From first home buyer to overseas landlord

Chorizo with wine, and rent payments are fine

Joshua van Dalen met his wife Cami during their overseas studies in the Netherlands. Their friendship first grew from riding bicycles together around the city and flourished with the couple both deciding to relocate to New Zealand after study.

After purchasing their first home together, they were enjoying the process of redecorating and making it their own. Living in the inner city and raising their pug Philippa, they made the tough decision to move to Cami’s native Spain to see if it really was possible to beat Wellington on a good day (it was).

"We had mixed emotions about leaving our house, we were absolutely loving the home we had created but we were missing being close to family. Should we keep it and allow someone else to enjoy the space as a rental, or should we sell up?

With tightening compliances in the rental market and zero experience managing property, we were a bit concerned if we could do the whole landlord thing. Let alone do it from the other side of the world.

Grove gives us the confidence that our New Zealand mortgage payments can be made each month through the automated rent tracking. We both get the notifications that rent has been paid. With a quick glance at the dashboard we can see if there are any payments overdue."

Being cross-borders, the pair found the export feature particularly useful. At any point in time they can simply download the rent book and send it to their accountant.

Two tenants, a pug, and a long-term investment

A combination of Joshua's passion for technology and Cami's clever market analysis was what motivated the pair to keep their property in New Zealand, holding it as a long-term investment.

“The rental market in New Zealand right now is hot and it would be silly to sell up only to have to buy back into the Market again if we move back at later date" says Cami.

They both knew they wouldn't be-able to sustain managing their property from a distance of over 20,000 kilometres away without a little bit of help. They set a goal to keep their home but wanted to work out the most efficient way keep on top of their responsibilities as landlords.

“Our accountant loves it. We love it, and our tenants are happy too. It allows us to spend more time focusing on work and family life in Spain, and it is literally zilch effort for us to keep on top of the day to day rents.” says Joshua. “It really is beautiful when a simple technology solution takes away what we thought was going to be quite a significant challenge.”