Spend 8 minutes on Zillow, and you’ll see home prices are through the roof. (Seriously—they shot up 10 percent in 2020, then another 19 percent in 2021, marking the sharpest increase in more than 30 years.) So if you’ve been dreaming of ditching your landlord and owning your own space, you may find yourself at a crossroads: How the bleepity-bleep can I afford it?! For many, the answer is simple: go in on it with a friend.
About 55 percent of people would consider buying a home with a pal or relative, a trend known as co-buying, and about one in three Americans already have, according to a recent Realtor.com survey.
PureWow Editor-in-Chief Jillian Quint and her husband, Dan Gordon, took the leap back in 2010, buying a three-family townhouse in Brooklyn with another couple. For them, a huge part of the appeal was being able to leverage each other’s assets to become homeowners—one couple had the cash for a down payment, another had the salary necessary to secure a mortgage. “On our own, we might have had trouble buying, but together, we were much stronger,” she explains.
So, is co-buying right for you? It’s no easy decision, but we’re here to help. A few things immediately spring to mind: “You’ll both want to consider your finances, your tolerance for risk, what you both want out of your new home, and who will be responsible for upkeep and maintenance,” says Rachel Stults, Realtor.com managing editor and co-host of the House Party podcast. Here’s what you should consider before making an offer.
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