Interest rates are high, cost of living is high, and most investors with 100% lending are topping up their property every week. This episode of She Owns This breaks down exactly what a top-up includes, the triangle principle that explains why you can’t have everything, and five strategies to make your investment property work harder.

You'll learn:

• What a property top-up actually includes: mortgage interest, rates, insurance, management fees, maintenance and vacancy, not just the mortgage
• The cash flow triangle: why you can usually only have two of high growth, high yield and no deposit
• Interest-only mortgages: how they improve cash flow and when to switch back to principal and interest
• Using a larger cash deposit to get an NZ investment property to cash flow positive
• Adding a minor dwelling: when the extra rent covers the extra borrowing, and when it doesn’t
• Renovating for yield: how it can quietly turn a growth property into a specialist one
• Using Opes+ to model deposit size, interest-only and renovation scenarios side by side

A top-up isn’t a loss. It’s a contribution to an asset that should be growing faster than it costs you.

Women should own half the world. Come own it with us.

Don't forget to like and subscribe, and follow us on

• Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠SheOwnsThispodcast⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠
• YouTube: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠SheOwnsThispodcast

Airbnb apartments get pitched to property investors with impressive yield projections. The real numbers almost never match. This episode of She Owns This breaks down the 2026 MBIE ruling that changed Christchurch Airbnb rules, the actual costs developers leave out, and a real side by side comparison that settles the debate.

In this episode:

• The 2026 MBIE ruling explained: why Christchurch apartment owners now need council permission to run an Airbnb, and what it means for the 5,000 listings already operating
• Airbnb rules compared across Christchurch, Auckland, Queenstown Lakes and beyond: night limits, consent requirements and the councils cracking down hardest
• The GST trap: why some Christchurch one-bedroom apartments advertised at $265,000 actually cost over $300,000 once GST is added
• The real numbers: a $560,000 Christchurch CBD apartment run as Airbnb versus a $560,000 two-bedroom townhouse run as a long-term rental, cost by cost
• Why the Airbnb apartment comes out negatively geared by over $200 a week while the townhouse sits closer to neutral, with better capital growth and a far wider resale buyer pool

A property that only works as an Airbnb has one exit strategy, and the rules keep getting harder. Here is why a long-term rental almost always wins.

Women should own half the world. Come own it with us.

Don't forget to like and subscribe, and follow us on

• Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠SheOwnsThispodcast⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠
• YouTube: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠SheOwnsThispodcast

House price headlines say property is more affordable. So what does $500,000 actually buy across New Zealand right now? Stevie found six real listings and dug into the details the advertising copy leaves out.

In this episode:

• Six real $500K property listings across Howick, Christchurch, Lower Hutt, Southland, Wellington and Auckland Central, compared side by side
• Why a one-bedroom no-carpark apartment in Auckland has a 2.9% yield and almost no resale buyer pool
• Why Linwood in Christchurch is one of the more sensible $500K buys on the list right now
• Why Stokes Valley in Lower Hutt has seen the biggest house price fall since peak anywhere in NZ
• The Wellington apartment with $10,000 a year in body corporate fees that's sold for less than it did in 2017
• The Auckland Central listing that looks like incredible value until you spot the GST exclusion and the management lease locked in until 2028
• Why bare land in Southland isn't an investment property, no matter how good the price looks
• What the $500K market actually reveals about where NZ property is genuinely accessible right now, and where it only looks that way

The price is just the starting line. What it actually buys you is the real story.

Women should own half the world. Come own it with us.

Don't forget to like and subscribe, and follow us on

• Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠SheOwnsThispodcast⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠
• YouTube: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠SheOwnsThispodcast

OCR, Swap Rates, Market Bubbles, Short Selling, Hedging and more.

The finance industry runs on jargon that is designed to make you feel like an outsider. This episode is the antidote. We decipher the terms, plain English, real analogies, and a rapid-fire format that actually makes it fun.

In this episode:

• OCR explained: how the Reserve Bank uses it to control inflation and your mortgage rate
• Swap rates: why your fixed mortgage rate is set by markets, not the Reserve Bank
• Market bubbles: the dot-com crash and Nefe's rule of thumb for spotting hype
• Mean reversion: why prices always come back to their historical average
• Market capitalisation: small cap, mid cap, large cap, explained simply

• Economic moats: why some companies are nearly impossible to compete with
• Short selling: the handbag analogy and the GameStop story

• Futures contracts: the carpet analogy and the turnkey building connection

The finance industry benefits from complexity. The actual concepts are not that hard. Here is the proof.

Women should own half the world. Come own it with us.

Don't forget to like and subscribe, and follow us on

• Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠SheOwnsThispodcast⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠
• YouTube: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠SheOwnsThispodcast

New Zealanders paid $19.7 million in BNPL late fees in 2025. Afterpay's NZ revenue grew 17.4% - during a recession. And 1 in 5 users paid at least one late fee.

This episode of She Owns This explains exactly how these platforms are designed to work on your brain, and your wallet.

You'll learn:

• How Afterpay, Zip, and Klarna actually make money in NZ
• The NZ consumer data most people haven't seen
• The three psychological tricks that make BNPL feel different from debt
• Why $100 a fortnight in BNPL repayments redirected into an index fund at 8% average annual return could earn you

Buy Now Pay Later isn't free. It's deferred. And the cost of buying things this way instead of saving for them first shows up over years, not weeks.

Women should own half the world. Come own it with us.

Don't forget to like and subscribe, and follow us on

• Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠SheOwnsThispodcast⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠
• YouTube: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠SheOwnsThispodcast

We're in one of the longest property downturns in NZ history. Townhouses are everywhere. And investors are asking the question nobody wants to answer honestly. This episode brings the data — and argues both sides.

In this episode:

• The number that changes the debate: Auckland townhouses fell 22% from peak. Standalone homes fell 22.9%. The market did this — not the property type
• 32 years of NZ property data: townhouses vs standalone homes grew at a 0.6% difference over 26 years — less than 1%
• The building boom in context: townhouses were 6% of new NZ builds in 2012. By January 2026 they were 43.8% — and what that actually means for supply and demand
• Why affordability sustains townhouse demand: with stand-alones at $1,050,000 and townhouses at $750,000, first home buyers are 37–41% of Auckland townhouse purchases and aren't going anywhere
• Smaller NZ households, more solo living, and cultural shift: why the quarter-acre dream is changing — and what 22.8% single-person households means for compact housing demand
• Why location outperforms property type every time
• Christchurch property market 2026: down from 8% undervalued to 2.3% — and why 25% townhouse penetration hasn't slowed the recovery

Don't confuse a bad market cycle with a bad property type. And don't let three years of data substitute for thirty-two.

Women should own half the world. Come own it with us.

Don't forget to like and subscribe, and follow us on

• Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠SheOwnsThispodcast⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠
• YouTube: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠SheOwnsThispodcast

Money is one of the leading causes of relationship tension in New Zealand. Not because couples don't love each other, but because most of us were never taught how to talk about it.

This episode gives you a framework, the legal reality, and permission to do it your way.

In this episode:

• The three models NZ couples use to manage money: fully combined, hybrid, and fully separate - when each one works, when it doesn't, and the legal landscape sitting underneath all three
• Why the fully combined model creates resentment when money personalities don't align, and what to do instead
• The hybrid model in practice: how to set joint contributions fairly when one partner earns significantly more
• The fully separate model: why it works for some couples, why a relationship property agreement is non-negotiable if you use it, and why it's not a statement about commitment
• The income disparity conversation most couples avoid -and why non-financial contributions like caregiving and project management have real dollar value that needs to be in the model

• The five money questions every couple should answer before choosing a financial model - ideally before the mortgage, the wedding, or the baby

The right model isn't the conventional one. It's the one both people have honestly agreed to and genuinely understand.

Women should own half the world. Come own it with us.

Don't forget to like and subscribe, and follow us on

• Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠SheOwnsThispodcast⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠
• YouTube: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠SheOwnsThispodcast

That message from your property manager "your tenant has given notice" doesn't have to spike your anxiety.

This week Nefe goes straight to the expert: Tiffany Bracey from Opes Property Management, with everything that actually happens from notice to new tenant.

In this episode:

• The full tenant exit process in NZ: from the 21-day notice period to keys handed back...every stage, every timeline, every cost
• The rent review decision: why holding out for a higher rent almost always costs more than a small reduction would, and the one number every landlord needs to know
• How good NZ property managers market a vacant rental: photography, digital staging (~$200 vs $5,000 - $10,000 for physical), viewings with 48 hours notice, and why advertising starts before the tenant leaves
• What happens to power between tenancies, and why keeping the heat pump running costs less than $100 but makes a significant difference to how fast the property rents
• How vacancy actually works in NZ: best case one to two weeks, worst case a few weeks, and why planning for it removes the panic entirely

Vacancy isn't a disaster to avoid. It's a cost you plan for. Here's exactly how.

Women should own half the world. Come own it with us. Don't forget to like and subscribe, and follow us on

• Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠SheOwnsThispodcast⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠
• YouTube: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠SheOwnsThispodcast