• Megan Meyer has lived with her husband and ex-husband for nearly a year.
• They co-parent under one roof, saving them money and time.
• Meyer, her husband, and her ex plan to live on the same property until her daughter is an adult.

In the summer of 2024, Megan Meyer and her ex-husband, Tyler, were stressed.

It had been an eventful year for the former spouses. They split in September 2023 after three years of marriage and had to figure out how to co-parent their daughter.

A few months after the separation, Meyer reconnected with her high school sweetheart, Michael Flores. Soon, they were expecting a son together.

Meyer, 25, Flores, 26, and Tyler, 25, whose last name was omitted to protect his and Meyer's daughter's privacy, all agreed to settle in South Carolina to raise their children. Meyer, a stay-at-home mom and content creator, has family in the state, and Tyler found work as a police officer. Meanwhile, Flores works in the tree industry.

When they moved to South Carolina, Tyler lived about 30 minutes away from Flores and Meyer, who eventually wed in June 2024. He saw his daughter often, but the financial and emotional realities of the move were weighing on all three parents.

As they adjusted to their new life, Meyer thought of a way to solve their problems: she, her husband, and her ex-husband would live under one roof.

Three isn't a crowd

The financial strain of moving and the cost of living in a new area led Meyer to consider alternative housing situations for her family.

"Every time my ex and I would exchange our daughter, we would just constantly be complaining like, 'Oh, it's so expensive,'" Meyer told Business Insider, pointing to day-to-day costs like gas and rent.

Meyer's son was due at the end of the summer in 2024, and she knew life would only get more expensive when he arrived. Meanwhile, Meyer's daughter was struggling with her parents' separation.

"The transition was really hard on our daughter," she said. "She had just turned 2, and the back and forth was just so hard for her."

As she thought more about their situation — and saw that Flores and Tyler were getting along surprisingly well — Meyer decided to approach Tyler about merging their households.

"I finally was just like, 'What if we all got a place together?'" Meyer said. She was worried that the thought of living with her and her new husband might upset Tyler, but to her surprise, he was thinking the same thing.

"He was like, 'You know what, I wanted to mention something about this last week, but I was scared that you would get mad,'" Meyer told BI.

By July 2024, the three had signed a lease on a three-bedroom, three-bathroom house, which BI was able to review. Nearly a year later, Meyer said living with her ex and her husband has been the best thing for her family.

Living under one roof

Meyer had some initial anxiety about sharing a home with her ex when they first moved back in together.

"I was 8 months pregnant at the time, so I was like, 'Am I going to be emotionally stable enough for this?'" she told BI. "But it actually ended up being so much easier than I had ever imagined."

Tyler works a two-days-on, two-days-off schedule, and when he isn't working, the three function like one family unit. Meyer said it's "pretty laid back," and they now "coexist as one big family."

"On the days that he's off, we'll all usually eat meals together, and then we'll either all go to the pool together or go on walks together," Meyer said. "Sometimes, my ex will just take my daughter somewhere, and my husband and I will have some time to hang out at the house."

Tyler's schedule also ensures Meyer still gets one-on-one time with her new husband, who was a huge source of comfort for her through the transition.

"My husband is just like my safe space, so even if my ex did something that ticked me off, my husband would cool me down," she said.

It also helps that Flores and Tyler have developed a close relationship.

The pair are unlikely friends, as Meyer documents on their shared TikTok account, jokingly called "notbrotherhusbands." Still, Tyler does refer to Flores as his brother, as seen in one video.

Co-parenting as a trio

When it comes to raising their kids, all three parents are hands-on with both children. Tyler doesn't parent Flores and Meyer's son, but he has babysat him several times.

Meyer said her daughter is thriving now that she's living with both parents, and having her two children living together has also been a big benefit.

"I love seeing our daughter become a big sister, and having her around all the time has been great for my son," Meyer said. "He's starting to play and engage with her more, and it's been really great just seeing that bond."

Meyer said the living situation works so well for her, Tyler, and Flores because they all did substantial "personal growth" before moving into the same house.

"There was a lot of work that was put into mending our co-parent relationship, healing ourselves of the reasons that we had split in the first place," Meyer said, adding that they addressed any "resentment" and "bitterness" before the move.

The three of them hope to continue living on the same property until their daughter is an adult. They plan to stay in their rental home for another year and are saving money to buy a house with land in 2026.

They plan to eventually have a family compound, and they envision Tyler living in a tiny home while they build him a full, separate house.

"If Tyler were to get a tiny home on the property, our daughter probably wouldn't have a room there, so he could come and go from the 'main house' as often as he wanted," Meyer said.

"A family compound is the goal," she added.

The sun was shining, the sea was glistening, and the woman in front of me looked every bit the boss of this little slice of paradise in Thailand.

Dressed in breezy beachwear — a matching set with bold prints in yellow, pink, and orange — she stepped out of the hotel's front office and greeted me with a bright smile.

"Sunglasses are a must," she told me with a laugh, as she led me down the long entryway lined with lush greenery, the tropical sun blazing overhead.

Pauline Cabessa runs Cielo Samui, a boutique hotel on Koh Samui's Bo Phut beach.

For more than a decade, Cabessa and her husband escaped their home base in Saint Tropez every winter to holiday in Samui.

They were frequent guests of the hotel — then named Eden Beach Bungalows — where they struck up a friendship with the French owner. One day, during a casual conversation, he let slip that he was looking to sell the property.

Almost immediately, Cabessa and her husband, Francois Vargas, found themselves imagining what it would be like to take over the place.

The idea stuck, even after their vacation ended. "As we were on the plane, going back to work, we kept thinking, 'Oh, we need to find a way to make it,'" she said.

In 2017, they packed up their lives in France, said goodbye to their loved ones, and moved across the world to run the hotel — never mind the fact that neither of them had ever managed one before.

"I felt like it was time in life for a challenge," Cabessa, now 43, said. "Being an employee, doing the same thing all your life — if you don't do things that are a little bit crazy, then afterward it might be a little bit too late."

Renovating the hotel

As much as she loved Asia, Cabessa never thought she'd put down roots in Samui.

But her job managing a restaurant in Saint Tropez had started to feel hollow. It was as if the essence of hospitality was being replaced by a culture of showing off, she said.

"I was really losing the authentic connection I shared with people, and time with my family as well, because I was working a lot," she said. "Well, it was thanks to that that I am here now. With the money I earned there, I was able to take on this project."

She preferred to keep financial details private but said she and her husband co-own the hotel with another couple — longtime friends who came onboard as business partners. While their business partners are primarily investors and live in the US, she and her husband run the day-to-day operations of the hotel in Samui.

The opportunity to take over the hotel came at the right time, since she and Vargas were also thinking about expanding their family. Saint Tropez no longer felt like a place where they wanted to raise their kids.

"I wanted my daughter to learn more English and be in contact with people from different places. I wanted a second child as well," she said, adding that her son was born on Samui.

Her husband needed little convincing — he had been vacationing in Samui since 1997, long before the couple had even gotten together.

Although the idea of leaving his previous life behind to start anew in a foreign country felt daunting, Vargas told me he wasn't too worried.

"Moving to Samui was an opportunity to create our own dream," Vargas, 48, said. "I love what we do, the island, the security we can offer our kids, and the people."

For the first two years, Cabessa ran the hotel as it was, while Vargas, a chef, oversaw the in-house restaurant.

But when business ground to a halt due to the pandemic, she decided it was time to renovate.

"That was not part of our original plan at all," she said.

Cabessa redesigned the hotel herself. Like many modern women, she drew inspiration from her Pinterest board.

With textured limewashed walls, stone floors, and an earthy-neutral palette, it's hard not to notice the strong Mediterranean design influences that Cabessa infused into the space.

She also added a yoga studio and a spa to the compound.

The renovation took nine months to complete and was "quite stressful," she said.

To stay afloat during the pandemic and retain their original staff, they opened a restaurant in the nearby tourist district of Fisherman's Village.

"Everybody moved back here when we reopened," she said.

These days, nightly rates for a regular suite begin at 8,500 Thai baht, or $260, with the largest option — a three-bedroom villa that accommodates up to eight guests — going for 26,000 baht.

Running the biz

Running a hotel is no walk in the park.

"People tell me, 'Your life is cool.' OK, there are coconut trees, there is the sun, I get it. But that doesn't mean that there are no challenges," Cabessa said.

With 45 staff members under her wing, she also finds herself smoothing things over with the occasional picky guest.

"I've got reviews from some people complaining about the noise of the waves when they live in the rooms near the beach," she said. "Sometimes people even tell me that the sand on the beach is too hard to walk on."

While Cabessa is always on-site and ready to fix any problems, some things are simply out of her hands. At the end of the day, Samui is an island. "I cannot control nature," she said.

Thankfully, her background working in Saint Tropez prepared her for high-pressure situations.

"We were doing around 600 people per lunch per day back then," she said. No matter how challenging things get in Samui, she says it's hard to find guests with higher expectations than those in France.

It's easy to see Cabessa's dedication in action: She pauses to greet each staff member by name — and in Thai — and never misses a chance to speak with passing guests, even as she's showing me around.

Most of her guests come from Europe, Australia, or around Asia, including Singapore and Hong Kong. In recent months, she's also seen more American tourists.

An Australian couple in their 40s told me it was their first time in Samui, and they chose to stay here because the place seemed tranquil and the beach was, in their words, "right there."

All room types at the hotel include breakfast. Guests can also enjoy complimentary activities daily, like Pilates, yoga, and Muay Thai classes. Padel and kayaking are also available.

The idea is to create a place where guests can happily spend their entire stay without needing to step outside, Cabessa said.

Adapting to life on Samui

Cabessa says adapting to life on the island was a breeze.

Her kids, now 11 and 5, go to an international school. Her mother, who is retired, even moved to Samui from Lyon three years ago. She now lives just down the street from Cabessa.

"This is a safe country. You can let your kids play in a mall or on the beach, and you are not worried about that," Cabessa said. "I also love the culture of showing respect for your elders."

Working in hospitality, she also appreciates the friendliness of the Thai people.

"People are always smiling, and this is such a relief. Because if you live in Paris and you take the subway, nobody's smiling," she said.

The island has changed significantly since the first time she visited.

It's much easier to find international products or fresh produce now. And if something isn't available locally, she can order it from Bangkok, and it'll arrive within 24 hours.

Cabessa says she'll "never, ever" move back to France. And even if she doesn't live in Samui, Thailand will always be home.

"I'll never quit this country," she said.

Do you have a story to share about moving to a new country to run a hotel or resort business? Contact this reporter at [email protected].

• A Fifth Avenue mansion built during the Gilded Age just sold for $46 million.
• The 11-bedroom, 10-bathroom home features ornate details and original features.
• The mansion was designed by architect Stanford White and spans over 16,000 square feet.

One of the last remaining Gilded Age mansions in New York City was just snapped up for $46 million.

The 16,000-square-foot home — the only fully restored Stanford White-designed mansion on Fifth Avenue — has seven levels and looks out over Central Park and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

The home was reportedly initially listed for $80 million in 2021. After multiple price reductions, it was relisted for $49.9 million by the Corcoran Group in February, and the property sold earlier this month for $46 million, city records show.

A representative for Corcoran told Business Insider earlier this year that $300,000 in new upgrades was spent in preparation to list the property "to enhance the current owners' $15 million renovation after their purchase of the mansion in 2012."

Not much is known about the new owner, but sources told The New York Post that it's a finance-industry family from outside New York.

Take a look inside this historic Gilded Age mansion.

The Fifth Avenue mansion "embodies the height of Beaux-Arts design and old-world European craftsmanship," according to its listing.

The home is located near the corner of Fifth Avenue and 79th Street in Manhattan. It occupies 25 feet of prestigious Fifth Avenue real estate.

Henry H. Cook, the original commissioner of the building, hired the architectural firm of McKim, Mead, and White to lead the project.

Construction on the building began in 1902 and was completed in 1907, two years after Cook's death in 1905.

There are only a few Beaux-Arts-style mansions still remaining in New York City.

Key characteristics of Beaux-Arts architecture, which was popular in the US in the late 19th century and early 20th century, include "a focus on symmetry," classical features like columns or pediments, and "highly decorative surfaces," such as carved doorways and crown molding, according to the Chicago Architecture Center.

The historic home was designed by Gilded Age architect Stanford White.

White is one of the most famous architects in history. He is known for his style inspired by the Italian Renaissance and is one of the most famous architects to emerge from the Gilded Age in Manhattan.

He is also famous for his death, which was shrouded in scandal.

On the night of June 25, 1906, Pittsburgh millionaire Henry Shaw shot and killed White at Madison Square Garden because of a prior relationship between White and Thaw's wife, chorus girl Evelyn Nesbit, the National Park Service reported. Nesbit was just 16 when she met White.

White was 52 when he died, and much of his architectural legacy was tainted by the scandal in the years after his death.

However, he is now recognized as one of the most influential architects of the early 20th century.

The home is the only fully restored Stanford White-designed mansion on Fifth Avenue.

In the decades following the Gilded Age — and amid financial challenges and changing tastes and values — many of the largest mansions in New York City were torn down or repurposed.

Corcoran's Andres Perea-Garzon — who listed the property with Carrie Chiang and Lesley Schulhof, also of the Corcoran Group — told Mansion Global that the home is one of only five mansions designed by Stanford White still in existence in New York City.

Of those, only two — including this one — are single-family townhouses in Manhattan.

The floorplan has been updated from White's original design but retains many of his choices.

After its previous owners purchased it in 2012, the home underwent a multi-year restoration project.

The renovated morning kitchen, pictured above, has a Carrara marble waterfall island that reflects more modern trends.

The home has also been updated to reflect 21st-century living, with upgrades like a "modernized" elevator and nine restored wood-burning fireplaces, per the listing.

It was transformed into an entertainer's paradise.

The home has five separate kitchens, including a family kitchen, a chef's kitchen, a butler's pantry, a staff kitchen, and a serving kitchen.

The scullery and butler's pantry also each have a dumbwaiter to accommodate service across the entertaining levels.

Despite the upgrades, the home has retained its Gilded Age grandeur.

Many of the home's most impressive features, including its limestone flooring and staircase with a wrought-iron railing, have been restored to their original condition.

The primary bedrooms have dressing areas and en-suite bathrooms.

The mansion, which spans over 16,000 square feet and has 11 bedrooms, seven full bathrooms, and three half-baths, was cut from its original price of $80 million in 2021, The New York Post reported.

The home's details include French stained-glass windows and marble fireplaces.

Inside the home's double grand parlors, there are 16-foot-high ceilings fitted with wooden beams as well as hand-carved marble fireplaces, according to the listing.

One living space features crown molding and floor-to-ceiling windows.

The home embodies upper-crust living with a climate-controlled wine cellar, a steam room, a linen room, and a silver and jewelry vault.

The mansion has also undergone more practical upgrades.

Every room across its seven floors has a separate HVAC zone, per the listing. Humidifiers and a water purification system were also added.

The home was marketed as a single-family home but the listing noted it could also be repurposed into an art gallery.

The listing states that the home can be used as a private residence, an embassy or mission, a nonprofit foundation office with a limit of 50 employees, or a non-commercial art gallery.

One of the home's most jaw-dropping features is its views of Central Park and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

The home is located on Cook Block, a zoning district that restricts buildings to six stories or fewer for a full city block. This prevents new construction from restricting the home's sweeping views.

The mansion also has a private courtyard for indoor-outdoor living.

"As one of the last private mansions of its kind, 973 Fifth Avenue is an irreplaceable masterpiece, fully restored to its original grandeur while discreetly integrating modern luxury at the highest standard," the listing read.

• The owners of Pope Leo XIV's childhood home in Illinois are trying to sell it via private auction.
• The home was listed for $199,900 before the pope's appointment. Now, bids start at $250,000.
• The auction winner may not get to enjoy it because the local government wants to acquire the home.

People bidding to buy Pope Leo XIV's modest childhood home in Illinois could face some stiff competition — from the local government.

The innocuous three-bedroom, three-bathroom home in the Village of Dolton was thrust into the spotlight when Pope Leo XIV became the leader of the Catholic Church.

The current homeowner purchased the property in May 2024 for $66,000, listed it for $219,000 in January, and dropped the price to $199,900 in February.

After the pope's appointment on May 8, the owner, inundated with offers and new options, delisted the home until last week when it was put up for auction through Paramount Realty USA. The reserve price is $250,000, and potential buyers have until June 18 to bid.

"It's like a collectible car they only made one of," Steve Budzik, the homeowner's real estate agent, told BI earlier this month.

Potential buyers, however, will be going up against the Village of Dolton, which has said through its attorney that it plans to acquire the home either through direct purchase or eminent domain laws. Eminent domain laws allow governments to make private property available for public use.

"If a direct purchase from the seller cannot be negotiated, the Village will cause Eminent Domain proceedings to be filed in Court and take the property through the legal process," Burton S. Odelson wrote in an email to BI. "The Village hopes a direct purchase is completed without court action."

Odelson, who's been in contact with the listing broker, said the Village of Dolton is working with the Chicago Archdiocese to determine the best use of the space.

Although relying on local eminent domain laws is an option, Odelson said it's a last resort. That process involves litigation, which means attorney fees, court costs, appraisal costs, and time.

Under eminent domain laws, the Village of Dolton would have to compensate the owners for the home. Negotiations between the Village of Dolton and the current owner are ongoing.

The hype around Pope Leo XIV's childhood home spurred immediate fanfare, prompting news trucks and curious locals to visit. One woman even told a local news outlet that she made the four-hour drive from Louisville, Kentucky, just to visit the impromptu holy site.

Representatives for Paramount Realty USA and the homeowner did not respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.

• More Americans are searching for property in Scotland, especially the capital Edinburgh.
• Rightmove reported a 19% rise in US inquiries about homes in the UK this year.
• Trump's tariffs and economic uncertainty may be behind the rising US interest in British property.

More Americans appear to be dreaming of Scotland — not just as visitors but as prospective homeowners, according to a UK property portal.

Rightmove revealed a 19% increase in enquiries from the US about buying property in the UK since the start of 2025 compared to the same period — the highest pace since 2017.

Some 28% of US enquiries have been about Scotland — an area closely associated with President Donald Trump. That's slightly more than the proportion asking about homes in London (26%).

Rightmove did not reveal the number of queries it had received and noted that only a small percentage of all UK enquiries came from the US.

Colleen Babcock of Rightmove said that Trump's tariffs had led to "more economic uncertainty globally, and we're starting to see some of the effects of this on the UK property market — whether it's because the UK is seen as a more stable investment opportunity, or whether some buyers are considering a permanent move across the Atlantic."

Trump has long emphasized his Scottish roots. His mother, Mary Anne MacLeod, was born in a village called Tong, near Stornoway on the Isle of Lewis.

In 2006, he Trump strengthened his Scottish connection by purchasing a championship golf resort in Aberdeenshire, later opening the Trump International Gold Links. He then acquired another course in Turnberry.

Edinburgh's castle, great food, and Arthurs Walk, which were featured in the Netflix drama "One Day" have helped raise the profile of the Scottish capital.

Rising interest in Edinburgh could also reflect its lower property prices than central London, Rightmove said.

Glasgow as well as other Scottish regions including Argyll and Bute, and Fife are among those of interest to potential US buyers along with the Westminster and Kensington and Chelsea areas in London.

Glynn Gibb, regional director at real estate agent John D Wood & Co, said, "We're seeing a number of politically motivated relocations —Americans seeking greater stability abroad. There's a noticeable trend of high-net-worth individuals looking to move capital into what they see as a safe and stable market."

Gibb added: "We expect activity to build in the coming months … as more buyers make lifestyle and financial decisions shaped by the political climate in the US."

• Running out of money in retirement is a big concern for many Americans.
• Economic uncertainty is making it even harder to afford retirement.
• These are the top states where your retirement nest egg will go the furthest.

As people live longer and spend more time in retirement, it's more important now than ever to plan for life after your job.

To make matters even more complicated, the ongoing trade war has created a tricky economic backdrop for older Americans to retire in, causing people to delay their retirements, wait to collect Social Security, or "unretire" and go back to work.

That's why being smart about where you live in your golden years can have far-reaching consequences, as housing costs — whether it be a mortgage, property taxes, or rent expenses — are typically the largest part of your monthly expenses.

Financial technology company Remitly compiled data on Americans' retirement savings across the country. How much you need in retirement varies, but the rule of thumb is that by the time you retire, you should aim to have around 10 times your salary saved. Remitly found that Americans between the ages of 55 and 64 have typically saved an average of $537,650 and a median of $185,000 — meaning there's high variability in the amounts that people have saved.

When calculating how much money you need for a comfortable retirement, take into consideration annual expenditures such as housing, utilities, transportation, and healthcare — and also factor in an additional 20% buffer for unexpected costs.

Depending on the state you retire in, the cost of living could fluctuate wildly. Remitly looked at the average retirement savings and expected annual expenditures for a comfortable retirement for each state to calculate how long a retirement nest egg lasts in different parts of the country.

While the annual expenditure to retire comfortably in many states hovered in the $60,000 to $80,000 range, a few states took the cake for sky-high costs of living. In Hawaii, Remitly found the average annual expenditure to be $129,296. California was the second-most expensive state, with annual retirement expenditures coming out to $100,687. In those states, retirement savings will only last 2.8 and 4.5 years, respectively.

On the other hand, Kansas takes first place for sustainable living costs in retirement — retirement savings last 7.5 years on average there.

Listed below are the top ten states where retirees can get the most bang for their buck. The average amount of savings at the time of retirement, the annual retirement expenditures, and number of years the retirement savings will last are also included.

Kansas

Average retirement savings: $452,703
Annual expenditures: $60,620
Years of comfortable retirement: 7.5 years

Iowa

Average retirement savings: $465,127
Annual expenditures: $62,565
Years of comfortable retirement: 7.4 years

Minnesota

Average retirement savings: $470,549
Annual expenditures: $65,828
Years of comfortable retirement: 7.1 years

Virginia

Average retirement savings: $492,965
Annual expenditures: $70,342
Years of comfortable retirement: 7 years

Pennsylvania

Average retirement savings: $462,075
Annual expenditures: $66,384
Years of comfortable retirement: 7 years

Illinois

Average retirement savings: $449,983
Annual expenditures: $64,787
Years of comfortable retirement: 6.9 years

Connecticut

Average retirement savings: $545,754
Annual expenditures: $78,605
Years of comfortable retirement: 6.9 years

South Dakota

Average retirement savings: $449,628
Annual expenditures: $64,856
Years of comfortable retirement: 6.9 years

Michigan

Average retirement savings: $439,568
Annual expenditures: $63,745
Years of comfortable retirement: 6.9 years

Kentucky

Average retirement savings: $441,757
Annual expenditures: $64,301
Years of comfortable retirement: 6.9 years

• Marble House was completed in 1892 as a summer home for William K. Vanderbilt and Alva Vanderbilt.
• Built with half a million cubic feet of marble, it features 50 rooms and spans 140,000 square feet.
• Scenes from the HBO show "The Gilded Age" were filmed in the historic Rhode Island home.

Alva Vanderbilt's 39th birthday present from her husband was a 140,000-square-foot summer "cottage" on the shores of Newport, Rhode Island.

As heir to the Vanderbilt family fortune during the Gilded Age, William K. Vanderbilt spared no expense in building Marble House for his wife. It was designed by Richard Morris Hunt, the same architect who worked on The Breakers, another expansive Newport mansion. Construction cost around $11 million in 1892, or about $387 million in today's dollars. The home's 500,000 cubic feet of marble alone cost about $7 million, or around $246 million today.

The marriage didn't last, but Marble House remained in her possession after their divorce. In addition to throwing extravagant balls and dinner parties, Alva Vanderbilt also hosted women's suffrage rallies on the property and leveraged her wealth to champion the cause. She even wrote the libretto for an operetta about women's suffrage, which was performed at New York's Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in 1915.

In recent years, the HBO show "The Gilded Age" has used Marble House as a film set.

I visited the expansive home in August 2024. Take a look inside this historic Newport mansion.

Completed in 1892, Marble House is a 50-room, 140,000-square-foot summer home that belonged to William K. Vanderbilt and Alva Vanderbilt.

The Preservation Society of Newport Country acquired the home in 1963 and turned it into a museum open to the public. Self-guided tours cost $25 per adult ticket and can be purchased on the Preservation Society's official website.

During the winter months, the mansion is only open to the public on Saturdays and Sundays, with daily tours restarting in mid-February.

William K. Vanderbilt gifted the home to Alva Vanderbilt for her 39th birthday.

William K. Vanderbilt was Cornelius Vanderbilt's grandson and heir to the family's railroad and steamship fortune during the Gilded Age. Alva Vanderbilt was a popular hostess in Newport.

When Alva Vanderbilt divorced her husband in 1895, she survived the scandal and kept Marble House and custody of their three children, Consuelo, William Kissam Jr., and Harold Stirling. She then married one of her neighbors in Newport, a financier named Oliver H.P. Belmont, in 1896.

After Belmont died in 1908, she became a leader in the women's suffrage movement, funding the National American Woman Suffrage Association and serving as president of the National Woman's Party.

Marble House's foyer featured walls, ceilings, and a grand staircase made of solid Italian marble, which Alva Vanderbilt chose for its warm hue.

"It would have been impossible to have used a pure white marble for the interior without having a mausoleum effect too cold for living comfort and joy," Alva Vanderbilt wrote of Marble House. "The soft gold brown fading off into delicate cream catches the sunlight by day or electric sparkle at night with a warm living glow."

The marble entrance hall led out to a portico overlooking the ocean.

The French doors in the entryway stayed open during the summer to provide a cooling ocean breeze.

The Dining Room was modeled after the Salon of Hercules at the Palace of Versailles.

Alva Vanderbilt was born in Alabama and raised in France. Her French design sensibilities were evident throughout the house.

The purple marble used for the walls was imported from Algeria.

The walls were created from one solid slab of marble that was cut in half to create pieces with mirroring patterns, a technique called bookmatching.

Alva Vanderbilt commissioned dining-room chairs inspired by those used by King Louis XIV of France.

Crafted from bronze and covered in gold, the chairs weighed 75 pounds each and required the help of a footman to be seated in.

The Gothic Room displayed medieval and Renaissance art that Alva Vanderbilt acquired from Emile Gavet, a French art collector.

The ribbed ceiling, stone mantlepiece, and wood floors were all imported from Paris.

Alva Vanderbilt purchased the art collection "en bloc," or all together in a set.

Buying art collections "en bloc" was popular during the Gilded Age as a way to quickly acquire a status symbol instead of taking generations to build a collection.

The Morning Room also functioned as a library.

The wooden bookcases, built in Paris by Allard and Sons, held books on architecture and European history that were original to the Vanderbilt family's collection.

The Grand Salon was also called the Gold Room because of the 22-karat gold leaf covering every wall.

"This room is really the epitome of the Gilded Age," Caitlin Emery, the research and interpretation coordinator at the Preservation Society of Newport County, said on the audio tour. "It is coated in gold and you have to imagine guests coming in on a summer evening with the sun going down. And the light picking up on all these gilded surfaces. The feel and the essence of the room would have been absolutely remarkable."

The Vanderbilts used it as a ballroom.

In 1895, the Vanderbilts hosted a ball to celebrate their daughter Consuelo Vanderbilt's engagement to Charles Spencer-Churchill, the ninth Duke of Marlborough. The party featured 300 guests and lasted until 5 a.m.

Consuelo Vanderbilt was secretly engaged to another man and resisted the arrangement, but she wrote that her mother "would not hesitate to shoot" her lover if she tried to run away with him.

"Alva wanted to secure for her daughter the one thing that money couldn't buy — a title," Emery said in the audio tour.

Theirs was a loveless marriage. After 26 years, Alva Vanderbilt testified that she had forced her daughter to marry the duke, which allowed her to receive an annulment in 1921.

The tour continued up the grand staircase on the second floor.

The mezzanine level featured two private studies, one for William K. Vanderbilt and one for Alva Vanderbilt.

Consuelo Vanderbilt's bedroom appeared as George Russell's room on the HBO show "The Gilded Age."

Consuelo Vanderbilt moved to Marble House when she was 15. She described her room as "austere," writing that her mother had picked out every piece of furniture and "forbidden the intrusion of my personal possessions," according to the audio tour.

A wooden spiral staircase outside Consuelo Vanderbilt's bedroom led to the service areas at Marble House.

The Vanderbilts would never have used the servant staircase or gone into the service areas.

The Vanderbilts' youngest child, Harold Vanderbilt, was an award-winning sailor whose trophies were displayed in the Trophy Room.

When the Vanderbilts lived at Marble House, the Trophy Room was a set of two connected dressing rooms for Alva Vanderbilt and Consuelo Vanderbilt. The Preservation Society turned it into a room for Harold Vanderbilt's yachting trophies.

Decorated in the Louis XIV style, Alva Vanderbilt's bedroom featured a throne-like bed and silk wall hangings.

The carvings in the molding throughout the room featured nymphs and cherubs for a fairytale-like oasis.

The lilac silk wallpaper was an exact copy of the original.

The factory that made Alva Vanderbilt's original wallpaper is still in business in Lyons, France, and it kept the Marble House orders in its archives. In 1990, the Preservation Society ordered the exact same wallpaper from the factory to replace the room's existing fabric, which had faded to gold, according to the audio tour.

William K. Vanderbilt's bedroom was much smaller than his wife's.

His bedroom was decorated in the French Neoclassical style. After he and Alva Vanderbilt divorced, William K. Vanderbilt moved to France with his second wife.

The guest bed still featured its original 18th-century lace canopy.

Marble House only had one guest bedroom because it was mainly built for family use.

The guest room was connected to a guest sitting room.

The guest sitting room was furnished with 18th-century French art and furniture produced by Allard and Sons.

Downstairs, Marble House would receive deliveries of flowers, wine, and food through the service entrance.

The stairs leading up to the rest of the house were locked to protect the Vanderbilts and their priceless possessions.

The Vanderbilts hired a French chef to staff the kitchen, which burned 30 tons of coal each summer.

The Vanderbilts paid their French chef a salary of $10,000 per year, or around $375,000 in today's dollars.

Dishes were cleaned and stored in the scullery.

The sink was made of a soft mineral called soapstone to prevent the Vanderbilts' silver from being scratched or damaged during washing.

Alva Vanderbilt made a set of china emblazoned with "Votes for Women" which she used at women's suffrage rallies hosted at Marble House.

Alva Vanderbilt hosted women's suffrage conferences at Marble House in 1904 and 1914.

She is quoted as saying in her speeches: "Just pray to God. She will help you."

Replicas of the "Votes for Women" china were available for purchase in the Marble House gift shop.

A "Votes for Women" teapot cost $28 at the gift shop when I visited in August. The large plates cost $14.95 and the smaller plates retailed for $12.95.

The grounds of Marble House featured beautiful views of the ocean.

Marble House is located along Newport's Cliff Walk, a scenic walking tour of the area's famous mansions.

The grounds also included a Chinese Tea House which Alva Vanderbilt commissioned after the death of her second husband.

Designed by Richard and Joseph Howland Hunt, the Chinese Tea House is now a café that offers refreshments and afternoon tea to Marble House visitors.

European copper beech trees dotted the property in another nod to the European palaces that inspired the design of Marble House.

Imported from Europe, the trees can grow 35 to 45 feet wide.

Marble House is more than just an opulent Gilded Age mansion — it tells the story of Alva Vanderbilt's remarkable life.

Built during a time of economic and technological advancement, Marble House symbolized the beginning of a new era where women could leave loveless marriages with their reputations intact and fight for the right to participate in America's democracy.

• I'm an American spending my retirement living in different countries around the world with my wife.
• We've lived in about 50 countries, and Vietnam, Italy, and Malaysia are some of our favorites.
• Our favorite place to live is Croatia, as it's beautiful and there's so much to see there.

My wife and I are Americans who have been fully nomadic since 2019. In the past few years, we've visited about 50 countries.

We have stayed in some places for as little as a few days and others for several months, but our "sweet spot" is four to six weeks, which gives us time to absorb the flavor of the local culture.

Of all the many questions we get asked about our full-time nomadic lifestyle, the most common is probably, "What's your favorite country?"

As simple as that query is, it's also one of the most challenging because we love so many and consider several of them "home."

However, if I had to choose, here are a few of my favorite countries we've lived in — plus our top pick.

Vietnam felt like an affordable expat heaven

We spent 17 months traveling around Southeast Asian countries and fell in love with many places in the region, including Vietnam.

The second time we visited Vietnam, we stayed for all of our 90-day maximum visa period. We felt we got the most bang for our buck in the amazing city of Da Nang.

It seems popular among fellow expats, likely because it's affordable and close (about 30 minutes away) to the ancient city of Hoi An, a UNESCO World Heritage site with incredible preserved history and charming canals.

As expats, Da Nang was also a great city for transitioning into Southeast Asian culture, since it still has many Western-style offerings, like grocery stores with offerings that remind us of home.

The country's fairly inexpensive cost of living made it easy for us to comfortably live, explore, and eat well during our stay.

We had so much affordable and incredible food (and fresh fish) in Vietnam. I loved frequent bahn mi sandwiches for less than a dollar, and pho soup breakfasts for not much more.

My wife and I never had a dull day in the country since it also has many beautiful landscapes, rivers, and beaches. And with the convenience of our affordable $45 a month scooter rental, nothing felt too far away.

Italy is magnificent and filled with history

It's easy to see why Italy is on many bucket lists, and we've now lived there twice.

The country is filled with historic architecture, churches, and museums, which have been incredible to explore.

One of our first stays was in the small medieval town of Tivoli, about 20 minutes east of Rome, where we lived in a 500-year-old apartment. That blew my mind, as it's about double the age of the United States.

The ancient town was founded hundreds of years before Rome, too, and it was my first gut punch of recognizing how little of the world I had seen.

Eight months later, we were on the island of Sicily for six weeks. It carried the same sense of ancient history, with the stunning, centuries-old Temple of Apollo prominently in its town square.

And, of course, we enjoyed Italy's world-famous culinary scene and incredible wine offerings. While in Sicily, we regularly visited the local street market to stock up on fresh fish and $2 bottles of delicious wine.

We appreciate the medical tourism in Malaysia

Over the years, one of our biggest incentives to visit Malaysia has been its affordable yet high-quality medical services.

As full-time travelers, it's been our go-to place for medical tests and scans. After all, Malaysia's medical tourism market is pretty huge.

We've had positive experiences with high-quality clinics in the country that have been more affordable than what we've encountered in the US and most other countries we've lived in.

During our time in Malaysia, we've gotten full-body exams, blood tests, and head-to-toe scans for only a few hundred dollars.

We've easily paid for all our medical expenses here out of pocket without navigating complicated insurance policies and red tape, which is almost unheard of in the US.

Plus, it's worth mentioning that Malaysia has impressive skylines, mountains, and rainforests worth exploring, too.

Croatia is still our favorite country we've lived in

Although we've spent time in about 50 countries, Croatia still tops them all.

We spent almost two months there in 2019, and have been back three more times since. When we first moved to Croatia, we didn't know much about it. However, we quickly fell in love.

Fortunately, English is widely spoken here, so communicating with locals was easy. Plus, we were able to eat tons of fresh seafood while in the area.

During one stretch, we lived in affordable waterfront lodging about 20 minutes north of Split, one of our favorite cities.

Its focal point is the downtown waterfront Diocletian Palace, which has residential and commercial units built into the walls. Its charm and history felt intoxicating.

We loved regularly walking several miles along the city's promenade and enjoying the changing view of the water, ships, and sandy beaches.

A few years later, we toured Croatia's northern region, starting from the Istrian Peninsula and heading south while stopping at half a dozen islands along the way.

Even this excursion barely made a dent in how much beauty there is to see in the country, since it has 49 inhabited islands and hundreds of others.

We look forward to one day going back.

• Cities all over the world, including on the US East and Gulf Coasts, are sinking.
• This phenomenon, called subsidence, can make extreme flooding worse and damage infrastructure.
• From New York to Houston, these 13 cities are losing height each year.

Cities are sinking across the US, some at a few fractions of a millimeter each year, while others lose up to six millimeters a year.

This phenomenon, called subsidence, is a "slow-moving yet widespread hazard," said Manoochehr Shirzaei, a geophysicist at Virginia Tech who co-authored a study published in Nature in March that measured subsidence in 32 coastal cities in the US.

Sinking can come from the sheer weight of skyscrapers and infrastructure, or from people drawing water from underground. Some of it is leftover from the last Ice Age.

Coastal cities worldwide are already prone to catastrophic flooding as sea levels rise because of the climate crisis. Factor in sinking, and the world's vulnerability to future coastal flooding triples, according to a 2019 study.

In the US, sea-level rise combined with subsidence could expose $109 billion of coastal property to high-tide flooding by 2050, according to Shirzaei's calculations.

The good news is that there are relatively inexpensive solutions to subsidence, Shirzaei told Business Insider in an email.

"The key takeaway is that we still have sufficient time to manage this hazard," he said.

Here are the biggest cities that are sinking the most, according to his new study, in geographical order starting from the northern East Coast.

Boston, Massachusetts

Shirzaei and his co-authors have found that there's a lot of variation in subsidence throughout Boston. When sinking occurs at different rates like that, it can put extra strain on infrastructure.

For example, some areas of Boston are sinking about 1 millimeter per year, give or take. Others sink nearly 4 millimeters a year — which translates to almost 4 centimeters per decade.

New York City

The Big Apple is losing about 1.5 millimeters of height each year.

All three airports in the NYC area are sinking, too, according to a study Shirzaei co-authored in 2024. JFK is sinking about 1.7 mm per year, LaGuardia at 1.5 mm per year, and Newark's airport is clocking 1.4 mm per year.

LaGuardia, for one, has already installed water pumps, berms, flood walls, and flood doors. Previous estimates had Laguardia flooding monthly by 2050 and fully underwater by 2100 — and that's without subsidence.

Jersey City, New Jersey

Just across the Hudson River, Jersey City is matching NYC's pace of about 1.5 millimeters per year.

To measure sinking at such a granular level, Shirzaei and his co-authors mapped ground deformations using a satellite-based radar technique called InSAR (short for Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar).

Atlantic City, New Jersey

A little further south, Atlantic City has its neighbors beat with a subsidence of about 2.8 millimeters per year.

A portion of the East Coast's subsidence is a leftover reaction from the disappearance of the Laurentide ice sheet, which covered much of North America during the last Ice Age. The ice sheet's bulk caused the exposed land around its edges to bulge upward — and the mid-Atlantic region is still settling down from the ice sheet's retreat.

Virginia Beach, Virginia

Virginia Beach, Virginia, is sinking 2.2 millimeters per year. Meanwhile, sea level rise has become a growing concern for locals.

In 2021, residents voted in favor of a $568 million program to build infrastructure that guards against rising sea level, according to PBS news.

Charleston, South Carolina

Charleston is the most populous city in South Carolina and its downtown sits on a peninsula flanked by the Ashley River and Cooper River. The city overall is sinking at a median rate of 2.2 millimeters per year, though in some areas its more dramatic at a rate of 6 millimeters per year.

Savannah, Georgia

Savannah is losing almost 2 millimeters per year, though some areas are sinking as much as 5 millimeters per year.

Over 13,000 properties in Savannah are at risk of flooding over the next 30 years, according to the climate risk analysis group First Street. That's over 23% of all homes in the city.

Miami

Last year, a study found that luxury high-rises were slowly sinking on the barrier islands surrounding Miami, possibly due to vibration from nearby construction. Shirzaei found the mainland is sinking, too, by about half a millimeter each year.

Mobile, Alabama

Mobile is losing 1.87 millimeters per year. The Gulf Coast city experiences some of the highest volume of rain in the US, according to the city's official website, and encourages all residents to have disaster survival kits, including canned foods and flashlights, on hand in the event of a flooding emergency.

Biloxi, Mississippi

Biloxi has the most drastic subsidence of all the US cities Shirzaei's team assessed. On the whole, Biloxi is sinking about 5.6 millimeters per year, with a lot of variation. Some parts of the city may be sinking as much as 10 millimeters per year.

New Orleans

New Orleans is losing 1.3 millimeters per year. First Street reports that 99.6% of all properties in the city are at risk of flooding in the next 30 years.

Houston and Galveston, Texas

Shirzaei found that Galveston, Texas, is sinking more than 4 millimeters a year, but inland parts of Houston have also been sinking for decades due to groundwater extraction.

Corpus Christi, Texas

Corpus Christi is sinking almost 3 millimeters per year. Some researchers think local oil and gas drilling has contributed to subsidence, reported local ABC outlet KIIV

"Extraction, generally, we believe it initiates and activates movement around faults and those could initiate land subsidence in some areas," Mohamed Ahmed, a geophysics professor at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, told the outlet.

What about the West Coast?

Shirzaei's team didn't find much subsidence in California's coastal cities, although the state's inland Central Valley is sinking due to groundwater extraction.

As for Oregon and Washington, the researchers simply don't have good enough data yet to say what's happening to the ground there.

• Darrel and Patrice Maxam started renting out bedrooms in their Atlanta home on Airbnb in 2015.
• They ended up building additional units — tiny homes and treehouses — on the property to rent out.
• Their latest project: a group of wooden cabins in upstate New York that make over $30,000 a month.

When Darrel and Patrice Maxam moved from Connecticut to Georgia, they bought a 1956 bungalow for $249,400. Because they'd used most of their money to buy the home, they struggled to afford the $1,400 monthly mortgage payments.

"When we moved to Atlanta, we were really broke," Darrel Maxam told Business Insider. "We literally spent all of our money on a down payment — we had $1,000 in our bank accounts."

They decided to list a bedroom in the three-bedroom bungalow on Airbnb. Then they rented the entire house. Later, they began renting out a tiny house on the property. Eventually, the Maxams filled their two-and-a-half acres with nine different short-term-rental units: the main house, a tiny home, a converted barn, a triplex, and three "treehouses."

Now, the Maxams build and operate short-term rentals full-time. They sold the Atlanta property in September of 2024; Fulton County property records show it sold for $655,000. Their focus is a village of 13 custom-built cabins and properties in upstate New York that brings in between $30,000 and $60,000 a month.

Read on to see how the Maxams built their Airbnb empire.

They evolved from renting a single room to renting out the entire house

Renting out rooms brought in about $1,000 a month in profit, Maxam said, and renting out the entire home doubled that amount.

Maxam recalled packing up every weekend during the summer and vacating the premises while Airbnb guests were staying in their Atlanta home.

He said the couple would take 10% of his weekly paycheck, 10% of his wife's weekly paycheck, and 10% of the amount they were making from Airbnb and use it to find a hotel within 300 miles that worked within that budget.

"If we only had $400, we were going to plan a trip for $400," he said. "We would go as far south as Destin, Florida, as far east as Mississippi, and as far north as the Carolinas and Tennessee area."

Maxam figured the more units they put on the Atlanta property, the more money they would make.

First, the Maxams partnered with the HGTV show "Tiny House, Big Living" to build a tiny home on their property, which Maxam said earned them an extra $2,500 a month in profit.

"I was hooked at that point," Maxam said. "We had a barn in the backyard. I converted that barn to another livable space. Then, another year after that, I ended up building three more units. After the fifth unit on the property, we were generating roughly $15,000 a month."

At one point, the Maxams had their main house, a tiny home, a barn, a triplex with three rentable units, and three treehouses on the property. They took the tiny home with them when they left.

Maxam resigned from his full-time job working for the Department of Aviation and made hospitality his career.

They've built a village of cabins in upstate New York

In 2022, the Maxams' main project became Finger Lakes Treehouses in Sodus, New York, a small town 33 miles east of Rochester.

They partnered with Red Falls Timber, a New York-based firm that sources its wood from Finland, to build five A-frame cabins.

Each one has a kitchenette, a bathroom, air conditioning, and a private wood-fired hot tub. Nightly rates are around $250, according to the Maxam Hotels website.

Each A-frame structure cost him about $65,000, Maxam said. Since launching in 2023, the five cabins have brought in anywhere from $30,000 to $60,000 a month, he added.

"We don't touch a project unless we can be cash-flow positive within 18 months," he said.

The Maxams are planning to build five non-A-frame cabins with Red Falls Timber on the Sodus land this year.

Both cabin styles are prefabricated, which means they can be put together quickly, cutting down on both time and cost per unit.

"It'll take about three days to get them erected," Maxam said.

"You, right now, can come on site, look at my plans, and be able to put my building together," he added. "That's how easy they are — they're like Lego."

The Maxams have other dreams for the Sodus development.

"We have three Airstreams on the property right now, so by the start of the season, we'll have 13 units total," Maxam said. "Next year, we're going to go into phase three. We have these really luxury-style safari tents, and we'll build a bathhouse for them, also."

The plan is to have 19 total units in Sodus by next year, he added.

The couple has also purchased land in Belize with plans for a beach-centered venture in 2026 or 2027.

They believe slow and steady is the best growth

The Maxams entered the short-term-rental world humbly, but now feel like they are thriving.

Maxam said to get here, they took their time, using proceeds from one unit to build the next one.

"Everyone wants to rush and rush and race to do the largest project — and they don't know what they're getting themselves into," Maxam said.

"The only advice I have to someone starting out like me is to stay small enough, long enough, because soon enough you'll be big enough," he added.