first home

PHOTO: RICKY WILSON/STUFF Gina Hochstein lives on a careful budget and has a buffer from her savings for her lighter working months over summer.

Picking yourself back up and finding emotional and financial stability after a marriage or a long relationship ends, is incredibly testing. 

For those who have sacrificed their career and earning capacity over the years for family, they find themselves, in their more mature years, looking to buy their first home with a share of the money from the family property, and often an uncertain income.

Architecture masters student and mother-of-two , Gina Hochstein was lucky that her Mt Eden home was mortgage-free. So she came away with half the money the house sold for in 2017 – just under $1 million, after legal fees and expenses. 

Most of this she planned to put into a stable home for herself and the girls who were starting at Auckland University the following year.

Gina Hochstein finally secured a home in Sandringham, after seeing more than 42 houses and missing out on some at auction.
RICKY WILSON/STUFF Gina Hochstein finally secured a home in Sandringham, after seeing more than 42 houses and missing out on some at auction.

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