Vionna Wai, 30, and her husband, Chucky Hui, 29, were living in a 1-bedroom apartment with their cats for two years when the pandemic caused them to think about moving closer to their families.
Wai, a construction engineer, and Hui, a UX designer, were living in the Sunset Park neighborhood of Brooklyn, N.Y. and paying roughly $1,500 a month in rent at the time.
“We realized that after everything that was going on, what was important to us was family,” Wai tells CNBC Make It. “It was a core value for us. It was very hard during the pandemic for us to be away from my parents and his parents.”
“I think for a lot of people when they hit 18 years old, they want to leave the nest, but what they don’t realize in that moment is that there’s just so little time we have left with our parents once we become adults,” she adds.
Wai and Hui rent a two-family house with Hui’s parents.
Mickey Todiwala. Photo by CNBC Make It
When the lease was up on the couple’s apartment, Hui’s parents knew about a two-family house in Bensonhurst that was available for rent.
The neighborhood is deeper into Brooklyn and more residential than areas like Williamsburg and Greenpoint, which are trendier and closer to Manhattan.
“I like being in a suburb environment but also having the benefits and access of being in the city,” Wai says.
The location also affords the couple and their in-laws below-average rent costs. The average size for a Brooklyn, apartment is 660 square feet, and the average monthly rent is $3,558 a month, according to RentCafe.
Wai and Hui live upstairs while his parents live in their own apartment downstairs.
Mickey Todiwala. Photo by CNBC Make It
The couple has lived with Hui’s parents since 2020 and aren’t looking back.
“We get to live in a bigger space, and we can have more financial stability,’ Wai says. “Plus, we get to have a support system close by, and that is very important, especially during the pandemic.”
The total monthly rent for the 1,792-square-feet house is $3,500. The couple pays $1,600 a month to live in the one-bedroom, one-bath apartment on the second floor, while Wai’s in-laws pay $1,900 and live on the first floor, according to documents reviewed by CNBC Make It.
In addition to splitting the rent, the couple shares the $80 monthly Wi-Fi bill with Hui’s parents.
Despite paying more in rent now than they did when they lived alone, Wai says it’s worth it because one of the best perks of living with Hui’s parents is that her father-in-law cooks for them almost every night.
“He loves doing that, and we love having home-cooked meals. It’s one of the things we missed the most when we lived on our own,” she says.
“It used to be just the two of us eating at the dinner table and now we get to eat with family and have that connection again.”
Being in Bensonhurst means the couple is also close to Wai’s parents.
“We see them so often and spend time together as a family, which is nice and convenient,” Wai says.
Wai and her father-in-law share trimmings from their plants often, she said.
Mickey Todiwala. Photo by CNBC Make It
In addition to home-cooked meals, Wai and Hui also share cuttings from the 150 plants they have around their apartment. “My father-in-law has his own collection of plants and we trade cuttings a lot of the time.”
Wai’s father-in-law enjoys growing orchids and teaches her his tips and tricks since it’s a plant she admits she is not good at growing.
“He’s also into gardening in the backyard and then uses the food he grows to make dinner for all of us,” Wai says.
The couple is currently renting and made sure to keep their plant set up renter-friendly.
Mickey Todiwala. Photo by CNBC Make It
Four years into this living arrangement, Wai says the couple’s ultimate goal is to have a place where her parents can live with them, too.
“Right now, we’re saving, and if there’s an opportunity for us to all live together with my parents as well, that would be the dream,” Wai says. In the meantime, the couple and their in-laws plan to renew their current lease this coming August.
But there is one thing Hui’s parents aren’t looking forward to dealing with more of: Their son walking down the house’s stairs, Wai says, laughing.
“My husband is a pretty heavy walker, so you can hear him going down the stairs, and my father-in-law is always asking him to be quieter,” she says. “We always blame it on the cats now.”
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