Common sense: Co-buying a house saves time and money

CO-BUYING a home has allowed two Goonellabah residents to save both time and money, and in the process they have pioneered a sustainable way of communal living.

HOME: Co-owners Kate Greenaway, Mark Twist and Caroline Raphael have seen the benefits of sharing a home together. Picture: Marc Stapelberg

CO-BUYING a home has allowed Goonellabah residents Caroline Raphael and Kate Greenaway to save both time and money, and in the process they have pioneered a sustainable, modern way of communal living.

The two professionals bought together in 2009, after previously both owning their own homes. The decision to buy and live together was not made from pure economic necessity, but practical common sense.

"We got to live in a bigger house so we both have our own bedroom, bathroom, and office," Ms Raphael explained.

"Equally we have areas for guests and we have a bigger communal area that we get to share.

"The benefits definitely far outweigh what we could have afforded on our own."

The back pocket rewards of the co-ownership lifestyle are obvious.

"It does save us, splitting the cost of electricity, rates, the phone, water. All of that makes a difference," Ms Raphael said.

"The thing we really found was how much we supported each other time-wise.

"When we were running our own home by ourselves there was so much to do, unless you could afford to pay someone to do everything.

"Because we were constantly doing things to support each other… We were quite surprised at the extra time we had in our days."

Of course, there has been challenges along the way.

"When you're renting if there's issues you can pretty much bail," Ms Raphael said.

"In this situation we've pretty much made a commitment to not do that."

A period of adjustment happened when the pair welcomed a third "family" member into the home, Kate's partner Mark - who also brought his pet dog.

"We had to sit down and have a lot of meetings, and the thing we were all very conscious of was for Mark to feel like he was walking into his home, and not our home.

"In the end we gave up a spare bedroom so he could have his office."

Thanks to this mature approach, the old adage of 'three's a crowd' didn't apply.

"We kept laughing about those sayings because for us it's been very rewarding and supported us to grow further.

"It's been the best thing we've ever done."