Mrs. CTL is a designer/builder/realtor
We bought the house 27 years ago for $60,000. It was a broken down 7 room farmhouse built in 1803. We did much of the renovations and additions ourselves. My father taught me carpentry, electrical and plumbing skills as a youngster. Mrs. CTL’s zaideh was a painter and she learned to hang sheet rock, tape and paint from him. We worked hard, paid for improvements and additions as we could afford them. The mortgage was paid off after 20 years.
The house serves as her portfolio to show new clients her abilities. We both have professional offices in the structure.
When her mother became a widow, we sold the MIL’s house and built her a house on our grounds. It is a 2 family which allowed her to collect rental income in her retirement years.
Our garage is a separate building that was originally a carriage house. There is a studio apartment over the garages. The main house has 10 rooms on the first floor including our offices. The upper floor is closed off except for Yuntif when the ganzteh mispocha is in residence, when the upstairs Pesach Kitchen is in use cooking for the holidays and all summer long when all the grandchildren spend the summer in Camp CTL.
Could we live in less space? Yes. But there is something to be said for the whole family being close. Last December MIL moved in with us due to her illness (she was Niftara on RH). My daughter who married last April and her husband moved into MIL’s apartment. We did not renew the tenant’s lease this year and the youngest daughter who was married in August and her husband live in the other apartment. The couples pay the taxes and all expenses on the house. I expect that they will buy their own houses in a few years with money they have earned. It is a great pleasure to give them a start. My grandparents lived with my great grandparents when they were first married in 1919. My parents were married in 1944 and due to WWII there was a housing shortage, they lived with my grandparents. Today, most families are spread apart, we prefer to live close to each other.