There really isn't any reason to complicate this beyond "house elves come with big manors".
The key is to realize that house-elves are like serfs, not slaves. They're not free, but they aren't property, either. Instead, they're bound to a property, in a totally practical sense (as opposed to a magical sense, though with house-elves there's doubtless a magical component, too): They can't move away from that property unless their liege-lord/master says so, and they are obligated to work at that property, unless their liege-lord/master says otherwise. What happens if the property they're bound to is sold is anybody's guess: if you take even a superficial look at the history of serf-hood, you'll realize that it was ComplicatedTM. Basically, the answer to "Do they stay with the property (and serve the new owners) or do they go with the original family?" is "Yes."
But in any case, what this means is that the way for a family to acquire house-elves is to acquire a place that has house-elves, and since those kinds of places tend to big, expensive manors, it follows logically that you need to be rich to acquire them.
I don't really follow the theory that the elves actually "come with the castle/house/manor", because it is explained more than once that the elves are bound to serve a family, and I take that to mean they keep serving them even if the family moves to a different house.
If you're talking about old enough money, serving a family is functionally equivalent to serving the place they live. The two are not separable, at least not in the usual fashion. Think "awarded a noble estate", not "bought a house on Elm Street".
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