The Co-Buying Boom: Why Group Purchases Are Your Next Referral Multiplier

The numbers are hard to ignore. According to the National Association of Realtors' latest Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers, nearly 20 percent of first-time purchases in 2025 involved co-buyers — friends, siblings, or unmarried partners pooling resources to break into a market where the median home price has climbed past $420,000 nationally.

For agents who understand the dynamics, co-buying isn't just a transaction type. It's a referral multiplier hiding in plain sight.

One Transaction, Multiple Networks

Here's the math that should get your attention: a traditional single-buyer deal connects you to one person's sphere of influence. A co-buying deal with three participants connects you to three. Each co-buyer has their own family, friend group, and professional network — and each one just watched you navigate a complex, high-stakes purchase on their behalf.

"My best referral year started with a single co-buying deal," says Amanda Reyes, a Denver-based agent who's closed 14 co-buying transactions since 2024. "Two friends bought a duplex together. Within eight months, I'd gotten referrals from both of their families, a coworker of one, and the real estate attorney who was so impressed with how I handled the co-ownership agreement that she started sending me clients."

That's five referrals from one closing table. The compounding effect is real.

Why Co-Buying Demands Specialized Knowledge

Co-buying transactions are more complex than standard purchases. They require understanding of tenancy-in-common agreements, co-ownership LLCs, exit strategies, and lender requirements for multiple borrowers. Most agents avoid them because of the added complexity.

That's exactly why they're a referral goldmine.

When you become the agent who *actually knows* how to handle co-buying — who can explain the difference between joint tenancy and tenancy in common, who has a vetted real estate attorney on speed dial, who's seen the pitfalls and knows how to structure things properly — you become irreplaceable. And irreplaceable agents get referred.

Building Your Co-Buying Referral System

**1. Educate before you sell.** Host a "Buying Together" workshop or webinar. Cover the basics: how co-buying works, financing options, legal structures, and exit planning. These events attract motivated buyers who are already thinking about pooling resources but don't know where to start. Every attendee is a potential client — and a potential referral source.

**2. Build your co-buying team.** You need a real estate attorney experienced in co-ownership agreements, a lender comfortable with multiple-borrower applications, and ideally a financial planner who can help co-buyers understand the tax implications. This professional network becomes a two-way referral pipeline. You send clients to them; they send co-buyers to you.

**3. Create content that positions you as the expert.** Write guides. Record short videos explaining common co-buying questions. Share case studies (with permission) on social media. When someone in your market Googles "how to buy a house with a friend," you want to be the result they find.

**4. Follow up with every co-buyer individually.** This is the step most agents miss. After closing, don't just send one thank-you card addressed to the group. Send personalized follow-ups to each co-buyer. Add each one to your CRM as a separate contact with their own nurture sequence. They'll each move through different life stages at different times — and each one represents an independent referral opportunity.

The Exit Strategy Advantage

Here's a detail that experienced co-buying agents leverage: co-ownership arrangements don't last forever. Life changes — someone gets married, relocates for work, or simply wants to cash out. When that happens, the group needs an agent who understands buyout provisions, property valuations for partial sales, and refinancing with one fewer borrower.

If you handled the original purchase well, you're the obvious call. And now you have *another* transaction — plus whatever new purchase the departing co-buyer makes next.

The Bottom Line

Co-buying isn't a niche. It's a growing segment driven by structural affordability challenges that aren't going away. Every co-buying transaction you close plants referral seeds across multiple networks simultaneously.

The agents who build expertise here now won't just close more deals — they'll build referral networks that compound faster than any traditional sphere-of-influence strategy can match.

Start with one co-buying workshop. Build one professional partnership with a co-ownership attorney. Close one deal well. Then watch the referrals multiply.