When I first stepped into real estate, it was with simple goals: buy small units, rent them out, and build long-term income.
The demand was there but the system wasn’t.
Banks judged properties like mine using outdated rules. They valued a house as a 3- or 4-bedroom family home even if it was fully rented out, room by room, making double the income.
If the numbers didn’t fit their template, they simply didn’t believe them.
So, I built something different.
Seven rooms. Each with an ensuite. One shared kitchen. No garage.
That’s what the rules allowed, so that’s what I built.
At the time, it was labelled a “boarding house” a term loaded with stigma. But to me, it was co-living.
Smart use of space.
High demand.
Low vacancy.
I wasn’t trying to disrupt anything I just wanted it to work.
Surprisingly, Council approved the plans.
The banks? Not so much.
I had to present fake cashflow figures downplaying the true income just to get the loan approved.
When it filled quickly and stayed full, I built a second version: ten rooms, same model.
Again, I had to argue for a loan based on less than the property actually earned.
It made no sense, but it was the only way through the system.
One small decision helped a lot:
I kept the rent payments separate from the bank that held the mortgage.
That gave me breathing room.
And it gave me the confidence to keep going.
One of the original tenants still lives there 24 years later.
Eventually though, the walls closed in.
Being self-employed, over 50, and operating outside the lending template meant that no matter how well my model worked, I couldn’t scale it further.
That frustration reignited something I’d shelved years earlier:
Smart contracts.
The idea that value could flow directly, without needing permission from a system built to reject people like me.
And the more I explored it, the more I saw how smart contracts could:
Bypass banks and outdated loan processesEnable everyday people to co-own assetsCreate fairer ways to earn income from propertyReduce reliance on financial institutions entirely
I wasn’t just trying to fix lending anymore.
I wanted to rebuild the foundation.
📣 If this story resonates with you, follow along. I’m building something new and learning as I go
Why I Built NZ’s First Co-Living Space — July 15,2025 was originally published in Coinmonks on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.