Home Truths: A happy ending

Maarten Deuss and Storm Deuss, with their dog, Barry, have managed to buy their first home. Photo/Dean Purcell

It's a happy ending for two Aucklanders who after weeks searching have bought their dream home, albeit a few kilometres further south of the city than planned.

Maarten and Storm Deuss have ended up buying a 3-bedroom, 2-bathroom house in Clover Park for $670,000.

The couple's search for a house in Mt Wellington, Otahuhu, Ellerslie, Panmure or Pt England had featured in last month's Herald's Home Truths: One year on.

After attending a few auctions and having one offer fall through, the Deusses, who had a price-cap of $710,000 thought they might have to downsize their property dreams and buy a smaller two-bedroom property.

But Maarten Deuss, 37, said after expanding the area where they were looking, they decided to choose lifestyle over location.

On April 14 they put in an offer on the house in Clover Park, which became a done deal when it went unconditional this week.

"It's a bit of a drive each day to work, but once home we will be more comfortable in our environment.

"The house met most of our requirements; it doesn't have a lawn but we can make one."

He said they were excited to finally be able to move into their home soon.

"We are looking forward to making changes to the home to add value, both financially, but also value for us as a couple, such as hanging wedding photos on the wall and making it our own home."

Maarten Deuss said overall the whole process was "tricky as we didn't know the steps".

"But we have an amazing, intelligent financial advisor who guided us through the whole process. She was the key to making it easy."

Reflecting on being able to buy within a matter of weeks Maarten Deuss said they were "so very lucky".