>Plus I’m not going to rule out this idea just because it’s new and bold……….

I think you need to appreciate that this isn’t new, isn’t so very bold, and it is THE way America got built.

Here in Southern California, for example, this very day, immigrants families are moving in together, combining money, resources, risks and opportunities, and there seems to be no end in sight….nor should there be.

Whole sections of Orange County are Vietnamese, or Hispanic, or Korean. These families bought together, and sold together, and moved up together, and now are owners of the American dream of home ownership. Sharing money and risks among family members is a bad idea only when expectations are not clearly laid out and implemented.

I would argue that today’s mortgage lenders do nothing more to reduce risk to the borrower than in a family setting. Does a Good Faith Estimate guarantee the husband won’t become a drunk, lose his job, and abandon the family? Does knowledge of every financial product under the sun insure that a borrower and his family won’t (at the family table, not the settlement table), come to see problems with the product you helped them select? Of course not. You see, lending is a secondary function to the actual commitment made by the family, to other family members, to abide by and work through the buying process’s financial obligations.

Shailesh, there are immigrant neighborhoods where sharing risk is ALL that provides a sense of community and obligation. If, as you say, we learned nothing else from the subprime fiasco, it should be that PEOPLE and FAMILIES commit to each other first, and the paper on which we mask that commitment (loan documents, etc.) aren’t worth their weight in promises otherwise.

Would you say I have any point here? Interested in your take.

Frank – Great example. I guess you can always move in?

@What else are you going to do with 4,000 SQ FT in Carlsbad? (SMILE) exactly so.

On the upside, you can still retire and attempt to convert the McMansion to a Legoland Bed & Breakfast. What else are you going to do with 4,000 SQ FT in Carlsbad?