Tenancy in Common or Husband and Wife

[Andrew Edwards]

Hello BiggerPockets community! 

I hope everyone is safe during these uncertain times. I am happy to say my wife and I are finally leaping out of analysis paralysis and purchasing our first buy and hold property.  We are both splitting (60-40) the down payment on a 2bd 2bth condo and were wondering what the best way to take the title would be.  These are the options the title company has given us:

1.) Husband and Wife - Creating a tenancy by entirety, which means upon the death of one party, the legal title automatically passes to the surviving spouse

2.) A married couple as tenants by entireties- Upon death of one party, the legal title automatically passes to the surviving spouse

3.) Joint tenants with full rights of survivorship- Upon death of a party, title passes to the surviving joint tenants

4.) Tenancy in Common- Each party owns an undivided interest and upon death of a party, their interest passes to their estate and not the surviving co-tenants 

Basically we are trying to decide whether we should do it as husband and wife or joint tenants with full rights of survivorship, what are the benefits of one over the other or if they may create issues down the line.  This may seem like a no-brainer to some of you but since we are fairly new to real estate its better to be safe than sorry.  

Please feel free to give your advice or share your experiences, anything helps at this point. 

Thanks again, stay safe!

Andrew