2006年NPR美国国家公共电台八月-Partners in Life, Partners in Home Buying

On Fridays we talk about your money, today Mortgage Before Marriage. The vast majority of home buyers are married couples. But in the past ten years, there has been a 50% increase in the number of unmarried couples and friends living together who own their own homes. As SL reports these joint¹ investments can lead to some messy situations if the owners split up.

The hardwood floors have just been finished in Sarah Garbor and DW's newly purchased San Francisco home. Today their construction project includes sawing off the legs of a doorjamb to adjust its height.

G and Wolf are in their mid² thirties and have been living together for about six years. Like many of their friends, they felt no rush to get married but they did feel pressured to buy a home last year before interest rates went up. Wolf used trust fund money to pay half the down payment and with loans and savings³ they split the rest. For the monthly mortgage, they worked out a system they both think is fair.

We are both gonna be paying into an account from which the mortgage payment comes out. So it's pretty 50-50, it might be slightly prorated in terms of our incomes aren't equal.

Across the country, about 2.7 million homes are jointly⁴ owned by two or more unmarried people. Most of these are in urban areas, where real estate is more expensive. VM is with the National Association of Realtors.

In the higher cost housing markets, unmarried couples and friends may be more inclined to purchase together simply because the affordability⁵ situation wanting to get into the market, while interest rates are still relatively⁶ good. Because the sooner you get into the market, the longer you own, the better your investment.

But unmarried home owners can face big difficulties if and when they separate. Experts say most joint home owners never write up a cohabitation contract, the unmarried equivalent of a prenuptial agreement when they purchase a home. Without a contract, the default property laws that apply are significantly different than those for married homebuyers. California property lawyer Roger M says the few property disputes from unmarried couples he gets each month, are often among the most complicated.

Their personal relationships as opposed to an arms-length business relationship. And when they end the relationship, there aren't any laws apply that are specific to how you divide the property when these folks have treated it as though it was marital⁸ property, but it isn't marital property.

Married couples are governed by family law which in most states says that property acquired during marriage would be shared equally regardless of who holds the title. Unmarried couples and friends, on the other hand, are usually governed by general property laws, which often rely more heavily on whose name or names are on the title. M says neither law adequately applies to this growing segment of the home-owning population.

The laws have just not kept up with what has happened, and it needs to. And the legislatures should address these issues. Somebody has got to straighten out who has the property in what percentages. And ultimately if there is no guidelines, the courts end up doing a lot more of these than would otherwise be necessary.

Same sex couples have always had to deal with joint home ownership outside marriage. But a handful of states that have civil union or domestic partnership⁹ laws like California, Vermont and Connecticut, allow registered couples to automatically fall under marital property rules.

G and W are standing¹⁰ in the doorframe of what will soon be their upstairs leaning closet, finishing today's construction. G and W are unusual among their group of friends in that they took the extra step of signing a contract that details what would happen to their assets in the event that they break up.

It is a big financial commitment I mean, I think even if you are married, you should think of those things, I mean, it's just realistic.

Yes, it's just a part of being in a relationship together. You have to think about, well, what if this doesn't work out.

Those "what-ifs" may seem unromantic, or even unfriendly, but lawyers and real estate agents say it would be wise for everyone going in on property with another person to consider them before they find themselves needing a lawyer.

For NPR News, I'm SL in San Francisco.

【WORLD BANK】
hardwood
硬木, 阔叶树
doorjamb
门框两侧的直木
trust fund
money belonging to someone that is controlled for them by a trustee
mortgage
a legal arrangement by which you borrow money from a bank or similar organization in order to buy a house, and pay back the money over a period of years
Your building society or bank will help arrange a mortgage. They've taken out a 30 year mortgage (=they will pay for their house over a period of 30 years) . We decided¹¹ to use Fred's redundancy money to pay off the mortgage (=pay back all the money we borrowed for a mortgage) . Mortgage rates are set to rise again in the spring. She was having trouble meeting her mortgage payments .
prorate
American English to calculate a charge, price, etc according to the actual amount of service received rather than by a standard sum
realtor
<美>房地产经纪人(尤指美国房地产行业工会成员)
cohabit
to live with another person and have a sexual relationship with them without being married
prenuptial agreement
also pre-nup
a legal document that is written before a man and a woman get married, in which they agree things such as how much money each will get if they divorce
nuptial⁷
relating to marriage or the marriage ceremony
see also wedding a nuptial mass nuptial bliss
Arms Length
A transaction between financially unrelated companies.
doorframe
门框

1 joint   

adj.联合的，共同的；n.关节，接合处；v.连接，贴合

参考例句：

• I had a bad fall,which put my shoulder out of joint.我重重地摔了一跤，肩膀脫臼了。
• We wrote a letter in joint names.我们联名写了封信。

2 mid   

adj.中央的，中间的

参考例句：

• Our mid-term exam is pending.我们就要期中考试了。
• He switched over to teaching in mid-career.他在而立之年转入教学工作。

3 savings   

n.存款，储蓄

参考例句：

• I can't afford the vacation,for it would eat up my savings.我度不起假，那样会把我的积蓄用光的。
• By this time he had used up all his savings.到这时，他的存款已全部用完。

4 jointly   

ad.联合地，共同地

参考例句：

• Tenants are jointly and severally liable for payment of the rent. 租金由承租人共同且分别承担。
• She owns the house jointly with her husband. 她和丈夫共同拥有这所房子。

5 affordability   

可购性

参考例句：

• Performance-Based Logistics Affordability: Can We Afford Categorical Conversion to Performance-Based Acquisition? 基于性能的后期的可承受性：能否担负得起向基于性能的采办的无条件的转变？
• There would be no crisis of affordability, as't for food or clothing. 就想食物与服装一样，因为供给没有危机。

6 relatively   

adv.比较...地，相对地

参考例句：

• The rabbit is a relatively recent introduction in Australia.兔子是相对较新引入澳大利亚的物种。
• The operation was relatively painless.手术相对来说不痛。

7 nuptial   

adj.婚姻的，婚礼的

参考例句：

• Their nuptial day hasn't been determined.他们的结婚日还没有决定。
• I went to the room which he had called the nuptial chamber.我走进了他称之为洞房的房间。

8 marital   

adj.婚姻的，夫妻的

参考例句：

• Her son had no marital problems.她的儿子没有婚姻问题。
• I regret getting involved with my daughter's marital problems;all its done is to bring trouble about my ears.我后悔干涉我女儿的婚姻问题, 现在我所做的一切将给我带来无穷的烦恼。

9 partnership   

n.合作关系，伙伴关系

参考例句：

• The company has gone into partnership with Swiss Bank Corporation.这家公司已经和瑞士银行公司建立合作关系。
• Martin has taken him into general partnership in his company.马丁已让他成为公司的普通合伙人。

10 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

11 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。