How Kiwi Live: Siblings Kevin & JC getting On The Ladder

Kevin: I like to describe myself as basic in that sense. One artwork, one couch, not a lot of knickknacks. I guess everything is functional. I'm a very organised mess. I collect many things but they're all piled in a corner or in a drawer to be forgotten.

JC: I'm kind of the same as my brother. I like things simple because we both grew up in a household with a lot of knickknacks. It’s not a bad thing but I just like everything simple. My room right now is basically all white with plants, my books and my pink duvet.

JC: We did look at a lot of potential houses. The reason we chose this house is because it gets a lot of sun which is good for my eczema. The house won’t get damp. The parking situation is really good as well because we're the only townhouse in our area, it's not like blocks of townhouses. What we found with the blocks of townhouses, is that everyone struggles to find parking. Also, the view from this house is really nice. We can see the Sky Tower, the Auckland Harbour Bridge and the Waitematā Harbour.

We did find a house down in Westgate that we really wanted but it didn’t have parking or sun and we just didn't know where to hang our washing. Most of the houses that we looked at didn’t have cupboards or pantries and this house had a pantry. Some of the layout of the new builds that we looked at were so interesting, like a toilet next to the kitchen.

Kevin: Mine’s the the view. Growing up in Whangārei, I’ve become a water boy. Water calms me down like our views of Waitematā. We’re really close to Muriwai too, which has become one of Donna’s zen spots.

JC: I’m the same in the sense of Kevin that I love being close to the water. That was one thing I was scared of moving to Auckland, not being able to go to the beach whenever I wanted because in Whangārei wherever you live, whatever direction you take you’re within 30 minutes of the beach.

Kevin: Growing up it was just us two until JC was five, then our other two siblings came along. We would both fight but also, we were teammates. I moved to Auckland after my new graduate nurse year in Whangārei and being apart brought us closer together. Through sharing family trauma we learned how to talk to each other properly. And then from there we realised how good siblings are.

All four of us siblings are very close. We try to see each other as much as we can. We even have our own family chat outside of our family chat.

JC: My sister, Joiemaia, the one after me, she lives in Australia now. And then the youngest, Jannica is still in high school so she’s still at home in Whangārei with mum and dad.

Kevin: One of the reasons wechose West Auckland is also because we wanted to be close to family. They have already visited us many times.

Kevin: Mine is that we got a house. But funnily enough now the accomplishment I’m most proud of is doing it with JC.

JC: I was going to say the same thing. It didn't matter what area it was. I feel like it's cool that I did it with my older brother. When I tell people that they say, “I wish I was that close to my sibling.” When I told one of my workmates she said that it reminded her that she should go call her siblings.

JC: For me it’s being able to have something that is mine. And feeling safe in the house as well.

Kevin: We come from a Filipino family background where you have your main roots and then everyone else gathers around them. The house where our parents live, they’ve been in for the past 15 years. We still take some of that tradition but we're also aware that the definition of home has changed from just where your family is. I've got a tattoo of a clock on my chest that signifies future, past, and present. It reminds me that no matter where everyone is in the world, family will always be the constant.

JC: Watching YouTube. I got them hooked on Sidemen. Because I work shift work I don't always get to see Kevin and Donna, so I love being able to do that. Or when I come home from a late shift and they're still awake, I'll pop my head in and be like, “hello, you guys want to come and play?”

Kevin: That’s my favourite memory too, but since it’s already been said, I guess mine would be how anti-climatic it is getting the keys. You’re so excited the whole morning and then the time for handover gets pushed a little and then when you get the handover, it’s just keys.

You try and plan everything and you start to sort out your utilities just to find out that your gas meter is too close to the heat pump so you’ve got to sort that out.

JC: And there’s no landlord to do it.

Kevin: So you end up getting takeaways in Westgate and just laughing it all out. How anticlimactic the whole thing is. I thought there was going to be fireworks!

JC: I want small storage for the random things like the vacuum. We only have a big storage cupboard for the linens, which is good but I wish we had more storage.

Kevin: They're not even cupboards that you could store many things in like suitcases or a vacuum, they’re just square. Mine would be a double garage. If it had a bigger garage we could store lots of things in there.

JC: Kevin’s bike is just in the kitchen.

JC: I own a farmhouse and maybe a pool. I really want cows. I want all the farm animals! I won’t eat them, I just want them.

Kevin: I’ll add to that and say I want to be able to plant watermelons and strawberries and have a skate park. And maybe in that lifestyle block have a home gym.