Katie Passarello, from California, moved to northern Spain in 2021 on a Fulbright scholarship.
Four years later, she saw in a coruña with her Spanish partner in their dream apartment, which they bought and renovated together.
Passarello told Business Insider.
Passarello applied for the Fulbright program and returned to Spain on the prestigious scholarship in 2021 as a wardrobe.
Find a partner and an apartment
A few months after her new life in Spain, Passarello ended up in a networking mixer where she met Miguel Armas Pastor, who accompanied a friend of the event.
She didn't think about it much until she hit him again in a bar the next night. “I was like ok, let's keep it going to bed for each other and do it intentional,” she said.
Three and a half years later, they live together in their new apartment, planning to build a life and a family together.
Katie Passarello and her partner, Miguel Armas Pastor. Katie Pasarello
Passarello lived with friends, and Armas Pastor, a local design engineer, was frequently. Passarello told Bi that the couple wanted to put their relationship to the next step, so they moved into the family home of Armas Pasteur together.
Living together meant that Passarello was qualified as a legal partner of Armas Pastor, a status similar to marriage in Common Law. “I now have an EU residence as a partner,” she told Bi.
She said that the purchase of an apartment was partly a financial decision because the mortgage would be the same as what they would pay for rent.
“Miguel had always dreamed of returning an apartment or renovating an apartment,” she said.
She also had specific preferences. “I was determined to die from the crown – the molding of Spanish origin pretty crown. I really wanted that.”
They looked for apartments for about eight months, seeing several houses per week. She said they were looking for southern somewhere with an old charm and with the potential of an entire youthful cure.
Having a good light was a must, said Passarello. Kaite Pasarello
“Miguel is a very high -end person, an engineer. He doesn't have extremes like” Wow I love him “, or” Wow I hate “.” When he found their apartment, she said he was “very worked”.
She told Bi that they could both see the potential. In 2023, they bought the house for 135,000 euros, or about $ 145,000 depending on the conversion rate at the time.
Passarello previously told BI that she had used savings money and her income as a public relations entrepreneur after completing her Fulbright program in 2022 to cover half of the deposit and renovation fees.
The master bedroom. Katie Pasarello
Cost ventilation
Before buying a house, Passarello had to widen deeply and asked if they were both “mature” enough to manage things amicable if they were to break. “Knowing our personalities and the way we sail on things has been useful to facilitate things-we share a lot of values,” she told Bi.
Then they did what Pasarello called “intense budgeting” to prepare the major investment. “We were really categorical about our maximum for the deposit and that we bought mortgages before we had offers,” she said.
Passarello said that separation from the cost of the apartment and renovations uniformly was a priority from the start.
The couple moved the kitchen and transformed it into laundry room and bathroom. Katie Pasarello
Laundry room and bathroom. Katie Pasarello
She said that the couple had remained organized with detailed spreadsheets that followed each payment. For example, if she paid an entrepreneur at a specific cost, her partner would pay the bathroom at an equivalent price, “undergoing each other”.
Passarello said they don't earn the same income but divide all costs uniformly because they both want a real 50%property.
“We wanted to keep things as clean as possible,” she said, adding that they wanted to avoid resentment if there were imbalances.
The guest room. Katie Pasarello
The project came with difficulties
Anyone who lives with the family of his partner knows at any time that it can be tried.
Passarello said that living with her parents-in-law had gained patience. “They are wonderful, and I love them, but you have less space, and all of a sudden, instead of having a partner, you have a roommate,” she said.
Passarello said that Miguel's parents, who are also architects, helped the renovation project. “They took care of me as if I was their own child,” she added.
The registration lounge area Katie Pasarello
Passarello told Bi that the renovation had started with a budget of $ 60,000, with a room for maneuver up to $ 80,000 for unforeseen costs.
In the middle of the renovation, the costs appeared in the form of a wood worm or “carcome” in Spanish. Passarello said they had to tear everything up from the boards on the ground. “I never want to hear this word again. It was a big cost, but with our stamp, it ended up being good,” she said.
They externalized major demolition works, had a mason and a team that made a framing, and the new bathroom installation. However, most of the design, planning and coordination was their idea, with “a lot of Miguel,” said Passarello.
Take advantage of your new house
Part of the renovation was to move the kitchen to another part of the house. “I love cooking and hosting, so having an open kitchen in the dining room is really a great thing for both of us.”
She said that Armas Pasteur joking with her now on the number of lunches and dinners she organizes.
The dining room and the new kitchen. Katie Pasarello
She is not sure of what the future could hold when it comes to staying in Spain or returning to California. She said that country's evil was “constant pain”.
But for the moment, she said that she would cook fish for friends in her kitchen, under the moldings of the Spanish crown in the house she and Miguel have built for themselves.
