One thing about our long distance marriage is that it has changed both of our lifestyles drastically. My wife Miel now lives in a group house in Afghanistan, and I am leading a student lifestyle in College Park, Maryland.
When we were living together in Washington DC, we bought a one bedroom condo. At the time it was appropriate for us as a married couple, but now just one of us is in Washington. While the apartment is wonderful and is located in an exciting neighborhood, we are spending approximately $1,900 a month to maintain it. The condo fee is $200 and the mortgage is $1,700. Nineteen hundred is a lot to pay to house just one person.
Since $1,900 is a big chunk of our budget, we’ve been considering renting the place out and downsizing my accommodations. The main idea would be to use the rental income to buy modest properties in Oregon and in Maryland that will facilitate our long term goals.
Since our long term goal is to move back to Oregon to start a family, real estate would anchor us to the Pacific northwest. We have been looking at empty lots in good neighborhoods in Portland, OR where we could build a house when its time to go back to Oregon. We are also thinking about getting a 2 bedroom condo around the University of Maryland. Preferably someplace I could share with other students to supplement our income. So far, our back of the envelope calculation is that we could carry mortgages on these two additional properties for what the rental income on our apartment in DC would cover.
The only reservation I have at this point is psychological. Our DC condo has always been “our place”. We saved for it, picked it out and furnished it together. It is symbolic of our relationship together in Washington. Leasing the property would be therefore be symbolically letting go of that aspect of our marriage. Naturally, neither of us want to do that, so we are reluctant to rent the condo without an appropriate symbolic substitute.
Best,
James
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