Mortgage Payout

Leveraging, renting vs owning, making an investment or buying a home?
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skydude2000
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Mortgage Payout

Post by skydude2000 »

Hi All,

Not really sure where this belongs or who I should ask. 2 years ago, I bought a house with my sister and her boyfriend/fiancé. Each of us contributed a third of the down payment with the agreement that after at least 1 year, should any one of us want to be bought out, the other two would buy that person's share, and if they couldn't, the house would be sold and each person's share and and any equity earned in the home would be liquidated and split.

They now have 3 young children and I've decided for my sanity that it's time to move on. I've asked them to put the numbers together and I've just moved into an apartment. The problem is, they have treated me like a tenant, or as a homeowner as they see fit, when big bills happen to roll in. I'm afraid now that they are ready to pay me out, they may try a bit of creative book-keeping to reduce my payout. My family seems to side with them, no matter how badly they treat me, so I feel like I need someone impartial to break down the numbers and make sure I'm getting a fair payment. Unfortunately, there is a lot of emotion involved, so someone who could be objective would help me feel like I'm getting a fair amount.

Any idea who I would be best to speak to? A financial planner? A real-estate agent? A lawyer? An accountant? I hate that I have to act this way toward my family, but I feel like if I don't protect my investment, no one else will.

Thanks,

Adam.
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Peculiar_Investor
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Re: Mortgage Payout

Post by Peculiar_Investor »

Welcome to FWF.
skydude2000 wrote:2 years ago, I bought a house with my sister and her boyfriend/fiancé. Each of us contributed a third of the down payment with the agreement that after at least 1 year, should any one of us want to be bought out, the other two would buy that person's share, and if they couldn't, the house would be sold and each person's share and and any equity earned in the home would be liquidated and split.
Is there any documentation of this agreement? Not sure if it matters, but what province is the house? That might be helpful in determining how to locate an impartial resource. I'm inclined to think a lawyer or accountant would be best, definitely not a real-estate agent as I suspect they would only be motivated to earn a commission on getting the property sold.
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Arby
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Re: Mortgage Payout

Post by Arby »

You could consider an accredited arbitrator. They should be able to break down the numbers, and enforce a binding decision.

From the Arbitrators Institute of Canada website:
An arbitrator functions more like a judge, deciding the outcome of a dispute based on evidence and law presented in an arbitration. Arbitration is binding, and the outcome can be enforced like a court order. Parties must agree to arbitrate and must sign an arbitration agreement.
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Re: Mortgage Payout

Post by Spudd »

What about getting the house appraised and agreeing on all sides that the appraisal will constitute the official value for the buyout?
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DavidR
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Re: Mortgage Payout

Post by DavidR »

In addition to figuring out a fair value for the buy-out, they'll have to figure out whether Adam may have paid more (or less) than his share of the mortgage pymts, property taxes, utilities, repairs and maintenance, etc. Was he to pay one-third of everything? Did he pay a third of everything?
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