Well! The good news for you is that any property (within reason) can be used to co-own a home. From a legal perspective, you don’t have to chose a certain style of property to own as co-owners. However, from a practical perspective there are things you can consider to make co-owning a home much easier.
Once you have planned out the property from a co-owner perspective, the other consideration you may want to think about is how the property can innovate for you.
As mentioned above, this may include using a traditional footprint, in a new way. But it could also include ways in which to monetise your property to offset the cost of the maintenance or mortgage payment.
There are now apps and websites that allow you to generate income from your property in a number of ways. This includes:
Again, you only want to sign up to the options that work for you, but are worth considering when choosing your co-ownership property.
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Whilst almost all property can be used for co-ownership, there are some things you might want to consider when looking for a property to purchase with your Mortgage Mate.
Where you want to buy may impact what you can purchase (a city centre location will likely mean buying an apartment or a townhouse) and the amount you can spend will impact the size of the property you can buy (there will be a ceiling amount for what $500,000, $750,000 or a million dollars can purchase in terms of size).
You may also want to think about whether the property is purely live in, or investment, or a mixture of the two. Depending on which option it is, may impact the style of property that will get you the best return on your investment in the long term.
Additional considerations to make when purchasing a pre-existing property may include how much of the property you wish to share. Is it only the bedroom that you need to be seperate, or would you preference your own bathroom too? If you are buying an existing family home it is unlikely there will be more than two or three bathrooms in the house. This means if you buy with more than two or three mates, you may be required to share additional facilities.
Another part to consider is the use of the shared space. If you want more individual parts to the home, think about how you can manipulate a traditional layout to give you more of what you are looking for. For example, if you purchase a 4 x 2, between two of you, you may be able to seperate the spare bedrooms into office rooms, or additional living spaces. This means you can still share the kitchen and cooking areas but have clearly defined areas to call home independently.
As you get to know each other- also talk through what different spaces would mean to you. Look at the hobbies and activities each of you enjoy doing and finding a property that works best for these activities- a larger block, with outdoor space, may enable you to seperate into indoor and outdoor settings, or give you enough space to build a granny flat or property extension that gives you the specific space you need. Remember to make sure any changes you make to the property meet both your short term and long term investment needs and are covered as part of your co-ownership agreement.
Once you have started thinking about the property you wish to buy Mortgage Mates can help you take some of the stress away! In our Information Centre you will find free resources like our Housing Checklist which you can print and use as you view your properties.
We also have our What to do Next pages to link through to Buyers Agents and Real Estate websites which can help you locate a home. The choice is yours!
