How Big Is Your Home?

[Midpack]

Spawned by another thread. I'm even posting a Googled chart to see how we compare (I am guessing smaller due to LBYMers here, we plan to downsize soon), and used their "bins" so we'd have a comparison...

 

[pimpmyretirement]

1600sf two story townhouse w/ basement today. Already, I am annoyed when I have to go from the basement to the bedroom to get something. I can't imaging living in a 4000sf place.

The 700sf one bedroom apartment I came from was a bit small. I am thinking around 1200sf, all on one level, would be just right.

I lived in a <250sf studio apartment with my girlfriend for two summers in college. That was cozy...

It's a shame small homes aren't more popular.

 

[rescueme]

2400 sq ft of living space. Two adults, two dogs. Each have their own BR . Add to that a full basement along with a three bay garage.

No plans to downsize in retirement (I am; DW soon to follow).

Just the lifestyle we desire at this stage of life...

 

[Brett_Cameron]

4 Br, bonus room one and a half story, 4 people living here. 3000 sq ft heated. Too big but not so expensive right now.

 

[Midpack]

First home was 1350 sf. Present home is 2270 sf, with three rooms we literally never use (LR, DR, BR4). Next home will be 1500 +/- if I can convince DW (she wants to downsize, but maybe not as small as I'd like). Not complaining, glad she wants to downsize while many people are still in McMansion mode...

 

[rescueme]

...many people are still in McMansion mode...

Per Wikipedia it seems a McMansion is at least 3K sq/ft. Currently on the poll, we only have a few in that size with the current majority with much less.

So I guess as a group, we could be considered non-McMansion folks...

 

[Andre1969]

Current home is about 1500 square feet. There's three of us living there, me and two roommates. Sometimes I think it would be cool to get a bigger house, or add on to the one I have, but even now, there are three rooms that mainly just accumulate junk. One room upstairs has a weight bench that one of my roommates uses from time to time, but mostly it just collects junk. That room is about 10x15.5 feet. Downstairs there is a small office with a walk-in-closet, and, hate to say it, mostly junk. Probably about 7x15.5 feet there. And then, an enclosed side porch that's about 7x10 feet. There's a second fridge out there that gets used, but other than that, it just gets packed up with stuff that we rarely use.

I'd really be better off simply getting rid of stuff, rather than trying to add on to the house. My only real complaints about the house are 1) it only has one bathroom and 2) it's fairly long and narrow, so while none of the rooms are really tiny, none of them are really huge, either. The living room, for example, is only 13x12.5 feet.

 

[aaronc879]

860 sq ft condo no basement or garage. It's just me so it's more than enough. I wouldn't want to pay for or clean anything larger.

 

[Brett_Cameron]

Great googly-moogly! I never thought of my house as a McMansion!

 

[grumpy]

1840 sq ft. home. One floor, three bedrooms, 2 full baths, 2 car garage. In a 55 and over community of 800 homes.

 

[PaddyMac]

3600 sq ft, but 1/3rd is used as office/studio space. I like lots of space. I fill it with book cases and art. Would also love a separate casita as an art studio, and another bedroom room for our exercise equipment (which is now in the 3-car garage).

We almost bought a 5000 sq ft home with a gigantic basement; only the thought of how quickly we'd fill it up and how impossible it would be to ever downsize later stopped us...

 

[Amethyst]

McMansions are large homes that extend almost to the edges of their yards and practically butt up against each other. If the home is proportional to its land area - it's an estate, not a McMansion! Even if the home is 1000 sq feet.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it...

Amethyst

Per Wikipedia it seems a McMansion is at least 3K sq/ft. Currently on the poll, we only have a few in that size with the current majority with much less.

So I guess as a group, we could be considered non-McMansion folks...

 

[antmary]

One year ago we moved into our 1300 sq ft home; it took 5 years to finish it, paying as we went. It is on 10 acres, is energy efficient, and has a good well, septic, and ditch water.

We moved from a 3000+ sq ft house. One July in the big house, the electric bill was $600 +/-. In our new home, the highest bill this summer was just $54.00.

Yea, for us, small has been good.

 

[IBWino]

We bought a 3bd/2ba 1370 sq-ft late 60's ranch style tract home ten years ago. Two adults, no kids and no pets. It's a good size for us, although I'd like to have a slightly larger garage. Planning to have it paid off in another five years.

Over the past ten years, we've extensively remodeled it: new kitchen, new baths, new doors inside and out, new widows, new HVAC, new roof, new plumbing, insulation, new deck and patio, landscaping. Now it's in need of exterior paint.

 

[sinjin]

We sold our McMansion last month, 3300sq ft with a 2300 sq ft basement. The whole time we were getting it ready for sale we kept saying "What were we thinking when we built this place?" Like others we only used a small portion of the house. It was great though when the kiddies and grand-baby came back to visit.

We are currently living in our 28ft airstream and planning to start building a 1300 sq ft home, no basement, soon. I'm already asking myself "What are you thinking?" But the McMansion was my dream and it was great for the first 10 years and the 1300 sq ft beach house is Mr. Sin's dream so there you go.

We figure that after living in the airstream for 6-8 months the 1300 footer will feel luxuriously large, hee. And only a .2 mile walk to the beach.

Whoops, turns out we didn't have a McMansion, our place was on 3.5 acres.

 

[Lisa99]

2600 sq ft (not yet retired)

4 bedrooms of which one is a dedicated guest room and two bedrooms are dedicated offices.

Once we retire and downsize we WILL NOT have a formal living or dining space. They are never used except Thanksgiving and Christmas.

In fact we're talking about spending the first couple of years fulltiming in an RV so we'd be going from 2600 to about 300 sq ft...guess we'll find out whether we really like each other or not.

 

[Texas Proud]

Have a 4 BR, 3 1/2 bath with dining, den, gameroom totaling 2700 sf ft... but I still don't have my own room!!!

We have a two car garage, but I would like it to be a bit bigger so we can store stuff and put in the cars... heck, a 3 car garage would be nice since the wife wants a runabout boat...

 

[Trawler]

Have 3 bedroom 2.5 bath 3/4 basement , office, library/sitting room ,dining and family rooms, first floor laundry in 2158 Sq feet. Use all the rooms.

 

[tangomonster]

1700 square feet of living space. 3 BRs and 2 BAs for the two of us. Also a garage and an attic.

We live in an over 55 community (condo ranches in a quadraplex). Our much older neighbors have some difficulty with the downsizing they did from much larger homes. To DH and me, it's a palace because we actually upsized to move here from 1,000 square foot condo (moved because the neighbors were getting bad---not to gain more space). So it's definitely all relative....

I get amused by all the people who insist on large formal living rooms or kitchens that never get used. My kitchen now is small and before that, I had a galley kitchen. But DH and I still manage to cook up a storm even in the cramped quarters.

 

[GregLee]

Small 4 room cottage, 1240sf, 2 bedrooms, no attic, no basement, no garage, 780sf covered lanai, for 2 people. Built in 1946 and we do a minimum of maintenance. The area is very nice, but the house, as our real estate agent put it when we bought it in 1994, "is not for everyone".

 

[FIREd]

Current house: 2500 sqft for 2 people and 2 cats (when we adopted our 2 cats, we were contractually required to provide them with a minimum of 2500 sqft of indoors space, so we barely qualified ).

The house comprises 1 large kitchen, 1 large family room, 1 dining room, 1 library, 4 bedrooms (master, guest, 2 offices) and 2.5 bathrooms. On a day-to-day basis, we only use the kitchen, living room, master bedroom, 1 bathroom and 1 office. So about half the house is wasted space.

I lived in homes with square footages ranging from ~160 sqft to ~2500 sqft, and I definitely prefer homes that are smaller (less cleaning, less maintenance, less room to accumulate stuff, smaller holding costs).

 

[Ally]

Ours is 2450 sq. feet and is fine for me and my husband and three pets. We have to have something this size, because my daughter's family with the 5 grandchildren come visit about twice a month for a night or two. They live about 90 miles away and come up here to shop, etc. I can't see us moving, unless something happens to one of us. Then maybe.

 

[Dawg52]

Perfect size home for me, 1200 sq feet with 2 br and 1 bath. But in a poor location. Will eventually sell it and move on.

 

[powerplay]

My house is 1500 sf with 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, and an attached double car garage. It's all on one level and I really like my area of town and expect to stay here as long as possible.

 

[W2R]

Mine is a little less than 1600 square feet (3 BR, 2 bath, one story, no garage, early 1970's vintage). For one person, that might seem a little large, and it previously belonged to a family of four.

I really don't use the guest bedroom at all, and almost never go in there. Still, it is nice to know that I have the extra space if I need it for something someday.

My house isn't too much for me to keep up with, and the energy bills are reasonable. Even though I don't need all that space, I am happy with it for now.

McMansions are large homes that extend almost to the edges of their yards and practically butt up against each other.

OK, then maybe I live in a McMansion! Lots in my neighborhood are 50'x100'. The distance from my house to the edge of the lot is about 8'.