This exciting article depends on the conversation with Austin Mark, 39, who bought a house in July 2024 with three other people-his wife and two other wives, Nate and Stephanie. Business Insider has been verified by Mark Home. His words were edited for length and clarity.
My husband and I moved from Chicago to the West Coast 14 years ago. We decided to return to Chicago last year, and our friends asked Nate Hanak and Stephanie Stroter if we wanted to buy the property together.
They are the only people on this planet that we can imagine. We have a very balanced relationship with them.
We hear a lot of people tell us that they always want to buy a big house with their friends, and we have also heard a lot of people say we are completely crazy.
Mark, to the left, and his wife.
Austin Mark
When we decided to follow, we started making recurring calls to ensure that everyone is on the same page.
It was the first conversation, “Let’s talk about financial affairs.” We wanted to have all our personal resources on the table until we know what everyone was comfortable with it. It was useful to have a truly open and honest conversation about the place where everyone was.
Mark and his wife bought the house with their friends, Nate and Stephanie.
Austin Mark
We put 40 % decrease
In July 2024, we found a multi -unit building we all liked.
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The house was about 800,000 dollars. Each couple divided the 50/50 batch, and we decided to put 40 % of the total value of the house.
We wanted to put more to reduce our monthly payments because the mortgage rates were very high. We have reached 40 % to a place where the couple does not see a significant increase in the monthly housing costs before and after purchasing the house.
Mark and his owners participating in this multi -unit house settled and reduced 40 % to get a premiere.
Austin Mark
For monthly payments now, instead of every couple who pay half of the mortgage every month, we already stop. The entire mortgage couple pays the whole building every month. Everything collapses to being identical, but it definitely extends things.
Not everything is assembled together. We decided to separate our taxes and insurance.
With what we pay each of them, we have never been able to find something similar separately, even if each couple has half the size of this house.
We have an operating agreement
If you bought a house with other people, it is important to treat it as a business as much as it is a living situation. We went through this process with the lawyer for the conversation of establishing a limited liability company and then we decided in the end that it was not necessary because we did not intend to rent any parts of our house. It sets our operating agreement conditions how to divide financial affairs.
The drafting of our employment agreement includes all the legal things that you will find in any agreement between business partners who buy real estate. We have HOA meetings just as if we didn’t know each other before doing this. We take care of things by voting.
Anything related to our individual units, like a personal aesthetic choice, is with the money of each couple. We divide anything related to common areas or annihilation.
It is a very old building, so we faced the plumbing state of emergency after a long period of purchasing the building. We divided the cost of the sewage line clean. The property contains very large trees, so we also prompted Arborist to come, remove the trees and divide them evenly.
For each couple, two decades
The building currently contains four kitchens, four full bathrooms, half -bathroom and six bedrooms.
Each couple has a basic unit with identical imprint, then we have a very different secondary unit. Stephanie and Nateh Al -Talleh Unit, and my husband and I have a lower floor unit.
Mark and his wife’s unit has a dark wood trim.
Austin Mark
The two main units have the same fingerprint, but they look completely different. Mine contains all dark wood and the very old Chicago Prairie style, while their prices are much lighter and more modern. Their attic unit has a really great maneuver, and they love and open it, while I like playing video games in the basement.
Nate and Stephanie chose a brighter aesthetic in their unity.
Austin Mark
The fact that we do not share kitchens and bathrooms make it really easy to feel that we live our lives and not in each other’s space.
We refer to her as “Forever Home”, which may have been a joke at first, but since we entered here, it seems to be a long -term solution. We have a lot of space.
If it ends with children, there is a room for growth inside the building already. Since the apartments are separate, do not feel at all just as we are our colleagues in the room.
