KEY POINTS:
She was thrust into the media spotlight, but wasn't quite ready for it.
Korina Rangihuna opened the door of her new Christchurch home to find Housing Minister Chris Carter, the media and an entourage of people in suits, and she was a little rattled.
"We are so not sorted," she told the minister. "I'm so embarrassed."
Ms Rangihuna and partner Richard Jenkins opened their home - complete with a car parked in the front yard with a shattered back window - to the visitors, to be recognised as the 3000th recipients of the Government's lauded Welcome Home Loan scheme.
Housing NZ essentially underwrites private lenders such as banks and building societies to give home loans to people who would otherwise have difficulty getting a mortgage. The scheme enables households to borrow up to $200,000 with no deposit, and up to $280,000 with a smaller deposit than would normally be required. On average it helps two families a day into home ownership, and Mr Carter said that of the 3000, only one loan recipient had defaulted, and that was because of "a relationship bust-up".
Ms Rangihuna and Mr Jenkins bought their home in Linwood with a $265,000 loan.
