Dad spends $200K to rescue daughters from astronomically high NYC rent: ‘He just wants better for us’

Jamal Khadar, a married father of four, would give his kids the world if he could. 

In today’s economy, he practically is by spending $200,000 to build his eldest daughters, Jameelah, 27, and Hameedah, 26, customized apartments in his 2,600-square-foot home in Potomac, Maryland, to help them avoid paying thousands on NYC rent. 

It was a pricey, yet no-brainer decision that the doting dad, who’s the owner of Khatraco LLC, a construction company, came to this summer, after learning Jameelah had been paying $2,200 a month for a flex, three-bedroom apartment in Cobble Hill, and Hameedah was forking over $2,800 for a studio in downtown Brooklyn. 

“The choice was obvious for me,” Jamal, 61, proudly told The Post. “I’ve always wanted my daughters to move back home.”

He launched the home renovation-turned “passion project” in July, first transforming his basement into Jameelah’s personal palace. 

“I updated the lower level of our home from an unfinished basement to a 1,100 square-foot one-bedroom apartment,” said Jamal, “fully ensuite with a full bathroom with heated floors, a media room (a six-seat movie theater), gym, wet bar and recreation room.”

Jameelah, a lover of interior design, cherry-picked the marble tiles, wood finishes and fine furnishings for her lair.

In exchange for dumping her city residency, Hameedah gets her own private wing of the family house, courtesy of dear old dad.  

“It’s a 600 square foot studio fully ensuite with a kitchenette,” Jamal explained. He’s decking out the digs with a swanky bathroom, bedroom, closet and lounge space, too. 

“We’re also doing a 440 square-foot two-car garage for the girls,” bragged the pro builder, who’s happily spent “all my free time during the evenings and weekends” redesigning his abode for the oldest of his brood. 

“The house was 2,600 square feet before we started all this,” said Jamal, “and now it’s about 4,500.”

With the project underway, Hameedah is living in her childhood bedroom until the new apartment is complete, most likely by early 2026. “Not having to pay rent or electricity has been amazing.”

Bunking up with mom and dad to save a few bucks is what millennials and Gen Zers, like his girls, do best. 

With the cost of living in the US at a fever pitch — seeing the average Big Apple rent exceed $4,600 per month— a whopping 1.5 million more adults under age 35 are residing with their parents compared to a decade ago, per recent reports. 

The cushy setup might be ideal for these young adults, but not for their parents’ finances, according to a Thrivent study. 

Researchers found that 38% of parents with adult children at home have seen their retirement savings take a hit, while 39% say it’s affected their ability to save for near-term goals like travel, home repairs or paying for health care.

Hameedah, however, tells The Post that their dad and mom, Kattie, see her and Jameelah’s return to the nest as a blessing rather than a burden. 

“I moved to New York right after college, and ever since they’ve been begging us to move back home,” laughed Hameedah, a tech engineer, who’s lived in the concrete jungle for the past two years, while her sister, Jameelah, who’s in pharmaceutical marketing, called Gotham home for the last four years.

And just like that, the sisters officially left the boroughs this fall. 

“It’s not necessary for me to be in the city,” said Jameelah, who works as a remote ad expert. “I decided to make an adult decision and really think about my future.”

“And if I have the option to save money, I might as well just take advantage of it.”

The cash she’s stashed since moving home in September — just under $10,000 — has given Jameelah complete financial freedom.  

“It’s great not having to pay rent. I have so much disposable income,” she gushed. “I can travel, prioritize myself and really enjoy my 20s without having that heavy responsibility.”

Hameedah, who also works from home, agrees. 

“I love to travel, and I was coming home from the city every two weeks, and it didn’t make sense to keep paying rent when I’m [almost never in my apartment],” said Hameedah.

It’s an expansive, expensive upgrade that youngest daughter, Memounah, 23 — a recent graduate of Boston University, who moved home after college — has chronicled online, sharing visuals of the revamp with over 465,000 stunned social media viewers. 

“A lot of people really resonated with the content, some were commenting, ‘Hey, maybe I should move home, ’” Memounah told The Post. “And that’s been the most beautiful part of sharing our family’s story with the internet — inspiring others.”

For now, the three sisters, as well as younger brother Yousuf, 18 — who all contribute to the household’s needs and upkeep — are each squirreling away portions of their respective funds to buy homes of their own someday.  

“We’re so grateful to our parents for giving us this opportunity to live at home and save money,” said Jameelah. “We would have been fine living in New York and paying high rent, but our parents want better for us.”

“And we want more for ourselves in the future.”

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