So this is rather strange... My neighbor downstairs, the lawyer who was going to draw up a contract for me to review for part ownership of the house, had gone silent on this. I hadn't heard anything about it for maybe a year. I kept thinking about asking him about it, but I've been personally concerned that he needs to clear up a big tax issue (basically, he hasn't paid taxes for years--five or so? and he's self employed, so it's not like taxes are getting withheld from his paychecks). I really want to know that's cleared up before I enter into a big financial agreement anyway, so I haven't asked about the part-ownership thing.

He still hasn't done the tax thing, though I've started gently asking about it now and then so it doesn't get swept under the rug. He'd recently gotten a huge freelance payment, and his husband now has a second part-time job that pays as well as his full-time one, so he keeps saying it's a good time to clear up the tax thing, but he was kind of wrapped up in building a web business.

Well, last night he brings us $4,000 cash, and says he's quitting the online business idea because his supposed partners keep flaking on him. Now he has all this money he was going to invest in it, and wants to give another installment on their down payment for the house.

I think it was partly wanting to move forward on something, and partly because he's no doubt heard me grumbling about money this year. But it took me aback. First, I told him we should get the contract part figured out before he gives me any more money. He says he'll get that done really soon now that he's not working on the business, so he feels comfortable paying some more on the house. Then I say maybe he should keep the cash until he makes sure he doesn't need it for sorting out his back taxes. He says he has plenty more money for that.

So, I took it. At first I thought, I should put it toward the mortgage, since this means either we're $4K more in debt to him or we have $4K less home value (once the agreement is signed). (I mean, that's not how the agreement is structured, but it's how I'm going to calculate things.)

Then I thought, no, I should use it to start an EF. We realize that things would be a lot less bothersome if we didn't have to cashflow all unexpected stuff out of our budget surplus and AS's freelance inaltcome, so that is something we've been talking about doing once our tax/dental budget deficit is cleared up.

But then, AS and I agreed that we just really want this budget deficit gone. So even though I'm counting this as debt, I'm just adding it to the budget to take the deficit down. At least I'm increasing our home value in my net worth calculation, so it will be more than made up for (although I'm also going to downshift our pound-to-dollar exchange rate this month, so that's going to give our retirement values a pounding).

Well, long story short, I'd rather my neighbor had waited until he cleared up his taxes and finalized the purchase agreement, but it's not like we weren't planning him to pay for the house, so I'm just going to take it as a welcome windfall. And I do plan to pay it back should the house agreement fall through, as I plan to do with the original $5K they contributed to the down payment.

House down payment from neighbor: $4,000

Current deficit: $1,822.27
Projected future surplus: $7,661.99