<prompt> Human: We are both in our early 30s and make 75k each. My credit is around 750, hers around 600. We will both be debt free asisde from 15k each in student loans each in a few months. We are both well aware of that jumping into this as a pure partnership would be a bad idea and have a rough outline of a plan that seems to protect us both, just wanted opinions before considering more seriously.We are able to put down 30k-40k combined. We feel one of us could afford a 200,000 home with a loan of 160k-180k on a 15 year fixed. This would result in about 1200month which is what we each currently pay in rent. The plan is for one of us to purchase the home, the other to pay rent. Lets say I buy the home, I pay 1200 per month to mortgage. She would also pay 1200 per month to keep our investment level with 600 going to one fund, 600 going to a second. The first fund would be her actual rent, a joint account for spending on the home, repairs, taxes, insurance, etc.. This fund would be spent on agreed upon items. The second would be to an escrow account. The escrow account would be taken by her if things did not work out or applied for an early mortgage payoff upon marriage. This plan would prevent the issue of one party holding the advantage of the home over the other one and also prevent a messy split if things did not work out. If things work as planned, we fully own a starter home in 10 years. If things dont work out I have the equity in the home, she has the escrow money. depending on equity vs down payment, a prorated refund on the down payment would be given back as well. I could continue living in my home without being forced to sell and split assets, she would walk with a down payment on her own home.What are the flaws in this plan? We are trying to figure this out before proceeding, talking to a lawyer or financial planner, or going to the bank. This feels like the best compromise to keep our finances out of the bedroom without feeling like one of us owns the house and the other is just along for the ride. EDIT: To clarify: Home and rental payments would be mine, escrow would be hers. This allows for no financial issues if we split, but split ownership in the home when we marry. This prevents us getting married, refinancing my home into our home, and having joint ownership with a person who has contributed far less than myself. We understand the concept of renting to the other. We are looking for a fair way to plan an equal future without completely mixing our finances. Edit2: Okay, looks like I have all of the answers. For the most part stick with part of my plan, buy a house and charge her a fair rent. Her money is hers, she can save or spend it . As for equal ownership, if down the road she has saved we can refinance or she can pay off the mortgage, but make that dicision at that time. EDIT3: The big question that keeps coming up is why dont we just get married. None of your business. We are in a committed relationship, our motivations beyond that have no relevence to this question. To those who are claiming Id be screwing her with this idea, it was her idea. We see some of the flaws in that plan, which is the reason we posted this. Neither of us wants to buy as a partnership since we have seen too many relationships fail and assets be liquidated with the mortgage upside-down, you lose your home and your money, not fun. She was okay with the tennant idea but then asked what happens when we want to make your home, our home. I didnt have an answer for that. It makes poor financial sense to give your SO half your stuff, it also is unfair to not have a way to make it equal. She proposed saving the difference between when I pay for mortgage and what she pays for rent and putting it in an untouchable account so she could contribute later. As stated above, I see this is a bad idea. I will give her the option to be 5050, but until then, her money is her money. We have taken a lot of other good options from this thread.  <response>: So I did almost exactly what you are describing with my ex. I bought a 207k house 20 down payment from my savings, everything in my name when we were both making a little over 70k. With escrow but without budgeting for repairs, etc., my payments were 1200month. He paid me 600month rent. We lived together in this arrangement for 1.5 years before the relationship went belly up.What I learned was that if I had not bought with him, I would have bought a lot less house. The house payments are a slight stretch on my budget and the yard workhouse worketc. is honestly too much for one person. Its been 1.5 years since we broke up, and next week I close on selling the house. I made enough in the market that I will essentially break even, so things could have gone much worse, but overall I wish I had either a just kept renting or b bought a house that was truly what I would have purchased if we werent dating.Tl;dr: Dont purchase a house assuming you are going to end up getting married, purchase one assuming you wont. If everything works out, it can always become a rental investment if you decide to upgrade. 