Buying a home with your fiance... (real estate, mortgage, credit score)

[Jilly66]

My fiance and I are getting married in 3 months. My family is payi9ng for th wedding so we could use hid money to pay for a home. Based on our credit scores, it was advised that my fiance obtain the mortgage on his own and that I should not be added to the deed until after the wedding. I will be paying for 1/2 of the mortgage and other expenses. I am feeling very vulnerable here since my name does not appear on anything. I asked my fiance to draw up an agreememnt to protect both of us. I want to protect his initial investmest since it his life savings and my contributions towards building the equity in our home. Am I being unreasonable?

[thebobs]

Honestly, you should wait until you get married first.

[azzurrony]

Jilly,

Never buy a home together unless you are married. If he buys it on his own without your name on the title, you are screwed if things go bad.

I'm not sure why couples nowadays do everything backwards. Maybe I'm too old fashioned, but just focus on getting married, then get your assets in order, buy a house, have a kid when things are stable, etc.

[zulu400]

I second bob's opinion, but having said that you should explore the situation that I have....

I'm married, but I do not want to include my wife for the credit score reason....

My attorney said, only "I" will be on the "note" (this is what the bank will consider for the mortgage application process) but my wife will be on the "deed" and the "mortgage".
Check it out.

[arangoa79]

Being that his money and credit is being used to buy the home why should you feel vulnerable. You aren't putting anything into it initially. Consider half the mortgage and expenses your paying as rent. Just add your name to the deed once your married.

[jpg71]

Not sure why they advised you not to go in on the mortage with your fiancee unless your credit score is low enough to cause an issue with the bank.

In any case, no - do not purchase property unless your name is on the paperwork. That's just asking for trouble.

That said, insist on having your name on all the paperwork, even if you aren't married. I have purchased real estate with someone before who was my fiancee at the time. The relationship never panned out (although we were together for a good amount of time, just never tied the knot) and we ended up selling the house. If the house was only in one of our names, and if we ended the relationship on a less than amicable note, one of us could have been burned pretty badly. In my case, we parted ways without issue, and all the paperwork was in both our names anyway.

[djdairyp]

Originally Posted by arangoa79

Being that his money and credit is being used to buy the home why should you feel vulnerable. You aren't putting anything into it initially. Consider half the mortgage and expenses your paying as rent. Just add your name to the deed once your married.

From a monetary standpoint, I originally agreed with this statement. Further thinking about it, I am not so sure due to the wedding expense.

If the two of them were to pay for the wedding themselves and split the wedding cost equally, the husband would have half of the wedding cost less for the home purchase (the wife would still probably get her half from her parents). Since the wife is in essence paying for the whole wedding (through her parents wedding gift to her) it could be argued that half of the cost of the wedding is her contribution to the down payment.

It does seem much simply to wait however, its not that far away.

[scottzilla]

Call a lawyer and ask.

[Jdawg8181]

It is always a bad idea to buy a house with someone who are not married to...yes you will be getting married, but wait until you are...don't do it before. I agree with the previous posters.

[Jackie78]

My husband and I weren't even engaged yet when we bought our place, and both our names were put on the mortgage etc. We bought it in 2004 and got married in 2006

But in your situation since it's only 3 months until you get married, it might
make sense just to wait until after the wedding to do everything.