Q. My lover and I want to buy a condominium together. We are wondering what kind of problems we might face in applying for a mortgage together. We also want to know what the options are for us to own the house together.
A. Married couples and LGBT couples with a Civil Union who buy real estate together have divorce and probate laws to provide protection to them in case they should split up or die. Same sex couples who are not in a Civil Union, however, have to create for themselves their own safeguards.
If you are buying real estate with your lover you can submit a loan application together. Banks are in the business of making loans based upon the value of the real estate and the financial abilities of the buyers.
If you know in advance at which bank or lender you wish to apply, you can complete a loan application to have your credit rating, liabilities, assets and income checked before you find the house or condo you want to buy.
This will help you determine what price range and the size of mortgage you can afford. This also gives you time to correct any problems that may show up on your credit report and determine if you will have a problem with your lender.
LGBT couples also need to consider how they will own title of their house together. The first option is as "tenants in common." The law considers each tenant in common to own one half of the real estate, which means that each owner can leave their half to their heirs upon their death. Property owned this way does not avoid probate but passes to heirs of one partner named in a will.
Another way is as "joint tenants with rights of survivorship." This means that each owner owns 100% of the house. When one joint tenant dies the remaining joint tenant continues to own the entire property, without the necessity of probate court proceedings. Even if the deceased lover had a will, title to the property transfers to the survivor. Same for "tenants by the entirety."
Finally, one of the most important things the couple can do is have a written partnership agreement to cover what happens if one of the owners dies or what would happen if the couple doesn't get along and one member wants out.