How to pick a realtor (if you want to live near friends)

Live Near Friends

16 Jan 2025 — 4 min read

When you want to live near friends, the right realtor can make a big difference.

While any realtor can help you view properties, coordinating these types of purchases requires a guide who understands the unique intersection of multi-party dynamics, creative financing, and unconventional property arrangements. In a given city, there are likely only a few people who have the right mix of experience.

Live Near Friends seeks out these special realtors as our partners.

Why experience matters

Despite handling transactions worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, many realtors lack the experience to navigate complex purchases. Because the barrier to entry to become a realtor is low, the profession is flooded with part-time and inexperienced agents (you probably know one—most people have a realtor cousin, acquaintance, or family friend). According to the National Association of Realtors, the industry sees massive churn: 87 percent of new agents fail within the first five years of their career, and in 2023, there were about 2.5 realtors for every available home on the market. While you might have a realtor cousin or family friend willing to help you out, buying to live near friends requires finding one with the right expertise—not just the most convenient connection.

The oversaturation of realtors has serious implications for those looking for property to live near friends. Many realtors work purely on commission, prioritizing quick closes over finding the perfect match. The typical agent who responds to your Zillow/Redfin etc inquiry might be fine for traditional home sales but lacks the specialized knowledge that living near friends demands—from understanding multi-party financing to multi-party decision-making to understanding how to creatively renovate a triplex. Most realtors sell single-family homes all day long and won't have a firm grasp of multiplayer real estate.

Essential realtor expertise for living near friends

The best realtors to help home buyers live near friends bring together three crucial areas of expertise: working with multiple parties, technical knowledge, and a robust professional network.

Experience working with multiple parties

Property searches that involve multiple households are more complicated for a typical realtor than searches involving a single buyer. You need a certain simpatico to effectively balance multiple individual's potentially conflicting needs, and frankly, most realtors don’t have the patience for this. It helps to have a realtor who is excited about your vision, rather than put off by the additional complexities it entails.

When Malcolm Bowles wanted to buy a large 1970s ski house in Tahoe with four other friends, he knew it would be a challenge coordinating so many parties. They decided to work with Danny - who had extensive experience working creatively with groups - which proved crucial to their success. “Not only did Danny skillfully navigate the shifting emotions of each member of the group, but he helped build consensus by gently advising where appropriate, backing off, and letting us figure it out when that was the only way forward,” Malcolm said.

Before committing to work with a realtor, ask about their specific experience working with multiple parties. Their response will tell you whether they truly understand what they're signing up for.

Technical mastery

Your realtor should serve as a knowledgeable guide through the complex decisions that friends who want to live near each other face:

Ownership structures: Understanding the pros and cons of TIC agreements, LLC formations, and traditional joint ownership for your specific situation.
Financing options: Experience with TIC financing, LLC loans, and conventional mortgages.
Legal frameworks: Familiarity with co-ownership agreements, HOA structures, and local regulations affecting shared properties.
Property analysis: Ability to evaluate properties for co-living potential, including zoning restrictions, ADU and house hacking possibilities, new housing laws, and future flexibility.

Live Near Friends partner realtor Graham lives the lifestyle himself. He developed expertise in these areas by building his own community of friends. When he and his wife couldn’t afford one of the newer multifamily properties in Sonoma County, they opted for a triplex that had some deferred maintenance.

Renting out one unit to a friend and the other unit to traveling doctors and nurses helped offset the mortgage and finance improvements. Now the property includes an orchard and vegetable garden, a communal hot tub, workshops, and many common areas for gathering. Going through this process himself has complemented his professional experience with extensive, location-specific insight about what it actually takes to create a friend compound in the North Bay.

Professional network

Buying a property to live near friends often depends on working with the right specialists. The ideal realtor to help your group maintain relationships with:

Lenders who regularly handle unconventional loans and understand shared ownership structures.
Real estate attorneys who specialize in crafting co-ownership agreements.
Contractors who can evaluate house hacking potential for creating separate living spaces.
Property owners and investors who hold unique properties that not everyone is going to be interested in, but are well-suited to live-near-friend arrangements.

Live Near Friends realtor Lisa has built a deep network of building owners, and contractors and is a renovation expert. These types of realtor connections are particularly valuable. Many properties ideal for groups, like ADU friend compounds or vacant duplexes, are sold through private networks before ever hitting the MLS. A well-connected agent can give you access to these opportunities before they become publicly available.

Live Near Friends Realtors

Buying a property to live near friends requires specialized expertise that goes beyond traditional real estate services. That's why we work with a handful of specialist realtors who excel at guiding people through the live near friends journey. Each of our realtors deeply specializes in a specific geographic area; currently, we have specialists for San Francisco, the East Bay, and the North Bay.

We select our realtors through a rigorous process that evaluates:

Track record of successfully closing complex group purchases.
Deep knowledge of creative financing options for co-buyers.
Experience with multifamily properties and ADUs.
Strong network of live-near-friends-friendly lenders, lawyers, and other professionals.
Demonstrated ability to facilitate group decision-making.
Outstanding client satisfaction ratings.