Thursday 28 February 2013

What Are The Main Features Of Domestic Partnership?

By Albert Colier


In case you want to purchase a home with a partner, you have to consider some essential details. A probable break-up represents a very important aspect that you should pay attention to.

You wish it wouldn't happen, but an agreement has to be established anyway. Attorneys should be consulted because they can offer you legal advice. In any case, here are some things you should keep in mind. When you want to design your agreement with your domestic partner, remember that the best solution is to sell the home in case you two will break-up. This way, financial issues related to the home and mortgage won't be faced by anyone. The only aspect that you will have to decide is the way you share the sale's proceeds. Usually, this is done based on the contributions of each partner, just like in the case of a business partnership.

On the other hand, if you don't have an agreement and one partner decides to remain in the home, the process is much more complex. Valuing your property is the first thing you have to do to get an estimation. The partner staying is required to pay for the part of the leaving partner. Probably, there won't be any means to do it. That is the reason why the staying partner thinks of going for a home equity loan. But there aren't too many banks that will allow the approach. Another solution is the removing of the departing partner from the mortgage. In an insecure mortgage market, this will be a difficult step. Lenders don't want to take repayment risks and that is why they won't let one partner be removed from the mortgage.

In this situation, the remaining partner should refinance the loan and this way, he might be also able to pay-off the equity of the other partner. If you are only thinking of it, but you haven't purchased a property with your domestic partner, you should know that it is a good away to make the remaining partner responsible for selling the house or refinancing the loan. There can also be some harsh situations if you split in a declining market and your home will be worth less than what you paid. This involves the fact that any sale will cause partners facing deficiencies when they have to pay off the mortgage and refinance won't be a solution.

You will have the possibility to choose between two options. On one hand, you can talk about a short sale with the bank and on the other hand, your house can go into foreclosure. No matter what to do, it can't be a good option and it might affect your credit. Of course, buying a home is a very nice thing, but it's critical to pay close attention to every single detail of the process. Buying your house together with a partner is a nice thing too, but it is important to be sure that there won't be problems if you don't get along with each other. It is better to be prepared for all potential situations in order to avoid major conflicts.




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