We were sitting around discussing the possibility of buying some land and building houses for us and the kids on it. I used the term ‘compound’ which didn’t go over well with younger daughter. “That is what it would be called,” I replied, “I won’t be writing a manifesto or anything “ She suggested ‘homestead’ which I objected to because it’s wrong – we’re not going to be homesteading.
Youngest son suggested we call our fantasy future digs a “fun size gated community.”
Touché.
Yard Sale of the Mind 
A Future-Proofed Family Housing Unit…..
We already call ours “the family compound”. We also have the “family motor pool” because of the way we handle vehicles– who owns the title for any particular car is pretty random. I own two vehicles: a pickup truck and a car. We (husband and I) just moved out of state, and neither of the cars in our driveway is titled to us. They belong to my parents. Meanwhile, my dad is driving my truck, and he is troubleshooting a coolant leak on our car. In a couple weeks, we’ll drive back home and swap one out. At any given time, taking the extended family group as a whole, we have 1-2 more cars than drivers, and since all those vehicles are a little on the old-and-rickety side, that means that at any given time, there’s everybody’s commuter car, and then there’s something that’s being worked on, and something that’s a spare available to whoever’s car blows a gasket next. And there’s always a truck to borrow when you need one. It works well enough.
Plantation is just going to get you into all kinds of trouble 😋
Family Estate has a nice ring to it, no?
A few more unsolicited ideas from someone you don’t know: the row house, the tenement, the hood, the projects, the villa.
ha!