Buying with someone other than a spouse has moved from unusual to common, driven by prices that outpaced incomes. Done with structure, it works. Done informally, it produces the worst outcomes in real estate.
Why it is growing
Two or three incomes qualify for a property none of them could reach alone, and split the down payment, the carrying costs and the maintenance. Friends, siblings and unmarried partners are all doing it.
The common models
Equal partners with equal shares. Unequal contributions with proportional ownership recorded accordingly. And an owner-occupier paired with an investor who supplies capital but does not live there.
What has to be written down before purchase
How title is held, and how it passes if someone dies. Who pays what, and what happens when someone cannot. How decisions on repairs and improvements get made. How someone exits, how the property is valued at exit, and whether remaining owners get first refusal. How a dispute is resolved.
These are not signs of distrust. They are the reason the arrangement survives a job loss, a relationship change or a relocation without destroying either the asset or the relationship.
Read the full breakdown on HouseCashers.com