If you're shopping for a home in a busy urban area, you may come across a home with a shared driveway. In other words, no single homeowner owns the driveway, but rather ownership and use is shared among two or more homeowners. Whether or not buying such a home is a good idea really depends on your own preferences and the unique situation. Here are some factors to consider as you decide whether buying a home with a shared driveway is right for you.
How many cars do you have?
In most cases, there will be an agreement among the share-owners of the driveway as to how many cars each share-owner can park. Ask your realtor or the owner of the home you're considering buying about this policy. If the max is two cars but you have three, then you probably don't want the home. Similarly, if you have a hobby of collecting or working on cars, you're better off with a home that has its own private driveway.
What fees are involved?
Sharing a driveway can help keep maintenance costs down. Typically, the share-owners split the cost of maintaining the driveway, from applying rock salt in the winter to seal-coating the asphalt. However, you want to be sure you have a full understanding of how maintenance costs are split before you buy the home. If the share-owners do not have a clear policy, you may want to walk away rather than potentially face unexpected charges and costs when driveway maintenance is required.
What is the condition of the driveway?
If the driveway is in bad shape, it could be because all of the owners cannot agree on contributing to the costs of maintenance. This could indicate deeper arguments and disagreements between share-owners. On the other hand, if the driveway is in great shape, this suggests that everyone is able to cooperate and care for the driveway as needed.
How many people share the driveway?
If you'd only be sharing a driveway with one other homeowner, then this should be a simple arrangement. Meet with the other homeowner, get a good idea of how they expect to share and maintain the driveway, and see if this will work for you. If there's a larger group of owners who share the driveway, things might be a bit more complicated. If you do not want to deal with contentious neighbors and various personalities, you may be better off asking your realtor to show you other homes -- ones with private driveways only.
