California native Katie Passarello moved to northern Spain in 2021 on a Fulbright scholarship.
Four years later, she lives in A Coruña with her Spanish partner in their dream apartment, which they bought and renovated together.
Passarello told Business Insider she first visited Spain during her study abroad program at Boston College in 2020. Although COVID-19 cut her trip short, she was determined to return.
Passarello applied for the Fulbright program and returned to Spain on the prestigious scholarship in 2021 working as a coteacher.
Finding a partner and an apartment
A few months into her new life in Spain, Passarello found herself at a networking mixer where she met Miguel Armas Pastor, who was accompanying a friend to the event.
She didn’t think much of it until she ran into him again at a bar the following night.”I was like OK, let’s keep this whole running into each other thing alive, and make it intentional,” she said.
Three and a half years later, they are living together in their new apartment, planning to build a life and family together.
Passarello lived with friends, and Armas Pastor, a local design engineer, was there frequently. Passarello told BI the couple wanted to take their relationship to the next step, so they moved into Armas Pastor’s family home together.
Living together meant Passarello qualified as Armas Pastor’s legal partner, a status similar to common law marriage. “I now have EU residency as his partner,” she told BI.
She said buying an apartment was in part a financial decision because the mortgage would be the same as what they’d pay for rent.
“Miguel had always had a dream of flipping an apartment or renovating an apartment,” she said.
She also had some specific preferences. “I was hell-bent on crown molding — the original Spanish pretty crown molding. I really wanted that.”
They searched for apartments for around eight months, seeing multiple houses per week. She said they were looking for somewhere south-facing with old charm and with the potential for an entire makeover.
“Miguel is a very level-headed person, an engineer. He doesn’t have extremes like ‘Wow I love it,’ or ‘Wow I hate it.'” When he found their apartment, she said he was “very worked up.”
She told BI they could both see the potential. In 2023, they purchased the house for 135,000 euros, or about $145,000 based on the conversion rate at the time.
Passarello previously told BI she used money from savings and her income as a public relations contractor after finishing her Fulbright program in 2022 to cover half of the down payment and renovation costs.
The cost breakdown
Before purchasing a house, Passarello had to dig deep and ask if they were both “mature” enough to handle things amicably if they were to break up. “Knowing our personalities and how we navigate things was helpful to make things easier — we share a lot of values,” she told BI.
Next, they did what Passarello called “intense budgeting” to prepare for the major investment. “We were really adamant about what our maximum was for the down payment, and were shopping for mortgages before we had offers out,” she said.
Passarello said splitting the apartment cost and renovations evenly was a priority from the beginning.
She said the couple stayed organized with detailed spreadsheets tracking every payment. For example, if she paid for a contractor at a specific cost, her partner would pay for the bathroom at an equivalent price, “balancing each other out.”
Passarello said they don’t make the same income but split all the costs evenly because they both want true 50% ownership.
“We wanted to keep things as clean as possible,” she said, adding they wanted to avoid resentment if there were any imbalances.
The project came with struggles
Anyone living with their partner’s family for any time knows it can be trying.
Passarello said living with her in-laws took 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 Miguel’s parents, who are also architects, helped with the renovation project. “They cared for me like I was their own kid,” she added.
Passarello told BI that the renovation began with a $60,000 budget, with wiggle room up to $80,000 for unforeseen costs.
Mid-renovation the costs appeared in the form of woodworm or “carcoma” in Spanish. Passarello said they had to rip out everything down to the floor boards. “I never want to hear that word again. That was a big cost, but with our buffer, it ended up being okay,” she said.
They outsourced big demolition work, had a mason and a team that did framing, and the new bathroom installation. However, most of the design, planning, and coordination was their idea, with “a lot from Miguel,” Passarello said.
Enjoying her new home
Part of the renovation was moving the kitchen to a different part of the house. “I love cooking and hosting, so having a kitchen open to the dining room is really a big thing for both of us.”
She said Armas Pastor jokes with her now about how many lunches and dinners she’s hosting.
She’s unsure of what the future might hold when it comes to staying in Spain or returning to California. She said homesickness was a “constant ache.”
But for now, she said she would be baking fish for friends in her kitchen, beneath the Spanish crown molding in the home she and Miguel built for themselves.
