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When Maria Walker moved to New York from Ecuador in 1962, she had never allowed herself to dream that she could own a home in the United States. So a few years later, when she and her then-husband bought a two-bedroom house on Staten Island for $28,000, she excitedly took on most of the work — painting it, fixing the floors, even building the cabinets.

That starter home allowed her to begin investing in real estate, slowly trading up each time. Six decades later, Ms. Walker, now 86, has bought and sold more than a dozen homes, often with the help of her younger daughter, Michelle Flood, a designer and stylist.

“I’ve always been really good with numbers,” said Ms. Walker, who worked as a math teacher in Brooklyn for over 35 years. “And I never spent any more than I had to.”

Ms. Flood, 58, called her mother a “leona,” or lioness. “She doesn’t spend any money,” she said. “She saves everything.”

“I think she’s had the same three outfits since I was 5,” said Inali Dreyer, Ms. Flood’s daughter, who calls Ms. Walker “Abu,” short for “abuela.”

Two years ago, Ms. Walker decided to get her affairs in order. She still owned a studio apartment in the West Village that she’d bought in the late ’80s, and wanted to leave it to Ms. Dreyer.

“I was really grateful that my Abu wanted to leave that apartment for me, but even though she owned it, the co-op fees and bills for it were really high, and they only kept getting higher,” said Ms. Dreyer, 23, an investment banking analyst in Manhattan.

Instead, Ms. Dreyer, who was living with Ms. Flood in an apartment in Midtown East, suggested her grandmother sell the studio so all three women could pool their resources and buy a house together outside the city.

“We knew the house needed to be able to fit all of us together: my husband, my mother, my daughter and our dog, Harry Styles,” said Ms. Flood. She also has three stepchildren with her husband, George White, so maximum space was crucial.

Collectively, they could spend up to $1 million. They wanted to be in a town that was close to the water and somewhat walkable, since Ms. Walker doesn’t drive. After briefly considering Greenwich, Conn., they pivoted to New Rochelle, in Westchester County, which was much more affordable and would make for an easy commute to Grand Central Terminal.

To fund a down payment, Ms. Flood and her mother sold a house they co-owned in Massachusetts. Ms. Walker decided to keep the West Village studio for another year, buy the new house with a mortgage, and then use the proceeds from the studio sale to pay off the loan. “I wanted to give Inali a house with no mortgage,” she said. Ms. Flood and Ms. Dreyer would handle taxes, home repairs and insurance.

Their agent, Rose Bulfamante at Houlihan Lawrence, had worked with the family in the past. “I knew they would only want to see houses that had some character to it,” she said. “Especially with Michelle’s work, I knew architectural design would play a big role.”

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2026/06/11/realestate/westchester-new-rochelle-house-hunt.html?unlocked_article_code=1.pVA.BKh5.jfTdLDfnGWvD&smid=url-share

CGWBT went Hunter College High School --> Brandy Melville Sales Girl --> IU Biz School --> Perella Weinberg ANALyst

https://www.linkedin.com/in/inalidreyer/

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5873097&forum_id=2],#49930188)