Buying a house with friends

KG

muskoka wrote: »

Can I make a suggestion. Why don't the three of you rent for 12 months to see how you go before you commit to a mortgage. This way, you can if and how you gel with each other. You don't know anyone until you've lived with them

Thanks - this is indeed a useful suggestion. And we do already rent together.

KPG

CLAPTON

frankly I think you are a rather rude, disrespectful but mostly foolish young person to reject advice about 'diffiulties'.
One person practicality is anothers difficulty.

Ditch_Crawler

A couple of years ago, I considered the possibility of sharing a house purchase with others, but gave up the idea because I simply could not think of a watertight exit strategy.

Ditch

KG

CLAPTON wrote: »

frankly I think you are a rather rude, disrespectful but mostly foolish young person to reject advice about 'diffiulties'.
One person practicality is anothers difficulty.

I am not rejecting other people's advice about difficulties. I just don't think comments like this:

Dan_1976 wrote: »

My only advice would be dont do it you are mental if you do!

really add anything to the discussion and, in my experience of web boards, can allow discussions to degenerate into 'should she / should she not do this'. Which isn't what I am asking.

I am looking for practical advice about how to approach it if we _do_ go ahead because that's what MSE is about - and what is very good at. I will add this to the wider advice of the people who know best me to help me make a decision.

And, given that I am not the one who has sunk to the level of making personal insults against someone I don't know, I am not sure I am the rudest person on this thread.

KPG

ETA: Oh, and you're making a kind big (and incorrect) assumption thinking I am young, but thanks for the compliment

Dan_1976

LOL now now children!

It was late, I was tired and I should have not bothered posting, but I did!

I have seen it go wrong a few times.

You can plan, but things change. People meet each other and want to leave the house, they want there share so you all have to sell.

Its as risky in some ways as buying with a boyfriend/girlfriend you have only been with a short time. But times the risk by how many single parties are looking to buy!

There are more cons than pros in my opinion, but it is only an opinion!

getmore4less

KG wrote: »

I am looking for practical advice about how to approach it if we _do_ go ahead because that's what MSE is about - and what is very good at. I will add this to the wider advice of the people who know best me to help me make a decision.

Ultimately the exit plan is the key in case you make a mistake with any of the other parts.

So include the I want to exit now.
A good test is to think of loads of things that could go wrong, extreme is good but also some simple ones and some personal ones.

When discussing this with the others consider the responses

That will never happen, we will cross that bridge if we need to etc. are warning signs

if you do go ahead try posting a summary of the things that are included so people can add further contructive warnings.

One option that is not without its own problems is to keep the thing as a house share.

You buy a place to rent out and treat it as a BTL setting exit options based on that.

Initialy you live in it as a house share like you do know with the same rules(if they work). paying yourselves implied market rents
Then any of you can leave at any time and those left can get new sharers on a lodger basis(that pays you the market rent) until you all leave then you are probably looking at a full BTL.

Observation it seems that singles becoming couples cause the biggest problems with these arangements, covering the payment situations it seems can be considered and agreed but pointing out that when you get a new partner you will lose all sense does not.

Now getting a place that can cope with all being couples is an option but I guess this might be the wrong forum!

Ditch_Crawler

getmore4less wrote: »

Initialy you live in it as a house share like you do know with the same rules(if they work). paying yourselves implied market rents
Then any of you can leave at any time and those left can get new sharers on a lodger basis(that pays you the market rent) until you all leave then you are probably looking at a full BTL

When I was considering a shared mortgage, it was a scheme like that which I tried to work out, whereby the house purchase itself would be a standalone investment (as if by a property management company), and the actual living arrangements would be negotiable between friends - just like a shared rental arrangement.

The problem would remain, however, that you cannot build sufficient flexibility into a single arrangement which is not the main business of the people involved (ie, at the end of the day, you would all remain dependent on each other for keeping yourselves out of financial difficulty, with a roof over your heads!) - a property management company has many properties, and will play the market as individual situations change.

Ditch