Advice on subdividing land with friends

Hey all, first time posting here

A fellow permaculture-minded friend and I have had a running discussion about going in on a lot of land and divinding it up as a possibly cheaper way for both of us to get some land to work with. We wanted seperate areas to live on because each of us has slightly different ideas of how we want to use the land and have seperate families, but we had also discussed the possibilty of starting a joint venture perhaps on a shared, adjacent lot.

I was curious if anybody else had done this kind of thing before or had any advice. Especially looking for advice on the legal side as far as the logistics of subdiving a lot of land and how to ensure that if somebody can’t pay or wants to move and sell their share the other party isn’t stuck with the bill. I trust my friend, but am not looking for an intertangling web of who-owns-what that we will have to sort out some day.

Thanks yall 😃

Thats tuff. If one cant pay and wants to sell, who would buy it?  They would, in essence, be buying into a failed plan. Where you know the original guy , the third guy buying him out doesn't know you.

There is no reason why a parcel of land cant be divided up front into 2 plots, with each of you getting the financing on your respective plots. The only issue is who owns the shared plot. One of you needs to take ownership of it.

What I would do, personally, is purchase the land and have my friend buy his half of it from me either for cash or over time.  The land would be surveyed and divided, with all paperwork made up all legal and filed with the authorities.  Or, if the friend did not want to own the land and I wanted to maintain control of all of it, so he can't sell his half to some stranger, I would work out a long term lease arrangement.  There's a lot of information on the internet about how to buy, sell, and lease land.

If you're trying to make something like a mini-intentional community, I can't recommend strongly enough reading Creating a Life Together by Diana Leafe Christian.

Don't do anything casually or on a handshake, not even with your closest friend or a family member.  That is fraught with peril.  I tried sharing land with a family member and it did not end well.  We got stuck with a huge pile of trash to clean up, and a small building to move.  Years later we still have this mess to deal with.