Property buying "groups"??

RobMoz

Hi all,

I'm 28 and saving for a decent deposit which everyone knows is a daunting task.

Are there such things as formal home buying groups or teams where people in similar circumstances (e.g. have some money, not loads) club together to buy a property that they then either live in or rent out?

I know friends or relatives often do this on an ad hoc basis but I just wondered if, in the same way that young professionals often rent with strangers, they buy with strangers with comprehensive legal advice and paperwork in place OBVIOUSLY.

Any info gratefully received.

theGrinch

there are websites (bit like dating ones) springing up to people in touch for buying. cant think of names atm. im sure someone will be along and reveal all.

jinx_uk_98

i too am interested in this.

Doozergirl

Bad idea. Different people have different objectives therefore you'll never find a group that agrees entirely on how long to keep, what you do if prices rise, what to do if they fall, how much to let it for, what if someone wants to live in it? How do you maintain it? Who maintains it? How do you agree on contractors? Pay a managing agent?

I'd rather eat my own hair than buy a house with a stranger.

I suppose you could just invest in a property fund or buy shares in property companies and see what returns you get from that, but that's a bad idea too right now as I don't think they're doing so well. Developers are down.

DeepSporran

I think this is a risky idea, but if you want to pursue it, here's one site that may help. I'm sure there are others.

John_Pierpoint

Fortunately, here in England only a limited number of people (4) are legally allowed to own land as joint tenants (and therefore the building built on it). If you go to somewhere like France with a different legal heritage, you will find big old farm-houses with their roofs fallen in. It is not so much a matter of money as the inability of multiple joint owners to get agreement to do anything.
So over here you will have to create another legal vehicle to own the property and you will have some sort of share or entitlement in the legal vehicle. So it all gets a bit complicated and expensive.
[An elementary legal course or textbook will explain the difference between legal and equitable interests - if you want to spend a few weeks understanding the background to our legal system].

If you want to get up close and personal with strangers, you could try to find a self-build group. Back in the days when "Docklands" was an "exciting" new concept in East London, I interviewed a group that was building its own homes, while living on benefits (those were the days!). The general opinion was "we really are going to do OK out of this, as long as we can avoid killing each other first".

Sarah Beenie tried to organise something similar on a street by street basis and showed the results on the TV - did you get to watch any of the programs?
(A bit like "Get me out of here" but with some purpose to the activity).