Should I buy a house with my sister?

[WeirdEgg]

I’m 26 and she is 24, we are both single and in unfavourable renting situations currently. We each have half a house deposit saved and have been thinking about buying somewhere to live together. We don’t have anyone to ask for advice as we are NC with our family for a number of reasons. Could anyone give us any advice? What would happen when one of us wants to move out etc?

There’s lots to consider, some info here

https://oportfolio.co.uk/advice/buying-property-with-a-friend-or-family/#:~:text=The%20Downfalls%20and%20Considerations%20of,that%20might%20damage%20the%20relationship.

I bought a house with my best friend when we were in our twenties for a similar reason. It worked really well for us and was infinitely preferable to renting at the life stage we were at. However I think it worked well because we were both quite laid back people, we had a clear plan for how long we would keep it for (4 years) and we were lucky that the timing for us both worked out really well that when the 4 years were up we were both ready to sell to move in with boyfriends.

Other friends of ours bought together with an agreement they’d keep it for 5 years but after a year one of them was pregnant and in serious relationship while the other wasn’t. The friend moved honoured the agreement and lived with her partner in his house while paying the mortgage at the other place (or getting a lodger in to pay it)
and then at the end of the five years the friend bought her out but it meant she had to put off doing work to their house for that whole time.

I’d say do it but make sure you have a clear agreement about the exit strategy and what you will do if one of you wants to move out sooner than the other.

I think it's a great idea, to get you both on the property ladder. I have friends who this has worked very well for but like the previous posters have said there needs to be clear time frames; lets keep it for 5 years etc, but have discussions around what will happen if one of you gets into a serious relationship etc.