The Key to Affordable Living Is Moving In With Your Sibling

Grant Gechtman had a dilemma.

He was preparing to meet a date at his place when he realized he hadn’t mentioned something important: He has an identical twin brother, Dylan, who lives with him.

Grant and Dylan Gechtman , 25, share a rented three-bedroom home in Fremont, Calif. They do almost everything else together too. They work as senior associate scientists at the same pharmaceutical company, share a Mazda CX-5, and even joined the same Jewish fraternity in college.

They have another roommate, college friend Vedant Vaidya —whom their co-workers sometimes call the “third twin”—but they don’t view it as a permanent situation.

“We definitely don’t want to live in a big house with both of our wives and stuff like that,” said Dylan.

More adults have moved in with their siblings in recent years, a reflection of how it is becoming harder and more expensive to buy a home or make the rent. With Americans living longer and having fewer children —and divorcing late in life —siblings can be the closest people left for support.

There are about 1.1 million adults ages 50 and older living with a sibling, according to an analysis of Census Bureau data by Bowling Green State University’s National Center for Family & Marriage Research. That represents about 1.6% of that age group in 2022, up from about 1.3% in 2012.

There are also about 1.9 million adults ages 18 to 29 living with a sibling. That works out to about 3.6% of that cohort.

“Often when young adults talk about moving back in with their parents, there’s a sense of defeat,” said Krista Westrick-Payne, the center’s assistant director. “Moving in with a sibling…may feel less like a failure.”

Bowling Green’s analysis didn’t include those in their 30s or 40s.

Sherry Campbell , a certified financial planner, has noticed a small yet significant rise in clients seeking guidance on managing finances while owning a home with siblings. Most of her clients are women over 50, looking for emotional and financial support to get through a divorce.

“Men will a lot of times remarry, and women will not remarry,” Campbell said. “So that causes them to search for other ways to have that second income.”

Rooming with a brother or sister can come with challenges. Just because two people were raised the same way doesn’t mean they have the same views about cleaning, privacy or dating. And it is a lot harder to kick a roomie off the lease when you are blood relatives.

But there are perks too. The person in the other room already knows your life story; no need to explain it. And lots of sibmates said it was easier to get over a fight with a sibling than with a friend—perhaps because of the years of experience.

“Obviously you know what you’re getting into,” said Ben Karlin , who recently moved into the rented two-bedroom apartment of his triplet sister, Allison Karlin . “We kind of had a test run for 18 years.”

Ben and Allison have been living together in New York City since September. Their fridge is small, so Ben is careful about what he buys, picking up apples one trip and grapes the next. They don’t share groceries—only condiments.

“Our mom said before we moved in we have to operate like we’re not siblings,” said Ben, a 26-year-old publicist. “I feel like we make an effort.”

They enjoy having their grandparents just a few minutes away. Other family is close by as well. Their other brother, Jason, lives in a two-bedroom apartment in Boston with his girlfriend. He’s jealous of how much time Allison and Ben get to spend with the extended family.

“It’s harder sometimes to feel closer to family members when they’re not down the hall,” Jason said.

‘The modern-day Golden Girls’

The pandemic sparked a big run-up in home prices, and mortgage rates remain high even though the Federal Reserve has started cutting its benchmark interest rate. That has made the idea of buying a home with friends or family members a lot more enticing for many Americans.

Sisters Cheryl Sutton and Sandra Sutton recently bought a five-bedroom home in Portland, Ore., with their best friend. They were ready to leave California and wanted more space for their three dogs.

They knew it would work because they all have been living together for the past 25 years, leveraging each move into an upgrade. Each year, they travel somewhere new together. Next year, they’re going to Scotland. They call themselves the modern-day Golden Girls.

“At this point, anybody that gets married, they’re gonna have to just take the other two as well,” said Sandra, a 52-year-old talent coordinator for a tech company. “There’s no plans to not live together.”

Lauren Rogers , a real-estate agent in Southern California, recently sold a two-bedroom condo in Upland, Calif., for $603,000 to two brothers. The older brother, in his mid-30s, couldn’t afford to buy on his own. So his mother proposed the idea of buying with his younger brother, who is in his late 20s.

Rogers thought it was a great idea to invest together at an early age but says things might change as they get older. “I just told them, ‘This is not your forever home, but it’s your stepping point to get to the next,’” she said.