Guest Post: Co-ownership, changing the way you own and think about your own home and primary investment

Editors Note: This is a guest post from Noam Dolgin, a local Vancouver Realtor who specializes in Co-ownership.

Co-ownership of real estate and sharing of your primary residence, a practice that goes back centuries, has become increasing more common and popular in the past decade and will become more popular in the years to come.  A 2016 Ipsos Reid survey found that 20% of Canadians would co-buy a home with a relative, 11% with a friend or business partner, and 2% would buy with a complete stranger. And these numbers are much higher when looking specifically at Millennials.

A confluence of factors have led to this emergence, most notably out of reach housing prices, limitations of municipal zoning, and a desire for community and higher density living. Co-homes take many forms but can have numerous advantages such as better value or standard of living, community or inter-generational support, and the ability to live in areas not zoned for multifamily.

To help people looking to co-own real estate, a number of services have emerged to help make the process simpler.  These include lawyers, credit unions and real estate agents specializing in this type of product. addy’s collaborative real estate ownership model is an exciting addition to this space, helping to create a platform where everyone to become real estate owners.

CoHo BC (www.cohobc.com) is bringing these services together under one roof and helping to connect individuals interested in co-ownership through community building, educational and social events, guest presentations from experts and innovators in the field, home ownership matchmaking and much more.

While most of the coverage about addy has been from an investor’s perspective allowing access to real estate investment at a much lower investment point, the platform has the potential to transform how owner occupiers buy and sell their homes as well. No longer does one person or family need to own and entire property. No longer do you need to be either an owner or a renter. No longer do you need to move just because you are ready to downsize or need to access equity in your property. Co-ownership models and platforms such as addy allow us to totally rethink our home ownership choices.

So let’s look at a few examples of situations where co-ownership could revolutionize traditional housing choices opening up exciting new possibilities for owners and investors.

Downsize without moving!

Finding co-owners can open up opportunities to downsize without having to move, change neighbourhoods or totally change your lifestyle, plus access your equity, build community and help revitalize our neighbourhoods. Consider moving into a smaller garden unit or laneway house on your property and sell the main house to another family or investors. Find a few other Boomers to share your home and spare bedrooms with and live communally. Find investors to buy a portion of your home in exchange for rental income. Explore the opportunity to age in place, build community and retire off your equity through finding a partner(s) or selling shares in your existing home.

Young families get more for your money and create community! 

Considering buying a duplex or townhouse for your growing family?  Do you realize you could own ½ a house for less money and get more space? Plus, you choose your own neighbours / co-owners in advance instead of being stuck with whoever just happens to own the unit next door. All strata property is a co-ownership situation to some degree, so why not take control of your situation, choose your community and get more for your money by co-owning a non-stratified property.

Co-ownership models and platforms like addy can revolutionize real estate in numerous other ways including:

• First time home buyer accessing the market with much less down and opening up true rent-to-own opportunities
• Renter collectives purchasing purpose-built rental buildings
• Socially conscious investing creating housing and ownership opportunities for single parents, service and municipal employees, immigrants, indigenous families, and more.

For more information on co-ownership models and CoHo BC please visit www.Cohobc.com.

Noam Dolgin is a local Realtor who helps clients navigate Vancouver’s tough housing market. Before entering Real Estate, Noam worked for more than 15 years in community development, environmental education and consulting, and uses this expertise to assist clients in making social, economical and environmental sustainability a central component of their housing choices. Noam is known to think outside the box and as such has been working with collaborative property purchasers since his first days in Real Estate.