My wife and I have been married for nearly seven years now, and we had known each other for quite some time before that. Over the years, we both worked hard and managed to put aside enough money to build our own detached house, which we did entirely by ourselves.
Before we reached that point, we lived in my old flat. I had renovated it just before our wedding, and despite the years that have passed, it has remained in excellent condition.
So when we moved into the new house, we never even considered letting the flat out to tenantswe didnt want it getting worn down. We just decided to leave it as it was.
About six months ago, my parents gave me another flat in the city centre. Selling it didnt make sense since wed already taken care of the major costs of our house, so it wasnt necessary.
My wife and I agreed that, at some point, wed do a bit of redecorating and update the furnishings a little. We wanted to prepare the flat for potential tenants, just to keep it presentable without letting it become shabby.
For now, though, the flat has stood empty. This didnt escape my sister-in-laws notice during a recent family dinner.
She brought up the fact that we now had two flats sitting idle. One place is understandable, she said, but having two just lying about seemed pointless to her, especially when her family was still struggling a bit.
You see, she and her husband were halfway through putting together funds to buy a property in a new development. They werent in a hurry to take out a mortgage, because both of them have modest incomes.
The conversation began to take on a rather awkward tone. My wifes sister laid out her view: that we ought to sell one of our flats, use the proceeds to help her and her husband with their purchase, and put any remainder in the bank to earn interest. She made it clear it wouldnt be a giftthey planned to pay us back over some yearsbut it was hardly a short-term loan.
I could tell my wife was uncomfortable. The thing is, we already do our best to help family out whenever we canpractically and financially. But this was asking a lot.
So, I decided to answer my sister-in-law myself. I told her that this was a very serious request. Yes, she and her husband would end up with a flat, but we would lose one of ours and only have whatever was left from the sale in a savings account. It would leave us with nowhere to live if things went wrong.
Plus, theres no knowing when wed see the rest of our money back. Financially significant matters like this have to be treated with real care, even among family.
It was obvious the conversation had become a bit too much for everyone around the table. My sister-in-law looked put out, and my wife eased the discussion onto another topic.
