Building Your Dream House: How large would it be?

[JMapleton]

There are a lot of people on here who give a very self righteous "no one needs more than 2,500 square foot blah blah" attitude.

I've personally been in a few large houses (10,000 square feet) and while they are large in size, I still found them to be quite comfortable.

If you had $100m, how large of a house would you build?

I could easily image building or buying at least a 20,000 square foot house. It's about how to design it that makes it easy to live in.

 

[Slew Foot]

The house itself wouldnt be that large, maybe 4k sqft at the most.


It would have loads of acreage though, with my own private racetrack.

 

[rcpratt]

Depends on how big my family was. But more than 8-10k just seems like a waste...there's only so many rooms you can actually need and use.

 

[zerocool84]

As big as the Fresh Prince house

 

[JMapleton]

As big as the Fresh Prince house

That house wasn't that big in real life. 6,000 square feet I think.

 

[lupi]

i'd have several set up as hobby rooms, so could easily use 10k even if most are infrequently inhabited.

 

[MagnusTheBrewer]

I would build a working castle. I've looked into it quite a bit. It would take a minimum of a hundred people to make it function. Your 20,000 square foot home would take a staff of three (at least) to clean and keep it going.

 

[iGas]

There are a lot of people on here who give a very self righteous "no one needs more than 2,500 square foot blah blah" attitude.

I've personally been in a few large houses (10,000 square feet) and while they are large in size, I still found them to be quite comfortable.

If you had $100m, how large of a house would you build?

I could easily image building or buying at least a 20,000 square foot house. It's about how to design it that makes it easy to live in.

The last house I owned was 2700 sqf and it felt a bit large for me & my ex.

I would be perfectly happy with 3000~3500 sqf with 1~2 kids.

I worked on a 16,000 sqf single level home (on over 300 acres/water front) that was well north of $20 millions on the structural alone and it felt large. Dragging my tools from one side to the other seems to take a long time. Another house that I worked on was 22,000 sqf 4 levels home that costs $28 millions and it seems to be smaller. Both houses seems to be an over kill and I wouldn't want to be the person that clean up the place.

PS. $100 millions might be just enough to buy 1 of the house above including the land, but you might need more money for taxes & upkeep. No more than 4000 sqf house if I have $100 m.

 

[TraumaRN]

Based on houses I've been in before, I'd say probably about 6000 square feet. Would be big enough to have all of what I would want in a house without being ridiculously gaudy. My in-laws live in a 4500 square house and it's pretty big but they don't use the space very well.

 

[JMapleton]

I would build a working castle. I've looked into it quite a bit. It would take a minimum of a hundred people to make it function. Your 20,000 square foot home would take a staff of three (at least) to clean and keep it going.

I don't think so. I think a person could live in it by itself and just have maids and lawn people come once a week.

Security would be the only issue.

 

[MagnusTheBrewer]

I don't think so. I think a person could live in it by itself and just have maids and lawn people come once a week.

Security would be the only issue.

Perhaps if your lifestyle remained unchanged but, that large a house screams for guests.

 

[Kaervak]

The house itself wouldnt be that large, maybe 4k sqft at the most.


It would have loads of acreage though, with my own private racetrack.

Ditto on the large lot, maybe two acres at the most or at least big enough to have a powerful enough solar setup and geothermal. 1500-2000 square foot house (not including the basement/attic), with a nearly equal sized heated, fully plumbed, garage with a hydraulic lift, or two. The racetrack would be nice, but I could live without it.

 

[Howard]

I don't know. 5,000 sq ft+ for basic living space for sure, though, and extra for stuff like indoor sports courts and gardens.

 

[mugs]

That house wasn't that big in real life. 6,000 square feet I think.

Didn't look bigger than 4000 sq ft on the inside, and why the hell did they have a hallway to nowhere where the front door should have been?

"no one needs more than 2,500 square foot" may be true for normal sized families, but I sure as hell wouldn't mind having more space. I can't imagine using more than 10,000 square feet though. My father-in-law has a couple of really nice houses, but they're not that big. Maybe 6000 sq ft for the larger one, and it feels huge (it actually feels more like 3 houses joined together). I don't think I'd ever need more space than that house has.

 

[xanis]

Not very big. I'm thinking 3 bed, 2 bath + basement + 2-car garage.

Basically, I want a master suite for me, a guest room for guests, and a room that I could make into an office. Garage needs to be 2-car for the simple fact that I want a place for my car and extra storage. Basement is for storage and finishing, maybe into a home theater or server room.

 

[JMapleton]

Didn't look bigger than 4000 sq ft on the inside, and why the hell did they have a hallway to nowhere where the front door should have been?

"no one needs more than 2,500 square foot" may be true for normal sized families, but I sure as hell wouldn't mind having more space. I can't imagine using more than 10,000 square feet though. My father-in-law has a couple of really nice houses, but they're not that big. Maybe 6000 sq ft for the larger one, and it feels huge (it actually feels more like 3 houses joined together). I don't think I'd ever need more space than that house has.

I think a lot of modern and suburban houses are like small mazes inside, even if they're not that big. Awkwardly shaped kitchens and winding staircases, curved hallways, etc.

I think if a large house was designed in a very traditional and uniform way, it wouldn't feel that big. It wouldn't feel like a hamster maze.

And I like big rooms. I don't think big rooms feel informal if they're done right. I mean really big. I would have my main living room be at least 3,000 sqft in itself.

 

[sonambulo]

Somewhere in the 4K square feet range for the house itself. The library (separate building) would be an easy, easy 3k square feet on it's own.

 

[JMapleton]

Not very big. I'm thinking 3 bed, 2 bath + basement + 2-car garage.

Basically, I want a master suite for me, a guest room for guests, and a room that I could make into an office. Garage needs to be 2-car for the simple fact that I want a place for my car and extra storage. Basement is for storage and finishing, maybe into a home theater or server room.

If you had $100m, you would only have one car? And you wouldn't have a girlfriend or wife and want a place to park her car? For rizzle?

 

[xanis]

If you had $100m, you would only have one car? And you wouldn't have a girlfriend or wife and want a place to park her car? For rizzle?

I'd have one car parked in the main garage, my daily driver. This isn't to say that I wouldn't add on a multi-car garage to the property at a later date though. I'm also a man of simple tastes. Big houses just don't do much for me for whatever reason.

 

[iGas]

I don't think so. I think a person could live in it by itself and just have maids and lawn people come once a week.

Security would be the only issue.

The 16,000 sqf house is a summer house that they may spend a week there a year.

And, it have: Full time
1 security guard/chauffeur (live on the property in a separate 1200 sqf house)
2 gardeners (live on the property on a separate 2200 sqf house)

Part time
1 house cleaner (16 hours a week)
1 general maintenance person (minimum 16 hours a week)

So, IMHO that $100m you have is not going to go very far.

 

[skyking]

Probably 4000 feet or so. It would be one part of the estate, there would be shops and hangars and garages, ponds, water features, a runway or two.

 

[TraumaRN]

I forgot to add I'd have at least enough land to be self-sufficient on open pollinated/heirloom fruits and veggies which would include heated greenhouses if I was in a colder climate. Not to mention self sustaining on energy, solar, wind, geothermal for sure.

 

[Dirigible]

Four to six square feet should do it.

 

[JMapleton]

The 16,000 sqf house is a summer house that they may spend a week there a year.

So, IMHO that $100m you have is not going to go very far.

Ok, we're not talking about a summer house and I'm sure you get a lot of enjoyment out of letting everyone know you know someone who has a house like that.

But $100m, invested wisely to draw interest can easily pay for that and a lot of other lifestyle choices. 8% in dividends on oil trusts is easy. (I am not an investment advisor). If you cannot afford a house that big on $6,500,000/year (after tax) you're a very bad investor.

A 16,000 squarefoot house would cost no more than $5m to build. That's less than a year's income.

The houses you're speaking of are probably on a coastal area where they're overpriced and would not sell for that much in reality and the land is a huge portion of the cost.

I follow high end real estate closely. Very very few houses sell for $20m+. However a lot of houses are listed for that much, but they end up selling for much less.

In my city, we had an all brick, slate roofed house, in brand new condition, with 30,000 sqft, 8 bedrooms, 18 bathrooms, on 4 acres in the nicest neighborhood in the entire city, sell for $2.5m. It was originally listed for $5m.

The guy who bought it......tore it down. He just wanted the land to build a smaller house on.

 

[iGas]

I forgot to add I'd have at least enough land to be self-sufficient on open pollinated/heirloom fruits and veggies which would include heated greenhouses if I was in a colder climate. Not to mention self sustaining on energy, solar, wind, geothermal for sure.

LOL, The people(I'm not going to name names, but everyone here would have heard of them) that built the 16,000 sqf house cut down a large portion of their 200 years old apple orchard (some varieties are 400 years old varieties that you can't get any longer) to make way for their horses, because the horses get sick on eating apples. IMHO, it was a crime.