I recently sold a single-family residence near Downtown La Mesa that housed four generations of family: great-grandma, grandma and grandpa, mom and dad, and four young kids.

Though the home was spacious, the lot was small, at only 6,000 square feet. They felt squeezed and crowded and needed space. We looked where big houses on big lots are abundant. Communities like Alpine, Jamul, and El Cajon offer properties with acreage and room for multi-generational families. We found a 2.6-acre family compound in Blossom Valley, closed escrow over the holidays, and they love it.

The four adults share expenses. The kids are not watched by daycare or sitters but by parents and grandparents. Their overhead is shared, and family bonds are strengthened.

The Blossom Valley property was not the first compound I encountered.

That distinction goes to a compound I lived in for a week when I was 12 years old in Vermont in the 1970s. Looking back, I now realize it was a “hippie commune.” To this day, I don’t know why my mom, dad, younger sister, and I stayed there, but we did.

There was one main house (rundown) surrounded by sheds/shacks, teepee tents, chickens, goats, and vegetable gardens.

In the 1980s, when I was a college student in Boston, I saw a family compound for a second time, the famed Kennedy Compound in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts, which was magnificent.

Viewed from the street, I could only see the mansion built in the 1920s and the expansive lawn dotted with faded, threadbare chaise lounges (the Kennedys were shabby chic long before shabby chic was a thing), but I knew there were two other homes, making it a premier three-home compound.

The high cost of real estate, utilities, and childcare creates a strong incentive for families to share resources and land. Couple the monetary savings with the strong desire to be with family, and it is no surprise that compounds are rising in popularity.

According to Google Trends, more people searched “family compound” last month than any time in the last decade. “Family compounds for sale” has become a breakout search.

Though families can share duplexes, triplexes, or fourplexes, those multi-unit properties aren’t compounds in the classic sense.

The traditional compound is usually a large enough parcel of land to fit multiple detached dwellings where family members can spread out or one very large house everyone lives in together.

Currently, 28 listings in San Diego are being advertised as compounds. They range from a $297,000 manufactured home property on 42 acres in Potrero to a $21,000,000 16-acre property in Rancho Santa Fe.

The Potrero property allows its inhabitants to live off the grid, with a water well, animal pens, solar panels, a diesel generator, and a septic system. The Rancho Santa Fe property currently has one house, with the potential to build several more.

Most of the compounds are where you would expect: Alpine, Jacumba, El Cajon, Campo, Potrero, Jamul, and Julian, but several are in coastal communities: Carlsbad, Cardiff by the Sea, Solana Beach.

The prices reflect the locations, with the rural properties costing from the hundreds of thousands to a couple of million dollars and many of the coastal ones costing eight figures.

Considerations of buying and living the compound lifestyle

Usually, there is one main house and one or two auxiliary houses. The largest family group (dad, mom, kids) gets the big house, and the smaller family group (grandparents or grandparent) gets the smaller house.

Before shopping houses, determine the price of the house everyone is comfortable with. If it is a mortgage loan purchase, ask the lender for the complete monthly payment PITI (Principal + Interest + Taxes + Insurance).

Work out in advance how the monthly payment will be divided.

Once a property is found, ask for the current owner’s utility bills and then discuss how utilities will be divided.

Who gets the garage? If one or more family members work remotely, who gets the office? If childcare is one of the bonuses of multi-generational living, be clear about what is expected and set boundaries. How will repairs and maintenance be split?

There’s something about living in a compound that attracts people interested in chickens, eggs, and vegetable gardens. Tending to livestock and planting is a lot of work. Who does what?

Another bonus of multi-generational/compound living is purchasing power.

Last year, I sold an Alpine mansion to a family divided by thirds: mom and dad plus two adult siblings with their spouses.

Individually, the three families would have each purchased modest homes, but when they pooled their resources, they were able to buy a spectacular gated mansion with three master wings, extensive grounds, a vanishing-edge pool, a media theater room, and an outdoor kitchen.

– Reach eXp Realtor and La Mesa Councilwoman Laura Lothian at: [email protected].

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