Purchasing real estate before marriage
Our son and his fiancée want to buy a condo together now before their wedding in a year. Is that a good investment before they are married? Should it be purchased in both names?
Terry Says
If you will send me an email, and include your mailing address and their names, I will send them one of the last remaining copies of The New Love Deal — Everything You Must Know Before Marrying, Moving In or Moving On! Send the email to Terry@TerrySavage.com.
Basically, there are many discussions they must have before taking this big step. They need to know how they will handle their finances in general, who will pay for what — and how much debt (student loans? credit cards?) each of them has. The book has a template for that discussion. Specifically, before buying a condo together they need to read each other’s credit report!
They should openly discuss how much money they have for a down payment, how they will afford the monthly fees in addition to the mortgage, and property taxes, and insurance. I hope they have had an open discussion with each other before taking this big step. And they should realize that if they use “joint tenancy” to title the property, if either dies then the other gets the whole thing. I hope they will read the book before taking this step!
