New approach allows co-workers, friends to share housing cost
Ashley Ford
Province
For first-time buyers trying to pry their way into the Lower Mainland’s exorbitantly priced housing market, it’s now a case of getting the right “mix.”
Vancity yesterday unveiled a new mortgage product aptly called the “Mixer Mortgage” that should ease the way into home ownership for those on the lower rungs of the wealth ladder.
It’s a new approach to traditional home buying and specifically designed for a “mix of people” to partner up to buy and get a mortgage, Vancity said.
Potential mixers include family members, friends, co-workers or anyone in a partnership relationship not covered by a marriage agreement, it said.
“The impetus for the new mortgage actually came from members who were looking for more creative and affordable alternatives to home financing,” said Sloan Dinning, Vancity director of brand and marketing communications.
“We saw the opportunity to offer a product that would change the way people look at buying a home,” he said.
Tsur Somerville, director of the UBC Centre For Urban Economics and Real Estate at the Sauder School of Business, said such mortgages already exist. They are especially widespread in the U.K., where they are known as “shared mortgages,” Somerville said.
“What Vancity has done is streamline the process and made it more of a one-stop process that will have appeal,” he said.
It creates a vehicle for people to acquire property and will have attraction for those in the gay community, friends who want
to get in on the real-estate boom or
even households wanting to buy recreation property, Somerville said.
Vancity said home ownership will be more affordable and accessible with “mixers” sharing the down payment, mortgage payments and other ownership expenses.
While each party’s name will appear on the title for the property, the owners will have the flexibility to decide how costs will be divided among the partners.
As an option, Vancity will recommend that an independent lawyer draw up a co-ownership agreement. This is a legal document that outlines each individual’s interest in the property and provides for an equitable distribution of the property if the owners’ relationship ends or the property is sold.
© The Vancouver Province 2006