This question comes up more often than people expect. A childhood home carries emotional weight, and when there is enough financial flexibility to make the purchase feasible, it becomes even harder to separate the heart from the numbers. In this case, the property is in Portugal, the price is about €450,000, a sister lives nearby and would help manage it, and a spouse is not fully aligned on the decision. That combination tells us we need to break the decision into three distinct parts.
Step One: Understand Whether This Is Truly an Investment
The first filter is simple. If this were not your childhood home, would you still be considering a rental property in Portugal? If the honest answer is no, then this is not an investment decision. It is an emotional decision about owning a home that matters to you.
There is nothing wrong with that, but it helps clarify what follows. Owning international real estate brings tax and legal complexity. Rental income may offset some costs, but it is unlikely to turn this into a strong investment, especially once you factor in cross-border reporting, foreign tax treatment, and ongoing management needs.
An emotional purchase can still be worthwhile. It just needs to be evaluated on different terms.
Step Two: Consider the Family Dynamics and Long-Term Management
The next layer is the family involvement. Anytime a property is managed by a family member, expectations and compensation need to be extremely clear. In this case, the dynamic becomes even more fragile because you are not local. If your sister decides in three years that she no longer wants to manage the property, your alternatives become more complicated and more expensive.
If you lived down the street from the home, you could take over. When the home is across an ocean, your only option is paying a third party to manage it. You have to ask whether you would still want to own the home in that scenario.
For most families, the honest answer to that question matters far more than the rental projections.
Step Three: Evaluate Whether This Fits Your Life, Your Finances, and Your Marriage
Even if the financial plan can absorb €450,000, the opportunity cost is real. That is capital removed from your portfolio today and exposed to all the risks and uncertainty of foreign property ownership.
More important than that, though, is alignment with your spouse. No financial metric outweighs the strain of one person being excited about a purchase and the other being uneasy about it. If both people are not fully comfortable with the decision, it will not feel like a win, no matter how the property performs.
The idea of giving your children a place to visit someday is understandable, but international homes rarely function the same way a lake house or beach house might. Most families visit once or twice for the experience of seeing where a parent grew up. It is much less common for it to become a recurring destination that anchors family gatherings.
Pulling It All Together
There is nothing inherently wrong with buying a childhood home abroad. It can be meaningful and emotionally satisfying. The question is whether the emotional benefits outweigh the true financial, logistical, and relationship costs.
When I look at decisions like this, I try to view them in the context of the full financial plan, the family dynamics, and the long-term burdens of ownership. Here, there are several headwinds: international complexity, reliance on a family member for management, uncertain rental income, and mixed enthusiasm between spouses.
It can still be the right choice, but only if both partners see clearly what it is and what it is not, and decide that the personal significance makes the tradeoffs worth it.
This post is adapted from a recent episode of the Scholar Wealth Podcast. For more perspective on navigating cross-border property decisions and family-driven financial choices, listen to the full podcast episode here.