💧 “Homeowner Mates” Is an Awful Idea

[Big yikes.]
When you live in a rental property, it’s likely there’s a defined expiration date for the arrangement. A standard one year lease means that at worst, you need to gut things out for 12 months before moving on.

On the other hand, when you buy a home, that’s forever. I mean, not actually forever, eventually you’ll die or the rising oceans will swallow your house or you’ll sell the property and move elsewhere. Nevertheless, purchasing a property is certainly a hell of a lot more serious than renting.

That’s why I’m so horrified by Zillow’s “Homeowner Mates” ad.1 In it, the narrator Sasha explains that she wanted a house, but couldn’t afford it on her own (she had $131,000 in “BuyAbility”, according to Zillow). Her friends Carol ($124,000) and Audrey ($117,000) shared both her interest in owning a home and her relatively anemic buying power. So, she asks, “Why not go all in together?”.

That is not a confident face.

Oh, for so very many reasons. From potential issues with budgeting to the headache of splitting expenses to difficult relationship dynamics, the idea of purchasing a home with one (or more!) unrelated people seems like a ticking time bomb. When things go wrong, it’s really going to be quite the clusterwhoops for everyone involved.

The ad itself even hints at problems ahead. Sasha starts the ad by dropping something as she unpacks, after being startled by a doorbell.2 She then refuses to answer her housemates’ repeated questions about what she smashed, despite them asking not once, not twice, but thrice. These folks have only just moved in. They’re still reviewing paint samples, but trouble is already brewing. I foresee a very messy breakup for Sasha, Carol, and Audrey.

Aside from the terrible idea that is its central premise, this ad is notable for what it says about the state of housing in America in 2025. Namely, that we do not have nearly enough stock, to the point where this terrible idea is something people might actually consider. But rather than attempting to convince people to buy a partial share of a home, perhaps efforts could be focused on the shortage of housing. New construction is pretty much the solution to the housing gap in much of America, not normalizing the disaster waiting to happen which would be purchasing a home with other people to whom you’re not legally connected.

Footnotes:

The ad is archived here. ↩︎

This despite the fact that the trio had apparently ordered pizza to be delivered. Sasha’s nervous constitution is also worrisome. ↩︎