Author Topic: Sold my house to live with my parents  (Read 7584 times)

sasha520

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Sold my house to live with my parents
« on: March 22, 2024, 10:36:48 PM »
My hubby and I are 38. We just sold our house and decided to take out the 550k that we made since buying it. Now we live with my parents rent free. (We will contribute to costs though, already bought them new appliances)

Is this a badass way to be FIRE? Or just pathetic? 😂

We will be saving the $3500 per month we paid towards our mortgage and strata- and our expenses will be so low I don’t have to work.

We could live like this forever or use our 650k to buy our own house outright somewhere cheaper…

Decisions decisions.

It just felt stupid to live in a strata when my parents have a 3500 sq ft house in a cul de sac full of children for mine to play with.

Anyway. Just sharing. Maybe other people do this maybe they don’t.

Fru-Gal

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Re: Sold my house to live with my parents
« Reply #1 on: March 22, 2024, 11:41:18 PM »
I don’t know what a strata is but yeah if you all get along that sounds badass! Sounds like it’s a huge house, and your kids will be happy, so go for it! Definitely not pathetic if you are able to create a large financial cushion for the future by doing so. Or frankly, even if not. Multigenerational households are great.

namasteyall

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Re: Sold my house to live with my parents
« Reply #2 on: March 23, 2024, 01:23:37 AM »
Excellent if you get along. Great for kids, parents and you.

I met a couple, both were single children.  Together with parents on both sides, they bought a house and all live together. The old ones have more company, the children get grandparents. The couple said the parents, who are healthy and not poor, manage the house, kids and food, while they go out and earn money. For years this has worked out really well.
Saves money, time, creates bonds.

Also seen in India, an extended wealthy family buy a building with 6 stories with 2 apartments on each floor. Their relatives bought one apartment each and together they run a central kitchen. (They are all from one religion and state and have similar social/food habits.) They wanted cousins to grow up together and most are in the same school. SAHMs have company. Also their own apartments mean some privacy. Some Indian families seem to thrive on this!

aasdfadsf

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Re: Sold my house to live with my parents
« Reply #3 on: March 23, 2024, 02:42:48 AM »
Good for you. I really hate the taboo that people in western countries can't live with extended family. As long as you and your parents are happy with the arrangement, you're saving massive amounts of money that can always be better directed elsewhere.

The whole idea of a "nuclear family" is sort of a post-war anglophone thing. And it's not a bad thing; heck I live that way and am happy with it. But most people during most times in history didn't live that way, they always lived in extended family units where there were always grandparents and aunts and uncles and cousins around. And there's a value to that too.   

LD_TAndK

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Re: Sold my house to live with my parents
« Reply #4 on: March 23, 2024, 06:33:03 AM »
My spouse and I lived with my parents for 4 years after college. Enabled us to become millionaires by 30. In retrospect I don't think we missed out on anything compared to our peers.

If we had kids and could synergize on childcare that'd be even better. I'd at least try it out for a year. If you don't like it you can always move on.

Dicey

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Re: Sold my house to live with my parents
« Reply #5 on: March 23, 2024, 09:26:43 AM »
No amount of money would have been worth it to live with my mother as an adult. I am a better person for the experiences I had while figuring out my way in the world. No shade to your decision, but hell no for me.

lhamo

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Re: Sold my house to live with my parents
« Reply #6 on: March 23, 2024, 09:51:37 AM »
My parents bought the lot next to my grandparents house and built our house there.  When the lot on the other side of them came up for sale, they bought it with the intention of eventually subdividing and splitting between me and my two siblings.  Later zoning changes made that impossible, so my mom gifted me and my sister the lot and we built a house on it.  For awhile we had three generations living next door to each other.  IT was awesome and allowed my grandma and my mom to live independently in homes they loved for much longer than would have been feasible otherwise.

I think this family compound approach to living was one thing that made adjusting to my STBX's Asian family much easier.  My inlaws lived with us in an 1100 sq ft 2+ br apartment for 6 months when DS was a baby, and for a few more months when we moved back to China and were getting settled in.  Lots of my friends thought it was crazy, but it worked out well for everybody. 

bacchi

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Re: Sold my house to live with my parents
« Reply #7 on: March 23, 2024, 10:34:50 AM »
We're thinking of doing something similar if/when we sell next year. SO's parents have 2 rentals near their place and one of them is a decent sized studio, which is perfect for us and our cat. We'd be moving from a vibrant city to a small town, and small towns aren't my bag, but the outdoor activities are much, much, better.

Really, the length of stay will depend on how long SO can get along with their parents.

Metalcat

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Re: Sold my house to live with my parents
« Reply #8 on: March 23, 2024, 01:01:10 PM »
Parents are just adults in your life.

If you and your partner's relationship with those adults is healthy and happy while living together, then that's a great way to live.

If it isn't, then it's a question of how much the financial benefit is worth it.

There's actually nothing inherently badass or pathetic about it. It all comes down to whether or not it's beneficial to everyone involved or not.

It's only pathetic if you are benefitting and everyone else involved is suffering, as in your spouse is tolerating it and your parents don't actually want either of you there. That would be pathetic.

If it's a happy, healthy dynamic where everyone feels less lonely, more able to take care of the big house, and more financially stable, then yay, what a great living situation you've found!

I would personally rather swallow a bunch of gum filled with razor blades than live with my parents, but as I said, parents are just adults. I would happily live communally with other adults if I could ensure a healthy, loving, mutually beneficial dynamic.

TheFrenchCat

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Re: Sold my house to live with my parents
« Reply #9 on: March 23, 2024, 02:30:51 PM »
I'm going to echo what others have said that as long as you all get along with your parents and nobody's hurting from it, then it sounds like it could be great for everybody. 

We don't share housing with my in-laws, but we live on the same street as several households of my husband's family.  Having that sort of instant built-in community has been great for us.  It's way easier to hang out with people and everybody helps each other out.  But my in-laws are decent at boundaries, otherwise I think it wouldn't work.

And having kids around to play with is really important.  That's one thing we don't really have, so we compensate by taking our daughter to a lot of activities, which can be exhausting. 

GilesMM

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Re: Sold my house to live with my parents
« Reply #10 on: March 25, 2024, 07:26:59 AM »
As long as you remain independent adults and don't revert back to being your parents child, letting mom cook, clean and help with bills, I don't see an issue.

tygertygertyger

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Re: Sold my house to live with my parents
« Reply #11 on: March 25, 2024, 10:05:13 AM »
Our next door neighbors have a multi-generational house. I think it's pretty awesome. I'm sure they don't always get along, but there are 3 generations currently there (and the "children" are in their 20s-early 30s). It's so sweet to see the kids and their dad doing DIY projects around the house and laughing while they work.

We have family that live a short dog-walk away, so we drop in a couple times a week. I'm happy for you! You can always change later if it doesn't work, but if it does, that's really cool.

Just Joe

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Re: Sold my house to live with my parents
« Reply #12 on: March 25, 2024, 10:51:58 AM »
No amount of money would have been worth it to live with my mother as an adult. I am a better person for the experiences I had while figuring out my way in the world. No shade to your decision, but hell no for me.

Same. And we get along pretty good these days. Not always the case.

Reverting to the parents' child was part of the problem.

We have enough space that we could build multiple cottage size homes on our property if needed for our kids and/or parents. That figured into our plans when we purchased the place years ago.
« Last Edit: March 25, 2024, 10:54:27 AM by Just Joe »

Dicey

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Re: Sold my house to live with my parents
« Reply #13 on: March 25, 2024, 05:26:39 PM »
No amount of money would have been worth it to live with my mother as an adult. I am a better person for the experiences I had while figuring out my way in the world. No shade to your decision, but hell no for me.

Same. And we get along pretty good these days. Not always the case.

Reverting to the parents' child was part of the problem.

We have enough space that we could build multiple cottage size homes on our property if needed for our kids and/or parents. That figured into our plans when we purchased the place years ago.
Smart.

aloevera1

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Re: Sold my house to live with my parents
« Reply #14 on: March 25, 2024, 08:09:46 PM »
You do what works for you.

I would never ever voluntarily live with my parent again.

eyesonthehorizon

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Re: Sold my house to live with my parents
« Reply #15 on: March 25, 2024, 11:11:22 PM »
The badassity on display here is mostly in giving the middle finger to societal expectations & definitions of “success” which do not meet your needs. Multigenerational households are old as dirt, but the pressure to overconsume housing compared to personal preferences & in excess of family harmony needs is intense the last sixty years. I think a lot of kids miss out on being raised by villages as a result. Having the ability to be so financially robust is just a perk in comparison.

I couldn’t have done this with large parts of my family, but other parts would have made this a happy solution to several problems if they didn’t come with the baggage of the aforementioned.

Metalcat

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Re: Sold my house to live with my parents
« Reply #16 on: March 26, 2024, 05:13:43 AM »
The badassity on display here is mostly in giving the middle finger to societal expectations & definitions of “success” which do not meet your needs. Multigenerational households are old as dirt, but the pressure to overconsume housing compared to personal preferences & in excess of family harmony needs is intense the last sixty years. I think a lot of kids miss out on being raised by villages as a result. Having the ability to be so financially robust is just a perk in comparison.

I couldn’t have done this with large parts of my family, but other parts would have made this a happy solution to several problems if they didn’t come with the baggage of the aforementioned.

True, however, broke boomer parents moving in with their kids is rapidly becoming more common, so there's that angle as well.

If I saw a multi-generational house of folks who aren't from a generational home culture, I honestly don't know which generation I would assume owns the house and has the money. It really could go either way these days.

sasha520

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Re: Sold my house to live with my parents
« Reply #17 on: March 26, 2024, 06:39:34 AM »
Made it through week one.
Definitely going to have to have some chats about parents reverting back to old ways of treating me like a child. Not going to fly in front of my children.

It’s an interesting way to live. I hope it works out since it’s beneficial to all of us, but I sleep easy knowing my cash is there as a backup plan LOL

I do think that we have been conditioned to think success means owning our own SFH with our nuclear family- but really, whose success is that? The banks?

Metalcat

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Re: Sold my house to live with my parents
« Reply #18 on: March 26, 2024, 06:51:54 AM »
Made it through week one.
Definitely going to have to have some chats about parents reverting back to old ways of treating me like a child. Not going to fly in front of my children.

It’s an interesting way to live. I hope it works out since it’s beneficial to all of us, but I sleep easy knowing my cash is there as a backup plan LOL

I do think that we have been conditioned to think success means owning our own SFH with our nuclear family- but really, whose success is that? The banks?

I've personally never subscribed to this despite owning a SFH.

My current home is a 1 bedroom high-rise apartment, and frankly, for me "success" is having dedicated staff to maintain everything that I don't want to be bothered with. I don't have to mow the lawn, I don't have to remove snow, I don't have to fuss with the pool chemicals, and I never need to worry about big ticket repairs.

At most I occasionally have to call a plumber or replace a light fixture myself.

To me, that's success.

However, this isn't the location I prefer, and in my preferred location I have a small SFH, which has a small lawn that I do need to manage, and I'm responsible for every inch of the house, and frankly, it's a fucking pain in the ass, but I tolerate it because the location is worth it.

uniwelder

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Re: Sold my house to live with my parents
« Reply #19 on: March 26, 2024, 07:03:57 AM »
Made it through week one.
Definitely going to have to have some chats about parents reverting back to old ways of treating me like a child. Not going to fly in front of my children.

How has your husband and kids felt about the housing transition so far?  Was this far from your previous home or in the same town?

Cranky

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Re: Sold my house to live with my parents
« Reply #20 on: March 26, 2024, 01:41:35 PM »
We bought a house with my daughter and her family. My son-in-law was all for it, until he wasn’t.

After about 18 months, he didn’t like the way I emptied the vacuum cleaner. I told him to fuck off. He then threatened, loudly and at considerable length, to murder us.

We had to make an emergency move. The whole thing has been horrible and traumatic and expensive and I regret being so gullible.

Anyway, have a plan B.

eyesonthehorizon

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Re: Sold my house to live with my parents
« Reply #21 on: March 26, 2024, 02:17:04 PM »
I’m so sorry, @Cranky - I hope your family is safe. You certainly can’t be accountable for that. I don’t think it’s gullible to expect that someone who has already been introduced into to your family will adhere to even the most basic civility.

MaybeBabyMustache

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Re: Sold my house to live with my parents
« Reply #22 on: March 26, 2024, 03:54:18 PM »
My parents are incredible people (and, phenomenal grandparents), but we could never* do this. I applaud your creativity & hope it works for you.

*If my father passes before my mom, we will likely need to explore a mother-in-law suite on our property. A detached independent housing unit for her. DH is all for it, and adores my mom, and has an infinite amount of patience for her.

LifeHappens

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Re: Sold my house to live with my parents
« Reply #23 on: March 27, 2024, 08:37:42 AM »
I applaud you for trying something different and shrugging off society's expectations. I hope the arrangements work for everyone. If you are up for it, starting a journal to share your experiences and process any issues might help you through the transition.

Metalcat

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Re: Sold my house to live with my parents
« Reply #24 on: March 27, 2024, 10:36:46 AM »
I applaud you for trying something different and shrugging off society's expectations. I hope the arrangements work for everyone. If you are up for it, starting a journal to share your experiences and process any issues might help you through the transition.

This! I 100% want to hear all about it.

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Re: Sold my house to live with my parents
« Reply #25 on: March 27, 2024, 10:46:05 AM »
I applaud you for trying something different and shrugging off society's expectations. I hope the arrangements work for everyone. If you are up for it, starting a journal to share your experiences and process any issues might help you through the transition.

I would also be interested in reading a journal about the experience.

There are a lot of journals here that have little to do with finance, and it's always interesting reading the journals from people here because if someone is willing to challenge society's expectations in one regard, such as financially, they are often also completely fine defying societal expectations in other regards as well, such as family structure, relationships, polyamory, dietary habits, spiritual and religious beliefs, and so on. So it's always interesting reading the journals here.

Sibley

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Re: Sold my house to live with my parents
« Reply #26 on: March 27, 2024, 02:26:41 PM »
Family counseling might be helpful in some cases to help all the adults figure out how to treat each other as adults. Family dynamics go deep, and even in best case scenarios a third party could help.

Villanelle

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Re: Sold my house to live with my parents
« Reply #27 on: March 27, 2024, 03:17:09 PM »
If your parents are enthusiastic about it, rather than agreeing out of some sense of obligation, then it seems like a great choice.

I do think that setting that boundary about them treating you like a child might be dicer than you made it sound.  You have every right to want, expect, and even require that.  But they also have every right to behave however they want in their own home.  This could easily be a fundamental incompatibility that makes the arrangement crumble. 

I lived overseas and was evacuated during a major catastrophe.  I went to stay with my parents, who I adore and with whom I have a wonderful relationship.  But when I was in the middle of reading a chapter in a book and mom knocked on the door and told me she was doing a load of whites and wanted my whites to add, it got annoying, fast. Even though it was kind and helpful and not at all expected for her to want to do my laundry.  I didn't want to drop everything to pull the white socks out of my laundry basket Right Now.  Even as I was grateful for the place to stay, and for her desire to "help" by doing my laundry, it was an annoyance, too.  But it would have hurt her feelings deeply if I'd pushed back too hard.  (I tried, "I'll just do them myself later" and that didn't work, either because she really wanted to "help" or because she saw it as an inefficiency to do 2 loads of whites instead of 1.)  Since I knew it was a fairly short-term arrangement, I sucked it up.  But I couldn't have done it long term.

DH is switching careers this fall and depending on the timing of things, we may stay with my parents for a couple months.  They are beyond thrilled; they'd like for us to actively plan for it to happen, though to use it is sort of a back up plan.  But we are already preparing ourselves for being parented (in our late 40s).  It's not something I could do long term, unless I'd exhausted most other options.  The savings wouldn't be worth it to me, much in the same ways that living with a roommate wouldn't be worth it to me. 

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Re: Sold my house to live with my parents
« Reply #28 on: March 27, 2024, 04:24:41 PM »
@Villanelle summed up my feelings way better than I could. Patterns are hard to break, and even when we are home for the holidays for a few days, my mom immediately goes into parenting mode. It's interesting, because when they are at our house, I, for example, do all of the meal prep & cooking, although she jumps in & helps with anything & always asks, but I'm sort of the "primary", if you will. At her house, as you can imagine, she's the "primary". It would take a lot of navigation for us to sort that out.

Miss Piggy

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Re: Sold my house to live with my parents
« Reply #29 on: March 27, 2024, 07:32:26 PM »
Have you seen the Progressive insurance commercials about preventing people from becoming their parents? Maybe they could start a new campaign about not parenting your adult children.

Just Joe

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Re: Sold my house to live with my parents
« Reply #30 on: March 28, 2024, 11:22:13 AM »
@Villanelle summed up my feelings way better than I could. Patterns are hard to break, and even when we are home for the holidays for a few days, my mom immediately goes into parenting mode. It's interesting, because when they are at our house, I, for example, do all of the meal prep & cooking, although she jumps in & helps with anything & always asks, but I'm sort of the "primary", if you will. At her house, as you can imagine, she's the "primary". It would take a lot of navigation for us to sort that out.

Many years ago I did a month at my parents' house between the military and civilian life. That was enough for all the reasons Villanelle listed. The holidays are an easy re-visit to that scenario for DW and I. Still a nope. While we could likely share our property with them (build a cottage for them) I don't think we could share the house with them comfortably long term.

Can only watch so much reality TV and 24 hour news. About 10 minutes is enough for us. ;)

alittlelife

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Re: Sold my house to live with my parents
« Reply #31 on: April 14, 2024, 07:14:55 AM »
I have lived with my parents since about one month before my oldest was born. Or rather, we live in separate apartments in the same house (separated by a door which does not lock). I've always had a difficult relationship with my parents and very specifically avoided moving back home after college because I knew I could not stand to live at home. The things that changed since then were: 1) My experience in the peace corps living in a traditional indigenous community where family and community were an integral part of life and family compounds were the norm. Living surrounded by kids made me realize how much I love kids and was ready for my own. It also showed me the value of communal living when raising kids. 2) Having my own kids was an opportunity to reinvent my relationship with my parents. So much credit to my mom here, whom I'd always had the most conflict with. She really put in the effort to build a good grandmother - mother relationship with me, as we grew into those roles.

This became particularly apparent after my mom died, and my dad and I started falling back into old patterns from my teen years. @sasha520, I would definitely encourage you to have the difficult conversation(s) about what you need for this to work, ie your parents not treating you like a child. I am so glad that I had those conversations with my dad, hard as it was (is).

Intergenerational living can be a beautiful thing, but if you can't be upfront about what you need - and intentional about listening to your parents' needs, in the long term it will make you miserable. Sucking it up and not trying to change old habits is fine for occasional visits or month-long stays during life transitions, but that is not your situation. You have the money to live on your own if you need to. However, if you love seeing your kids grow up with their grandparents and want to reap the amazing benefits of the built in community this situation gives you, have the difficult conversations. That's the only way this arrangement is going to be successful in the long term. And when it works, it truly is a beautiful thing. It may be a way to save money, but that is secondary here. As @eyesonthehorizon said, the badassity here is in your ability to look outside the box and build a better life for yourself, based on your own values and not on societal expectations.
« Last Edit: April 14, 2024, 07:28:46 AM by alittlelife »

J.P. MoreGains

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Re: Sold my house to live with my parents
« Reply #32 on: April 15, 2024, 08:34:32 PM »
I think it's a good move. I bet years from now when you are living elsewhere you will value this time.

Part of the reason I want to fire is to be able to spend time with my parents when they are older and have the freedom to go stay with them for months at a time if I like.

elaine amj

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Re: Sold my house to live with my parents
« Reply #33 on: April 15, 2024, 11:45:39 PM »
I am rooting for this to work out for you.

My mother moved in with us a few years ago and mostly it has gone well. I would love more noise separation from her (a lot of noise travels from the basement where she has her room and office) but have learned to play my music louder when necessary. We’re still working out norms for together time and alone times.

DS21 also still lives with me and that’s working fine. I had gently suggested DD23 move out when she was 19 and it was the best thing in the world for her (and us!) as she learned to be independent. Plus it’s given me some freedom from her and her life as she reverts to a child when she’s with me.

My friend has a problem with her DD27 who insists she set aside time every night to listen to her unload all the small and big problems of her day. When she’s too busy/tired, her DD says she “doesn’t care” and “doesn’t make time for her”.

Eek - that’s way too much time and energy to spend on an adult child. But DD is a time suck when she is home too. So I’ve told her not to expect to move back in lol! Just not good for either of us. Frequent visits are awesome. And maybe when she’s older and we don’t revert to my spending all my time solving all her problems it will work better.


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