Fish House Purchase

[broken line]

Thinking about buying a hard sided fish house and splitting the cost three ways. We have already decided it would be best to write up a "contract" of sorts prior to the purchase, spelling out who pays what, repair costs, etc. Has anyone done this, or have a copy of something similar that we could use as a guide. Any thoughts or opinions appreciated.

[Wobbler]

I went 50/50 on a house with a friend and co-worker. We split everything right down the middle. I guess we figured we would not need a contract. We go up when we want and you can always bring a buddy up if you want. If you are bringing more we always ask each other. Going 3 ways on a fish house would be interesting. There are advantages such as splitting up new purchases for the house etc., but 3 ways what if 2 people want to make a remodel change and 1 person does not? What if 2 people want to buy something like a generatoor and 1 person does not? What happens if someone wants out how much is it worth to buy someone out? I hope for your sake you iron out those issues before you buy a house. I know in my case the reason it works good is we talk everything over and communicate well.

[ice_it_06]

broken line;

Shared ownership can be a real demanding and complicated arrangement. Have tried it once myself with a relative and did not work out well at all. Unless the parties involved are people you fish with 90% of the time and you all have equal cash in it, (no payments) is about the only chance of smooth sailing you have.

Schedule of use conflicts and all other variables can really make it more hassle then fun and effective thinking.

I would never do it again with a "new" house as I ended up the sole owner after one quit on his payments and the other did not want higher payments to cover the third parties departed ownership on payment delinquency. One season it lasted and I was hung with a $7,000 bill trying to help the others by letting them buy in. Never again unless it was like a $2,000 investment type house total !!

Not knowing what your buying or how much I would just say do your home work and trust only cash up front from all.

That way all the arguements are on even ground as well (lol)

good luck

[cold one sd]

I don't want to pee on your birthday cake, but I think if you do some checking you will find that in most cases this doesn't work out. The only way I can see it working is if you are very good friends and you use it together most of the time instead of separately. Mowt of the problems I have seen is when one of the partners is using it with someone other than the partner. Not cleaning up, not replacing propane or breaking something and not taking care of it.

[End of the Line]

Yes, do a contract if you decide to go through with it. Who hauls it? Who is storing it? If no one is using it are you going to let friends use it? Who pays for that? Who fills the propane? If 2 out of the 3 guys use it 4 times as much who is going to put the tires on it when the time comes. The issue will always be that someone will always be using more than the other 2 and therefore the wear and tear will not get divided out equally 3 ways.

I had a house with halves with my cousin until this year, we had it together since 1999. Started off great, then he got married and had more kids and then he didnt have time to use it. Then issued arose about the expenses since I used it more. I got out and sold my half for cheap just to keep the peace. Figure out a contract, or you wont have friends in a few years or you'll be stuck with a big bill as mentioned above! We built our own and had 50/50 into at the start.

IMO your better off one guy owning and making the others rent it out from you at a predetirmined rate per day with miles and propane extra. Also you could have them anti-up a little up front to help offset the intial investment by you.

[blue_healer_guy]

bl, did it once, and never again. Just by doing a contract, it seems to me there are problems already. Don't want to rain on your parade, you will have issues.

[wplatehunter]

I hear what people are saying, but there is four of us who own our house and we have not had any real problems so far.

[broken line]

Thanks all for the input so far. I'll share it with the other prospective buyers and we'll go from there.