For the purposes of this story I shall identify myself as “Dan” a degree educated, English speaking, late thirties European male who has earned every single penny (or cent) in my professional life i.e. I haven’t had any donations from my family to assist climbing the property ladder. I am married with a young family and own my own technology consultancy that operates in the Auckland region.
The journey starts here, selling a large piece of waterfront land in the Bay of Islands that I bought in 2002. We intended on building a family home on this piece of land but circumstances led us to residing two hours south closer to Auckland.
Having a mortgage on this piece of land and renting closer to Auckland meant that even though we enjoyed a salary in the top five percent of New Zealanders even we had to curtail my life long dream of designing and building my own home until we sold the land. Like many governments around the world the New Zealand tax system has a strong affect when trying to “reap your rewards” on your investment in education and working hard for a living. So here we are, looking to sell our dream land in order to design and build closer to the more expensive and less lifestyle orientated Auckland surrounds.