Chapter 3 - The Condo Was Mine, but Derek Started Calling It Ours
I bought the high-rise condo at twenty-eight.
$1.46 million.
That sounds absurdly expensive to most people.
Chicago luxury real estate makes numbers lose:
perspective.
I had saved aggressively since my early twenties and received stock compensation from two employers.
Down payment:
$410,000.
Mortgage:
mine.
Title:
mine.
When Derek moved in, I did not charge:
rent.
He paid:
half the utilities,
groceries,
some household expenses.
He also purchased:
furniture,
art,
a television.
We discussed adding him to the title after:
marriage.
My attorney advised:
do not.
Derek became irritated.
“Why?”
“Because it is premarital property.”
“I live there.”
“Yes.”
“So I’m just a guest?”
“No.”
“But legally?”
“Legally, you don’t own it.”
He hated that answer.
Then the language changed.
Instead of:
your condo,
he said:
our home.
That was emotionally reasonable.
Until he began treating “our home” as evidence he should have:
equity.
One night Linda said at dinner:
“If Derek is building a life there, his name should be on something.”
I answered:
“He is building a life with me.”
She smiled.
“Exactly.”
We were having:
May you like
two different conversations.
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