Houses - How big is too big?

[Out of Steam]

I haven't considered square feet of a new place. Houses here don't have basements so you do need a little storage or less junk.

We have the same issue with lack of a basement. I have hiking gear in our main living space that my wife wishes was in the garage, but I'm not comfortable with storing it in an unconditioned space. I've been consigning excess gear pretty aggressively.

 

[imjustawarrior]

Good point. I don't feel that we have "very" high net worth, but with 3000 sq foot for 2 of us feels like the right size. We do hire out everything - house cleaning, yard, pool, etc. But I can see where you are coming from. People with 20K sq ft home obviously have much higher net worth.

I was pointing out that there are probably a lot of millionaires here living in 1500 sq ft houses. Let's say they have $3million NW. 3million/1500 is 2000. I bet there are a lot of people living in 5000 sq ft houses that have a net worth less than a million. 1million/5000 is 200.

 

[RetiredHappy]

I was pointing out that there are probably a lot of millionaires here living in 1500 sq ft houses. Let's say they have $3million NW. 3million/1500 is 2000. I bet there are a lot of people living in 5000 sq ft houses that have a net worth less than a million. 1million/5000 is 200.

I am saying not necessarily. I think you are referring to those who LBYM folks on this forum. In our circle of friends in the community, I would say that size of homes is in direct proportion to their net worth. Someone with very high net worth here typically owns a 6K+ sq ft home and another home elsewhere. We have many close friends here who fall into that category.

 

[skyking1]

I have been on the both side of fence, full circle. We moved to our first 1300 sqft house from 780 sqft apartment and we felt like we moved into a mansion! BRs and kitchen were small but living area was huge with an attached screened-in porch. We hosted all birthday parties for all our friends since none had their own house.

Next was 3500 sqft house and same feeling. I noticed a few wasted spaces: Hallways mainly.

Next was 6000 sqft house because we wanted a pool and a media room. This house felt really HUGE! But SO MUCH WASTED SPACE: Hallways, inside balconies, foyers, reading area, craft room. We used the media room a lot but we never used half of the spaces. I eventually came to regret this house because of tax and utility bills. But to be fair, school aged kids enjoyed the space and pool afforded by this large house and good schools that came with it.

Current house on our acreage is 2300 sqft ranch house. Very efficient layout and no wasted space other than a foyer. Small BRs as expected. I think this is the good size house but DW wants more kitchen cabinets and a guest bedroom. After living in a large house, I kind of like the small house. Less walking, less cleaning, less utility, less property tax. Only thing we felt pinched is hosting guests. Our guest count is typically in 25-50 range so we purpose built a 4000 sqft "party/hobby" building. We like this solution.

After coming a full circle, I think the best size for us would be a 3000 sqft of main house and a large party/hobby building. YMMV.

That sounds like a sweet arrangement. My dream second building is a ~36x60 gothic arch barn. One side would be long parking for RV etc. The other side would be split between a wood shop and a metal/wrenching shop.
The fun part is the 2000SF dance floor above

 

[Romer]

Reading through all these posts highlights how diffferent each and everyone of us are. We all have different preferences.

Some don't understand why people need bigger houses, some enjoy having more room. Some think the bigger house is a waste and doesn't provide any additional happiness, some feel differently

I posted the spcs on my house earlier. My wife and I live mostly on the 3000 sq ft main floor of our Ranch with our master BR, my study, her study a Guest room, Kitchen and a great room (family/dinning/living room). It is where the kids and grand kids come for family dinners, sleep overs and to just hang out with the grandparents. This brings me great pleasure and I am much happier here than with our previous two story that had more footage acrosss the two floors (Not counting basements) and more individual and smaller rooms.

I do love the home theater in the basement. When my wife and I want to watch a show together or a movie or I want to watch sports, I go down there. If it is just me, the sound doesn't bother her in her study. My wife uses the Gym in the basement everyday to keep herself nimble and keep her knees working after two knee replacements.

The other selling point for me was the 4 car attached garage. Being able to keep my vehicles inside and have plenty of room to work on them makes me happy. I do most of the work on my two gas vehicles. I can afford to pay someone, just like tinkering. I just dropped the gas tank to replace the Evap Canister on my Land Cruiser. Plus its a great place for me to go out and enjoy a cigar during the winter.

One of the things I like about my house is there is no real straight standard rooms. Ceilings are vaulted, corners are curved, the hallway is arched the entire length. This is not a cookie cutter house, but I bought it at cookie cutter prices when the market dropped.

Could I live without those? Sure I could go back to the 1200 sq ft house we had when we first married. It was a cookie cutter house that wasn't special. Standard small rooms and every 3rd house was the same model. Everyhouse in my neighboorhood is unique and where built across 4 decades. Our house does make me happy. I have plenty to do in the yard to keep me busy or play with grandkids, I have my spaces and she has hers and we have the space we use together. It works for us and it is paid off. I installed Solar and Heatpumps to lower the energy costs. I haven't paid for electricity in 3 years. I have batteries when the grid goes down, which makes my wife very happy. I had room to build another 2 car garage to store some of my other toys. There are a couple of rooms in the basement I could drop with no big deal, but it is the basement so doesn't matter much. The main floor is perfect for us.

I understand how some feel a bigger house is a waste. Just like some may feel anything more than a chevy Malibu is a waste, or springing for a balcony vs inside cabin on a cruise is a waste, or getting the filet at perrys steakhouse vs Outback is a waste. Or going for Sam Adams vs the Schlitz Malt liquour

It is all about personal preference and what makes each of us happy and content. I for one would not be happy in a smaller house where I would lose my spaces or have a Closet so small, my clothes are in another room like they were in our first house. Even after 15 years, this is still my dream house and I have no wants to move.

Your Mileage May Vary (YMMV) meaning everyone is different

 

[Teacher Terry]

I think the layout of a house and how it fits your family is so important. I raised my kids in a house built in 1920. It was 2k sq ft and all the rooms were separate. It worked great for our family of 5.

It had 3 stories which was great because if the kids were noisy on the 3rd floor you couldn’t hear them on the first. The kitchen was small which was a negative.

We had a formal dining room that we used daily to do homework including me as I was going to college. We also had dinner in there. We had a basement for laundry , workshop and storage.

If we had stayed in that town we could have lived on the first floor only if necessary when old because it had a bedroom also. It was my favorite house as it had lots of charm.

 

[skyking1]

I think the layout of a house and how it fits your family is so important. I raised my kids in a house built in 1920. It was 2k sq ft and all the rooms were separate. It worked great for our family of 5.

It had 3 stories which was great because if the kids were noisy on the 3rd floor you couldn’t hear them on the first. The kitchen was small which was a negative.

We had a formal dining room that we used daily to do homework including me as I was going to college. We also had dinner in there. We had a basement for laundry , workshop and storage.

If we had stayed in that town we could have lived on the first floor only if necessary when old because it had a bedroom also. It was my favorite house as it had lots of charm.

It is really hard to build that new. I do love the remodel programs and the cool neighborhoods on TV. I could get into it, but this scratch built house is scratching all of my crafty itches LOL.

 

[Teacher Terry]

It is really hard to build that new. I do love the remodel programs and the cool neighborhoods on TV. I could get into it, but this scratch built house is scratching all of my crafty itches LOL.

We remodeled it ourselves as we could afford to. I scraped all the paint off of the beautiful woodwork and front door which took a couple of years because I had to do it when the kids were sleeping. It turned out great. I’ve lived in 10 houses and that was my favorite.

As much as I am not a fan of an open floor plan in houses it’s different in my 855 sq ft condo. Built in 1978 it was claustrophobic in its original design.

The previous owners took out one of the 2 closets when you enter and put a kitchen island. I removed all the top cupboards in the kitchen so it’s open from the entrance through the dining room and living room.

 

[livingalmostlarge]

2100 sq ft for family of four. I would love 4000 sq ft.

 

[old medic]

I was pointing out that there are probably a lot of millionaires here living in 1500 sq ft houses. Let's say they have $3million NW. 3million/1500 is 2000. I bet there are a lot of people living in 5000 sq ft houses that have a net worth less than a million. 1million/5000 is 200.

We are about 220..... Unless you count our pensions in NW... then we're about 2600.....

 

[sdtech]

We thought we would downsize when we retired. Instead we "downsized" our house. We opened up the floor plan taking out walls and removing an upstairs room over a home office creating a huge ceiling family room - added a sunroom. Feel like we are living in a resort. Less real rooms and open spaces...

 

[Pellice]

I visited the Doris Duke mansion before it was torn down. 54 rooms! But she lived there to the end. Right now I love the layout of my house. I'm only one person, and care very little about the size of bathrooms, which is good because mine are small. I have a huge bedroom, which I love, because I do spend a lot of time there - it's where my main television is, it's got some exercise equipment, a super comfy loveseat which is great if I'm sick.

And my kitchen I love so much. After years as a grad student with no counter space, my kitchen, though small, has BIG cabinet and counter space. And an adjacent "home center" with my patio doors and deck, and my computer and a reading chair. That's where I spend most of my time.

I hope my new place, if it EVER gets built, will be just as happy. The floor plan looks good, but I'm not good at visualizing.

 

[Errollyn]

We downsized 8 years ago when we built a small 900 sq ft log cabin from a kit. I was able to design the interior layout myself, and the kit supplier did all the engineering and cut all the logs prior to shipping them to my property. My goal was to get the smallest house possible while still having two bedrooms, two bathrooms, and a small office.

The house sits on a full basement with another 900 sq ft of usable space. The basement has laundry, utilities, home gym, shelving for storage, a workbench, and just generally open space for playing with the dogs or whatever.

We also built a detached pole barn garage, which is almost as big as the house.

For me, this is a perfect setup for two people and two dogs. We moved here from a house that was 3X bigger, and this is much more comfortable and way easier to clean. We have tons of outside space, so we never feel cramped. I highly recommend small living.

 

[Rianne]

We downsized 8 years ago when we built a small 900 sq ft log cabin from a kit. I was able to design the interior layout myself, and the kit supplier did all the engineering and cut all the logs prior to shipping them to my property. My goal was to get the smallest house possible while still having two bedrooms, two bathrooms, and a small office.

The house sits on a full basement with another 900 sq ft of usable space. The basement has laundry, utilities, home gym, shelving for storage, a workbench, and just generally open space for playing with the dogs or whatever.

We also built a detached pole barn garage, which is almost as big as the house.

For me, this is a perfect setup for two people and two dogs. We moved here from a house that was 3X bigger, and this is much more comfortable and way easier to clean. We have tons of outside space, so we never feel cramped. I highly recommend small living.

View attachment 54119

Beautiful! Look at all that land around you. I count that as living space as I would spend a lot of time outside, winter or summer.

 

[athena53]

For me, this is a perfect setup for two people and two dogs. We moved here from a house that was 3X bigger, and this is much more comfortable and way easier to clean. We have tons of outside space, so we never feel cramped. I highly recommend small living.

That's great that you could build your own. When DH and I downsized all the new construction was massive- basement level with more bedrooms and bathrooms, sumptuous master BR on main floor but everything else on second story (DH was starting to have issues with steps due to a balance problem). The smaller 1950s/1960s houses just felt cramped. We did find one that was larger than we'd planned but smaller than the one we were selling and it's been my favorite house of all I've ever occupied.

 

[Errollyn]

When DH and I downsized all the new construction was massive

Same experience. I couldn't find anyone building small houses, and it was very hard to find a nice area that also allowed small houses (due to HOA rules). I had to move quite a ways out of the city and built on what was previously a cattle pasture.

 

[Tom52]

Our first home was a 600 sq. ft. mobile home. We lived there 3 years. We then built a simple raised ranch with 1600 sq. ft. 3 bed/2 bath finished on two levels for our family of three. We lived in that home for 9 years

Our third home was a 2770 sq. ft. 4 bed/3bath with an attached 2 car garage and a separate 2 car garage. We lived in this home for 27 years. This size seemed about perfect until DD flew the nest and we were left with a room that never got used. After retirement we moved to 1500 sq. ft. ranch 3 bed/3 bath with a full finished basement. It also had an attached two car garage and a separate large garage/shop.

Our current home is 2335 sq. ft. 3 bed/2 bath, all on one floor. No basement since it is in Florida. There is an attached 3 car garage that is fully finished and air conditioned. There are no steps, not even in and out of the house our into the garage. It is pretty much designed to be senior friendly. This house seems a bit small since there is not a lot of storage.

I would think that about 2500 sq. ft. all one one floor would be about a perfect size for us, assuming the extra sq. footage was designed as extra storage space. As for garage size, you can never have too much garage space. Ideal garage size for me would be about 32 ft. x 32 ft. with a half bath.

 

[Mark2024]

3500 sq ft, 5 BD and 4 Full bath. It was purchased to make sure we have enough room when the kids come visit.

It is big for just two of us. We do enjoy the extra space but the cleaning time is hard. With current housing price, we will not consider downsize.

 

[38Chevy454]

A house can be too big, but a detached building garage/shop is never big enough!

 

[imjustawarrior]

A house can be too big, but a detached building garage/shop is never big enough!

Isn't that the truth.

If I had a huge garage or out building, I probably still be w*rking to pay for all my toys.

 

[FlaGator]

A house can be too big, but a detached building garage/shop is never big enough!

My preference was a 1/1 with a 4 car garage, but couldn't find anything close to that on the MLS

 

[RetiredHappy]

My preference would was a 1/1 with a 4 car garage, but couldn't find anything close to that on the MLS

My favorite saying is that I want a 1000 sq ft home with a 10-car garage. I haven't found it on MLS either.

 

[Errollyn]

Here's another tip from my experience building a small house. Most people don't consider this, but a spiral staircase frees up floor space on both levels. Plus (and this was an unexpected benefit), spiral staircases are great as you get older, because you've got a lot of places to hold onto both sides with both hands...you can really use your arms to help get up or down the stairs. The downside is you can't move a couch up these stairs, but that's a non-issue if you have exterior doors on both levels.

 

[aja8888]

Here's another tip from my experience building a small house. Most people don't consider this, but a spiral staircase frees up floor space on both levels. Plus (and this was an unexpected benefit), spiral staircases are great as you get older, because you've got a lot of places to hold onto both sides with both hands...you can really use your arms to help get up or down the stairs. The downside is you can't move a couch up these stairs, but that's a non-issue if you have exterior doors on both levels.

View attachment 54140

Plus, when you get old enough, you can rip it out and install an elevator in its place.

 

[mountainsoft]

Here's another tip from my experience building a small house. Most people don't consider this, but a spiral staircase frees up floor space on both levels. Plus (and this was an unexpected benefit), spiral staircases are great as you get older, because you've got a lot of places to hold onto both sides with both hands...you can really use your arms to help get up or down the stairs. The downside is you can't move a couch up these stairs, but that's a non-issue if you have exterior doors on both levels.

View attachment 54140

As you already mentioned, it's hard to move furniture up spiral stairs. For that matter, try carrying a basket of laundry or groceries up a spiral staircase. They can also be a bit dangerous as the tread on the inside is quite narrow (the small part of the triangle tread).

Stairs of any kind waste space and are more difficult to navigate as you age, or with mobility issues. That's why we chose a single level home.