Daily Real Estate News  |  January 22, 2007  |   Sharing a Vacation Home Can Be Trouble
Buying a lake house, ski cabin, or other vacation home with good friends could ease the financial burden for all parties involved. However, without clear-cut rules, thorny situations likely will arise.

James Grossman, a Rochester, NY, lawyer and former chair of the real estate section of the New York State Bar Association, offers these tips for what to consider before buying a vacation home with other people:

• Decide upfront what will happen if someone decides to sell or dies. One good approach is to provide remaining owners with right of first refusal.

• Spell out financial arrangements. Require an owner who stops making payments to sell his share back to the other partners.

• Decide how and when the property will be used. Create a schedule of when each party will be allowed to use the property. If you feel strongly about not having a schedule, then put in writing that it will be open-ended.

• Set rules for when problems arise. What are your guidelines for parties, pets, broken furniture, and maintenance needs? Will you allow family members to visit by themselves?

• What happens when you don't agree? Especially when there are more than two owners, it's important to include a procedure for handling disputes, for example, a majority vote rules.

Source: The New York Times, Jay Romano (10/21/2007)