A group of friends bought a duplex together so they could afford to get their "dream" house - and love living in two apartments beside each other.<br /><br />Jendayi Brooks-Flemister and their partner, Julia Pacheco-Cole, both 28, decided to take the next step to buy a home together.<br /><br />But with their $400k budget they struggled to find the perfect house that met their requirements.<br /><br />After finding out their friends, Arty Barnabi, 31, and Avery Henderson, 28, were also in the same position the pals decided to buy something as a group of four.<br /><br />They were able to split up the responsibilities when looking and bought a 1925 duplex in December 2023 for $735k.<br /><br />Avery, a software engineer, and Arty, who works in IT, put more of their savings into the deposit so Jendayi and Julia could use their money for the renovation work.<br /><br />They each have a 25 per cent share of the ownership of the property in Portland, Oregon, US, and say it's a "dream".<br /><br />Julia, a hall director at a college and owner of an embroidery business, said: "We really fell in love with Portland and wanted to live in a neighbourhood.<br /><br />"We didn't want to be pushed into the suburbs. It was looking a little bleak.<br /><br />"Avery and Arty wanted to move out to Portland and they were talking about buying.<br /><br />"We joked about buying a duplex together.<br /><br />"It was always a dream to live with your best friends."<br /><br />Jendayi, who works in HR, added: "I said 'actually, what if we tried that?'<br /><br />"It came together really neatly.<br /><br />"We combined our forces.<br /><br />"Half of the duplex is less than our budget."<br /><br />Jendayi and Julia have been together for over six years and started looking to buy in 2023.<br /><br />Julia said: "Jendayi and I had been talking about buying a house.<br /><br />"We wanted to find a more permanent home. We started to get into it and met with a realtor.<br /><br />"We realised what numbers we were looking at."<br /><br />Jendayi added: "The interest rates were going up. <br /><br />"The same amount of money five years ago could have got us a great spot."<br /><br />The pair decided to club together with couple Arty and Avery and they started viewing houses together in August 2023.<br /><br />Julie said: "We split up the responsibilities.<br /><br />"We were able to look at houses out of our budget."<br /><br />After a few fell through they were able to find the perfect duplex in December 2023.<br /><br />The 1925 duplex has a living room, dining room, two bedrooms, one small box room and a bathroom on each side.<br /><br />Each couple's half cost $367k - less than Julie and Jendayi's original budget.<br /><br />Julie said: "It's mirrored on each side. It's identical on each side.<br /><br />"Both have a basement and a space in the attic.<br /><br />"It's equitably split."<br /><br />Avery and Arty used their deposit so Julie and Jendayi could save theirs for repairs and furniture - as their previous flat was fully furnished.<br /><br />Jendayi said: "Three of us are on the mortgage and four of us are on the title.<br /><br />"It came down to credit scores.<br /><br />"We all still contribute 25 per cent to the mortgage."
