Good financial idea?
📍Quebec, Canada
My husband’s parents recently approached us about the possibility of buying a house together.
The plan would be for the property to be under my mother-in-law’s name for the first five years. The home price is approximately $350,000, with monthly payments of around $1,650. They would cover the down payment of $17,500 as well as the welcome tax, & notary without us having to pay them back. Since they qualify as first-time home buyers again (it has been over four years since they owned a home), they would receive a refund on the welcome tax along with two tax credits.
All ongoing expenses, including the mortgage, utilities (hydro), and renovations, would be split evenly between both couples. The goal is to convert the single-family home into a duplex so that we each have our own separate living space.
After five years, during the mortgage refinancing, we would be officially added to both the property title and the loan. Prior to purchasing the home, we will meet with a notary to formalize the agreement, including adding a promise to sell and other necessary legal protections.
They did give us the option, that if we wanted to, before adding us to the title, we could walk away with nothing under our name and from there they would take care of everything themselves (if we ever decided that we don’t want to do this anymore because of xyz). But I’m not sure that I would want to go that route since we’d be losing all that renovation money (it’s expensive to convert a single home into a duplex).
We are a young couple currently living with my parents for $250/month.
What do you guys think?