Buying big house vs a small house

[z1ggy]

I personally think that for every person that permanently lives in the home, 400sqft per individual is enough space. However, I wouldn't count that toward a [finished] basement or garage.

I think my ideal house, now after having lived in 3 separate homes as an adult, would be about 1600-2000sqft, for a family of 5. However, I would want a house that has at least 1000sqft of potential livable basement space, and a 2, even 3 car garage. Basement would be storage/ indoor sports areas for myself and the chilluns to shoot hockey pucks, hit golf balls or do whatever we'd like within reason. Garage speaks for itself... Oil changes, repairs, etc.

 

[BurnItDwn]

Bought townhouse when I was 24, 1100sq feet, 2 bedroom, 1.5 bath, bad neighborhood, shitty association, pain in the ass parking ..

When I was 27 I sold townhouse and bought house. nice neighborhood, 2 bedroom, 2 bath, no association, unincorporated. No garage 🙁, small house 960 sq feet, but basement is also 960 sq feet and mostly finished with dedicated home theater and bedroom and bathroom ... approx 1700 finished sq feet total.

Shed in back yard is too small
I dont have room to build a garage

Ideally, I would have a bigger kitchen, higher ceiling in the theater room, bigger bedrooms ("master" bedroom is only 12x10, too tight for king bed and dressers and such) and more closet/storage space. I'd also add a family room with a wood burning stove which would double as a home library. I would replace my deck with a screened in porch as I hate mosquitoes, I'd install a hot tub in the screened in porch and stick a 50 or 60 inch plasama out there.
I would also want a 2 car attached garage (room for 2 cars) and then another 2 or 3 car garage in back for toys/workshop. i'd also build a greenhouse for the woman so she can do gardening year round.

 

[Spacehead]

paid off is nice. What are you doing with the acreage?

It's all woods other than the small yard & garage. About due to see about timbering some of it. Need to see what prices are for what i have.
It's good deer hunting. It's alot of woods & hay/crop fields around me. Very rural.

 

[skyking]

Very nice. Take your time about logging it. Somebody with vision can go in and thin it out some, take 40% and you wouldn't even know it. The trick is to not disturb the soil and undergrowth as much as possible. At least around here, once you take the native stuff off the worst invasive non-native weeds rush in there. This leaves you with a couple of options:
Leave it and be a breeding ground for that shit, and have it look like ass.
Maintain it with a mower or something. Chemicals.
Neither one is much fun,

 

[monkeydelmagico]

About due to see about timbering some of it. Need to see what prices are for what i have.
.

OT: If you have Amish in your area contact them first. They do a good job logging with a minimum of impact. The Amish crew we had do my mom's upper 40 had a good eye for thinning the forest without destroying it.

 

[skyking]

^ Draft horse logging is da bomb! My FIL had a big Belgian draft horse for a hobby all his life, after working them for real in the 20's and 30's.
The park service and forest service will use draft team contractors along sensitive streams to do maintenance work.

 

[RagingBITCH]

Grew up in 1800 sq ft - 3 kids, 2 parents. Felt big enough to me.

My first house I bought was 1500 sq ft - 3 bedrooms, just me. Had a roommate once, also a part time daughter (she lived with her mom during the week) - never really an issue on space. Fiancee moved in and we sold it about 8 months later.

Next/current house is 2946 sq ft. Right now have 1 FT kid, another on the way, and my daughter who stays every once in a while. (Lives in a diff state) I hate to say it, but our house now almost feels small some days. We underwent a 4 month kitchen renovation that completely opened up our house - it really gave it more overall space and a bigger feel, just sometimes wish we had a 5th bedroom, or an actual backyard, (it's all pool) or a 3 car garage.

 

[Mayne]

I have no respect for people that put up 2.5 storie monstrosities between bungalows. they can all die in a fire.

 

[edro]

It's always greener on the other side.

It's nice to have low taxes, low costs, live within you means.
But... it's also nice to have plenty of room in a nice neighborhood with higher class neighbors.
Then again, some higher class neighbors are very problematic as well (HOA issues, etc).

A lot of times, small cheap houses are surrounded by people who can only afford small cheap houses.
Then you have to deal with neighborhood issues and potentially bad schooling.

I have faith that whatever you choose, it will all work out.

 

[skyking]

If the OP likes his 'hood, then adding a decent man cave to it will do wonders.

 

[Spacehead]

Very nice. Take your time about logging it. Somebody with vision can go in and thin it out some, take 40% and you wouldn't even know it. The trick is to not disturb the soil and undergrowth as much as possible. At least around here, once you take the native stuff off the worst invasive non-native weeds rush in there. This leaves you with a couple of options:
Leave it and be a breeding ground for that shit, and have it look like ass.
Maintain it with a mower or something. Chemicals.
Neither one is much fun,

OT: If you have Amish in your area contact them first. They do a good job logging with a minimum of impact. The Amish crew we had do my mom's upper 40 had a good eye for thinning the forest without destroying it.

Amish own the property next to mine. When they cut theirs they left alot of tops laying so it's going to be a jungle over there for awhile. Animals will probably like it though.

I know other that have horse teams too. I just need an expert opinion what's worth cutting.

 

[jlee]

Ideally? Small house, big garage.

I bought an 1825sq ft house with a slightly generous 2 car garage. I don't regret it, but my ideal house is pretty difficult to find (~1200sq ft, 4-6 bays). 😛

 

[skyking]

Ideally? Small house, big garage.

I bought an 1825sq ft house with a slightly generous 2 car garage. I don't regret it, but my ideal house is pretty difficult to find (~1200sq ft, 4-6 bays). 😛

sure. I'd want a shower out in the bays, big sink. maybe washer/dryer so I can leave the greasiest clothes out there.
aw hell just live in the shop and cut to the chase 🙂

 

[eldorado99]

Very nice. Take your time about logging it. Somebody with vision can go in and thin it out some, take 40% and you wouldn't even know it. The trick is to not disturb the soil and undergrowth as much as possible. At least around here, once you take the native stuff off the worst invasive non-native weeds rush in there. This leaves you with a couple of options:
Leave it and be a breeding ground for that shit, and have it look like ass.
Maintain it with a mower or something. Chemicals.
Neither one is much fun,

What is wrong with just clearing it if you are going to take all the good stuff anyway? Why spend money, time, and effort trying to maintain scrub? Personally I would rather have a cleared and properly graded acreage, and I think while many people are "sensitive" about the issues of removing trees, once they see the finished product, they will agree it is the right move. People get way too uppity about taking trees down. Of course, this would be in keeping with the idea that the acreage is for livestock of some kind, whether domestic or wild. No way I am mowing 10+ acres of pasture/lawn with any regularity myself, once a year at most unless I am making hay.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Ideally? Small house, big garage.

I bought an 1825sq ft house with a slightly generous 2 car garage. I don't regret it, but my ideal house is pretty difficult to find (~1200sq ft, 4-6 bays). 😛

Yeah if I was building a house from scratch I'd probably want something similar. I'm not a car guy but if I had like a large conditioned 2 bay garage with tons of room to work in and store tools, I'd probably get an old beater so I can learn to fix it and also fix my own car. Would be conditioned space so that I can work in a decent environment. The main reason I pay someone to fix even basic stuff on my car is that to me it's worth it, vs doing it in -40 or if it's summer, in +30. What I'd probably do is have a 2 bay garage, and immediatly behind that garage would be a large open shop area for stuff like wood working or any "dirty" project. That space would be conditioned independently from the garage but be accessible by a decent sized man door. Then the actual living space of the house would be no more than 1000sqft. Don't really need more than that. Basement is a must though. I don't understand houses that don't have a basement. You need to have footings going all the way to frost line, may as well make a basement. Heck even make a basement under the garage. There would be a need for a decent amount of support pillars, so it could act more as storage area.

One big thing I'd want in a custom built house is super high R value/air barrier as well to make it super efficient. Like I'd go beyond code. Like R60 in the walls and R80 in attic. Then continuous vapour barrier with no seams anywhere. Practically make the house space worthy. Just add good HVAC and fresh air intake and HRV to compensate. Those intakes could shut down when the temp outside is extreme and then open when it's closer to inside temp. That and I'd build it with alternate energy in mind, probably have a huge solar setup, wind setup, and then a separate building with tons of batteries. Ahhhh to win the lottery...

 

[Miramonti]

Among other disadvantages, depending on one's age, a large house gives the appearance to one's kids and/or step kids that it's easy to move back home because one has 'plenty of space'. The best argument is to not have plenty of space, and to not have such a large house that makes it convenient to stay long if needed in a pinch.

 

[Jumpem]

Among other disadvantages, depending on one's age, a large house gives the appearance to one's kids and/or step kids that it's easy to move back home because one has 'plenty of space'. The best argument is to not have plenty of space, and to not have such a large house that makes it convenient to stay long if needed in a pinch.

Why have an issue with helping your kids out if they need it? It would cost you nothing but a room?

 

[IEC]

Why have an issue with helping your kids out if they need it? It would cost you nothing but a room?

At some points kids have to become adults.

 

[thedarkwolf]

My across the street neighbor has that problem. He has 3 kids the youngest of which is probably 25ish and they all still live at home with no jobs.

 

[TXHokie]

Our family of 5 downgraded from 3000sqft 2 level to 2300sqft single level. The smaller space fit us all perfectly but I miss having the extra space to hide or that when the kids have friends over, I can have them all go in one corner of the house to entertain or even when guests come over.
But I don't miss paying extra for 2 zones HVAC unused space and high taxes; and the seasonal downstairs is too cold and upstairs is too hot. Plumbing or doing cabling on two level sucks -- had too many incidents of water leak upstairs leaking to room downstairs. And forget about doing anything DIY on the roof of two story houses. Smaller house get me outside more - I'm into doing yard work now and growing trees and veg etc.

 

[Eug]

I personally think that for every person that permanently lives in the home, 400sqft per individual is enough space. However, I wouldn't count that toward a [finished] basement or garage.

I think my ideal house, now after having lived in 3 separate homes as an adult, would be about 1600-2000sqft, for a family of 5. However, I would want a house that has at least 1000sqft of potential livable basement space, and a 2, even 3 car garage. Basement would be storage/ indoor sports areas for myself and the chilluns to shoot hockey pucks, hit golf balls or do whatever we'd like within reason. Garage speaks for itself... Oil changes, repairs, etc.

For me I'd say 1000 square feet plus ~500 per son after that. So for our family of 4, that would be 2500 square feet. Plus garage and basement. But we live in a much larger home albeit with no garage. Garage was converted into small home theatre... which these days I only occasionally use because we have young kids.

 

[Eug]

I personally think that for every person that permanently lives in the home, 400sqft per individual is enough space. However, I wouldn't count that toward a [finished] basement or garage.

I think my ideal house, now after having lived in 3 separate homes as an adult, would be about 1600-2000sqft, for a family of 5. However, I would want a house that has at least 1000sqft of potential livable basement space, and a 2, even 3 car garage. Basement would be storage/ indoor sports areas for myself and the chilluns to shoot hockey pucks, hit golf balls or do whatever we'd like within reason. Garage speaks for itself... Oil changes, repairs, etc.

For me I'd say 1000 square feet for the first person plus ~500 per person after that. So for our family of 4, that would be 2500 square feet. Plus garage and basement. But we live in a much larger home albeit with no garage. Garage was converted into small home theatre... which these days I only occasionally use because we have young kids.

That also means 1500 square feet for two people, which isn't far off the OP's setup.

 

[z1ggy]

For me I'd say 1000 square feet for the first person plus ~500 per person after that. So for our family of 4, that would be 2500 square feet. Plus garage and basement. But we live in a much larger home albeit with no garage. Garage was converted into small home theatre... which these days I only occasionally use because we have young kids.

That also means 1500 square feet for two people, which isn't far off the OP's setup.

Hmmm I guess that's reasonable, although if you start with 1,0000 sqft i'd say then you only need about 250-300sqft per individual then. Nobody really needs more than a 12x15 bedroom unless you have a larger house with a master suite. Bathrooms don't need to be more than 10x10 IMO... So that pretty much still equals my original thoughts.

For where I live in NJ, unless I end up becoming President of my company, or leaving and becoming CFO/VP somewhere else, I will never be able to afford much. This part of NJ is insanely rich, one of the richest parts of the entire state, except for potentially a few small pockets along the coastline. With my salary plus the SO's going 5-10 years forward, we might be able to afford like a 1200-1500sqft 3bed 2 bath. It's that bad around here.

Personally, I might want to build. As long as I can put down about 20-30%, it will be a much better investment. Feck NJ real estate..

 

[PricklyPete]

It's always greener on the other side.

It's nice to have low taxes, low costs, live within you means.
But... it's also nice to have plenty of room in a nice neighborhood with higher class neighbors.
Then again, some higher class neighbors are very problematic as well (HOA issues, etc).

A lot of times, small cheap houses are surrounded by people who can only afford small cheap houses.
Then you have to deal with neighborhood issues and potentially bad schooling.

I have faith that whatever you choose, it will all work out.

I assure you that smaller houses do not always equal poor/low-class neighborhoods...particularly in large cities where we'll taken care of, old neighborhoods are in high demand.

 

[edro]

I assure you that smaller houses do not always equal poor/low-class neighborhoods...particularly in large cities where we'll taken care of, old neighborhoods are in high demand.

Correct.

In some markets, you need a bigger house to be in a nicer neighborhood.
In other markets, location is the cost driver, so small houses are still expensive.