Category Archives: Buying a Home

When you purchase a home with your LGBT partner, you will need to designate how you would like to hold ownership. Unfortunately, many partners do not understand the ramifications of home ownership until it is too late to do anything about it. Depending on the state that you live in, following are the advantages and disadvantages of different forms of same sex home ownership. Joint Tenancy with Right of Survivorship This designation means that when a partner dies, ownership of the home will transfer to the surviving partner as a […]

Thinking about making the move to the west coast?  Washington, Oregon, and California are all beautiful places to live, but some of their cities are more welcoming to LGBT people than others.  Many cities that top “Most Friendly U.S. Gay Cities” lists are on the west coast.  Here are a few places you may want to consider. San Francisco, of course, is the most well-known gay city in California (and perhaps in the entire U.S.).  While it might seem cliché, there’s also something kind of special about living in San […]

When you find the perfect home that you and your partner would like to purchase, you will begin the process by making a purchase offer. The offer generally includes how much you are offering to pay for the home, contingencies to the purchase such as inspections or financing, and any conveyances you would like included such as furnishings or other assets. It may also include a good faith deposit, generally $500 or 5 percent of the home’s value, to show that you are serious about purchasing the home. Before making […]

Home Owners Associations, (HOA) is an organization of property owners in a subdivision, development or condominium complex that administers the rules and covenants of that neighborhood or community. Covenants are legal, contractual agreements that are said to run with the land, meaning that the covenant cannot be separated from the land and is transferred with it when the property is sold. They are used to enforce certain standards of the community to keep property values from falling and can prohibit a number of things, including the color you can paint […]

The Federal Fair Housing Act, Title VIII of the Civil Rights Act of 1968, basically prohibits the refusal to negotiate, rent or sell housing, deny a dwelling, set different terms and conditions, or provide different housing services or facilities based on race, color, national origin, sex, familial status or handicap. The Act may exempt owner-occupied buildings with no more than four units, single-family housing sold or rented without a broker, and housing that limit occupancy to members only by organizations and private clubs. There are currently no legal protections for […]

Selling your home can be complicated and stressful. Buyers are a lot more savvy today than they were in the past due to the wealth of information that is available on the Internet. Following are some tips for same sex couples selling their home. Learn Your Market Real estate selling strategies are local and has its own customs. General rules for selling real estate will not work in every location. The best way to do this is to hire a real estate agent. See our article Top 10 Reasons to […]

In our previous articles, we noted that LGBT individuals and couples had spread throughout cities including Minneapolis, Chicago and Phoenix rather than staying in designated LGBT neighborhoods. Since those articles were published, Amin Ghaziani released a book “There Goes the Gayborhood” that includes his research into LGBT demographics. Ghaziani is a respected sociologist at the University of British Columbia. Ghaziani found that, like all neighborhoods, gayborhoods change. LGBT households are moving out and straight’s are moving in. He noted that “…LGBT people, in greater numbers than ever before, are living […]

LGBT housing discrimination can and does happen across the United States and includes actions such as denial of rental or lease applications, denial of home financing and eviction. There are no protections for LGBT under the federal fair housing laws. Some federal agencies and states have enacted laws that prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity, and some municipalities within states that have no such laws have enacted ordinances that provide some legal protections. Federal Department of Housing and Urban Development, HUD In 2012, HUD implemented a rule […]

When you purchased your home together, you took ownership as joint tenancy, joint tenancy with right of survivorship or tenancy in common. Once you are married, your home will continue to be titled in the way that you originally took ownership. The question might be whether you need to change the way that you hold title. Tenancy in the Entirety Once you are married, providing you live in a state that recognizes same sex marriages and allows this type of ownership, you will have the right to own property by […]

Home Owners Associations (HOA), is an organization of property owners in a subdivision, development or condominium complex that administers the rules and covenants of that neighborhood or community. Covenants are legal, contractual agreements that are said to run with the land, meaning that the covenant cannot be separated from the land and is transferred with it when the property is sold. They are used to enforce certain standards of the community to keep property values from falling and can prohibit a number of things, including the color you can paint […]