Each week the NZ Herald and Newstalk ZB's Cooking The Books podcast tackles a different money problem. Today, it's the start of a partnership with OneRoof to walk you through the steps of buying a house. Episode one is rent vs buy. Hosted by Frances Cook.

Deciding you want to own your first home is a huge decision.

It has a big impact, not only on your finances but also your lifestyle.

So before you even start on the realities of pulling together a deposit or looking at houses, you need to figure out if this is the right time for you.

Do you still need the flexibility of renting, where you can leave relatively easily?

Or are you craving the stability of a house, where you have more control over what you do to the property, and how long you stay there?

Will it be better for your finances if you rent long term, and try to put the money into shares instead?

Or do you want to work on paying down a home you own, so you can eventually live in it for free?

We're starting a project together with OneRoof, to walk you through each step of buying a house.

But in this first episode, the very first question you need to ask yourself is whether you want to buy one at all.

For the latest Cooking the Books, OneRoof commentator Ashley Church and Mark Lister from Craig's Investment Partners debated the pros and cons.

We discussed whether you can put off home ownership by investing in shares instead, the times when buying can be bad for your future, and why home ownership is such a key part of most peoples' financial plan.

If you have a question about this podcast, or question you'd like answered in the next one, come and talk to me about it. I'm on Facebook here https://www.facebook.com/FrancesCookJournalist/ Instagram here https://www.instagram.com/francescooknz/ and Twitter here https://twitter.com/FrancesCook