Buying 25% of a house

[25percentman]

Hi there,

My mam has been left 50% of a house from a will. The house was approx Eur 370,000 a few years ago. It's now been valued @ approx 275,000.

The other 50% of the house is owned by her sister. She want's to sell her piece.

My mam has said that if my brother and I buyout her sister that she will let us live in the house for as long as we need to (she said she's in no rush to sell)..

We are both late 20's... would it be hard to get a mortagage for the 50% between the two of us. Can any one suggest why this would be a bad move to get on the property ladder?

Thanks,

 

[sadie]

One consideration is that you won't be on a 'ladder' at all.
That is, you may not be able to move either up on down on the ladder as you will be tied into a financial agreement with 2 other people (your mother and sister) for some time to come. A few questions to ask yourself.

Your portion of the mortgage will probably be equate to or be a bit less what you would pay in any houseshare situation.
So are you doing it because it'd be cheaper than renting. Or because you think in 10 years time all three of you could sell the house and make a profit? What makes this situation any better than you just buying a quarter of a house with 2 friends of yours - would you go into that situation as easily, and if not why not?

A cheap house might be all well and good, but you still only own a quarter of it. You are still dependent on the situations of the other two parties.

Have you lived with your sister before? Do you have any reservations about this?

What would happen if you wanted to move out and buy with a partner in a few years time - will your sister afford to/be willing to buy you out?

 

[Vanilla]

All of the above plus you lose that first time buyers exemption which you might need when you buy a bigger house for you and your family.

In all likelihood 25% of the value of this house ( depending on up to date valuations) is not stampable anyway.