. And then you sort it, you got your plan. Now it's how do you actually do it? So for most people, they might have, you know, what seems like a big mountain to climb. Okay, I've got to get to this goal. Maybe it's $150,000 as the goal, or maybe $100,000, or depending on where you're at with your income, that will reflect on what deposit that you need. So, we got some really good data over the last two years around first home buyers because of the high volume of first home buyers that we did and the ways that people built their deposits.

And I'm pleased to announce that the majority of people aren't getting these massive gifts from their parents.

Rory: Yeah. You know, a lot of people are and that's great when the parents can help. That's fantastic. We love that. And if you can help, you should, but...

Daniel: The minority, isn't it?

Rory: ...situations. And so I just wanted to make the conversation more about, you know, there's a lot of people out there who are just grinding it out.

Daniel: Yeah. That's what it's all about.

Rory: Yeah, absolutely.

Daniel: Because everyone's got their own challenges in life and for some people it's getting their house. So there's so many first home buyers that we are so proud of that have put the work in, made the sacrifices and built that deposit.

Rory: Using great schemes like KiwiSaver and all these tools that we're going to talk about now. But...

Daniel: Part of that chat that you have, Dan, is like all their understanding, for the client is: Where are they living? What are they doing for a job? What market are they wanting to buy in? And that can sometimes create the pathway. We go, okay, maybe I start thinking about where my career's going, or I start thinking about where I want to live. If you know that buying that first home is really important, there's perhaps different ways that become the path than you might not have thought about.

Rory: 100%. And the great point you're making now is that it makes you make these large decisions, which move the needle for your life, right? What career do I want to be in? How much money do I want to earn? You can set these big goals for yourself that go beyond a 12-month period, you know, that go into five years, and those are the things that improve your life long term. Right? Because nothing happens overnight. And that's the sort of stuff that's going to set you up for life. So 100%. I love what you're saying there. It's like making these big decisions around where you want to live, what your job's going to look like, what your income's going to be, all that sort of stuff.

Daniel: Yeah, you might be like a young single guy or gal and realise that you're sort of halfway there. And then just, you know, give your mate, your bestie, a nudge and go, if you are halfway there and I'm halfway there, together we're 100%. Let's do it, you know, so there's different ways like that too.

Saving Strategies and KiwiSaver

Rory: No, exactly. The key points that we put down, we saw these first home buyers, what they were doing. Like the number one thing is just living at home longer. Here we go.

Daniel: Okay. That's number one.

Rory: Yeah. No, I mean, look, nothing wrong with it.

Daniel: Yeah, nothing wrong with it, I mean...

Rory: You know, for some people that's a very easy thing. For some people that's very difficult. They might already have young kids themselves and it's not as easy as going and living with the parents or the in-laws. Some people have these, you know, in these horrible in-laws or in-laws of doom...

Daniel: Bit awkward.

Rory: Yeah, well, all that sort of stuff. But...

Daniel: Suck it up, mate. Get on with the mother-in-law.

Rory: We're not trying to speak from a position of privilege where we say, you know, everyone's got that opportunity, 'cause we know they don't. But if you do, and you know you do, you should.

Daniel: Yeah. Easy way to live with reduced rent.

Rory: Yeah. Accelerate your savings, share costs, share food costs, share outgoing costs. These are how all successful families start. They share, you know, when they start from the bottom, they spread out as much as they can in terms of the obligations. And they save and they save, and that's the best way to do it.

Daniel: Yep.

Rory: A really good one for those who can't. We've seen people out there being a bit cheeky. You know, I don't even know if this is le— I don't even know tenancy laws, if— I'm sure it is probably legal, but had a client who, they rented a— there was a couple, they rented a house for X, the whole tenancy, four-bedroom property in Avondale, and then they subleased the three other rooms and ran the place like a boarding house.

Daniel: Yep. Nice.

Rory: I'm pretty sure discussing with— they obviously clearly had the landlord's permission to do that. And they were able to set the thing up where they were living rent free.

Daniel: Yeah, yeah.

Rory: Yeah. Managing the house, managing the flat essentially.

Daniel: Yeah. They structured it. They did a bit of arbitrage, you know what I mean?

Rory: Yeah. I lived in a place like that in Queenstown, yeah. Queenstown being a transient place. I think we had a couple of Brazilians, five Argentinians, three Kiwis. It wasn't a big house, mate, but I tell you what, people were just sleeping in corners, you know, and rent free. I think he was making a profit, that landlord.

Daniel: Yeah, yeah. There you go.

Rory: Yeah, exactly. Some people can be turning a profit from that, which is, you know, you need every dollar you can get to add to the deposit.

Daniel: Yep.

Rory: So that's a great way, you know, if we can't just park up with the folks, we can do something smart like that where it's, yes, it's a bit of extra effort, but it's something that, you know, you can neutralise your living costs, which is the key thing to do to save. You know, if people are spending on average 40 to 50% of their wages on housing themselves, you can neutralise that. That's going to be massive for your deposit.

Daniel: Huge.

Rory: And then the big one people hate talking about, we hate talking about this one: reducing lifestyle costs. Holy crap. How many years have we gone? Coffees, avocado on toast. How many years have we been talking about this?

Daniel: Oh mate, it's a drum that keeps on beating.

Rory: Yeah, but again, we're done, right? You know, sharpen your budget up a little bit.

Daniel: 100%, and the message we're always talking about, this is the number one thing we're talking about that we could be doing better: reducing your...

Rory: For sure.

Daniel: ...earn money and then if you earn slightly more money, you get this thing we like to call lifestyle inflation. So you'll find reasons to, you know, "Oh, Farmers Team's doing a bit of a deal now," you know what I mean? You find reasons to buy into this. And the fact of the matter is that if you don't have the money, you won't spend it. So you need to find a way to practise some discipline here. There are some great budgeting apps. We've talked about PocketSmith before. You can track your spending. Even with some of the bank apps, they have some pretty decent budgeting tools on the banking apps as well where you can just do a basic expenses versus income, do some budgeting and then forecast that way.

Rory: Yeah, absolutely. It's a little bit similar to, you know, when you're talking about the homeowner and maintaining their repayments when the interest rates drop. Exactly. It's so easy, you know, when your income increases slightly, to just let those funds slip through, you know, it's an extra lunch a week or, you know, a few more drinks on the town or whatever it is, another pair of jeans.

And so you never see that gain, but if you can maintain a certain lifestyle without cutting out your coffee and your avocados on toast, but maintaining a bit of a baseline and, you know, planning your fun...

Daniel: Yeah, exactly.

Rory: Budgeting and planning your fun.

Daniel: Yeah. Which people, some people don't like to do.

Rory: No.

Daniel: But in the McSweeney household, like what's the first thing that gets talked about? If you guys are saying, okay, we're going to reduce, we've got to tighten up. We're going to...

Rory: Oh, food, mate. Food.

Daniel: Yeah.

Rory: Yeah. I haven't bought my lunch this year out.

Daniel: Oh, that's brilliant.

Rory: Yeah, yeah. We've obviously got a nice kitchen in the office.

Daniel: Yeah, I've seen the...

Rory: Yeah. So there's a couple of things here. You know, I'm focusing on my figure, but...

Daniel: And you already like seen the benefits of that financially?

Rory: Absolutely. Absolutely. It's so easy to spend. I mean, what's, you know, sushi, you can spend $10 to $20 if you buy a drink. It's easy to spend, you know, $20, $30 a day on food. And if you're buying that for yourself, you can buy really good quality food or you can spend a lot less. So now that's huge. Like, eating out is a big one for us. Food's such a huge cost and such a variable expense, you know, so that's the big one for us.

Daniel: That is the first place to look, I think. I remember when I first applied for my first ever home loan application and, you know, I was a single guy, flatting, and submitted my application, thought my food expense was there, and then the assessor emailed back and said, "Daniel spends over a thousand bucks on food for a single guy."

Rory: Mate, but he's six-four and 105 kilos. It's not that bad. It's all relative.

Daniel: Yeah. Well, this is inflation. So, I mean, you know, you could, you still get $5 pizzas, you know what I mean? I was obviously putting that money to work. No, that's a really good one.

Rory: What else?

Daniel: One we always talk about is, you know, a partnership. In the major cities, it's tough to buy a property by yourself. Not many people do it. Most people have a partner, a romantic partner, and a lot of people don't have or don't have ambitions to have that, right? So we've seen last year was a pretty big year for friends or siblings buying together. It's a super, super common way for people to get into the market. Now, we've been seeing this for seven or eight years. How it usually plays out is, you know, one person buys the other out, you know, once they've got some equity or, you know, maybe they move out of it, turn it into a rental, and they buy separately.

So that's a pretty common way that this thing plays out. Or some of them just stay in long term, you know.

Rory: 100%.

Daniel: But all of them benefit from equity gain, home ownership, that security of having an asset and building your wealth that way.

Rory: I mean, you talk about like that scenario of the subletting couple with the four-bedroom house, there's, you know, four-bedroom houses of, you know, four mates flatting together. Two of them now, buddy up and buy their own four-bedroom house and rent out two of the rooms. So not only are they combining incomes to get the house, but then they sublet the rooms to help pay the mortgage off.

Daniel: Genius.

Rory: Yeah, yeah, yeah. You still want to live with your mates anyway, you know, so it's like happy days.

Daniel: The key one with that is, you know, if it's not— or even if it is romantic, you want to have a chat about long-term planning, wealth, property planning, like what is the long-term goal? And also getting a property agreement drawn up. You know, how are we going to exit if one of us gets a partner or things change? Pretty simple, pretty basic. Your lawyer will help you out with that.

So that. But then number three, man, this is the one we just can't stop talking about...

Rory: Where's Jono? We need...

Daniel: Yeah. Where's Jono when we need him?

Rory: KiwiSaver.

Daniel: Absolutely. So first home buyer, pretty much, bar a small handful, this is a part of the loan application: the KiwiSaver. And I always talk about it. It's just the best thing that the Labour government ever did, in my opinion, in implementing KiwiSaver, because I meet so many buyers from middle New Zealand, or even slightly wealthier, they get into their early thirties or late twenties and it's time to buy a house and look, this is not a massive amount of cash in savings, but they've got these great KiwiSavers, which have just slowly been compounding over time, protected by the laws that you can't take it out unless you're in hardship or if you're purchasing your first home. And some of these balances are just brilliant. They're just brilliant and it's so awesome to see that they've got this instrument in place, they've had some help from the employers and they're now in a position to buy their first home. The deposit's been saved, you know, 'cause they've consistently paid.

And it's great to see some people are doing more than the minimum. Often people are doing 8% or 6%, some of those contribution rates as well, and they've just got these great balances and they can use that for the deposit, not have to worry about their cash savings, move out of their rental and buy their first home and then you just think, crap.

Rory: What would they have done if they didn't have that?

Daniel: 100%. Do you think the government will ever toy around with those rules around KiwiSaver and being able to use it for a first home deposit?

Rory: That's a great question. 'Cause in Australia you can't. And they're obviously our most comparable nation. So Australia, you can't do that. You can't use your— and because of that, Australia's got superannuation that's way bigger. Because obviously what happens in New Zealand is you start your KiwiSaver, you get to your mid to late twenties, you drain it and you start from zero.

But as we know with compounding interest, those first years are the key years for building wealth. You know what I mean? So if you're not— those are the years that just compound, snowball, snowball, snowball and make the balances what they are so large in Australia.

And 'cause the other part of that is, you know, like when we are talking to first home buyers is looking at what fund they're in. So if you've got sort of three to five years or something runway, you're probably, you know, if it's five, maybe a balanced fund, two or three, it's a conservative fund because you don't want those market fluctuations to affect your deposit.

Daniel: But if you're in Australia, you're just all out growth. Only one recommendation. If you're under the age of 50, pretty much. It's just aggressive for sure. And that's why their balances get so big, 'cause fund managers are taking risks, calculated risks, but they're growing the wealth, you know, because they're not worried about the short-term fluctuations.

Rory: But here, you know, it's pretty tricky, especially even in those years where you're thinking of using a KiwiSaver for your first home. You might want to put it in cash or a conservative fund. We've had some clients who, you know, especially around some of the more volatile markets, have had their KiwiSavers in aggressive, and then they've dipped five grand, six grand, you know?

Daniel: Yeah. While they need that money for their first home. So it's a tricky game to play. And the products, you know, that is a bit of a— not a flaw, but something to recognise. But still, in my opinion, getting into your first home and neutralising your living cost, your housing cost, is more important than the long term.

Rory: Yeah. This is how we do it, eh, and it is a great tool.

Daniel: It's how we do it. But important to have that conversation, you know, that early conversation about buying your first home and what your KiwiSaver's doing, how much you're allocating, what fund you're in, what provider you are with, because that can make a difference to when you can pull the trigger on buying the home.

Rory: Yep. Talk to someone like Jono at KiwiRevise to get the full scoop on that. Maximising contributions in the right fund type.

Family Support and Side Hustles

Daniel: Exactly. Now we'll get onto the one that, you know, gets a bit of noise in the media or people like to use and guess as an excuse: the family support options.

Rory: Yeah. So like I said, majority of our first home buyers don't have access to, you know, a million bucks from their great aunt in Lithuania. People are just grinding, people are struggling, you know, and they're working their way towards the deposit. But every now and then people have the privilege of, you know, the generation before them has done the work, wants to help out.

And there's a couple ways they can do that. So, you know, the most common one we hear from buyers is, "Oh, my parents want to be a guarantor." Yeah, we hear that a lot. "My parents are going to be guarantor." That is a practice. That is a thing. It's not the most common way that parents help because it ties both parties into a financial obligation.

Daniel: The repayments, right?

Rory: That's right. So, it's pretty— they're pretty much guaranteeing your loan or a large portion of your loan and then you are financially sort of intertwined and some people might not want to do that. So formally in terms of between two couples, right? A young couple and parents.

Daniel: Yeah. And when does that one actually even make sense? Like from a bank approval point? 'Cause you'd still have to have deposit. The guarantor just guarantees the repayments, right? So is that when like...

Rory: It allows a smaller deposit and then means that there's no low equity premium because there's enough equity that the bank's lending against using their parents' house, but then they need to both be at the same bank to use that second home. And so it's not very often that we do them. They are a thing, but it's usually not the cleanest way to do it. Another option is that they can top up on their mortgage and loan the money to the kids. That's the cleanest way to do it, especially if you're limiting the fund to something like $50,000 or $60,000, that's not a massive amount. You know, if it's like $100k or $200k, they can do a top-up application on their mortgage, the parents, and then either gift or loan that money to the kids. Now what that does is it means that the kids have got more money for deposit and it can get them closer to 20%. And like we mentioned, if you have 20%, you can reduce your overall interest rate, which will mean some long-term savings, pay off the principal faster. So that's pretty common. And then, yeah, obviously gifting versus lending. If the parents are lending the money, if they disclose that to the bank, it has to be considered in a loan application. And if the repayments are high or it's a shorter term, it will impair your borrowing capacity.

Daniel: Yeah. So the terms of the loan need to be favourable. And documented.

Rory: Absolutely. Anytime you loan any money to someone, the bank needs it documented. And then, so the bank needs to sign that off if it's a loan. If it's a gift, obviously there's no obligation for that to be repaid. So the bank's got no problem. There's also another very common one, which is called a deed of acknowledgement of debt, which is when the parents lend money to the children, and it's underwritten by a deed of acknowledgement of debt. So what that means is that if the house is sold, then they retain the rights to that deposit. That money is still their money, but there's no repayment associated to it, and the parents can't demand the money at any point.

Daniel: Right.

Rory: So if there's a property, if there's a bust up in the relationship or the house is sold, the parents still hold that equity. That's their money.

Daniel: Oh, I see.

Rory: But if they just gifted the money, then it will become relationship property between the two and then, you know, it's their money.

Daniel: Yeah, the children's money now. That's a good safeguard. What do we call that one?

Rory: Deed of acknowledgement of debt.

Daniel: Yeah, because I imagine that sometimes people will gift the money for bank purposes, but then they'll go, you know, "But you'll pay me back actually," you know?

Rory: Absolutely. Take your time. There's no rush. But then that deed of whatever you call it, kind of protects the lenders, right? Especially if it's going into a couple situation, where things could break down. Yeah. Hopefully not, but you know...

Daniel: It's a great solution. It protects the lender and it protects the couple because, yeah, it's very explicit in those documents. The banks have their own templates to acknowledge that, you know, there's no repayments associated to it and that the parents can't demand the money be repaid. But they have a legal claim on it if the property is sold.

Rory: Exactly. So that's a really good solution. Sort of a middle ground between gifting and lending.

Daniel: Yeah, so that's really good. And the big one, we love...

Rory: Ooh, the big finale.

Daniel: Spicy. Hit me with it.

Rory: Side hustles, man. Who's talking about side hustles all the time? We've got some people, we've got some young ambitious men in the junior advisers in the office. They're always trying to make money outside of their main job.

Daniel: Big time.

Rory: Which I think is a bit silly. I think you should maybe just make— if you can make more of your main job, do that. But no, I totally respect it.

And this ties into, you know, the chapter two, which is reducing your expenses. There's only a limit you can reduce your expenses. You can eat rice, beans and rice every night. You can bike to work. You know, you can dumpster dive for sweet treats outside Dunkin' Donuts. You can do all that stuff to reduce your expenses, but there's only a limit that you can reduce your living costs to. Whereas if you want to earn more money, technically that's unlimited.

Daniel: Absolutely.

Rory: You don't want to be, you know, ridiculous and say anyone can earn unlimited, but you can earn more money. You know, everyone can make an extra $10,000 a year. There's ways you can do that—second job or a side hustle. So you ever had a bit of a side hustle, mate?

Daniel: Oh, you had your— you've always done your coaching?

Rory: I did a little bit of coaching. I wouldn't say that was a side hustle, although I did get paid for it. But, you know, probably not as much as just doing my normal job, you know?

Daniel: Yeah.

Rory: But no, I haven't been a big side hustler, to be fair, 'cause you know, there's like, there's the side hustle, right? There's a second job. There's like the garage sales, there's coaching if you do weekend coaching or after hours coaching. And then there's also just like doubling down on where you're at in your career and, you know, picking up extra responsibility in your work or finishing that qualification.

So it doesn't have to be something that's on the side. It could just be like, do— stay in the lane that you're in, but do it better, you know? Move faster. Like show up earlier, leave later, and get that pay rise. You know, that $10,000 that you're talking about.

Daniel: Yeah, exactly. And you know, making money in your job. If you're good at your job, your employer wants to keep you there. Obviously. Look, I don't want to speak on people's behalves, but speaking now as an employer, if you let your employer know what you're trying to do, you know, and explain to them, "This is the level of income I need to get to, how can I do it?" You know, and if that income level is not achievable at your job, is it worth looking at another career or what do you need to do? You know? 'Cause you're at the point now where you can still reinvent yourself. You're a first home buyer.

Rory: That's right. Get another job offer and go for that counter.

Daniel: Exactly. If you're a first home buyer, it doesn't matter if you are 20 years old or 50 years old, you've got nothing to lose. You've actually got nothing to lose, so might as well look at, you know, how can I reinvent myself? How can I make myself worth more in the marketplace so I can earn a slightly higher wage?

Rory: Yeah. And this is just a great mindset to have.

Daniel: Yeah.

Rory: How can I get more for myself? You know, it's worth it.

Daniel: Because you're worth it.

Rory: Yeah. Yeah. You're totally worth it, man. 100%. But it's like, what about you is useful? You know, what can you bring to the table that's going to add value? And like, as we said, it doesn't have to be something way outside the box. You know? It could just be like, you're in the perfect position right now. You're just not doing that thing.

Daniel: Exactly. Yeah. For me it was hedge trimming. That's what we did outside my main job. That was our side hustle. Me and Dave actually, we were very young.

Rory: Scissor hands. You guys were quite the sculptors.

Daniel: Yeah, yeah, yeah. We got good at it. We found a skill that was in demand that we could do on the weekend, and we got good at it, and then that money helped, you know.

Rory: I imagine quite good money in trimming the hedges.

Daniel: Once we bought all the gear, it was good money. Yeah, we had to invest a bit in the gear. So it took a while, but towards the end, you know, we were making— you'd make $10k a year just from a couple jobs on the weekend, and you do that three times, that's $30k. You know, on top of your building your KiwiSaver, on top of your saving from your main job. You can see how this just snowballs towards the money that you need for your first home.

So this is what we're trying to inspire people to do. And you know, at Blueprint, even if you feel like you're two or three years away, we're always here for a chat. We love talking. It's our passion helping first home buyers.

Rory: So guys, get in touch. If you don't think that you are close or you just want to have an initial chat, 15-minute phone call to set some goalposts, or book an appointment, do it. No obligations. Daniel Lipman's your guy. Give him a call.

Daniel: This is what we're serious about, you know? So, email and text in if you want to get in touch.

Rory: If you guys have anything else you want us to cover in...

Daniel: Book the link below. Is there going to be a link below?

Rory: There'll be a link flying around. Producer Jackie will put a fricking link. It'll be hard to click, it'll be moving all around the screen. But, yeah, and for 2026, if anyone's got any podcast topics or questions, Q&As you want us to cover, please email in. And we will...

Daniel: If anyone wants to come on the show...

Rory: Email them. It's just open invite now. You can come on it. Thank you guys so much. Cheers, Rory, that was awesome.

Daniel: Thanks, mate. Thanks, Jackie.