There has been a lot of talk of multi-generational living in the past year or two. We have been seeing this in the Bedford, VA real estate market for a couple of years now. I have thought that, for the most part, it’s been Baby Boomers taking care of their parents. But what I’ve been reading and seeing lately is that there is a huge trend towards adult children living with their parents. With these two situations combined, it is common for 3 generations to live together. I met a young couple recently because they were finally ready to move out of the nest and had been living with their grandmother. But I still don’t think they could afford the rent because I never heard back from them. They’ll be with grandma for a while longer until they find a home with cheaper rent… In this month’s Commonwealth magazine, there is an article about how the average household size is growing for the first time in decades due to the necessity of multi-generational living. This is due to Gen Yers or even some Gen Xers taking longer to leave home or moving back after losing a job. I just had a call from a seller yesterday needing to remove their Bedford, VA listing because their daughter in Connecticut lost her job and will need to move in their basement with her children. It’s a reality. Last night, Dennis Leary was on David Letterman and talking about his 20-something kids have moved back in his house. He talked about how he would never dream of living in his parents’ house after he turned 18 and how, if he or his brother needed a shower and the one bathroom was occupied, they used the hose outside. “My kids,” he said, “are watching MY plasma TV, tweeting on the iPad, playing on their laptops and texting on their phones. When are they going to create a gajillion dollar app so I don’t end up making Ice Age 9?” All jokes aside, he did not seem too terribly put out by the fact they were back in his house. It’s clearly not a socio-economic thing. While Letterman gave him a hard time about it, Dennis noted that a cast member said he had seen an article about multi-generational households in the New York Times. Some societies have been doing it forever. Now it is America’s time to do what it takes to make things work.
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