Nothing’s more exciting than moving into your first home with a partner. Whether you’re dating, engaged, or married, this can bring a new dimension to your relationship. Finally, you’ll be able to wake up to that dreamy face every morning. You’ll be able to rest easy that the love of your life will come through that door every night.

For these reasons, it’s easy to get carried away the moment discussions about living together start. You may feel so desperate to have him close that you go straight online to look at houses. Within weeks, you’re signing a contract and accepting the keys.

Urgency like this is understandable, but it doesn’t always work out. If you don’t discuss particular things before agreeing on a place, the mask could soon start to slip, and you might not like what you see underneath. Even worse, it’ll be too late to walk away.

To make sure that doesn’t happen, there are some essential factors you need to discuss before moving in. For the most part, these are financial. To make sure money doesn’t tear you apart, be sure to ask your partner these financial questions before you move.

How much can they afford?

The chances are that your finances have been pretty separate until now. You might not have any real idea of how much your partner has to play with. But, this is something you need to know if you’re moving in together. How much they can afford dictates the properties you can consider. If you feel awkward asking straight out, don’t. Just ask how much rent they think they can manage, and be honest about what you can afford too.

How is their credit rating?

Again, credit ratings are difficult to discuss. This has probably never come up in your relationship, but now is the time. If you’re applying for a rental or a mortgage, your success depends upon decent credit scores. That’s why you need to know if your partner has any issues in this department. It’s better to get these out in the open now than when you fail a check. That way, you can direct them towards resources like this Self Lender review to help build their rating fast. Options like these provide the chance to loan money from yourself. They could see your partner passing credit checks in no time. But, you can’t use them if you don’t ask the question!

Are they willing to split the bills?

This may seem like an obvious point, but don’t just assume you and your partner will split the bills. Instead, make sure that they would be willing to do this. Some couples settle for one person paying bills, and another paying rent, for example. But, that might complicate things in your first home. Your easiest option, then, is just to split everything down the middle. Make sure your partner is on board with that before ending with an unexpected financial burden which could snap the back of your romance.