Dear Future Tenant,
I'm guessing you haven't dated since the 1930s. I mean that in the nicest way possible! You've got this sweet innocence in your idea of living with someone that tells me you haven't talked with many people who have lived with a lover in the last few decades. Not to burst your bubble, but just because you live with someone it isn't a guarantee of marriage; dang, even marriage isn't a guarantee of marriage these days!

What seems to be your worry is that you want to get married as soon as possible, but you're not sure about his timeline. Listen, if you want to marry him before you live with him, just say so. If you're not sure you want to marry him at all, say it! However, if you don't want to bring up the subject just yet, don't forget that you can always move out if it gets too comfortable or stale. I got evicted from an apartment in the early stages of a relationship once, so my partner let me crash at her place. I ended up staying there for four months; the first three were heaven, but by the fourth we were getting tired of being around each other so much. We were still mostly strangers, really! So I finally got a place of my own, and then we continued to date for a while after that and it was great again. An apartment is just an apartment, until you care about what's inside. You can still love him with or without sharing the toilet seat every night.

And regarding your "test drive" strategy being a "smart way" to determine his marriageability – the good news is that just like driving a car, if there's a big problem, you'll notice right away. But the bad news is that the things that will annoy you the most won't come up for years and years down the road. So unless you're going to test-drive him around the country, you should probably think up another plan. Alternately, if you like logging your miles, maybe you'll come along on the next FOUND tour! We can always use eager drivers on those long and lonely drives.