Four’s Company: Co-Buying Can Make Denver Housing Affordable

When she plugged the money she could spend into the Multiple Listing Service, what came up was less than ideal. “What I can afford in Denver is a parking space in downtown Denver or a one-bed, one-bath condo on the way outskirts of town, so it was super disappointing,” Erger recalls.

So she decided to once again look into co-buying, the term for unrelated, non-romantically involved people buying a home together. While it’s common for unmarried partners or parents and their children to go in on a house, it’s also done by groups of friends or acquaintances interested in owning property but who can’t afford it alone, or want the benefits of a support system.

Erger has co-bought a home twice before, and she knew a married couple, Dain Holland and Lauren Howe, who were now interested in co-buying. She thought another friend, Laura Jacobsen, would also be a good fit.

“I had us all over for dinner, and I said, ‘You know what? We’re all interested in social justice,” Erger says. “’We’re all interested in caring for the Earth and farming and permaculture, and I think that there might be a match here in some way.’”

The other three agreed, and they started looking at properties. They saw a mansion in Capitol Hill that had been divided into several units, but the second property they saw, a fourplex on a quarter of an acre in northeast Park Hill, was the perfect fit. The four closed on their new home on June 12.

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The co-buyers closed on their Park Hill home on June 12.

Courtesy Bri Erger

“It is really funny how quickly it all came together,” Howe says. “We were all a little bit surprised that we found an amazing property on the first day of looking together.”

Erger and Jacobsen will each take a unit; Holland and Howe will share one. They plan to lease out the fourth unit to short- or long-term renters, with the possibility that they could add an additional co-buyer down the line.

The group is confident going into the situation, in part because of Erger’s expertise. She’s with real estate group LiveWork Denver, which promotes “real estate for the greater good” and works to connect people to unique housing solutions like co-buying.

“One of the greatest ways to build wealth in this country is through homeownership because of the incentives,” Erger says, citing tax-deductible interest on mortgage payments as an example. “The principal and the interest on your mortgage will never change so long as you get a fixed-rate mortgage. What that’s doing is helping people plan and ensure that they are not going to be subjected to massive rent increases that are not proportionate to wage increases.”

With the cost of rent in Denver ranking among the highest in the country and a growing clamor from renters arguing that the city and state governments aren’t doing enough to protect those who rent, LiveWork Denver’s mission is particularly important.

Right now the average home in Denver costs somewhere between $600,000 and $700,000, Erger notes, whiile the 2022 metro median income for a single-person household was $82,100.

“What would be required in order to buy that average home would be more than double the annual area median income,” Erger says.

But with co-buying, people can pool resources.

Howe and Holland both work at salaried jobs, while Jacobsen and Erger are contract employees whose wages fluctuate each month. The salaried positions give stability, while the contract positions give more cash, balancing out the arrangement.

The members of this group also have experience with intentional co-living communities. Erger and her former partner started an intentional living community called Syland House, while Howe previously lived at a nonprofit-run community house.

In addition to the mortgage, they’ll all sign a co-buying agreement that covers everything from what would happen if one of them wanted to rent out their unit in the fourplex to what would happen if one of them dies.

Not all of them are contributing the same amount to the down payment, so the agreement includes a tracking document that will track any changes or improvements to insure that the ownership percentages are reflected accurately.

“We’re being so cognizant at the front end of the process to brainstorm possible worst-case scenarios — let’s plan for it and let’s talk about it,” Howe says. “It’s really important to think through those things, put it on paper. We have documents and community agreements to lean on if and when things get challenging.”

It’s similar to entering into a marriage with a pre-nup: All of the buyers are on the title and the mortgage and were able to be approved at the same interest rate, though Erger says there are workarounds for cases where not everyone in a group can get the same rate without help.

There are social as well as financial benefits.

“For me, this being my first time buying a home, it’s a big, intimidating process, and having people who have gone through it before has been really helpful,” says Jacobsen. “One of the things that I’m really excited about is hopefully being able to show people that there are several ways to become a homeowner that might not look the traditional route but could be even enhanced through creating intentional community.”

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Lauren Howe, Dain Holland, Bri Erger and Laura Jacobsen want to make their home a place for community.

Courtesy Bri Erger

Members of the group have taken the time to make sure they can communicate well. They have common values, such as wanting their home to eventually be a community hub where people in the area can come for yoga classes, dinners and other events. They’re excited to have chickens and grow food that can be shared, too, and hope their experience will help inspire others to look at different housing options.

“The more that people know that it’s possible and can see examples of it, the easier it is for people to say maybe I can try that,” Erger says. “Let me explore: Is that right for me?”

LiveWork Denver — which comprises Erger, Laura Cowperthwaite, Sarah Wells and Adam Gordon — offers classes to help people through the process of buying homes, with a goal of making home ownership more accessible to more people, especially in a city like Denver. On July 12, it will host a free Introduction to Co-Buying Real Estate class, and, on July 29, a Co-Buyer Speed Dating event to introduce people interested in co-buying to others who might be a good fit.

Howe has attended LiveWork Denver classes. “I’ve been through the same presentation many times, and I mostly like to go because I find it so inspiring being with other people who are interested in reimagining a different, perhaps less conventional but also really exciting future,” she says.

The four plan to have a housewarming party once they’re settled; Jacobsen says she’s looking forward to eating more of Holland’s delicious cooking.

“That’s kind of where my first thought goes, to just have all of our friends over and hanging out in the backyard,” Holland says.

The desire to simply share time with others is common, and co-buying makes it easier, notes Erger.

“We’ve realized through the way that we’ve been living, especially through COVID in isolation and alone, that we actually need each other,” she says. “We need to rely on each other. What a beautiful thing to choose your neighbors.”