How to vest a property
August 2, 2016 9:50 PM Subscribe
Mr. Atruesock & I are buying a house (yay) in California. My parents are helping us. I need help understanding how to fill out the Vesting Form the escrow company gave us, and I need to move fast. YANMAttorney/CPA/Realtor, but please help me figure out which box to check, or tell me what other people in my situation have done!
Husband and I make enough money to pay the monthly payments on the house. My parents are assisting with funds for a big enough down payment so we can afford the monthlies, and they're also on the loan because husband & I haven't been at our jobs long enough to qualify on our own.
I've read this info/chart. What I don't understand is whether my parents (a married couple) have to be vested in the property at all because of the loan thing. I think they would prefer not to be vested and instead just to have my husband and me be vested by ourselves. So, I think I have at least 2 questions:
1. Is it a requirement that everybody who is on the loan also be vested?
2. If each couple has to be 50% vested, then can my husband's and my 50% be community property? Or if we all have to be vested, do we have to go with joint tenancy and therefore each individual person has 25%?
The whole thing seems kind of silly to us anyway because all of us are each other's survivors (if I die, my stuff goes to my husband first, and if he's dead too, it goes to my parents; if they die, their stuff goes to the surviving spouse and then, upon the surviving spouse's death, to me). Google-fu is failing me because all the advice/info I can find is just about couples purchasing real estate together without this whole parental element. We just want to do whatever is easiest and makes the most sense. I sincerely just want someone to tell me what to do here and don't care about the intricacies of real estate law. Thanks in advance for your assistance!
Husband and I make enough money to pay the monthly payments on the house. My parents are assisting with funds for a big enough down payment so we can afford the monthlies, and they're also on the loan because husband & I haven't been at our jobs long enough to qualify on our own.
I've read this info/chart. What I don't understand is whether my parents (a married couple) have to be vested in the property at all because of the loan thing. I think they would prefer not to be vested and instead just to have my husband and me be vested by ourselves. So, I think I have at least 2 questions:
1. Is it a requirement that everybody who is on the loan also be vested?
2. If each couple has to be 50% vested, then can my husband's and my 50% be community property? Or if we all have to be vested, do we have to go with joint tenancy and therefore each individual person has 25%?
The whole thing seems kind of silly to us anyway because all of us are each other's survivors (if I die, my stuff goes to my husband first, and if he's dead too, it goes to my parents; if they die, their stuff goes to the surviving spouse and then, upon the surviving spouse's death, to me). Google-fu is failing me because all the advice/info I can find is just about couples purchasing real estate together without this whole parental element. We just want to do whatever is easiest and makes the most sense. I sincerely just want someone to tell me what to do here and don't care about the intricacies of real estate law. Thanks in advance for your assistance!
Response by poster: Hi, sorry, don't mean to threadsit, but the escrow company sent this exact same form to them to fill out as well. We (the four of us) are getting a mortgage from a real bank as well as each contributing to the down payment (some lots more than others).
If we can exclude my parents from vesting, I still want to know how husband and I should vest - community property? Community property with rights of survivorship?
posted by atruesock at 9:58 PM on August 2, 2016
If we can exclude my parents from vesting, I still want to know how husband and I should vest - community property? Community property with rights of survivorship?
posted by atruesock at 9:58 PM on August 2, 2016
Response by poster: (FYI) Options for just my husband and myself (actually for us with or without parents) seem to include:
Join Tenants
Community Property
Community Property with Right of Survivorship
Tenants in Common
posted by atruesock at 10:00 PM on August 2, 2016
Join Tenants
Community Property
Community Property with Right of Survivorship
Tenants in Common
posted by atruesock at 10:00 PM on August 2, 2016
IANAL but i did once upon a time work in an escrow office where my job was sending and processing these forms. We would only have sent out one form per escrow. Whether you all have to be on the title is dependent on your bank. If you want to own the property with your parents in unequal portions (ie not a quarter apiece) you vest as tenants in common.
posted by rai at 11:33 PM on August 2, 2016
posted by rai at 11:33 PM on August 2, 2016
How you hold your title depends on how you and your husband want to treat the rights to the house and ownership interests in the house.
Do you want to want to own the house equally and individually be able to give or sell your share of the home, or do you want both spouses to have to agree to those sorts of sales or bequests? Do you want to individually be able to give a share away in your will or do you want to be guaranteed your spouses if one passes before the other? Do you want to own the home in unequal shares, or potentially with your parents? How do you want rights to the house settled if you get divorced?
We can't make this decision for you - that's a conversation with your husband and possibly your parents if they think they have any interests in your home. A guide to the different options can be found on the Internet, for example.
posted by Karaage at 4:35 AM on August 3, 2016
Do you want to want to own the house equally and individually be able to give or sell your share of the home, or do you want both spouses to have to agree to those sorts of sales or bequests? Do you want to individually be able to give a share away in your will or do you want to be guaranteed your spouses if one passes before the other? Do you want to own the home in unequal shares, or potentially with your parents? How do you want rights to the house settled if you get divorced?
We can't make this decision for you - that's a conversation with your husband and possibly your parents if they think they have any interests in your home. A guide to the different options can be found on the Internet, for example.
posted by Karaage at 4:35 AM on August 3, 2016
Best answer: I was in a very similar situation recently and the bank had some say in it -- the escrow company was not comfortable leaving my parents off the deed without the lender telling them it was OK to do so. We ended up being able to take title without my parents, which is what they preferred. In short, make sure to ask both your parents and your mortgage lender.
posted by karbonokapi at 6:31 AM on August 3, 2016
posted by karbonokapi at 6:31 AM on August 3, 2016
Response by poster: Thanks everyone! The lender required that we take title as joint tenants. So, asking the lender was the right thing to do! I appreciate the help.
posted by atruesock at 6:51 AM on August 4, 2016
posted by atruesock at 6:51 AM on August 4, 2016
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Most married couples have it as "Atruesock and Nameofspouse, as a married couple" or similar.
posted by fireoyster at 9:53 PM on August 2, 2016