Buying big house vs a small house

[zinfamous]

You are not crazy. You are rational.

....and you are destroying our economy!!! D:



😛

 

[skyking]

^ so true, OP is da debil!
OP, If you don't have a nice garage, do yourself a big favor and design and build one. It will make all the difference.

 

[Zeze]

Just bought a family home last year. 4 BR 2.5 BA @ 2300 SF.

We're very happy. The area we live in (busy areas of northern NJ 2-3 miles from Hudson River), most homes are old (70+ yrs) and they have awful shit 'bedrooms' that you can't even fit a queen sized bed in.

The BRs in our home are proper size. This will be a good family home for having 2 kids. It has a living room and another dedicated media room. + 1 guest room.

 

[nakedfrog]

I've got 1,600 square feet now, and that seems like plenty.

 

[Zeze]

I had a 3bed 2.5 bath 2000 sq ft townhouse and moved to a single family that's much bigger, 3200 sq ft., half acre lot

the upkeep on the lawn and garden is awful. my opinion might change later, but all of the grass and outdoor space have no benefit or use to me.

My folks up in suburbs of MA have a half acre lawn too. Yea, half acre is effin' HUGE. An adult can throw a foot ball hard as you can, and it would barely cover 50%~. Width & Length being equal.

Growing up, dad and I spent thousands of hours doing never ending lawn work. Oh my god the leaves during fall.

It is beautiful to take advantage of all that space during summer- hosting parties, playing sports, etc. But it's too much for them after all the kids have left.

 

[skyking]

I purchased the raw land, and made sure to leave more than 50% wooded and not needing any upkeep. I have too much lawn but it was the only way to tame the invasive species that follow logging.
The salal, Oregon Grape, hazelnut and other native undergrowth are reaching into the lawn, and I am encouraging it. 🙂

 

[Staples]

I live in a small house and zero chance of moving because the market is way too expensive here but I will say this. The problem I run into is number of rooms, not the size of the house. I value silence.

 

[PricklyPete]

I live in a small house and zero chance of moving because the market is way too expensive here but I will say this. The problem I run into is number of rooms, not the size of the house. I value silence.

With 3 little ones (all 2 or younger), we still get peace from 8pm on. I may have a different opinion once they get older.

 

[chitwood]

i'm in my first house and it's about 2200sqft. it's me, my wife, and a 16 month old. we could definitely use a little bigger but it's not 100% necessary at this point. something like 3k sqft would be way more than enough most likely.

This is my situation, verbatim.

Same size house, same age kid.

Are you me?

 

[rcpratt]

We have a 1,600 sqft townhouse right now, and it's fine for the two of us. Probably will upgrade to 2,500-3,000 sqft at some point when the family grows.

 

[bruceb]

Two people living in my home .. we went from 2200 sq ft bilevel to an addition of 1000 sq ft on that house. Then last year we completed the build of a new home here in NC which is right around 5000 sq ft, which includes a half finished attic and half finished basement area. It fills up real quick.

 

[z1ggy]

Two people living in my home .. we went from 2200 sq ft bilevel to an addition of 1000 sq ft on that house. Then last year we completed the build of a new home here in NC which is right around 5000 sq ft, which includes a half finished attic and half finished basement area. It fills up real quick.

With what???

Granted, my previous 1000 sqft home was just for 2 people, that included a decent sized living room and kitchen. Add in say, 3 more bedrooms at like like 150 sqft each, plus 2 more bathrooms at say 100sqft... How/why do you have a 5000sqft house? Massive bedrooms? Are you counting a finished basement? Unless more than 6 people live there full time, that seems like overkill. 'Grats though, you must do very well.

 

[bruceb]

Kitchen, Family Room, Dining Room, Sun Room, Breakfast Nook, Office, Extra Room (or spare bed room),
2 Master Bedrooms, 1 Guest Bedroom, Office, Laundry Room, Extra Room on 3rd floor (part of half finished attic)
3 car garage, Library, Game Room, small deck, outdoor screened in area, in ground sprinkler system .. multiple bathrooms most with shower / bath, couple are 1/2 bath

Retired, from Verizon

 

[rudder]

What did you do and why?

Bought a 5 bedroom house to have room available for the parents to visit often. 4 years after buying the house 75% of the parents are deceased. Looking for a smaller house now with lots of acreage.

 

[DrPizza]

We went from a larger house to a small house - it felt cramped at first, but the kids were just a couple of years from graduating. Now that they've graduated, there's plenty of room in the house. Slowwwwwwly remodeling the house; 3 bedrooms 1 office, 1 bath will eventually be 2 bedrooms, 2 baths. Putting a lot of money into such renovations, but... location, location, location. 18 acres adjacent to 7500 acres of state land on which, outside of deer season, it's rare to see anyone.

I'm not even sure of the square footage of the house... 1300? 1400? It's plenty of space for us. I just wish I had more space for my tools. (Garage is now an apartment.)

 

[z1ggy]

Retired, from Verizon

Wow, that eloquent response really answered my question.

I'll go on a limb and assume you have grandkids that are over quite often, thus needing many bedrooms for sleepovers and the like.

 

[bruceb]

I added info to the above post. And we don't have people over that often, but we can if we need or want to. I have a huge book collection and it just cost $3300 for additional bookcases (from Hale the Barrister series with glass doors) I have my office area, my brother has his.

 

[MrDudeMan]

I've bought a lot of houses in the last 10 years and it has really given me a lot of perspective.

• 05/2007: 1011 sq. ft. condo in CO
• 12/2008: turned the condo into a rental; bought a 3600 sq. ft. house (900 sq. ft. unfinished basement) in CO
• 01/2013: sold the previous house and condo; bought a 6300 sq. ft. house (2100 sq. ft. unfinished basement) in CO
• 11/2014: turned the house into a rental; bought a 2066 sq. ft. house in TX
• 02/2015: sold the big house in CO; bought a 1500 sq. ft. rental condo in TN
• 03/2015: bought a 3800 sq. ft. house in CO

I own an apartment building in CO as well, but that doesn't really count for this conversation. All 12 units are roughly 800 sq. ft, but I've never lived in any of them.

My current house is 3133 sq. ft. livable with a 667 sq. ft. garage. I thought it was the right size when I bought it, but I realized a few months ago that it's too big and I wish it was smaller. There are two significantly large rooms we don't use, but we also don't have AC and our furnace is a wood burning stove, so it doesn't really cost anything extra in terms of utilities. The kids are never inside, so we don't have much of anything in the house actually.

imo, smaller is better as it prevents you from keeping useless crap, costs less to maintain, easier to clean, taxes are lower, and, frankly, it helps keep your priorities in line. Knowing what I know now, I would have gotten a house that's 30-40% smaller as I plan to live in this one for a long time.

Big outbuildings are where the money should be spent. I'm building a 2000 sq. ft. barn with a 30' high ceiling to build autonomous drone prototypes. I'll probably spend 80% of my time in there especially since it has a urinal mounted on the wall.

 

[purbeast0]

This is my situation, verbatim.

Same size house, same age kid.

Are you me?

there is no spoon.

 

[thedarkwolf]

2br 1bath and 1k sq-ft
I'm single could easily cut that to 500sq-ft and be happy as long as it was a setup right. My second br is just storage for bikes and books mostly and I haven't bought a physical book in years so I could loose most of those.

 

[IndyColtsFan]

I currently have a 2800 sq ft home with a nice 1100 sq ft patio on a 1/2-acre lot. It is just me, my wife, and a little dog - we never intend on having kids. It is a lot to take care of, but as another poster mentioned, you'd be surprised at how you can use the space. I do wish we had a basement, however, as I would like to build a theater room.

My first home as a single guy was nearly 1300 sq ft and that was plenty for me.

 

[DougK62]

Single, 888sq/ft house, no basement. It's plenty of space, and I feel like a couple could live in the house comfortably.

Detached garage is bigger than the house, as God intended.

 

[SP33Demon]

You are not crazy. The biggest problem in Murrica is people buying more than they need. I own a 2100 sq foot home I rent out. I live with my wife in her 1400 sq foot home. I grew up in an 8000 sq foot home my dad still lives in by himself.

The big home is great if you have a bunch of kids. But if it is just a couple people all a big home presents is more work, more expenses, more taxes. A kitchen remodel goes from 20k to 60k. A new roof from 30k to 100k ect. Also heating(if you live in northern climates) and cooling cost more. My dads heating bill when he sets the temp at 60 degrees in the winter in January in MN can run close to 600 bucks. Eff that. I'd rather take my money and put it in the market.

What Genx said. Larger houses cost more in taxes and then you have to heat/cool them. I'm pretty comfy with what we have although in the future I'd like to buy something in similar size (2k sq ft) but with a humongous garage gym since no garage right now (only a barn I'm renovating). Maybe more land, like 5-20 acre range. One day when our jobs convert to full telework I'm going to cash out of our house that's in a good location (DC Metro with .5 acre) and move to a place that's cheaper (less taxes) but still with decent schools. Hopefully in about 5 years this should happen.

 

[Imp]

No house yet, but I'd go for small. I wouldn't mind a huge lot with lots of overgrown grass though.

It turns out that I hate possessions. I've been getting so much pleasure out of getting rid of useless shit over the past year. At this point, everything I care about or would move with me could fit in the backseat of a Civic.

Cleaning is also a pain, especially vacuuming. Hardwood floors, quick Swiffer or mop and done is the way to go.

 

[ponyo]

I like big house. Bigger the better. We currently live in ~4,000 sq ft house on 1/2 acre. I would prefer 6 to 8,000 sq ft home on 1 acre. But I hate moving and I like our current house and location. Plus I like not having a mortgage.