Friends split a mortgage, share a home to beat high housing costs

Sara Kemper and Betsy Ohrn have been besties since first grade, so they've shared a lot through the years: even the mortgage on a St. Paul house that's much larger and grander than anything they could have afforded individually.

"We needed something we could grow into," said Kemper, recalling the house-shopping wish list she, Ohrn and their respective boyfriends created. "The house we bought was especially appealing because it had enough space for both couples to have their own private living quarters."

Kemper and Ohrn — who are readying to sell that house now that each is married with two kids and has enough equity to buy their own abode — are among a growing number of cash-strapped buyers who have pooled their savings and incomes to purchase a home together.

With housing costs at an all-time high, about a quarter of all single and never-married buyers last year purchased a home with a friend or relative, according to Zillow.

"The world is too expensive now," said Skylar Olsen, chief economist at Zillow. "People still want to access real estate to live in but also as an investment, but it's harder to access, so they will co-buy with a friend or relative."

Though co-buying isn't without personal or financial risk, the practice has been especially helpful to buyers now that mortgage rates are teetering near 7%, enabling these buddy-buyers to double up on their down payment. On average, Olsen said, it took buyers in the Twin Cities metro more than seven years to save enough money to make a 30% down payment on a house.

"That's kind of no joke for a lot of folks," Olsen said.

For Kemper and Ohrn, the idea surfaced several years ago when they were out for a walk and lamenting the high cost and shortage of decent starter houses.

Combining forces made sense, as they realized they could share all the expenses — and obligations — that came with homeownership, including snowblowers and lawn mowers.

"We got more excited about the idea because we realized we could get double the square footage for less than double the cost of two houses," Ohrn said.

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