When I first stepped into real estate, it was with simple goals: buy small units, rent them out, and build long-term income.<\/p>\n
The demand was there<\/strong> but the system\u00a0wasn\u2019t<\/strong>.<\/p>\n Banks judged properties like mine using outdated rules.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\u00a0income<\/strong>.<\/p>\n If the numbers didn\u2019t fit their template, they simply didn\u2019t believe\u00a0them.<\/p>\n So, I built something different.<\/p>\n Seven rooms. Each with an ensuite. One shared kitchen. No\u00a0garage.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n That\u2019s what the rules allowed, so that\u2019s what I\u00a0built.<\/p>\n At the time, it was labelled a \u201cboarding house\u201d<\/em> a term loaded with stigma. But to me, it was co-living<\/strong>. I wasn\u2019t trying to disrupt anything I just wanted it to\u00a0work.<\/p>\n Surprisingly, Council approved<\/strong> the\u00a0plans.<\/p>\n The banks? Not so\u00a0much<\/strong>.<\/p>\n I had to present fake cashflow figures <\/strong>downplaying the true income <\/em>just to get the loan approved.<\/p>\n When it filled quickly and stayed full, I built a second version: ten rooms<\/strong>, same\u00a0model.<\/p>\n Again, I had to argue for a loan<\/strong> based on less than the property actually\u00a0earned.<\/p>\n It made no sense, but it was the only way through the\u00a0system.<\/p>\n One small decision helped a lot: That gave me breathing room. One of the original tenants still lives there 24 years\u00a0later<\/strong>.<\/p>\n Eventually though, the walls closed\u00a0in<\/strong>.<\/p>\n Being self-employed, over 50, and operating outside the lending template meant that no matter how well my model worked, I couldn\u2019t scale<\/strong> it\u00a0further.<\/p>\n That frustration reignited something I\u2019d shelved years\u00a0earlier:<\/p>\n Smart contracts.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n The idea that value could flow directly<\/strong>, without needing permission from a system built to reject people like\u00a0me.<\/p>\n And the more I explored it, the more I saw how smart contracts could:<\/p>\n Bypass banks and outdated loan processesEnable everyday people to co-own\u00a0assetsCreate fairer ways to earn income from\u00a0propertyReduce reliance on financial institutions entirely<\/p>\n I wasn\u2019t just trying to fix lending anymore. Why I Built NZ\u2019s First Co-Living Space \u2014 July 15,2025<\/a> was originally published in Coinmonks<\/a> on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" 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\u00a0wasn\u2019t. 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, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-84346","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-interesting"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mycryptomania.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84346"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mycryptomania.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mycryptomania.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mycryptomania.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=84346"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mycryptomania.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84346\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mycryptomania.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=84346"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mycryptomania.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=84346"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mycryptomania.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=84346"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
Smart use of space.
High demand.
Low\u00a0vacancy.<\/p>\n
I kept the rent payments separate<\/strong> from the bank that held the mortgage.<\/p>\n
And it gave me the confidence to keep\u00a0going<\/strong>.<\/p>\n
I wanted to rebuild the foundation.<\/strong><\/p>\n\ud83d\udce3 If this story resonates with you, follow along. I\u2019m building something new and learning as I\u00a0go<\/h3>\n