Implement Your Exit Strategy
An exit strategy is proactive.
You and your co-buyer(s) should discuss different exit scenarios and agree on how to handle each situation early on—preferably before making offers on a home.
When you get together to define how to handle an unwind before it happens, you minimize the scope for confusion, conflict, and stress when it’s time to execute.
👉🏾 Guidelines to create an exit strategy:
✅ Ask and answer the right questions.
✅ Build consensus with your co-buyers/co-owners.
✅ Make sure everyone involved is heard.
✅ Record your decisions. If it is not in writing, it doesn't exist.
Don't forget to revisit your exit strategy periodically. It is best practice to include your exit strategy in a Co-ownership Agreement and to set a rhythm for reviewing and updating agreements as life changes. At a bare minimum, an annual review makes sense.
💡 Pro Tip
Co-create your exit plan as part of your Co-ownership Agreement. Revisit and update your plan as often as you and your co-owners like. Provisioning for your exit will reduce the likelihood of many, if not most, of the risks associated with an unwind—planned or otherwise.
You can co-create your exit strategy and Co-ownership Agreement with Co-ownerOS™, our new app for co-owners.
Matt Holmes (LinkedIn) is co-founder and CEO of CoBuy, formed in 2016 to unlock homeownership for everyone. Before hopping a flight to Seattle to start CoBuy with his mother, Matt worked in investment banking and financial markets in London for a decade. He holds degrees from University College London (BSc Economics) and ESCP Business School (Masters, London & Turin).
Pam Hughes (LinkedIn) is Co-founder and COO at CoBuy. She has over 40 years of experience across finance, real estate, insurance, and construction. Pam has committed to personal empowerment through financial education for decades, which inspired her to start CoBuy with her son in 2016. She's best friends with a small dog known as Francis.