Grandparents House
The big news is that we bought a second house, less than a mile from our current house, for our parents to stay in. My wife's hope is that her parents will stay there for longer and longer visits until they are there essentially all the time. My parents will stay in the main house if they visit when my wife's parents aren't there, but there is also an in-law suite with a separate entrance where they can stay anytime, even if my wife's parents are in the main house. We will probably use the in-law suite to host other guests when they visit too.
This has been one of my wife's major goals, because her parents' health isn't very good, and they don't have anyone where they live who will take care of them diligently (my wife's brother lives near them, but he is something of an exploitative ne'er-do-well). I would like it if my parents spent extended periods out here too, but that is somewhat less probable in the near term because they aren't retired yet and have more connections to the city they live in than my wife's parents do. But I'm hoping that with their first grandchild arriving, and with a place where they can stay indefinitely without it costing them anything and without feeling like they are intruding or overstaying their welcome, they will visit more often and longer.
The financial investment is significant, but we intend on holding the property for a while, so we can weather a short-term market downturn. The main risk from our perspective is that my wife's parents won't spend increasing amounts of time here, justifying the cost. They are visiting for at least a few weeks around the birth of our son, and I was encouraged that they briefly were throwing around that they might forward their mail and stay here through the new year, but the latest I had heard was that they were walking back that notion and might only be staying about a month. My wife thinks perhaps they would come back around Thanksgiving, which would be fine too, but they are planning to drive out here rather than fly, and it's a VERY long drive, so I don't know if that would really happen.
Meanwhile, we have quite a project in getting the place furnished and making it hospitable. We have accumulated extras of many things over the years, and have put those in boxes to take over to the new house, but most of the beds, chairs, and sofas need to be purchased and will be trickling in over the coming weeks and months. My wife's parents are bringing some of the furnishings from her old apartment out here with them too, and I've been setting up the utilities and internet and WiFi. Fortunately, the house is in good condition, so there aren't any major improvements that need to be made, but the house does lack air conditioning, and while that isn't a true necessity here, I'm still having someone come by to quote adding central air conditioning to the existing forced air system, since I think our parents would want it.
It's certainly keeping us busy alongside work and our puppy and getting ready for the baby!