Is buying residential property now unwise?

[WTFH]

From this:

I'm thinking of buying a flat in London, to live in. I 'm hoping my new place will be a couple of tube stops / walk from my home.

With the uncertainty coming in April 2016, am I unwise?

To this:

Have any of you ever bought with a friend/family member? I've been offered to buy with a friend (2 bed) and a family member (1 bed but shared ownership).

...in 2 pages.


What's the betting on:
"I'm thinking of buying a flat with my brother, but I want to put my part of the flat in my company name so the company pays the mortgage on it"
or
"I'm thinking of buying a flat in my company name and then renting it to my brother"


A few people have already given good advice - do NOT enter into a long term business agreement (such as a mortgage) with a friend or family member. With a business partner, sure, but not someone you are emotionally linked to.

[heyya99]

Brought a bit of a fixer upper with a friend did not work out well, would not recommend

May I ask what happened?

[MrWebDev]

Have any of you ever bought with a friend/family member? I've been offered to buy with a friend (2 bed) and a family member (1 bed but shared ownership).

Shared ownership - I'm not sure what your day rate is, but from what I understand most of these schemes will only sell to people that earn below a certain amount of money, which you're most likely to be above.

[ITblows]

May I ask what happened?

Put in equal money to buy the house with a planned amount of time to keep it etc. But no one can guarantee that there circumstances wont change theirs did and had to sell there half. So we came out of it worse off.

Prior to that it was already straining as although the investment was equal they were barely putting in any time to do the work and something like that really needs to be 50/50 else your doing the work to benefit them (which grates very quickly).

Had the opportunity to go half's on a rental property with a family member but knew this time round I would not have the time (as have kids now) to resolve any issues etc so decided against it.

I'd say buy on your own if you can as its not good to be on either side of those situations

[heyya99]

Shared ownership - I'm not sure what your day rate is, but from what I understand most of these schemes will only sell to people that earn below a certain amount of money, which you're most likely to be above.

I was hoping he'd give me a % of the deposit and therefore own a % of the property. The I'd have to factor in service charges etc. So I'm not sure.

[northernladuk]

I was hoping he'd give me a % of the deposit and therefore own a % of the property. The I'd have to factor in service charges etc. So I'm not sure.

One of you needs his percentage out to buy a property for themselves, the other can't afford it on their own. You fall out, sell up and are right back to square one but with a massive rift in the family.
One needs the home to themselves because of lifestyle changes i.e. getting a new bird or bun in oven with existing one.. Who moves out?
Can't live with each other, who moves out and how do you sort money out.

The problems will be when there is a change in lifestyle for one or the other of you which is inevitable and at that point one person won't like the new status quo and it all goes wrong. Homes are long term investments, two blokes living together are not. Let battle commence.

[heyya99]

One of you needs his percentage out to buy a property for themselves, the other can't afford it on their own. You fall out, sell up and are right back to square one but with a massive rift in the family.
One needs the home to themselves because of lifestyle changes i.e. getting a new bird or bun in oven with existing one.. Who moves out?
Can't live with each other, who moves out and how do you sort money out.

The problems will be when there is a change in lifestyle for one or the other of you which is inevitable and at that point one person won't like the new status quo and it all goes wrong. Homes are long term investments, two blokes living together are not. Let battle commence.

To clarify, if I bought with my brother, I would be the only person living there. He has his own home.

[northernladuk]

To clarify, if I bought with my brother, I would be the only person living there. He has his own home.

To be fair you'll still be homeless if he wants his money back anytime within the next 25 years. You've avoided a few of the pitfalls. Not all of them.

[SueEllen]

Is that to both suggestions? I know buying with friends is dodgy, but a brother?

When you buy with a friend you can go to a solicitor and get a legally binding contractor. I know a few people who did that. They are the ones who still talk to each other and some are still good friends'. This includes those who dumped property as the market had collapsed and those who rode it out. The other thing they did was buy houses in decent condition.

If you don't get a legally binding contract then you will end up fighting. As there will be loads of things you wouldn't have seriously thought through. A good solicitor would point some of these things out to you.

If you buy with a family member then you can't go and get a contract, as it will be regarded as you trying to cause trouble. Then the rest is as NLUK said.

In your case you clearly don't have a clue so either buy on your own or find a partner, with a decent salary, you are prepared to get hitched to.

[heyya99]

To be fair you'll still be homeless if he wants his money back anytime within the next 25 years. You've avoided a few of the pitfalls. Not all of them.

Are there any other downsides?