Blenheim couple scrimps, scrapes, and plans for 12 years to buy a house they can call their own
Twelve years of scrimping, scraping, and painstaking planning has borne fruit for a Blenheim couple, when they finally bought their dream home, soon after getting permanent residency.
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Ramkumar Ayyappan moved to New Zealand from Southern India in 2010 and has since then been “struggling” to save for his own house, forgoing treats, takeaways, and holidays in the process.
“I’ve been saving up for 12 years,” Ayyappan told Stuff. “Twelve years of struggling, every moment has been a struggle.”
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Ayyappan’s wife, Sudha Sudalaimuthu, joined him in Marlborough in 2014, and the couple had been working towards getting permanent residency for the past seven years. Even though getting their residency was far from being certain, this didn’t deter them from planning to buy their own home in Blenheim.
“We haven’t been on a family holiday for six years or been to restaurants, we’ve been saving every spare penny,” Ayyappan told the publication.
Thanks to the couple’s patience, foresight, and steadfast planning, they were finally granted their residency last month, and were in a prime position to buy their first house.
In late October 2018, changes to the Overseas Investment Amendment Bill meant only residents and citizens of New Zealand could buy homes to live in.
Ayyappan, who is a Kebab shop manager, said the combination of being granted residency and buying their own home came as a great relief for himself and his family.
“It’s a very big gateway for my life, many doors have now opened for us, including our own home,” Ayyappan told Stuff. “It’s a big stress release from our minds. Renting was very expensive, and my rent increased by $40 a week last year. I am now paying less for my mortgage than I was my rent.”
Data from realestate.co.nz showed the average house price in Marlborough had risen by nearly 55% in the 12 years Ayyappan started saving for a home.
A house in the region had an average asking price of $423,708 in 2010 compared to $655,500 in February 2022.
Meanwhile, Ayyappan and his family were getting ready to move into their new property.
“We love it here, my children are settled in school, and we plan on staying in Blenheim. It just felt the right time to buy a house, it was too good an opportunity to miss,” Ayyappan told Stuff.
