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    • 'Like speed dating for housing': The growing popularity of property co-ownership in Vancouver

    A heritage home on East 11th Avenue in East Vancouver has been sold to two young families who have entered a co-housing agreement. (Keller Williams Realty) A heritage home on East 11th Avenue in East Vancouver has been sold to two young families who have entered a co-housing agreement. (Keller Williams Realty)
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    A Vancouver realtor says she has helped facilitate two co-housing transactions in the city's Grandview-Woodland neighbourhood already this year, a sign of the growing popularity of alternative ownership arrangements.

    Two young families recently entered a co-ownership agreement to purchase one heritage house located at 2223 East 11th Ave., shortly after another couple partially bought into a property around the corner.

    Realtor Connie Buna worked on the sale of the property on 11th Avenue throughout April and May, months after helping another couple acquire 55 per cent interest on a title at 2281 East 10th Ave.

    Buna says co-housing offers a less formal approach to ownership than stratification.

    “You can split a title in percentages of ownership,” Buna said, adding there are both benefits and risks to consider before splitting a mortgage.

    Unlike the stratification of a property, which requires approval from the City of Vancouver and can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, co-housing agreements subdivide the ownership stake, not the property itself, which can be more affordable.

    “If two families were each looking to buy one half of a duplex, they’d be paying $1.5 million to $1.9 million per side,” explains Buna, who is part of the KymBuna Real Estate Group.

    The property on 11th Avenue, which is a two-storey, single-family detached home with a basement, sold for $2,099,900, meaning each family paid just over $1 million for their share. Each party will live on a separate floor—one in the basement and the other on the second storey—while the main floor will be split equally.

    This was Buna's second experience with co-housing arrangements in the Grandview-Woodland area this year, but her first as the seller.

    She was approached by the buyers’ agent, Noam Dolgin, to finalize the sale of the 11th Avenue home after the two agents worked together on another co-housing arrangement down the road.

    As an agent looking to represent buyers interested in a share of 2281 East 10th Ave., Buna says she entered the situation with quite a bit of trepidation. In this situation, only half of the co-housing collective was looking to sell their part of the property, meaning her clients were looking to enter a living arrangement with strangers.

    “It was like speed dating for housing, so to speak,” said Buna.

    Not only did her clients acquire more than half of a newly-renovated, three bedroom, detached home in East Vancouver for under $1,000,000, they also acquired “two really good friends” through the process, according to Buna.

    The Grandview-Woodland neighbourhood in Metro Vancouver where co-housing arrangements exist

    Last May, the City of North Vancouver opened its second co-housing complex, Driftwood Village, adding 27 units to the 19 available at Quayside Village. Farther south, a new 29-unit project called Vancouver Co-housing is being developed on 33rd Avenue, between Victoria Drive and Knight Street. However, the existing co-housing communities are stratified, not co-owned through a joint mortgage.

    Buna says the sales that have recently gone through in East Vancouver point to the need and ways in which people in the Lower Mainland are pushing the boundaries of traditional housing.

    Anyone considering a co-housing arrangement is advised to hire lawyers who are familiar with this path to property ownership, as the situation can get particularly messy if one party wants to eventually back out. Bell Alliance is the law firm that helped Buna’s clients through the purchase of the title on 10th Avenue.

    “Each party should have their own legal representation so that they have thoroughly had conversations about estate planning, exit strategies, unexpected wage losses—similarly to how you would have those conversations with a partner,” said Buna.

      

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