Recorded on: January 28, 2025
Length: 60 minutes
Summary
Learn about the process of co-owning a home, the advantages and disadvantages of co-ownership, and the type of financing available. Featuring experienced co-ownership professionals: lawyer Richard Bell, realtor Noam Dolgin, and mortgage executive Ryan Mckinley.
Featuring
Richard Bell
Richard Bell is the founding partner of Bell Alliance LLP. He helps his clients with estate planning and residential real estate. He founded the firm over 15 years ago as a community-focused firm with a commitment to service based on the standard of how you would like your mother to be treated.
Noam Dolgin
Noam Dolgin is a Metro Vancouver-based realtor, and co-founder and real estate specialist at Collaborative Home Ownership BC. Noam helps clients navigate BC’s tough housing market, especially through co-ownership and other out-of-the-box thinking.
Ryan Mckinley
Ryan is an innovative mortgage development executive with Vancity. He is a specialist in co-ownership mortgages, with 15+ years of experience finding creative solutions to financing challenges, including co-ownership, construction, co-op, and leasehold properties.
Highlights
In this webinar, you will learn:
Introduction to home co-ownership
What it means to co-own a home, why co-ownership is a growing trend, and who typically becomes co-owners. [3:55]
Different legal structures of home co-ownership. [8:15]
Pros and cons of co-owning a home. [11:15]
Entering into a co-ownership arrangement
Steps to enter into a co-ownership arrangement. [16:15]
Whether you need a “co-ownership agreement” to become a joint owner and the terms that a co-ownership agreement would cover. [20:50]
What a “co-ownership mortgage” is and how it works. [24:15]
How to finance building a home you intend to co-own with others. [27:20]
Common challenges with a co-ownership mortgage, including what happens if one of the co-owners defaults on their mortgage or stops paying their share of expenses. [30:40]
Ending a co-ownership arrangement
What happens when a co-owner wants to sell their portion of a property and the other co-owners don’t want to sell theirs. [33:25]
What happens to a co-ownership mortgage if a co-owner leaves the co-ownership arrangement. [38:10]
Additional considerations
Whether co-ownership is a good way to transfer your home to your children and avoid probate. [40:40]
How groups like CoHo BC and experienced co-ownership professionals can help you when entering into a co-ownership arrangement. [41:50]
Live questions
The consequences of a child putting their name on their parents’ title in order to avoid probate fees. [44:55]
Whether a co-ownership agreement is different from a bare trust agreement and, if so, what the main differences are. [47:00]
The pros and cons of children buying a parent’s home to free up equity for the parent while allowing the parent to remain in place and rent it back. [48:50]
In a situation where you and your partner want to purchase a home together, and you want to keep your current home as an investment, whether it makes sense to ask your child (who lives with you) to buy a share of your home and use the money from their purchase toward your new home. [50:20]
Whether there are precedents for a co-ownership agreement. [51:30]
Whether co-owners who each have their own mortgage would know if one of the other co-owners stopped paying their mortgage. [53:45]
Whether, in a situation where each co-owner has a separate mortgage, extra payments made by a co-owner on their mortgage would be applied just to their mortgage or to the mortgages of all co-owners. [54:50]
Attendee feedback
“AMAZING webinar! Thank you so much!“
“This is such a rich conversation with lots of great information!“
“Looking forward to sharing this to the many folks I have been talking about co-ownership with!“
“You have given me such a great perspective shift! So grateful!“
“Thanks so much! Really helpful, for a variety of emergent situations in home ownership.“
“Highly informative with topic experts and skilled moderation.“
“Thanks so much! Enjoyed the stimulating discussion and puts me in a better position moving forward. Thanks for the links as well!“
“This was SO helpful! I have many places to continue to research and review before moving forward on co-ownership. I look forward to watching it again as there was so much information both with the speakers and also the questions!“
“Great panelists and moderator! Really appreciate the links to more information and being introduced to these professionals.“
“A very timely webinar for me and my family. We will be reaching out to panel members for help as we move forward. Much appreciated!“
“You are all amazing and so appreciated!!“
Additional resources
From CoHo BC (collaborative home ownership in BC):
Intergenerational Family Co-ownership & Estate Planning Considerations, with Richard Bell
From Vancity:
Also:
Bill 44, Housing Statutes (Residential Development) Amendment Act
Housing and Bill 44, explaining the new law designed to encourage small scale multi-unit housing