I Luv the Chariot OH Posted July 18, 2008 Posted July 18, 2008 We've been planning for a while to move in together this September. Long story short, we found out we can own a new condo for just $100 each more monthly than we were planning to pay for a shoddy apartment in a semi-sketchy part of town. My question: how many of you would consider owning property with somebody you weren't engaged/married to, but had been with long enough to be very confident about your future with them?
sb129 Posted July 18, 2008 Posted July 18, 2008 Fine. I have owned a house with an ex even though we were having problems and probably shouldn't have even moved in together. The split wasn't plain sailing, it wasn't that bad. i bought his share of the house, he moved his stuff out. A few years later I sold the house and made a decent profit.
amymarieca Posted July 18, 2008 Posted July 18, 2008 Based on my past experiences, I would never ever do anything like that with someone I was not married to. I dated my ex for 8 years, and when we split up, he was a selfish *******. You just never know how people will be when they are in that situation.
beautifullove Posted July 18, 2008 Posted July 18, 2008 There is a document called 'tenants in common' or 'joint tenants in common'. Something like that. The point is, if you trust this person, this document is useful, because in the event of a break-up, you have your legal rights outlined for you. Basically, you come up with an agreement before buying. I hope this helps.
knaveman Posted July 18, 2008 Posted July 18, 2008 I'm paying 1600.00 (dollars) a month on a house I bought for my ex-girlfriend and her kids. We were supposed to get married within the year. She moved out less than a month after I signed papers on the house. DON'T DO IT, PLEASE!
Lyssa Posted July 18, 2008 Posted July 18, 2008 Personally, this is something I wouldn't do - not until I get married. This is something you have to think about thoroughly before making a decision.
Krytie TV Posted July 18, 2008 Posted July 18, 2008 Go for it, but make sure you have a crisis plan in place just in case something fgoes wrong with the relationship. Buying property is rarely a bad decision. Even if the relationship fails, you have both earned capital that an apartment would not have given you.
woods321 Posted July 18, 2008 Posted July 18, 2008 Can one of you afford this by yourself? I think it is always a bad idea.
sb129 Posted July 18, 2008 Posted July 18, 2008 We've been planning for a while to move in together this September. Long story short, we found out we can own a new condo for just $100 each more monthly than we were planning to pay for a shoddy apartment in a semi-sketchy part of town. My question: how many of you would consider owning property with somebody you weren't engaged/married to, but had been with long enough to be very confident about your future with them? I think it would be silly to miss a financial opportunity just because you aren't engaged or married. You know how you feel about your SO chariot. Owning property together is quite a big commitment in itself, and I certainly would be more tempted to pay the extra $100 a month to live somewhere nicer and that I owned rather than rented. As I said, I have done it and we split up and it wasn't that messy to get out of. I would do it again- but as someone else said have a contingency plan in the event of a split. If you buy it 50-50 and are both on the title deeds if you sell it you will split the profits 50-50 unless you specify another plan.
Art_Critic Posted July 18, 2008 Posted July 18, 2008 I would think providing your relationship is strong and there isn't any nit picky bickering about how money is spent in the relationship then do it.. Make sure you have a Joint Tenancy With Right of Survivorship signed between you both for each other. This would make the property yours in the event he dies and his in the event you die. ( of course you still have the mortgage to pay but the total ownership passes to the other ) You want that so you don't wind up owning the house with his family or people you don't know and vise versa in the unlikely event of one of you passing away. It is a 1 page document for each person that can be created and signed at the closing. Good Luck
nicki Posted July 18, 2008 Posted July 18, 2008 Yes, this is how I did it. "Joint Tenants With Right of Survivorship." Some states simply state "Joint Tenants." The survivorship is automatic. But check your particular state's languaging. Every state is different. Basically, though, if you pick "Tenants in Common," then if one dies, their share passes on to their heirs. You don't want this. "Joint Tenants" means that the surviving owner receives the property upon the death of the other owner. Much better for you. This all must be done at the time of closing, as Art said. It's the way the Deed is styled and recorded. So have the talk and don't leave this up to chance. It's important that you BOTH be taken care of in the event one of you dies before the other. That's how I phrased it anyway. Hope this helps.
Author I Luv the Chariot OH Posted July 18, 2008 Author Posted July 18, 2008 Wow, thanks for all these insightful posts! I think the concern is less with one of us dying, and more with the fact that we're relatively young and have never lived with a SO before (never mind owned property). But we'll definitely have to look up the joint tenant agreement (I hope it's the same where I am--not in the US) and have a good talk about this.
Trialbyfire Posted July 18, 2008 Posted July 18, 2008 JTWROS and JTIC are the same in Canada. IMO, I would do the JTIC until there's a greater commitment like marriage and children. You want your share to revert to your heirs, if something should happen to you. Reliant on how much you're putting down, in relation to interest, maintenance fees and repair costs, add this up together and see which is more cost effective, buying or renting. If you're in Canada, you cannot write off your primary residence mortgage interest and the real estate market is falling.
blondiepants Posted July 18, 2008 Posted July 18, 2008 My boyfriend and I have been together for four years, and just moved in together. Luckily we don't own, we rent. Our relationship is in shambles. I am SO glad we didn't buy anything together, or - heaven forbid get engaged or married before living together. Rent for a year, and see how it goes.
Laurenwho Posted July 18, 2008 Posted July 18, 2008 My ex (from years ago) and I almost bought a house together in Michigan. We had no family there. he had to move there for work. We were engaged and living in an apartment. We had been together for four years and were planning to get married. We even made an offer on a house we liked but it wasn't accepted (thank god!!) I left him (for other reasons) about six months after we almost bought a house together. Things would have been a huge mess to try to sort that out. He ended up moving to another state (for his job) about threeyears later and with the state of the housing market in Michigan both of us should be thanking our lucky stars we didnt have a house to sell there. Could one of you put the mortgage in your name and the other one pay rent? So that just in case you do break up, whoever owns the place can still live there but while you are together you are sharing the cost of it? Also in some places condos are hard to sell.
Author I Luv the Chariot OH Posted July 18, 2008 Author Posted July 18, 2008 If you're in Canada, you cannot write off your primary residence mortgage interest and the real estate market is falling. I think this is important for me, but I have no idea what it means :(
Angel1111 Posted July 18, 2008 Posted July 18, 2008 No, I wouldn't recommend buying anything before marriage. Nor do I recommend living together before you're married. Not because I'm a prude, but it just seems to take away from the excitement of being married and being together in that way.
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