Refresher: How to Think About Co-ownership
We've consistently compared home co-ownership to a business partnership. It's a helpful analogy for thinking about how to successfully manage co-ownership—everything that happens after the purchase closes. As with a business partnership, co-ownership involves:
👩🏽🦱👨🏼🦰🧓🏽 Multiple parties: friends, family, partners
💰 Joint investment: financial capital, social capital, time, energy
🤝 Shared interests: asset/liabilities, risks, rewards
Success involves total return on investment of cash, relationships, and more, over the complete lifespan of your co-ownership arrangement. To get there, we have to manage the various moving parts:
→ Social aspects: interpersonal relations and interactions
→ Financial aspects: expenses, payments, taxes, accounting
→ Legal aspects: structure, documentation, compliance
→ Operational aspects: day-to-day management of the home
→ Risk: identification, mitigation, remedies
Of course, this is a broad grouping. It's not exhaustive, but it's an excellent starting point to break things down.
Matt Holmes (LinkedIn) is co-founder and CEO of CoBuy, formed in 2016 to unlock homeownership for everyone. Before hopping a flight to Seattle to start CoBuy with his mother, Matt worked in investment banking and financial markets in London for a decade. He holds degrees from University College London (BSc Economics) and ESCP Business School (Masters, London & Turin).
Pam Hughes (LinkedIn) is Co-founder and COO at CoBuy. She has over 40 years of experience across finance, real estate, insurance, and construction. Pam has committed to personal empowerment through financial education for decades, which inspired her to start CoBuy with her son in 2016. She's best friends with a small dog known as Francis.