Building Wealth Together: The Benefits of Buying a Home with Friends

Our online community, is the perfect place to organically connect with like-minded women who are just as passionate about real estate as you are. Whether you’re dreaming of partnering on a beach house, starting a glamping property, or investing in a sneaky duplex, you’ll find supportive women eager to share insights and potentially team up on projects. JOIN THE WAITLIST

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If you’re ready to explore creative strategies and meet women who could become your next real estate partners, don’t wait—join the waitlist now! We can’t wait to see the amazing connections you’ll make and the opportunities you’ll discover. Check the link in the show notes and get ready to be part of something truly transformative.

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Kristina discusses the innovative strategies women can use to redefine home buying, particularly through creative partnerships. She shares her personal experiences of buying homes with friends, highlighting the benefits of shared financial responsibilities, the importance of clear communication in partnerships, and addressing common concerns about co-ownership.

Join the Open House Education community of women exploring these creative real estate strategies, emphasizing the potential for building wealth together.

Chapters

00:00 Introduction to Creative Home Ownership
03:54 The Benefits of Buying Property with Friends
10:10 Navigating Partnerships in Real Estate
16:07 Common Questions and Concerns about Co-Ownership
17:59 Conclusion and Community Invitation

Get in Touch

Comments, suggestions or feedback? Email Kristina at kristina@openhouseeducation.com

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If you know of any ladies I should connect with about this new venture for potential partnerships, please send them my way.   Email us! 

Transcript

0:04

Welcome to the Open House podcast where women talk real estate. I'm Christina Moderus and I've spent my career helping women redefine home buying, whether it's through creative partnerships or innovative real estate strategies. Each week, I'll share tips and tricks from my own journey and bring in incredible women who are breaking the mold. So whether they're buying homes with friends or investing in unique ways, if you've ever dreamed of creative home ownership and don't want to go the traditional route, you're in the right place. Hi ladies, so before we dive into today's episode, I have some exciting news to share. I was recently featured on Barneuch Tarabi's So Money podcast where I talked about my experience buying homes with friends. So it was a really great conversation. If you're interested in diving even deeper into the benefits of partnering in real estate, I highly recommend checking it out. Also, if you caught last week's episode, I interviewed Alex Reyna about her journey with buying a house with her friend Amber. She shared some amazing insights about the challenges, triumphs of that process. So be sure to give it a listen if you haven't already. And actually, I'm really curious of what you think about that episode, because Alex kind of did this in, you know, not only a non-traditional route of like buying with her friend, but also, you know, I think a lot of you might be shocked at how she actually got this done and she's still working out a lot of the details. Yeah, I'm very curious to hear your thoughts about it. And Alex is a member of our online community for women. So this is a group I started in August with a hundred founding members and all interested in breaking the traditional mold of real estate and buying super creatively. you know, whether that be through partnerships, adding a sneaky duplex to your house, you know, they've done a lot of different strategies. So a reminder that this will be available for you all to join also at the end of the month. And I'm really excited for you to meet all these like cool women that are already in there. So many of them I will be actually interviewing on this podcast. So make sure to get on the wait list and you'll get all the information. I'm actually hosting two to three events a month online so you can meet women from all over the country to not only learn from each other, but also with the hopes that you may find your next real estate partner here. So this isn't like a quick fix solution. This is for women who are willing to put in the time to not only get to know each other, but learn. Because trust me, this will be the best way to find someone who aligns with your home buying vision. And it just may happen faster than you think. But putting in the time and effort is really key. And that is exactly how I was able to find friends who are interested in buying property with me. I had to seek them out because my immediate friend group wasn't ready for that yet. I'm excited to bring you all together and form some creative partnerships. Today I'm going to be diving into buying property with friends. I know we've talked about this before a few times, but I always get questions around this and like people are very scared about it as well. So yeah, I just want to like really make sure I'm answering all your questions. So if you've been considering buying a home, but kind of feel like you're not maybe ready yet, this episode is for you. So buying with a friend allows you to share the financial responsibilities. So lessens the stress and it makes homeownership a reality often sooner than you would expect. So over the last 10 years, I've bought homes with friends six different times and it's been such a powerful experience for me. So not only did it help me, you know, kind of get into the market early, I was 25 when I started, but it also gave me the chance to build wealth while having honestly, it was a lot of fun. I had a lot of fun. And it's been like a huge character building journey. So when you go into business with a friend, you can't really avoid those tough conversations or challenges as we learned from Alex's episode last week. You have to face things head on. Which has helped me grow, not just as a homeowner, but honestly as a person. So why would someone buy a house with their friends? So for starters, it does actually make home ownership more accessible. So real estate prices can be super intimidating, but when you're partner with a friend, you can actually share the down payment, mortgage, and the overall cost of maintaining a property. So this makes the whole process far more manageable, especially if you're in a competitive market. Now I do say potentially because you don't always have to split things 50-50. Partnerships can be flexible depending on what each person is bringing to the table. So for example, when I bought a house to live in at 26, I just started my business. had the cash, time and experience, but banks would only approve me for $160,000 for a loan since I didn't have a W-2 job or I also didn't have two years of business income to show. And there was barely anything I could, you purchase at that price point. was, you know, what can you buy for $160,000? Not much. So I approached my sister and she was 23 at the time, living in New York City. She had that W2 job and some savings. So she applied for the loan while I provided most of the money and I handled the renovations myself. So we decided she would be a 10 % owner and kind of acted more as like a silent investor in that deal. Okay, so another huge benefit of buying a house with a friend is that you're sharing the responsibilities. So you're not alone in this. The idea of managing a property or dealing with the renovations on your own kind of feels overwhelming. Partnering with someone means you can divide these tasks and lean on each other for support. But you need to make sure that everyone knows their roles and it needs to be like super clear. So a couple years after buying that home with my sister, We were actually able to buy a fixer upper house in Florida and we had been planning and talking about doing this for forever, but it was only after buying like the first, that first house together that we took it seriously. You know, we did a really good job with the buying process, know, renovations, picking out the furniture together. She has like a really good eye for design and we are both pretty good project managers, pretty organized. So I had experience with working with contractors as well. But after we closed on the property and like started renting it out on Airbnb, you know, we did that when we weren't in town, things kind of got a bit neglected or maybe felt a bit chaotic to me personally. And that was because, you know, we stopped meeting regularly to talk about things that came up or even things we should be discussing quarterly like expenses. And it was just recently that I suggested that we kind of start meeting every month with agenda items to make sure we were communicating regularly about our property. And that has really felt a hundred times better. We've done this like three times now, I think. So yeah, all this to say, you know, is that you need to be organized, but it is completely normal to feel a bit off in the partnership and make some adjustments to kind of get back on track, just like any relationship. You know, this one just includes a spreadsheet. And it is funny, you after the conversation I had with Alex and Amber, they had like a totally different dynamic, right? Cause they live in the house together. So I'm really interested to talk with Alex again after she has been living with Amber for a year to see like, how's it going now? Like, did you, did you get that operating agreement? Really? I, after, after I talked to her, I was like, Alex, you gotta, you gotta get that operating agreement. And she knows she, she's starting her own. She has her own business. She's, you know, has a lot going on, but she's in that community. So I am like chatting with her on the reg being like, did you do this yet? I'm her accountability partner. Anyway, so I think an obvious huge benefit of buying with a friend is it's a great way to build wealth together. If you're doing it right, you're creating an investment and building equity over time. And there's just something like really special about achieving those milestones together. The first time I ever partnered to buy a house was with a friend and I was 25 years old. Damn, that was literally 10 years ago now. Spooky. Anyway, so I didn't have a traditional W2 job, which made it difficult to secure a loan on my own. So at the time I was working as a realtor and I was talking with my friend Brent who was interested in buying a hostel in San Antonio. So. We had started going there together to look at properties and that's when we started talking about buying a property together. He knew that I had the time and was super excited about jumping into real estate and I knew that he was interested in it as well but just didn't have the time. This kind of feels similarly to like how Alex and Amber partnered up together. Like it kind of just happened naturally. So Brent, he also had that W2 job that would make it easy for us to get a loan. And was a true partnership where we both brought different strengths to the table and it ended up being such a rewarding experience. So we've since sold that property mainly because neither one of us was like super excited about that type of property. I like the idea of doing something super creative and intentional with the space and this property was just not it for me. Brent actually ended up buying an actual ghost town in California. You might've heard of him before. The town's called Cerro Gordo. I actually might have him on the podcast next season. I think it would be a really cool conversation and yeah, he has a lot to share. So I have so much more to share about partnerships and buying with friends. This just kind of scratches the surface. So if you're listening and thinking like, want to do this, but I'm not sure where to start. You're really not alone. Like I feel like everyone who comes to me says that. So our community is filled with women who are exploring creative ways to get into real estate and many have already done it and are ready to do it again. So I'm really excited to bring you all together and see the amazing like kind of collaborations that come from it, you know, so women in this group are already working together in different ways. So, Kenesie actually, she just met with Sarah, who is also a member in the community to give her some design advice on her house hacking project. I actually saw that on Kennis's Instagram, like I was like, wait, are you meeting up with Sarah? I saw you guys chatting in the Slack channel and she was like, yes, we're doing like a little meetup and I'm going to look at her house and yeah, I just, I love it. So it's already happening. I'm very excited about it. And I know a few members are also in talks with Alison, one of our founding members about the deal that she just pitched in the group. So it's so exciting, you know, to provide not only like the tools to help you structure partnerships, but also to be part of an incredible network of women who are doing exactly what you're talking about, which is, you know, buying homes together, supporting each other and building wealth. Because, you know, our immediate friend group right now, they might not be super interested in that. We got to pull them in or, you know, you got to go seek that out elsewhere. Okay, before we hop off, I wanted to quickly go through some common questions I get around buying a house with friends. So one question I hear a lot is, Can you still buy a house with a friend if only one of you is on the loan? And the answer is yes. So you can structure your partnership so that both parties are protected even if only one of you is applying for the loan. So you can create an LLC or be added to the deed after the purchase to ensure everyone's ownership is super clear. going back to my partnership with Brent, he was on the loan and I was not. So we, sorry. So going back to my partnership with Brent, he was on the loan and I was not. We also brought equal amounts of cash. The reason we decided it would still be fair to be 50-50 partners is because I was going to manage the property. So I found the tenants, I made sure Brent was paid and dealt with. I also like any like renovation that came up, I handled, I found handymen, all those things. Another common question is what happens if the partnership doesn't work out? So that is definitely a valid concern. I would say if you have a solid exit strategy written into your operating agreement, you'll have a plan in place if someone does wanna sell their share or exit the partnership. It's all about being proactive. So doing this before things go wrong, right? Yeah, it's all about being proactive. I'll actually do a whole episode on this in the future because it's, you know, it's true, not every partnership will work out. And I've had that happen to myself as well. I kind of want to ask someone who I was in a partnership where she wanted out, I want to see if she'd be willing to come on the podcast because I think it would be really cool to hear her side of things and like why it didn't work out and You know, we're still amicable, but she just like wanted out of the certain deal. So stay tuned. But yeah, I think if you're going into this, you need to be open to it not working out. Like you gotta be open to it. And if it's not something you want to deal with, this might not be the best strategy for you. Okay, so I want to leave you with this thought. Buying a home with a friend, it really isn't just a financial decision. It is an opportunity to build wealth, but also to support each other and create something really meaningful with another person. So you don't need to wait for that perfect situation. You can start now with the people around you. And if this idea kind of resonates with you, I do encourage you to join our community. We've built an incredible space for women who are exploring creative real estate strategies right now and they like want to get into it. They're trying to buy, they're pitching ideas. It's the perfect place to connect with like-minded women, find resources and you know, maybe you'll even find your next real estate part. So thank you so much for tuning in today. Seriously, thank you so much for the support. If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to subscribe to the Open House podcast and share it with a friend who you might be interested in partnering with to buy a house. Next week, I'm really excited for this conversation. We're going to be chatting with community member Jen about how she turned a historic home into a thriving community and business. So she is so thoughtful, kind, creative. I just can't wait. actually met her online on Instagram. She's in the community as well. And I was looking for an accountability partner and read her introduction in the Slack channel in the community and was like, this girl is such a bad ass. I want her to be my accountability partner. So I reached out to her and we've been meeting weekly and it's been so nice. It's really cool to hear how she is like. creating community in her hometown. I don't want to give too much away, but you know, she moved back to her hometown after a breakup and has really started something cool. Like, bought this commercial property, lived in it, renovated it, moved out, you know, is now living with her, now fiance, and also has a full-time job. It's pretty... fascinating stuff. anyway, that's it for now. Thanks for listening. my gosh. I okay. So I ran this through chat tpt, like give me a good closing line I can say at the end of my podcast and it gave this to me all. Thanks for listening. And remember, keep dreaming big and building wealth together. I can't do that. Okay, I'll see you next week.