Duchesne Markham had no idea she and her husband would own their first home by the end of the year – even two months before their offer was accepted.
Duchesne, 23, and her husband Leighton, 29, bought a three-bedroom home in New Plymouth in late September. But as recently as July this year, the couple were renting an apartment on upper Queen St in Auckland city, and saving – either for a house deposit, or to move overseas.
“Because we both had quite good jobs, we were saving a lot,” says Duchesne. “We were kind of saving to move overseas to start with – we thought we might have a stint in Melbourne at the end of the year, then England. Then it all just changed.”
Leighton, an engineer, was offered a job that was too good to turn down – in New Plymouth.
Though resigning from her job in PR was “terrifying”, says Duchesne, both she and Leighton grew up in New Plymouth and have family there, which influenced their decision to relocate. “We’d always wanted to go back, but we didn’t think it would be this soon.”
Duchesne Markham: "We just bit the bullet" Photo: Supplied
The couple had realised early on that owning a home in Auckland was not an option. “We’d started looking in Auckland, but we didn’t even end up going to an open home – it was just ridiculous,” says Duchesne. “Even the pictures made you not want to go. You’d be like, ‘Oh my gosh, is that really all I can afford?’”
In New Plymouth, the money they had saved up for a 10 per cent deposit went much further. “It wasn’t that much, now that they’re talking about 20 per cent deposits,” says Duchesne. “That’s a lot of money you have to save. It’s ridiculous.”
With a mortgage pre-approved till October 1, when the Reserve Bank’s increase to loan-to-value ratios – requiring deposits of 20 per cent on residential property – was due to take effect, Leighton and Duchesne started looking at houses.
They made an offer on a 1920s bungalow with three bedrooms, a big backyard and a recently-renovated bathroom and kitchen.
“We would have gone a lot higher because we thought, ‘We’ve got to get in before they change these rules’,” says Duchesne. “It was really tight.” As it was, theirs was the only offer made, and the couple went unconditional on the house in the last week of September. They moved in in mid-October.
She was surprised by the speed with which it all happened. “In Auckland, we’ve got friends who have been actively trying to buy a house for the last 12 months,” she says. “Every time, it goes to auction and people will bid way more extravagantly that you could ever expect or afford.
“Even when they put in offers, instead of going to auction, quite often they’ll text me saying, ‘We were second out of 20 offers, we’re getting close!’ I’m like, ‘Oh my gosh, ours was the only offer’.”
The house, Duchesne says, is “incredible”: two minutes from the town centre, and on Pukekura Park – which, she points out, is the equivalent to the prestigious dark blue Park Lane square on the New Zealand edition of Monopoly.
I’ve always had a plan ... I never really wanted to muck around with anything
“It’s just so exciting – we’ve been telling our friends it’s a doer-upper, but it isn’t really,” she says. “All we have to do is take down the wallpaper and paint the walls. All our Auckland friends are totally jealous.”
She agrees it’s not usual to be a homeowner at 23. But, she says, it’s in her nature to move onto different life stages faster than her peers.
“I’ve always had a plan – I mean, I got married at 20,” she says. “I never really wanted to muck around with anything, and I’ve always been like that. I think lots of my friends are like, ‘yeah, that’s expected’, when many of them are still doing the same as when they left high school.”
Duchesne admits that, at first, she was worried that moving to New Plymouth would be a “step back” in her career, but she’s come to see it as an opportunity to develop.
“I changed my mindset, and was like, ‘This move is going us opportunities to do stuff we’ve never done before’,” she says. “There are fewer people with my experience and qualifications in Taranaki, and I’m in a position where I’m applying for communications advisor roles for big companies, so it could actually further my career faster than if I’d stayed in the city.” (Since speaking to The Wireless, Duchesne has landed a full-time role in comms and marketing.)
But, that said, Duchesne doesn’t intend to live in New Plymouth forever. “Depending on how it goes, you kind of have to follow your nose a little bit,” she says. “If we ever wanted to go overseas, we could easily rent it out, hopefully at close to what the mortgage payments are. … And I think if we were in a situation where we couldn’t afford to pay those, we could sell it and start again.
“Maybe that’s naïve, but at this stage, we just bit the bullet. It’s totally terrifying, but a great ride.”