I Own My House and My Partner Pays with Rent – ryan

This as-to-told-tos Essay is bassed on a conversation with Kara Perez, the 37-YEAR-OLD FOUNDER OF THE FINANCIAL EDUCATION COMPANY Bravelly Go, who lives in Massachusetts. IT HAS BEEN EDIted for Length and Clarity.

My partner and i met texas 11 years ago. We have lived together for nine years, and we moved from north Carolina to Massachusetts in 2024.

My partner and i are Also Not Married, and As A Financial Educator, Money is paramount in my life. Nor part of my long-term financial health, I knew i wanted to owing a house in my own name.

I’ve been saving for 10 years to buy my house. My partner didn’t really want to buy a house. I KNOW The House-Buying Process Really Intimidated Him, and It SEEMED LIKE Something he was not interesting in, where I was excited by that.

Separate but transparent finance

I BOUGHT MY HOUSE IN JUNE 2024. IT’S A 2-BEDROM, 1-BATH, 690-SQUARE-FIOT HOME. It is teensy tiny, but it cost $ 300,000, which is basically unheard of in central Massachusetts.

My Down Payment Was 10%, Which Is $ 30,000, and My Closing Costs Were $ 10,000.

My partner and i communicate Very Well About Money and Always Have. On Our Third Date, We Talked About How Much Student Loan Debt We Had.

People are always shocked that we’ve been together for so long and we don’t have any joint Accounts. But it’s 100% Because I’m a Control Freak. I WOULD PROBABLY BE A NIGHTMARE TO SHARE ACCOUNTS WITH, HONESTLY, SO JUST KEEP THINGS SEPARATE FOR EVEROBODY’S SANY. But separate doesn’t mean deception, and it doesn’t mean lack of Clarity.

We met he was 24, and i was just about Turn 26. We each Had Student Loan Debt. Neither one of US HAD Started Investing Yet, so we’ve been able to do some of these Things at the Same TIME, Eight Though We’re Doing that in the Same Accounts. We’ve really grown up finanly to Together.

I’m my partner’s Landlord

We have a lease in which i am the landlord and he is my tenant. It outlines my respectibilies to Him, His Rent to Me, and his Responsibility Regarding the House.

MARIage fundamentally is a contract. That’s why you need Lawyers to get divorced, and that Contract Comes with Certain Legal Protections. Being partner but not marked does not come with any of the protections.

Massachusetts has Very Strong Tenant Rights, which i’m all for, but i wanted to have a contract that clearly outlines relationship so that if God forbid up and he takes with court, he can’t say, “Well, I was living there as her partner,” Have this lease that, “No, you’re here as my tenant.”

We have Also have an equity aggrement. An equity aggregement is basically an any two two people can make where a person is building equity in that house.

If we live here for 10 Yearsand he’s Paying with Rent for 10 years, and we break up, does he walk Away with nothing? That didn’t saem fair.

We are also in an interesting position Where my partner will likely never utearn me. He is in a fairly Low Paying Field. Eve if we broke up Tomorrow, we spent 11 years together. I care about person, and i don’t want to be left in the dust, especilly knowing that he’ll probably never make six figures.

He will benefit from Equity Growth for the period of time he lives in the house and pays rent. That’s the important. So if he has hast a month where he d He dosesn’t pay and the house gars at 1% in equity during that month, he’s not entitled to that equity. That’s all laid out in the aggrement.

We have this lease. We have our quity aggrement. Its Sort of Like a Baby Prenup.

How We Split Our Bills

I have more in rent every month than my partner does, but not very much Much.

The Total Mortgage, Plus Insurance and Property Taxes, is $ 2,300. I Pay $ 1,200, and he Pays $ 1,100.

I’m Responsible for All Major Repairs. For instance, when i bought the house, Knew it beuld Need a new Roof.

Wen it Comes to Dydoing the Other Costs, We Don’t Do A 50/50 Share Because, Again, I Make More Money than Him.

I think People Find Our Arrangement Surpring for Two Reasons. One, historically, couples have bought property together, and it is very much something you will be you’re married.

But i also think it surprises people Becuses i’m the Woman in the Relationship.

Be Creative With Your Finance

I Think Is Important for People To Be Creative About How they Approach Their Finance. Nor educatorI’m always saying to my audience and to my clients, “Money is creation. Budgeting is creation, and i think we forget ourselves we can, to some extent, Write Our Own Life Rules. “

I just always want to enCourage people to explore to say are right for say, if they’re not something they see other People doing.

Predominantly for Women, Think ITE’s so imported to put these Kinds of aggrements into places traditionally in divorces Women get finanly screwed, especally women who have been out of the workforce for a while or the haven.

Women are just left with mess, and that is definitely a Big Fear of Mine. While i’m happy to give a portion of the home home, I am retaining the vast majority of the equity in my home. I know i’m always going to have a place to live.

It ‘Important to Understand and Remember that you are respectible for creating the rules for your life and money.