Buying a Second Home With Friends or Family

Buying a second home with friends or family is one of the most common ways people get into a vacation property — and one of the most common ways they end up in a decade-long argument. The idea is almost always good. What determines the outcome is whether you wrote down the boring things before the money moved.

The three ways to do it

Approach	How it works	Best for
Informal handshake	Two families buy together, split costs as they arise	Almost nobody — avoid
Private LLC you set up	Lawyer drafts an operating agreement, you self-manage	Groups with time, discipline and a strong relationship
Managed co-ownership	Property-specific LLC, professional management, defined scheduling	Most buyers, including friend pairs

The middle option is legitimate and we help clients do it. But be honest about what self-managing means: someone chases the plumber, someone reconciles the bills, and someone tells their brother-in-law he cannot have Christmas again.

The six things to agree in writing

1. Ownership split and contributions. Who owns what percentage, and what happens if one party wants to contribute more later.
2. Scheduling. Not "we''ll be flexible". A written rotation for peak weeks, a booking window, and a rule for unused time.
3. Money. A monthly contribution to a shared account, a funded capital reserve, and a spending threshold above which everyone must approve.
4. Guests and pets. The single most common source of friction after scheduling.
5. Default. What happens when someone stops paying — a cure period, then a defined remedy.
6. Exit. How a share is valued, right of first refusal for other owners, and a hard deadline so no one is trapped. Write this clause when everyone is happy; it is unwriteable later.

Owning with one friend

You do not have to buy a whole share alone. Under our Own With a Friend arrangement, you and one trusted friend take a 1/8 share together — each paying half, splitting the 44 nights, and sharing the operating cost. It is the lowest-cost way into this bracket of home, and because the underlying structure and management are already defined, the two of you only need to agree on time, not on plumbing.

Family-specific issues worth naming early

• Unequal wealth. If one sibling can absorb a special assessment and another cannot, decide now how that is handled.
• Inheritance. Shares pass to heirs. Are you comfortable co-owning with your brother''s children?
• The "free" labour problem. If one family lives nearby and does all the maintenance, that is a real contribution and should be compensated or offset.

Why managed co-ownership solves most of this

The reason we recommend the professional structure to most families is not that private LLCs do not work — it is that the arguments people have are almost never about the house. They are about scheduling, spending and someone else''s standards of cleanliness. A defined scheduling system, an itemised budget and a professional manager remove all three from the relationship.

See how the structure works step by step, or browse homes and prices to see what a shared budget actually buys.

Frequently asked questions

Can I buy a second home with friends or family?

Yes, and it is common. The two workable routes are a private LLC with a carefully drafted operating agreement that you self-manage, or a managed co-ownership structure where the LLC, scheduling system and property management are already in place.

What should a co-ownership agreement include?

Ownership percentages, monthly contributions and a funded reserve, a written scheduling rotation for peak weeks, guest and pet rules, a default and cure procedure, and a clear exit clause covering valuation and right of first refusal.

Can two people share a single 1/8 share?

Yes. Our Own With a Friend arrangement lets two buyers take one 1/8 share together, each paying half of the share price and half the operating cost while splitting the 44 nights between them.

What happens if one co-owner wants to sell?

A well-drafted agreement gives the other owners a right of first refusal at an agreed valuation method, with a deadline after which the selling owner can list on the open market. In managed co-ownership this process is defined from day one.

Thinking about doing this with someone specific? Book a call and bring them — we will walk you both through the structure.