How to equitably split without rancorous outcome
Situation
- Bought a house with my brother 6/15/2018 for $273k on 15yr mortgage. ($265k + closing costs of $8k.) We each put down $25k cash.
- We each paid in $500/mo. Payments from renters covered the rest of the mortgage and utilities, which came out of joint account.
- Equity is now ≈$75k
- Property now valued at ≈$290k
- Due to marriage, brother wants to buy out my half at the end of December, which he's pretty adamant about. I was planning to eventually move out, but was thinking closer to 3~5 years, rather than 1.5. I'd just as soon keep things amicable, so moving now is probably best...
- Extra backstory: This puts me in a bad position for a number of reasons, including mounting medical debt and lack of jobs: I just left my job due unethical upper management, and my wife can't currently work due to illness. I expect to find a job soon. I'm transitioning from ESL teaching to property management, so looking for entry-level assistant property management jobs after finishing up Assisted Housing Manager class (Section 8). I'm hoping this will give me a solid pay check and practical experience to eventually buy and manage some of my own properties within the next 5 years). Fortunately we can probably stay with an aunt till we find a new place.
Questions
- What is an equitable way to split this?
- Just split equity 50/50 and call it a day?
- Split things in a way that takes into account other aspects of the situation: closing costs, loss of 1st time buyer advantages, capital gains issues, etc.? These may be non-issues or petty considerations, but I don't know enough about them to know their import.
- Since I've only owned/lived in this home for 1.5 years, this would mean capital gains would be an issue, right? Is a 1031 exchange possible? How would I take these things into account on splitting things equitably?
I'm very new at all this, so sorry if these are very basic questions. Thanks for any advice or suggestions you might have.