One house two owners

Siblings don't, either, so Sadowski and his sister signed a contract. Their house is split into adjoining apartments. Because he has the larger portion, he pays 60 percent of all permanent improvements that would increase the value of the home. They split the cost of consumables such as lawn fertilizer.

Their contract also stipulates that one person can buy out the other, but that requires determining the house's market value. Selling the entire house is almost easier. That's probably what they'll do in May, when Sadowski's sister marries.

Tom Fullum, who bought a home with a fellow environmentalist, said matching personalities with a co-owner is more important than being buddies. In his case, he says, "We're not necessarily best friends, but we've always gotten along."

Still, they are drafting an agreement that spells out, among other things, that they will go into binding arbitration if they cannot make a decision regarding their modern, three-story log home, small cabin, and 26 acres abutting Lolo National Forest near Missoula, Mont., which they bought a year ago.

It's important to remember that when every decision relies on a democracy of two, "the pace of the investment in the house is going to be at the lower common denominator," Mr. Fullum says.

He and his friend recommend setting up an independent savings account to hold funds for the home's improvement and maintenance. Theirs comes with a credit card. It's just another way of keeping their investment organized and, to an extent, impersonal.

It's all personal, though, for buyers, such as Amann, who equates a partnership agreement with a prenuptial agreement.

"It would say to Cory, 'I don't think we could work this out if we had a conflict,' " Amann says.

His co-owner, Cory Hooper, says that buying together requires putting his friend's needs first to maintain the relationship. For him, that meant fixing up Amann's backyard pond got priority over painting the living room, which he wanted to do.

In Ohio, Hubbard and his co-owner, Karl Jentgen, agree. Mr. Jentgen has bought several homes with friends, with the intent of renovating and reselling them. Having a common goal for the property helps them make renovation decisions. Jentgen's never had a partnership agreement.

"I know the people I get into the partnerships with, and they're honest and fair, and that means more than any piece of paper," says Jentgen, who married in the summer of 2000, but kept paying his share of expenses for the house he owned with Hubbard.

Changing lives is part of the risk. Amann and Hooper talk about not wanting to be "tied down," a term once almost synonymous with house ownership.

"Neither one of us had any idea what paths our lives would take," said Amann, who recently decided to leave public relations to become a pastoral counselor. That means more schooling, probably on the East Coast, a year from now. He'll rent out his bedroom. But if school gets expensive, he'll have to sell, meaning that Hooper also might have to. They'll have been in the house two years.

That isn't long enough, says Justice Hill, who didn't buy a house with two friends in Seattle because he couldn't commit to the area. In April, he moved to Cleveland, leaving his friends to buy condos, individually.

"Young people who make $40,000 to $50,000 a year and want to live in the city can't afford [to buy alone]," Mr. Hill says.

Often, though, co-owner friends find real estate flexible enough to meet their needs.

In Montana, Fullum and his friend look forward to a long future together, though both also hope to raise families.

They didn't consider that when buying their dream house, though it will be OK, says Fullum. They're allowed to build a second house on their land, so the men eventually could be neighbors instead of roommates.

Velazquez wants to keep his Washington row house for at least five years, as most realtors would recommend. The next few years will be less stressful, he says, in part because he's leaving the area next year to study screenwriting.

Renting his room will be no trouble. This summer at their open house to seek a new roommate, 100 people showed up; 50 people applied for the slot. "It's nice to have that as an owner," he says. "I'd hate to be on the other end of it."

Buying with a friend has been more positive than negative, but "it'd probably be a lot easier [alone]. Doing it with two people is just twice as difficult," he says. "It's high-risk, high-reward."

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