A video about a mom building her daughters a new apartment to live in rent-free has gone viral on TikTok.
The clip was posted by @lxxndaa_ and has garnered 16.6 million views since it was posted on December 14. A note overlaid on the video reads: “See how I turned my basement into a little apartment for my daughters.”
The footage shows a vast empty basement slowly being transformed into a living space, equipped with a kitchen, refrigerators, a bathroom and other rooms.
In a later comment, the mother said one of her daughters is in college, while the other is in high school. “They’re still babies. Charging rent never crossed my mind. They will pay rent one day, but it won’t be with me,” she said.
“I won’t charge them, but my daughter works and I help manage her Roth IRA [a retirement account]. She’s in nursing school, so I would feel horrible to stress her with rent,” the poster explained in another later comment.
The viral post comes as U.S. homeowners face soaring housing costs. Millions of potential homebuyers have been “priced out of the market by elevated home prices and interest rates,” according to a 2024 report from the Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University. Home-price increase was reported in 97 of the top 100 markets, with higher rises in the northeast and Midwest regions.
The report also found that the COVID-19 pandemic-era rent surge has caused an “unprecedented affordability crisis,” with around half of U.S. renter households now burdened by housing costs, spending over a 30 percent of their income on rent.
According to the report, 12.1 million households are “severely cost-burdened,” spending more than half of their income on housing expenses, which marks a 1.5 million rise from pre-pandemic levels.
‘The New American Dream’
Viewers on TikTok praised the mom in the viral clip for the generous gesture for her daughters and were impressed by the size of the space.
Zoya wrote “A ‘little’ apartment?!?! That’s a whole other house!!!!” and Brandi Deckerbrandi said: “Your basement is bigger than my house.”
User peachyybeebee said: “My dream is to be able to do this for my little girl. Have a lot of saving to do for a house with a basement. A house period.”
Zach_Koestler said: “The new American dream! Three levels for three generations.”
LADope88 commented: “Really wish I had guidance as a young-in so I would have made good decisions in life to be able to do this for mine with no worries. Congrats to ya’ll for getting it right in life!”
The original poster replied: “I was in the same boat, but I’m changing it with my kids.”
Klarissa said: “This is so cool. They’re so fortunate to have that space to themselves & save money at the same time.”
The original poster replied: “In this economy, this is the only solution I have to help them.”
Tay Marie said: “This type of mindset is what I wish all parents possessed.”
Adrian Rice wrote: “this is the key to ensuring wealth and prosperity.”
Newsweek has contacted the original poster for comment via TikTok. This video has not been independently verified.
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