As parents of newly born twins, along with three other children, Dan and Louise were looking to get onto the property market when they signed up to Three's Slice of Paradise. A property show hosted by Peter Wolfkamp and Shelley Ferguson, tracking the journey of Kiwi property hunters. On the show they found their perfect house in Tawa, Wellington, and have already moved in.
With five children in tow and being first home buyers, Louise says the reality of looking for a house was challenging. It was difficult attending all of the different open homes as they tried to find their ideal property, and it wasn’t much fun for the children either. "It was a bit unfair on them because it became the activity we did every weekend! We didn't do anything fun with our kids, it was just open-homing. That was really hard," Louise says. "The only really great bit was the end result and being in our own home, with so much extra space and warmth."
While on Slice of Paradise Dan and Louise found it disheartening to see how many people would turn up to each open home. They were also using their Kiwisaver for the deposit, meaning they couldn't go unconditional. For some sellers, it was a deal breaker.
Louise says there were a number of houses they didn't apply for because they assumed they'd be turned down, but when they found the house in Tawa, they decided to give it a shot - and it worked out. Looking back, Louise says they should've put in offers on other properties earlier on. "Even when you think you don't have a chance, do it, because you just don't know. I look back and think... there are some houses where we didn't put in offers because we just assumed we wouldn't have a chance, but then we felt the same way with this house, did it anyway and got it! So our journey could've been a lot shorter."
Since their time on the show Louise says they've already moved in and love the extra space. "We've already had my son's birthday party here, and my daughter's just turned five so we'll be having her birthday party soon. That's something we couldn't have done in our old house because it was just too small."
Next up, Louise says they'll be doing some minor renovations: fixing up the back deck, which is currently too dangerous for the children to use, and stripping out the garden to make it lower maintenance. "We're definitely still in the middle of the process and have a lot of unfinished walls in the house, but we're really excited about where it's going."
Watch Slice of Paradise on Three every Wednesday at 7:30pm.