Jade Small
Jade Small
December 21, 2023 ·  4 min read

These seven girlfriends bought a mansion so they can retire and live together

Perhaps you have spent time wondering what life has in store for you once you’re no longer able to work. Maybe you’ll enjoy the luxury of a resort on your own private island or live out your days lovingly looked after by your family. Or, maybe, you and your friends buy a mansion enjoy your retirement together! In 2019, a group of seven women in Guangzhou, China, are completely redefining the idea of retirement by purchasing a mansion together. “You can choose your friends, not your family,” as the old saying goes, and they have done just that. 

7 friends moved into a mansion together
YouTube

Seven best friends buy a mansion

It’s not every day that a group of friends buys a mansion. A YouTube clip from Yitiao showed the seven close girlfriends in their newly developed 7,535 sq. ft. (700m²) home in the suburbs. They admitted that initially, “it was just a joke” between them, but that somehow over time, the idea had taken shape. “We said that we would get together when we were 60 and live the retired life together.” They first began loosely discussing the plan all the way back in 2008. Now more than 10 years later, NextShark reveals that the same seven women have finally made their collective dream a steadfast reality. Together, they collected $584,000 to purchase and almost completely rebuild an abandoned face brick house. Their vision has transformed the property into a proudly shining and beautifully decorated one-of-a-kind home filled with light.[2]

large white home in the background with group of women in the foreground on a dock
YouTube

In the YouTube clip, the narrator began telling us, “We’ve known each other for over 20 years,” they continued, “We were colleagues, and sometimes we are even closer than siblings.” When speaking to Yitiao, Jin Du, one of the seven friends, described how they would live separately until their children had come of age and left their respective homes. She explained that they plan to take up residence in their mansion together later in their 60s and grow old luxuriously, with style and grace.[1]

Read: This home designed for four generations is a glimpse at the future of housing

The perfect retirment home

The house stands three and a half stories high on an estate with views of the surrounding fields where rice is grown. The ground level is dedicated to a communal space, while each of the seven women has their own room on the first floor.  The home has many attractions symbolic of the bond of these seven close friends, such as their impressive furniture collection, with some notable Morrocan and Indian pieces, a wonderful tea room, some giant tatami mats for gatherings, and finally, an impressive dining room table that allows them to share meals. The mansion’s exterior features a spacious patio or outdoor tea area, with a walkway designed from bamboo that leads to a swimming pool. Exactly the kind of home I’d buy if I could manage to convince my friends to buy a mansion![2]

dining room with all glass walls overseeing grassy fields
YouTube
bedroom
YouTube

In the video, the seven women thought of their future together, saying, “we’ll probably cook together, barbecue in the fields, sing and collect food in the village.” They continued, “We joke that each of us should practice one skill so that we won’t be lonely and fight with each other 10 years later … Some can cook beautiful food, some know traditional Chinese medicine, some play instruments, and some grow vegetables.”[1]

These friends buy a mansion and live happily ever after

The friends believe that the building of this amazing joint home and living space will bring them closer, making the bond between them everlasting. “Ten or 15 years later, our children might have grown up,” the friends add, “so we also hope that we can still be together in the next years.” The idea certainly caught on easily as thousands of viewers have now seen the Yitiao clip on Youtube and complemented the seven women on the ingenuity and vision of their retirement plan. [1]

Saying things like, “Awesome…wish I had friends like that.” And: “Looks wonderful…best to the seven lovely women.” offered another. While a third commenter stated, “This house is incredible, built with the most beautiful friendship.” Overall, living out your days with your best friends seems like a very practical fairytale and something these seven friends can look forward to fondly.

Keep Reading: New concept to see older women living together to avoid homelessness, loneliness

Sources

  1. Seven Chinese girlfriends buy mansion to retire and die together.” NY Post. Christopher Cameron. July 3, 2019
  2. Seven friends team up and buy mansion they can all live in when they get old.Mirror. Courtney Pochin. July 8, 2019.

This article originally appeared on Mystical Raven and has been republished here with permission.