Selling rental property?
Hi Ladies, seeking some advice or just general feedback I guess. I’m wondering if I’m putting feelings > finances and whether that’s actually a problem.
We own a rental property in Europe - it is fully paid of, was our first home together, and we are both citizens. It’s been rented out since we moved, we pay an agent, it’s pretty straight forward. We currently live is the US but neither of us really feels at home here and probably don’t intend on staying for ever. I don’t know that we’ll ever be able to buy a home like that in this specific city again.
About 4 years ago I got sick and my grandparents decided to give me $ so I could stop working/worrying all the time. We keep my inheritance (about $1m) separate to our joint assets (the rental property, joint accounts, and a brokerage acc of about 400k.) He has his own 401k and brokerage, and we have significant equity (about .25m) in our US home. We are late 30’s early 40’s. I’ll also add that we both grew up financially insecure (two sets of irresponsible parents) and he particularly has a lot of anxiety about $ - even though when we run the numbers, even without the inheritance, we are in a pretty secure place. He pays our mortgage/bills and I cover extras. I’d say we split expenses maybe 70/30 - he definitely covers more month to month, but I pay for all large expenses when they come up. We’ve been married 13 years, together for longer.
All this is to say - my husband wants to sell the rental, and put the proceeds (about £700k after costs if we’re lucky) into an index fund. I’m emotionally attached to the home, I moved a lot growing up (3 continents) and it’s the only place that’s ever felt like home to me. I feel like we have enough $ in the market and enough cash to put in the market as it is. The return on the rental is around 3% so I understand we’d ‘make’ more money in the market but thats not what I want. He wants more $ in the market.
He suggested if I don’t want to sell the house, I ‘buy’ him out and the rental will be entirely ‘mine’. Except legally it won’t be (and I don’t want it to be, it’s ours!)
I guess I’m wondering if I’m being unreasonable/selfish. It’s also not uncommon for him to come up with a plan and then push it until I dig my heels in and say no, or until I agree. Ask me how we ended up in an enormous house because ‘the interest rates are low’ and it’s ’a good investment’ even though the mortgage swallows up a huge chunk of his paycheck. The ultimate golden handcuffs while the mortgage ‘inflates away’.
My point is, my grandparents gifted me an early inheritance so I could live a less stressful life than my parents. His point is the inheritance is mine, and he still needs to make himself secure. I respect this so much but also…I feel like he/we just create stress where it doesn’t need to exist.
Just looking for a sanity check.