{"id":1063,"date":"2019-02-09T00:40:17","date_gmt":"2019-02-09T00:40:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rankmyagent.com\/realestate\/?p=1063"},"modified":"2021-04-30T02:26:34","modified_gmt":"2021-04-30T02:26:34","slug":"moving-in-together-a-big-step","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rankmyagent.com\/realestate\/moving-in-together-a-big-step\/","title":{"rendered":"Moving in together: A big step"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

How to buy a home with your significant other, and when…<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Ah, love is in the air. Little pink, red and white Valentine\u2019s Day decorations adorn every window of every store and heart-shaped candy is aplenty \u2014 and tempting. Couples are oversharing their affection in public and bombarding you with cutesy images on Instagram and Facebook.
Yes, Valentine\u2019s Day is a macro lens on all romantic cliches, but what about when you zoom out? Enter today\u2019s topic: Couples living. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Whether renting or purchasing a home, moving in with a partner is a significant moment in any relationship and there are a lot of moving parts<\/em> we have to consider in this decision-making process: What happens if we break up? Are we ready yet? Is it better to move into a rental unit or buy our own place? Our incomes are very different, how do we strike a balance? Do we need to be married first? Our styles are very different, how do we decide how to decorate? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is a seemingly endless stream of\nquestions that you and your partner should discuss. And yes, unfortunately,\nsome of these questions are going to bring about tough and uncomfortable\nconversations about finances and debt, future financial and life goals and\nmore. But, it has got to be done if you are to gain a realistic picture of what\nyour future with your partner entails. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Buying with your boo:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Buying a home with your partner is pretty\nscary \u2014 especially when you\u2019re not married. It\u2019s still less common to\npurchase a home with your boyfriend or girlfriend, so you may experience some\nstigma and backlash from friends and family. They may tell you that buying a\nhome with someone you\u2019re not married to is a deathwish. This is simply not\ntrue. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although divorce rates have dropped slightly\nfrom their peak of 41% during the mid-\u201980s, CBC reported that four in 10 first marriages end in\ndivorce<\/a> \u2014 of course, this information was based on a\n2006 census, but StatsCan has since stopped collecting divorce data. With that\n\u2014 somewhat tragic \u2014 info being said, it\u2019s important to realize that\nthese couples will also have to go through the break-up processes that\nunmarried common-law couples will endure. So, really, it\u2019s essentially the same\nproduct with different labels. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Buying a lovenest with your honey is a great idea, especially if the market is leaning in your favour.<\/em> Take advantage of that. Again, be sure to discuss debt and finances as your partner\u2019s debt could influence the outcome of your mortgage approval. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The debt talk matters, Realtor.com says<\/a>, because it will uncover your debt-to-income ratio, the \u201cnumber your\nlender will look at to decide if you can pay back a loan.\u201d This number can\u2019t be\nhigher than 43% and lenders will figure it out by adding up all monthly debts\nand dividing it by monthly income. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The down payment is another big-ticket item\nyou\u2019ll have to discuss with your partner. How will you afford this, plus\nclosing costs? Realtor.com says this can be acquired through savings, a gift\nfrom a family member, or it can come from an RRSP.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But who will pay for what? And how will the\ncosts be divided? Realtor.com says this discussion is necessary before any\npaperwork is finalized. Some couples are fine merging all of their funds\ntogether in one giant pot and tackling everything together, but some find this\ncan lead to a \u201cyours and mine\u201d mentality that can be detrimental to a\nrelationship. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

One way to conquer this is to keep things\nseparate \u2014 to an extent \u2014 and based on income. It\u2019s rare that couples earn the\nsame amount of money so it doesn\u2019t make a whole whack of sense to split the\ncosts of a new home down the middle, 50-50. Instead, break it down. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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One technique to do this involves opening a joint \u201chouse account\u201d that both you and your partner will contribute to while keeping your other finances separate<\/em>. Together, you can decide what you will pay together and what you will keep separate, such as student loans, or that travel debt you acquired in your gap year. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMake a list of all your combined expenses:\nhousing, taxes, insurance, utilities. Then talk salary,\u201d Cynthia Ramnarace from\nHerMoney<\/a> says. \u201cIf you make $60,000\nand your partner makes $40,000, then you should pay 60 per cent of that total\ntoward shared expenses and your partner 40 per cent.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

To make this fair and equal, set up a direct\ndeposit from individual accounts to a shared-joint account. Be honest and keep\nthat line of communication open. But, Ramnarace says, keep some emergency funds\ntucked aside in your personal account in case of unexpected changes in the\nbills department. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But what if we break up?<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Breakups can happen whether your married or not, so Realtor.com suggests establishing a contract that defines what happens to the equity in such a case<\/em>. This contract could give partners a limited time-frame of 30-60 days to buy the other out, or you can agree to sell the home and split the proceeds. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Having this contract in place, although bleak,\ncan save you a lot of hardship if this situation ever arises. It\u2019s best to\nthink ahead and protect yourself. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even if you\u2019re renting, a contract like this\nisn\u2019t a terrible idea. It could protect both of you and the financial\ncontributions you invested in the relationship, like furniture and expensive\nhousewares. Perhaps a deal can be made to buy out the other instead of feeling\nripped off \u2014 on top of having a broken heart. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

On a lighter note\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now that all the serious talk is winding down,\nlet\u2019s discuss something a little more fun. DECORATING! You two have moved into\nyour new home \u2014 rented or purchased, either way, congratulations! And it\u2019s\ntime to start decorating! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

First things first, you\u2019re going to have a lot\nof duplicates of things so it\u2019s best to purge the doubles. This will save you\nspace in your new home. No one needs four spatulas \u2014 you\u2019re not running a\nWendy\u2019s out of your home. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Next, keep your all your sentimental things and mix your styles. The home should represent both of you and your individual styles, interests and flair.<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Compromise, compromise, compromise. You will\nnot be on the same page about every little detail, so really try to emphasize\nwhat is really important to you and what you are OK on budging on a bit. Again,\nyou want the space to reflect both of your personalities while highlighting\nwhat makes you two work well together. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

My only real big suggestion on this topic is\nto avoid conflict be sure to check in with each other a lot. Be sure to check\nin before making any crucial purchases and be sure to check in before you start\nrandomly tossing things that may contain your partner\u2019s personal belongings. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Enjoy this time. It can be really fun and you\ncan really get to know each other on a whole new level. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

To all you lovebirds out there, cohabitating\nor thinking about it, we at RMA wish you good luck and a very happy Valentine\u2019s\nDay. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

How to buy a home with your significant other, and when… Ah, love is in the air. Little pink, red and white Valentine\u2019s Day decorations adorn every window of every store and heart-shaped candy is aplenty \u2014 and tempting. Couples are oversharing their affection in public and bombarding you with cutesy images on Instagram and Facebook. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1068,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[39,294,35],"tags":[329,330,325,332,327,326,331,324,323,328],"class_list":["post-1063","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-buying","category-decor","category-first-time-home-buyer","tag-buying-a-home","tag-buying-a-home-as-a-couple","tag-cohabitating","tag-couple-finances","tag-couples-living","tag-happy-valentines-day","tag-living-together","tag-moving-in","tag-moving-in-together","tag-valentines-day"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rankmyagent.com\/realestate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1063","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rankmyagent.com\/realestate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rankmyagent.com\/realestate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rankmyagent.com\/realestate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rankmyagent.com\/realestate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1063"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/rankmyagent.com\/realestate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1063\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1449,"href":"https:\/\/rankmyagent.com\/realestate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1063\/revisions\/1449"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rankmyagent.com\/realestate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1068"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rankmyagent.com\/realestate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1063"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rankmyagent.com\/realestate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1063"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rankmyagent.com\/realestate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1063"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}