How Big is Your McMansion?

[SteveR]

Ok, with all talk about downsizing and how much space we have (need?), I thought it would be timely to do a poll on it.

So, how much space do you live in?

 

[education]

I'm glad to be the first to respond. My DW and I live in a 2000 sf one story ranch-style home with little front yard and a backyard with decking and a pool--no mowing back there. Front takes less than an hour including edging & blowing. We downsized from a 4500 sf center hall colonial home on 3/4 acre and with stairs on all three floors. It was a killer to maintain.

We redid the master bath, and got rid of the high jet tub and put in a slab shower with a seat. All doors have new lever-handled hardware, too. I've tried to upgrade all appliances and the furnace/ac as well.

We want to be worry-free and self-sufficient for as long as possible--from ER to the twilight years.

Professor

 

[sgeeeee]

As with every poll on these boards, I think you're going to need more rules.     Does basement area count?  Finished basement vs unfinished?  What about out structures?  Sheds? Barns?  You may need to ask about lot size?   

 

[SteveR]

As with every pole on these boards, I think you're going to need more rules.     Does basement area count?  Finished basement vs unfinished?  What about out structures?  Sheds? Barns?  You may need to ask about lot size?   

SG,
As the poll states, it is your primary residence. If you live in your barn then count that as your primary residence.

Outbuildings would not normally be living space. So don't count them unless you live in them.

Basements that are not finished are still part of your primary residence so count them.

For every rule someone will have five more questions ab out the rule. Sometimes you just have to go with the intent of the poll as a general indicator and not a scientific study.

 

[Michael Moore]

1100 sq ft, 3 br, 1 bath on a 25' x 120' lot.  That is all second floor with a "sun room" bedroom over the patio in the back.  The ground floor (25x50) is gated entranceway, lower hallway/closet, stairs and garage/shop.  Two adults, and about 2000 sq/ft worth of stuff.  

No grass, no mower.  About 625 sq ft (the back 25') is garden area.

2000 sq/ft of living quarters with another bathroom (we're dreading the time when we both come down with the flu/food poisoning at once) would probably be plenty.  Another 600-1000 sq ft of shop/storage/hobby space in the garage would also be desireable.

cheers,
Michael

 

[cj]

Basements that are not finished are still part of your primary residence so count them. 

We live in a house that's 30X60 = 1800 sf.  But we have a full basement, totally unfinished.  Seems strange to call our house 3600 SF.   The basement is storage mostly, though we do have a treadmill that we use now and then.  Not much else except for the furnace, etc. and 4 litterboxes for the cats.  ( Whoops!  Does that count as a bathroom??  )

CJ

 

[SteveR]

...Not much else except for the furnace, etc. and 4 litterboxes for the cats.  ( Whoops!  Does that count as a bathroom??  )

CJ

If YOU use the litter box, it is a bathroom and would need to be counted.

 

[sgeeeee]

SG,
. . .  If you live in your barn then count that as your primary residence.   

. . .

Only when DW is really mad at me.

 

[cj]

If YOU use the litter box, it is a bathroom and would need to be counted.   

OK, I don't use the litterbox, but we do count the cats as our children.  I think it's a gray area. 

 

[sgeeeee]

OK, I don't use the litterbox, but we do count the cats as our children.  I think it's a gray area. 

Yeah. We consider Bubba, the black lab, part of the family. Bubba has a 1/3 acre citrus grove for his bathroom. Do I need to change my vote in the poll?

 

[dougdo]

Well I'm living the real "downsizing/simplify" life---I'm the one who chose < 500 sq.ft

Of course, I only have to live there in the best 6 or 7 months of the year and then I'm outside most of the time.

The rest of the time i'm in Latin America, enjoying the sun.

 

[Andre1969]

I think a general rule of thumb is that you don't count the basement, even if it is finished. At least that's how it is for property tax purposes. And it makes sense to me too, as basement area, even when finished, often isn't as nice as upstairs, because you usually have a lower ceiling (although not so much with newer construction), usually isn't heated as well, often has smaller windows, etc. Still, there are exceptions to any rule.

Anyway, I answered in the 1000-1499 range. It's assessed at 1106 square feet, but could be "fudged" up to around 1455.

Here's how the state determined its square footage:

Original main level: 16x34=544
second level: 16x34/2= 276 (it's classified as 1 1/2 story, so they just divide the main level by two to get that, no matter how big your dormers are)
enclosed front porch: 8x16=128
enclosure on the side that has a bathroom, laundry room, storage: 6x27 = 162

Total of 1106.

However, most of the upstairs is full-height, and the area up under the eaves is where most of the closets are, so being "1 1/2 story" it actually gives up very little room upstairs.

I also have another enclosed porch on the side that's 7x11, which for some reason isn't counted. It's fully enclosed and lockable, and has a electricity, lighting, and a spare fridge out there, as well as storage so it gets used. And it even stays above freezing in the wintertime, despite not having a lick of insulation anywhere!

There's a reason i know the details of my square footage this intimately...it's not like I do this stuff for kicks! Back over the summer I wanted to build a barn with a loft, to use as a garage. It came out to 1200 square feet. I got shot down by the permit office because in my neighborhood no secondary buildings are allowed to be larger than the primary. And this was close, at 1106 versus 1200. I tried to get them to re-evaluate the square footage, but no luck. So I went with a smaller garage that was 24x40 instead of 30x40. Also had to lose the loft because of a height restriction.

If anyone wants to check out the garage, there are some pics of it at http://photobucket.com/albums/v247/jgandrew/Garage/ , in various stages of construction (and it's still not finished; they just need to pour the slab at this point.) I guess the garage is almost more McMansion than the house!

 

[SteveR]

Here in Happy Valley, they consider all covered space in the total; finished or not. That is so they can suck out assess more taxes per square foot. In IL, they would consider only finished above ground areas for total area of the house for sales or tax purposes.

 

[SteveR]

Somebody here lives LARGE with one vote already at >7000 sq. ft.
WoW.
Must be the same person that has a net worth >$8,000,000 and income >$350,000. Congratulations! You are keeping the economy going for the rest of us and "we appreciate ya so much."

 

[peggy]

1950 livable, plus two-car garage. We have a guest room, about 100 square feet, that's rarely used - we don't have many guests, despite living in Las Vegas, LOL.

 

[wildcat]

SteveR -

I think we have a few posters who hit the booze and then vote in the outrageous categories.

 

[SteveR]

SteveR -

I think we have a few posters who hit the booze and then vote in the outrageous categories.

The Demon Rum!

Oh My God!

I am among Heathens!

Say Halleluiah!

 

[LOL!]

Well, it used to be a McMansion in the early 90's, but now I see it is way too small to qualify in this century. It's only got 4 bedrooms and 3.5 baths. We use the formal dining room as a place to fold clothes and the living room is a music room. So we use every room the house daily.

 

[cube_rat]

Thank goodness our little shack fell into the norm. We have a 1200 square foot 2 bedroom, 2 bath townhouse which cost us $365 a square foot. That was a steal last June!

 

[Nords]

As with every poll on these boards, I think you're going to need more rules.

I have to admit that I'm extremely impressed with this board's ability to find exceptions to every rule. This is even more creative quibbling than the net worth polls!

 

[laurence]

1792. My 'hood has houses ranged from 1500 to 3450, the funny thing is, you can't tell which ones are the big or not so big from the sidewalk. Ah, suburbia.

 

[yelnad]

We have 1600 sq ft on our main floor and then another 1600 finished sq feet in our basement. There are all sorts of rules in PA for how you list basement rooms. They have to do with windows and egress. Some would call our house a 2 bedroom, while technically we have 4 (the 2 basement rooms have full length windows that you could exit).

 

[Sheryl]

My house was 950 when I bought it. Basically a living room and a bedroom side-by-side with a second bedroom created in the attic and a kitchen/bath shed structure on the back. I tore that off and added 250 sf of kitchen - dining space with cathedral ceiling skylights, etc. plus laundry and half-bath. Also upgraded the attic bedroom with dormer.

Finished product: 2 bedroom 1.5 bath, 1200 sf. = perfect. Except I still need a garage.

 

[MJ]

1950 livable, plus two-car garage. We have a guest room, about 100 square feet, that's rarely used - we don't have many guests, despite living in Las Vegas, LOL.

My size room. Can I reserve it (no charge, of course) starting next week for about 2 years? Will meals be included?

MJ

 

[SteveR]

I have to admit (sheepishly)   that my humble abode is on the high end of the scale.  After buying and selling more than 10 personal residences over the pat 30 years in different parts of the country; some losers and some winners; we plunked down our composite equity into a monster than we knew would continue to grow in value in a highly desirable location.  Once we retire for good, we will sell and take the equity to buy a smaller place with no mortgage.  That is the plan anyway.  

The stats:
6100 sq. feet.  two story with finished basement.  Main floor has a large eat-in kitchen, family room wtih gas fireplace and cherry built ins, living room, dining room two half-baths and master suite.  Second floor has two bedrooms with a connecting full bath.  The walkout basement has an office, full bathroom workout room, two bedrooms, a family room/home theater with gas fireplace, kitchen and a 15X10 cold storage room, and office and a workout room.  The basemement has extra closets for lots of storage.

Lot is 0.65 acres that is fully landscaped heavily wooded (rare here) and has a steep hill that rises over 150 feet behind the house and the lot goes half way up the hill.  There is a waterfall built into the hillside with huge granite rocks and red sandstone slabs that line the whole back yard perimeter patio.  The garage is an oversized 3 car with 12 ft. ceiling. There is an outside wooden shed that is 10X10 for outdoor storage and plant potting.  The yard has full landscape lighing and cement curbing on all flowerbeds.  In short, it is a maintenance nightmare!  

We are updating past of the house and making some minor changes to keep it more or less current.  It is a traditional style so we don't want to go too far modern (like the rest of the neighborhood) to keep it unique but also contemporary.  

We call ourselves the "trailer trash" of the neighborhood since we don't have all the "toys" or higher income debt that appear to exist there.  Lots of younger families with huge houses, expensive SUVs, sports cars, boats, etc. etc.  We got here the old fasioned way....equity.  My mortgage is not all that bad since we put down a ton on the house when we bought it.  The value has gone up over 20% based on recent sales, since we bought it 3 years ago.  Despite the RE bubble, we believe we will still clear more than enough to get a good sized house for our ER home in a couple of years.  

In the meantime, we enjoy the space but can "lose" each other from time to time.  We get the tax breaks for mortgage interest and RE taxes but the downside are utility costs....two gas water heaters, two gas furnaces, two AC units and full yard automatic sprinkler system.  Yuck!