Family compounds? Pros & cons?

Sweetgum
Mon, 10 Jan 2022 14:38:33 +0000

I think of “family compound” to mean same property, separate buildings. I have a friend who lives like this. Her in-laws helped them buy it (not a high priced area, but more than they could afford before they sold their current house). It has one big house with upstairs, downstairs, and basement. Then 4 or 5 separate other buildings. One is a nice “apartment” with a garage that the father-in-law lives in. (Mother-in-law died and then he moved in alone). Then there’s a she-shed and a huge garage for the husband’s motorcycles and stuff. And some other smaller buildings that could be apartments. I think it works well for them. They have three kids, two at home and one in college now.

When I read this title I thought for a hot minute that it would be sweet to have separate dwellings for my kids a few steps away (they are 20 and 18, both still at home, 20 yr old is actively looking at apartments and works). But then I thought about living with my siblings or in-laws on the same street and imagined an “Everybody Loves Raymond” situation with my mother-in-law. My sibs and I get along okay, but we are not that close. We get along with my husband’s sibs similarly. I wouldn’t want to live that close to any of them and I’m sure my kids would not want to live that close to us. I hope they won’t live too far away, but we’ll see. Right now my oldest is just looking at apartments in the neighboring town where the job is.

FWIW, I heard on NPR that Brandi Carlile lives in a compound with her bandmates and all their families. Brandi Carlile on 'In These Silent Days' and making her band a blended family : NPR