What a year without paying the mortgage means to one lucky Hawke's Bay family

Everyone dreams of winning big changing their life, but for Central Hawkes Bay couple Chloe and Jake Stevens, a year with no mortgage to pay means seeing more of their family. 

“Jake works six days a week, so it means he can go down to five, and we can finally make our move to Napier,” Chloe told OneRoof after the couple won $27,000 last week in The Hits' Live Free contest, which promised to pay for a year the lucky winner's rent or mortgage. 

Three years ago the couple, and their children Isabella, 15, Hunter, 14, and Madelaine, 8, made some big changes. 

After Jake left dairy farming and began a building apprenticeship, and Chloe retrained in business administration, they bought a villa in Waipukerau and began to do it up as a stepping stone to moving to the city. Family stepped up to help, with Chloe’s parents parking their camper van on site to help with the children and Jake’s parents helping with the build, and schooling. 

“We started again, it was a big pay cut. We planned to be here one year because Isabella is boarding at Napier Girls, Maddy and I commute an hour into Napier and Hunter is at school in Hastings. So three years later, it’s time.” 

The couple have had the weekend to think about how they’ll spend the extra $520 a week now in their pockets, and Chloe said their goal is to sell the renovated villa and move to Napier. Since they bought the house, Jake, with the help of his builder dad, has put his skills to use upgrading the bathroom and ensuite, giving the house a repaint and refresh, so the first bill the couple plans to pay will be to wipe off the renovation loan. 

“As soon as we got home, Jake was thinking how we can do this. All I could think of what that I’d love to get a new Huffer jersey, but the lovely people from The Hits said they’d take care of that,” Chloe laughed. 

Back home, first up was braving the local café, where she was greeted as the “rich celebrity friend”, and supermarket, where her aunt had been sure to let everyone know of her niece’s good fortune. 
 

"I still made Isabella hold the calculator as we went through the supermarket and she said ‘Mum, why are you even doing this?’ But once that loan has gone, then we need to look at the next things.” 

Paying down the mortgage – or ditching the landlord for a year – sure hit the mark with The Hits listeners who made over 229,300 calls during the five-week promotion, which sponsored by OneRoof. Five finalists made it to NZME headquarters on Friday night to pick up their keys and try their luck opening the door to a year of financial freedom. The nail-biting tries were hosted by The Hits drive hosts Laura McGoldrick and Brad Watson, with Breakfast hosts Jono and Ben cheering from the sides. 

Chloe, the third contestant to try her key – she chose green for luck - took home the prize, and headed out with the other contestants for a night of celebrations in Auckland. 

“It felt like we’d known them like old friends, but we’d only just met. We were the last ones standing,” said Chloe. 

Earlier in the day, last year's winner Catherine Young had told Brad and Laura how her win had changed her life. She'd used the money to pay off a $20,000 loan, bought three cars and had a baby. 

"With the stress out of my life, I had a baby. It's been a dream come true and a little blessing," she told them. 

This article was first published by OneRoof and is republished here with permission.