Forget Renting - Become a Co-Ho

Twenty-somethings are taking advantage of the housing slump by buying homes with friends.

The cooled-down housing market and lower prices are attracting new buyers: groups of young professionals who want to invest but don’t quite have the dough to buy their own place. Instead, they’re buying homes with friends and splitting the mortgage, maintenance costs””and the tax break, Time reports. “You have to do this with a person you trust,” said one “co-ho””” short for “communal homeowner.”

Given real estate’s penchant for shorthand (think condo, co-op, comps and COFI), we should add a term for friends who buy houses together. Let’s call them communal homeowners. Co-hos
Taking a title to a house with a friend has its benefits and drawbacks, experts say. It’s an opportunity to build equity and live in a nicer place””but it’s important to be flexible if the situation calls for it, they advise. “People are friends, and they’re honest people, but situations change,” said a real estate lawyer. “You need to be ready.”

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