Sharing a lakehouse

[HomeWood]

Originally Posted by Grant

Be careful! My family recently had to sell a lakefront home owned 67 years when one sibling demanded to be bought out and the other (on retirement income) couldn't afford to buy the other half. The rest of us, with kids in college, couldn't pull the trigger, either. So now we're left Lake-less, brokenhearted and bitter. If you're looking long-term, make sure everything is spelled out up front.

Our problem stemmed from 1st generation leaving equal ownership to two 2nd generation siblings, and the one who later demanded liquidation refusing an earlier (like 15-20 years ago) buyout from the other. And now the other 2nd, and the 3rd and 4th generation family members, all of whom looked forward to many more memorable years on the Lake, are left out.

And this, I can assure you, sucks worse than anything.

I am fearing that my family is going to have to deal with this in the (hopefully not soon) future. Some of the family has no interest in keeping the house that we have had in the family since circa 1960.

[jrc]

Most of the insurmountable problems come from money. One partner needs to get out because they can't afford it. The other partner wants to stay in but can't go it alone. This never seems to end well.

You need to cover this in advance, because no one thinks clearly when they're broke. And since this usually occurs when someone loses a job, the only real solution is to sell. So your vacation place is always at risk of your job and your co-owners job. So a lot depends on how stable your co-owner is.

If I had to do this, I'd think about buying something I could just barely afford on my own and make a cost sharing arrangement with the other people that renewed annually. Every spring the other people would have to commit for the season. If they don't have the money, you either tough it out, get someone else or sell.

[HellRaZoR004]

Originally Posted by jrc

Most of the insurmountable problems come from money. One partner needs to get out because they can't afford it. The other partner wants to stay in but can't go it alone. This never seems to end well.

You need to cover this in advance, because no one thinks clearly when they're broke. And since this usually occurs when someone loses a job, the only real solution is to sell. So your vacation place is always at risk of your job and your co-owners job. So a lot depends on how stable your co-owner is.

If I had to do this, I'd think about buying something I could just barely afford on my own and make a cost sharing arrangement with the other people that renewed annually. Every spring the other people would have to commit for the season. If they don't have the money, you either tough it out, get someone else or sell.

I've never had to deal with this sort of thing, but what jrc stated makes a lot of sense. If you can't buy/afford something on your own and have to rely on someone else then it's most likely not going to work.

Edit: just to clarify my position....My significant other and I decided to buy a house recently. However, if something were to ever happen and one were to loose a job the other could make it work.

[mneck1814]

It is really unfortunate that so many people have had bad experiences with sharing family camps. For me, sharing is one of the things I love most about our camp, I have always spent my summers at the lake surrounded by me extended family.

My mom and her siblings are joint owners of the property which they inherited from their parents. The joint ownership is unique in that it is setup that if someone wants out, they do not have the option of selling or being bought out, they simply have to sign off or after 2 years of being delinquent on taxes/maintenance fees they can be removed. Over the last 15 years, one brother has signed off due to lack of use. The siblings each get 2 weeks that they can reserve for their own families, but truthfully most of the time everyone is under the “more the merrier” policy. The camp is rarely reserved for more than 2 weeks all summer. Holiday weekends CANNOT be reserved, they are for all to enjoy.

Interestingly, my grandfather inherited the camp from his Aunt after he was the only one of his siblings to not sell the adjacent pieces of land that she had subdivided and given each of them; it was important to his aunt to keep the camp in the family and she didn’t trust that his siblings felt the same way.

[Grant]

Originally Posted by HomeWood

I am fearing that my family is going to have to deal with this in the (hopefully not soon) future. Some of the family has no interest in keeping the house that we have had in the family since circa 1960.

Yeah, if you can see it coming, then it probably will. Ours was in the family and used constantly (May-Sept) since 1945...67 years. I saw the writing on the wall in 2011, but had a fear of this for a few years. The void the place has left still hasn't hit me in its finality. Savor it all while you can.