buying a 2 family house

[rossyj]

Hallo everybody,

I'm planning on buying a 2 family house and sharing it with a friend. What are the legal requirements in terms of dividing the property between us? Can we transform it into a condo probably? Our concern is what will happen if one of us wants to sell his share later on and the other one wants to stay? Any ideas?

Thanks.

 

[Michael Wechsler]

My thought is do NOT divide this house by a tenancy in common, which is undivisible ownership. I think that your idea would be a good idea, which would be an agreement to buy the home and each of you own a certain portion. However, you should know that mortgage issues will apply to both of you. It is likely that a default by one might cause problems for the other, as is obvious. You will want remedies to deal with such a situation, including sales and the responsibilities of the seller after the sale.