Miriam Belblidia loved her pale pink and blue house in New Orleans' Holy Cross neighborhood. But in 2022, after seven years there, she decided she wanted to be closer to the action, a little further upriver in Faubourg Marigny.

At the time, Belblidia’s friends, Thom Smith and Claire Mehling, were renting half of a shotgun double in the Marigny when they learned the place was going up for sale, possibly putting their living situation in jeopardy.

The solution the three friends found to solve their twin challenges was once rare but has become more common: they pooled their money and bought the North Rampart Street house together, splitting the down payment and monthly mortgage in half.

With help from their real estate agent and title company, the three homebuyers all signed their names to

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