Why Duplexes are Perfect for Living Near Friends

Two units - one for you and one for someone of your choosing. The humble duplex is one of the easiest ways to set up life near friends and family.

Designed to accommodate strangers, duplexes are even better for friends, for whom shared space is a benefit rather than a compromise. They’re readily available in every major city, don’t require renovations to create separate living spaces, and are often more affordable than alternatives. 

Here’s a few reasons to consider a duplex:

Save money

In the Bay Area (and many other regions), duplexes sell at a discounted price per square foot compared to single family homes. This is because the cost of land—one of the primary drivers of real estate prices in high-cost areas—is effectively split between two units. And because duplexes share walls, roofing, and foundation, construction costs are also lower.

What this all boils down to is that you get more space for your money with a duplex. If you and a friend pool the budgets that you would have used for separate single-family homes, you might be able to afford a duplex with more total square footage or in a better location. Or, if buying a single family home was going to be a financial stretch, buying half a duplex might make it more comfortable. 

“I don’t know how we would have bought a house if it wasn’t half a duplex,” says Julia, who lives on the lower floor of a duplex with an enormous, well-landscaped backyard.

Once you move in, shared utilities and maintenance costs offer further savings. And you can split the cost of improvements that benefit both units, like an HVAC system or landscaping projects, potentially allowing for higher-quality upgrades. 

Privacy

One of the best parts about living in a duplex is the ability to be as close to your friend as possible without becoming roommates. It’s easy to hang out whenever you want—and just as easy to retreat to your own private space. 

You’ll still need to make decisions together around how to use common spaces like garages and backyards, but it’s not co-living; there’s no need to develop formal systems for grocery shopping, meal prep, or chore division. There’s enough built-in separateness—strangers live this way!—that you can braid your lives together as much or as little as you want to. 

In other words, there’s nothing radical about it. It’s your ordinary life, only with more closeness, convenience, and connection.

Shared backyard

While you don’t share living space, you do share a backyard. This can be awkward if you’re living in a duplex with a stranger. But when it’s a close friend, a shared yard is an opportunity to invest in a communal oasis for socializing and relaxation. Luxuries like a hot tub or outdoor kitchen are more affordable when you split the cost (or labor) with friends. 

Julia, who has shared a duplex with friends in Oakland since 2016, says their large, sprawling backyard is one of the best parts about it: “We put in a fire pit so we can invite friends over to roast marshmallows. We installed a clawfoot tub so we can take baths outside looking up at the eucalyptus trees and birds. And a few times a year we’ll throw a big party or a concert for our community.”

Spontaneous hanging out

When your friend is also your closest neighbor, life feels effortlessly more social and less lonely.

Duplex living removes the need to make advance plans in order to get social connection. Getting together can be as easy as walking upstairs in your pajamas on Sunday morning and knocking on the door. It’s not just easier to coordinate, it also takes the pressure off. You don’t need to think of something fun to do or even put on real clothes as a prerequisite to hanging out. 

“On days we’re both working from home, one of us will frequently text the other with an offer to go for a quick walk around the block or grab an afternoon coffee,” says Genevieve, who lives in a duplex with a friend in San Francisco. “It’s a low pressure and low effort quality time that has become a valued ritual.”

Parent with friends

For parents in particular, the benefits of sharing a duplex with friends are life changing. People joke about how babies kill your social life. But when trusted friends live downstairs, date nights are as easy as dropping off a baby monitor on your way to dinner. All your friend has to do is carry around a device in their own home, doing whatever they might have been doing anyway. If the baby wakes up, they can be over in two minutes. 

That’s the magic of living within “baby monitor distance” from a friend: you can continue to enjoy impromptu evenings out like you did before having kids (while also saving a ton of money on babysitters). 

But the benefits of parenting with friends extend far beyond shared childcare. “We take care of each others’ kids occasionally,” says Julia. “But what’s more common is the kids taking care of each other. Every day, they go off and play in our backyard unsupervised. It makes a huge impact on my mental health that I’m not constantly parenting my children.”

Shared meals

Duplex living doesn’t mean going full co-op and assigning obligatory dinner shifts. But it does mean that sharing a meal with friends is as easy as walking upstairs and pooling your leftovers into something both more appetizing and social than eating by yourself. 

"We have a grill off of the deck of one of the units and on rare warm San Francisco nights, we often throw a mix of veggies and fish or meat on the grill and eat on the deck together," Genevieve says. 

The benefits extend beyond eating together. You can each cook a big batch of something at the beginning of the week and swap half. Take turns going to the grocery store. Or split the cost of high-end kitchen gadgets, like a KitchenAid or Vitamix. 

Built-in support system

Living next to your friends has a way of smoothing over the rough edges of life. There’s always someone around to feed your cat and your sourdough starter, share a few eggs, or save you a trip to the grocery store.

And since your household now consists of more people, that’s more potential skills for everyone to benefit from. Maybe one of you is into gardening, another is a great cook, and another is a whiz with numbers. When you share your skills, each person gets more back than what they put in. 

The benefits aren’t only practical; they’re emotional too. “There’s a certain comfort in having more people know about your life,” Julia says. “When I have a big day at work or I’m in a bad mood, it feels good to be seen and understood by more people than just my nuclear family.”

Find your Friend Compound

When you share a duplex with a friend, it becomes a natural gathering place for others in your social group. If you choose, you can make it the default site for backyard potlucks, game nights, and impromptu hangs. 

When your friends see firsthand how nice it is to live in proximity, more of them will want to join the party. You can use Live Near Friends to get alerts when duplexes and small compounds near you hit the market. We specialize in helping people achieve their duplex dreams and rally a team of real estate agents, lenders, lawyers, and other professionals to guide you every step of the way.

This is how successful Friend Compounds are built: someone plants the flag, and others join over time. 

How to Duplex: Considerations

Read our full article about the technical details of buying a duplex, but in the meantime, a few considerations to keep in mind: 

• Ownership structure: If buying, decide between joint tenancy, tenancy in common, condo conversion, or owner/renter. 
• Financial responsibilities: Clearly outline how expenses will be shared and managed.
• Exit strategy: Plan for scenarios where one party wants to move out or sell their share.