What do you do with a big house?

[LastBoomer]

These 800-1000 sq ft homes are all “minimal traditional”, financed by the FHA after the 1934 law was passed. Almost all are 2 BR/1BA. Great homes—designed by hungry architects during the Great Depression—I know, because I have lived in one for the past 20 years, and grew up in two of them.

 

[meleana]

We retired and sold our 2600 square foot house on 10 1/2 acres and down sized to an 1100 square foot cottage on a tiny .12 acre lot.

 

[daylatedollarshort]

We have thought about downsizing but the house we have is in a really nice location for us. We've never found a place we would rather move to. I'm trying to do Swedish death cleaning so when we get older if we needed to move to assisted living or a condo near one of the kids, most of the work will have been done. I'd like to get rid of half our stuff.

 

[fracmeister]

6000 ft2 here. 5 bedrooms and one is empty now, soon to be 2 but that will change. We have 10 grandkids in the area who are through here all the time. Pre-Covid we had loads of visitors. Big outdoor kitchen and pool. My plan is this is ground zero for the extended family and they can leave from here. Not for everyone I know

 

[Broland]

Repurpose!

Have (had) 7 bedrooms for 5 kids, 5,000 SQ ft. Now empty nesters. Kept the master as-is, took out a wall and made a giant man-cave, another is a woman-cave, another is a fully equipped gym, another is a guest bedroom and lastly a storage room. We also transformed what was a formal dining room/living room into a game room with pool table and big screen over the fireplace.

 

[Sanbenito1]

Most fill it with stuff from China. Which makes me grateful for my 940sf home and one-car garage, because I’m sure I’d do the same!

 

[Old Microbiologist]

Living here in Hungary where things are very different we have 2 houses on adjoining properties which are unfenced between them and we added an empty lot which also adjoined so we have 43 parcels roughly 100m x 100m combined. All are surrounded by a 10m wall of evergreen cypresses which give complete security. The properties are also bordered by a security fence built on a brick wall and we have automatic gates and a longish driveway. The one house we live in is 500 sq. meters. (roughly 5,000 sq ft) built in 2005 and is 3 story with 3 bedrooms and 4.5 baths. The second home is a bit older but also larger at 550 sq.m. and has 4 bedrooms, 3 full baths and 2 kitchens and 2 living rooms. That house is used for guests and is owned by my wife's sister. We have a largish (for Europe) swimming pool with a full gazebo and separate pergola area on a completely bricked are. All of the property has brick over concrete paths running around it and the driveway is the same construction. All construction is large brick or concrete and all walls are thick. Roofs are tile and all flooring is either tile or parquet flooring.We make good use of Persian carpets. All of it is elegant to the extreme.

Our main house cost us $215k in 2009 and the other house was $198k. We renovated both houses completely and ours costs us an additional $115k in renovation. The third property was $30k and the pool which also has a sliding domed cover was another $40k. In the past 10 years houses have appreciated and are now worth $500k each or $1.2 million for the entire property. We are not interested in selling. We do have a full time property manager which costs us $900 a month and he can do electrical, plumbing, and garden work. I put in a complete drip or sprinkler irrigation system (20 stations), and ran wired ethernet over the entire property with 7 wifi hotspots.

Of course this all begs the question as to what all you need in later life. We rae hitting our 70's now and gardening has become more problematic with back pain issues so we added a part time gardener (one day a week) to do the finer work such as weeding, trimming etc. which is what we used to do ourselves. The typical hourly salary we pay is $6.50/hr (2,000 HUF) which is high for Hungary so we have no problems getting any help. We have a plethora of tradesmen should we need them for painting, electrical, plumbing, tile work for large projects. This has not been an issue at all for us and we pay well so have excellent service. We also have a part time cleaning woman. We treat them all like family and have given additional financial assistance if any of them get in trouble which happens. This garners more good will which helps in times of need. I would love to downsize when we get closer to our 80's and sell it all but it is a wonderful place which is more like living in a luxurious botanical garden than in a house. I also built a large fish pond which is 60,000 gallons that is between the 2 houses and surrounded by a low hill and trees. It really is a spectacular place. This is also in a town that has flowers everywhere and manicured streets in a charming tourist destination setting bordering on the 64 mile long Lake Balaton. On our side of the lake we border low 600 ft high hills which have an enormous National Park. The region is geologically interesting with volcanic conic fumaroles which are beautiful. The town itself was a roman era spa town (Pannonia) and the region is rich with history.

 

[ckelly78z]

We have a 1700 sf old farm house with a dungeon basement, but very nice, and mostly updated. There is a 12x24 glassed in back porch where our hot tub is, and there are 2 big barns on our 10 acres (104x60, and 40x60). We have been here 25 years, and plan to be here another 25 years if we can still do the steps to the second floor. There is really no provision for a first floor master, so ailing health as we age will make that a concern.

 

[Exterous]

We have a 3000sq ft house not including the 3 car garage and 1500 Sq ft basement for just the two of us with no kids or plans for kids.

What do we do with the space? Several rooms don't get used often at all. We don't need nearly this much space.

We didn't really expect to move but we did ask a realtor friend to see if he could find something matching a specific list in a very small area. We didn't have to move so it was a picky list. We worked in exactly opposite directions and traffic where we were was terrible for the area. So we wanted something that would improve that. We wanted more land because we were on top of neighbors. We wanted tall ceilings because our 1500sqft house had them and we had grown accustomed to that. If we were moving I wanted a 3 car garage for our two cars and a project space. The basement had to have a space I could turn into a home theater. (and I didn't want an already finished space because I have very specific opinions about how to make a home theater)

He found not just one but two houses that matched our list. But both were over 2500sq ft not counting the basement. So we ended up with a large house.

We picked the larger but builder boring house and have been slowly improving it. I'll add a wine cellar and home gym to the basement (which now has a home theater) not because we need it but ROI on my very cheap labor has traditionally been quite good when we've moved in the past

 

[steveark]

Outs is 2900 sq ft, no basement in swamp country. We had four bedrooms and four bathrooms and with three teens living here at the same time that made for more peace and quiet. Since they've grown and gone we turned one bedroom into a reading room leaving us a room sized walk in closet, a loft/office, a reading room, a two story tall family room, a formal dining room, a walk in pantry, a laundry room/wife's office, three bedrooms, four bathrooms. Not counted are an attached garage and screened in porch. Only the two upstairs bedrooms and bathrooms are rarely used.

 

[Canoeboy]

What to do with a big house? SELL IT!!! ?

Never been happier since we sold our 3600 sf home 2 years ago. (It was a prerequisite for ER). Had bought a 1150 sf home with intent to gut/rebuild/expand as it was in the right location and physical setting for us as ER newbies. After 11 months it’s almost finished at about 2400 sf, not counting 800 sf of deck which is 30% covered. So far it’s perfect size for us - 1400 sf main level for us and 1000 sf in a lower walk-out level for adult kids/guests.

The 3600 home was in Minnesota where folks are trapped inside for a good part of the year. That house was only slightly above average size in the area. Plenty of 5000 sf homes and a few up in the 7000+ range around. Older folks with kids gone tended to buy the “McMansions” - go figure.

Downsizing and relocation has 1) made us happier, 2) reduced our property taxes by 65%, 3) increased outdoor living by 90%.

 

[tb001]

We have a 1700 sf old farm house with a dungeon basement, but very nice, and mostly updated. There is a 12x24 glassed in back porch where our hot tub is, and there are 2 big barns on our 10 acres (104x60, and 40x60). We have been here 25 years, and plan to be here another 25 years if we can still do the steps to the second floor. There is really no provision for a first floor master, so ailing health as we age will make that a concern.

We have an upper floor master. We’re still young enough that it’s not an issue, but we did talk about the stairs and ‘what if.’ And concerns about hauling laundry up and down as we got older. The upside of a too big house is there’s plenty of room for a laundry chute and an elevator. We looked into the costs and adding an elevator would be cheaper than the commission to sell the house.

We may feel differently about maintenance, etc... by that point, but it won’t be the stairs alone that do us in!

 

[Andromeda]

My husband and I have lived in homes of various sizes since we got married in 2005: my 2BR 1000 square foot condo, a 2BR + den 1100 square foot apartment in New York City, a 3BR 1500 square foot apartment in Paris, 3 BR 2100 square foot townhouse, and now a 4 BR/5 bath detached house (not sure of the square footage but probably 3000 including the finished basement). It's just the two of us (plus three cats).

We've also started recreational retirement house/community shopping, as we think about retiring or semi-retiring in the next 5 years (we're 56). Based on our experience in homes of different sizes and also the need for us or our guests to be able to live with physical limitations in our house, I know that we need at least the following:

- 4 bedrooms (one for us, a dedicated guest bedroom, and separate offices for my husband and me) - these rooms don't need to be big but we need four of them;
- one of those bedrooms needs to be on the main floor of the house;
- two full bathrooms (at least one on the main floor) and a powder room (3 cats = 3 bathrooms);
- a large kitchen that accommodates both of us when we cook;
- space for a workout room/gym that holds a treadmill and an elliptical machine;
- studio/clean workshop where I can do some photo sessions and he can frame my photographs [my hobby is photographing rescued animals and their people];
- messy workshop for projects that kick up more dust etc;
- a laundry room that is bigger than a closet;
- a pantry;
- a few large closets; and
- sealed off foster cat (and chicken) room.

[We rescued a dumped rooster/refugee from a cock-fighting ring last summer. We kept him in our basement bathroom for a few days before moving him to a sanctuary. But ideally, we'd have a more comfortable space that we could seal off from the rest of the house to accommodate rescued animals that we foster, while minimizing the risk of exposing ourselves and out pets to any diseases or parasites that those animals might have.]

Our current house ticks most of these boxes except our finished basement (which accommodates our gym equipment, photo studio and workshop) is just one large space, which isn't ideal. And also, we have more bathrooms than we need.

I think that if the houseplan is right, we'd do fine with about 2400 square feet of main living space, plus a functional/finished basement to accommodate the workout space, workshops and foster animal room.

 

[mountainsoft]

Living here in Hungary where things are very different we have 2 houses on adjoining properties

Awesome! It sounds like you're living a life of luxury in a beautiful area.

On the other hand, even if I had all the money in the world, I would not want to live in a home(s) that large. I would much rather have a small house on a huge piece of property for privacy. Small spaces are just more comfortable to me.

I'm not sure how I feel about property managers, house cleaners, etc. I really like doing things myself. What's the point of having a nice garden if someone else is taking care of it. Might as well go to the grocery store. I still have a lot of good years ahead, but I'm dreading the day when I won't be able to take care of our own lawn. That's one of my joys in life. Without it, might as well live in a condo.

Still, it would be fun to live your life for a week or two.

 

[Gearhead Jim]

When our two kids were tiny, we built the house we live in today (39 years later). Small subdivision out where the 'burbs are turning to farms, very little change in the area since we built.
3,800 sf plus a 600 sf "basement" for storage under the three car garage. Hillside ranch with walk-out lower level. Three bedrooms for us, plus a spare that housed various exchange students over the high school years and an office for me. Big kitchen. Top quality but not ostentatious.

Wealthy people would have said it was minimalist, people with less money might have said it was extravagant. For us, it seemed just right.

Now that the kids are grown and moved away, it's waaay too big for us. Well, one daughter is living here for a few months until the condo she owns but rented out, becomes available to her again. Good timing for covid.

Taxes are rather high but still no state income tax for our IRA/pensions/SS. Upkeep gradually increases. But we love the house, big yard, and the neighborhood; even friends living in closer suburbs (Chicago) had experienced problems with demonstrations/riots.

If we didn't read the newspapers and watch the TV news, we literally wouldn't know there were any problems except the covid restrictions when we go into town.
We just might stay here until health forces us to move some day.

 

[tb001]

Living here in Hungary where things are very different we have 2 houses on adjoining properties which are unfenced between them and we added an empty lot which also adjoined so we have 43 parcels roughly 100m x 100m combined. All are surrounded by a 10m wall of evergreen cypresses which give complete security. The properties are also bordered by a security fence built on a brick wall and we have automatic gates and a longish driveway. The one house we live in is 500 sq. meters. (roughly 5,000 sq ft) built in 2005 and is 3 story with 3 bedrooms and 4.5 baths. The second home is a bit older but also larger at 550 sq.m. and has 4 bedrooms, 3 full baths and 2 kitchens and 2 living rooms. That house is used for guests and is owned by my wife's sister. We have a largish (for Europe) swimming pool with a full gazebo and separate pergola area on a completely bricked are. All of the property has brick over concrete paths running around it and the driveway is the same construction. All construction is large brick or concrete and all walls are thick. Roofs are tile and all flooring is either tile or parquet flooring.We make good use of Persian carpets. All of it is elegant to the extreme.

Our main house cost us $215k in 2009 and the other house was $198k. We renovated both houses completely and ours costs us an additional $115k in renovation. The third property was $30k and the pool which also has a sliding domed cover was another $40k. In the past 10 years houses have appreciated and are now worth $500k each or $1.2 million for the entire property. We are not interested in selling. We do have a full time property manager which costs us $900 a month and he can do electrical, plumbing, and garden work. I put in a complete drip or sprinkler irrigation system (20 stations), and ran wired ethernet over the entire property with 7 wifi hotspots.

Of course this all begs the question as to what all you need in later life. We rae hitting our 70's now and gardening has become more problematic with back pain issues so we added a part time gardener (one day a week) to do the finer work such as weeding, trimming etc. which is what we used to do ourselves. The typical hourly salary we pay is $6.50/hr (2,000 HUF) which is high for Hungary so we have no problems getting any help. We have a plethora of tradesmen should we need them for painting, electrical, plumbing, tile work for large projects. This has not been an issue at all for us and we pay well so have excellent service. We also have a part time cleaning woman. We treat them all like family and have given additional financial assistance if any of them get in trouble which happens. This garners more good will which helps in times of need. I would love to downsize when we get closer to our 80's and sell it all but it is a wonderful place which is more like living in a luxurious botanical garden than in a house. I also built a large fish pond which is 60,000 gallons that is between the 2 houses and surrounded by a low hill and trees. It really is a spectacular place. This is also in a town that has flowers everywhere and manicured streets in a charming tourist destination setting bordering on the 64 mile long Lake Balaton. On our side of the lake we border low 600 ft high hills which have an enormous National Park. The region is geologically interesting with volcanic conic fumaroles which are beautiful. The town itself was a roman era spa town (Pannonia) and the region is rich with history.

This sounds absolutely beautiful! I’d love to see photos of your gardens.

 

[2cheap2eat]

DW wants to move into a bigger house, but I keep resisting. We are in a 2,100 square foot home (that is paid off). I don't need a mortgage and higher property taxes, utilities, etc.

Of course I would like to have a newer, larger house, but financially, it doesn't make any sense. Also, our son will be off to college in 3 years, so it will be just the two of us. Plenty of room IMHO

 

[skipro33]

DW wants to move into a bigger house, but I keep resisting. We are in a 2,100 square foot home (that is paid off). I don't need a mortgage and higher property taxes, utilities, etc.

Of course I would like to have a newer, larger house, but financially, it doesn't make any sense. Also, our son will be off to college in 3 years, so it will be just the two of us. Plenty of room IMHO

When you say financially it doesn't make sense, do you mean affordability-wise or bang-for-the-buck wise? After all, if retirement isn't meant to enjoy those things you can afford in your latter years, then what's the use of retiring? Read up on the thread, "Blow That Dough" and consider treating your wife to the home she's dreaming of. Might not make financial sense, but if you've been saving for a lifetime for retirement, then now is the time to enjoy those savings. Me personally, I find trips to financially not make sense. Rather stay home and develop my own home into a resort.

Besides, those kids come back for visits with a spouse, grand kids, even their friends some day and won't you be glad you can host them all in comfort? We have 2 sons, married with a total of 6 grand kids. They live within 2 hours, and we are on the way to the mountains for camping, skiing, etc. So they visit fairly regularly. Add that they all stay for Christmas because we have a place large enough to host them all, and I could not be more pleased that we spend money on a larger home than not. Now, when my sister-in-law visits, I kinda wish we didn't have the size, but that's my cue to take an extended fishing trip. Ha!

 

[rodi]

We're in a house just over 2000 sf... And there is also a 700sf granny flat cottage on our lot. My in laws lived in the granny flat - but now it's rented to a great couple that moved in right when I retired.

In the main house - 4 bedrooms, 2.5 ba, 4 people. The boys each have their own room. The extra bedroom is a combo exercise/guest room/office. (Guests have to deal with weights on top of the dresser and an elliptical machine between the closet and the desk).

I'm waiting (not so patiently) for the boys to grow up and move out. At that point we'll downsize to a 2bd/2ba condo. We'll lose the rental income and gain an HOA, but the price difference should make up for it. Looking forward to no more yard maintenance.

We have a 2 car garage that houses 2 cars and a bunch of tools, materials, camping gear, etc. We have a shed that has some of the outdoor stuff like bikes, lawnmower, etc.) We have 3 cars total - the beater truck that the boys drive is parked in the driveway. We widened the driveway when we put in the paver driveway to allow unimpeded access to the garage when the truck is parked in the driveway.

Southern California means no basement. Laundry is in the garage (which I'm fine with). Kids wish we had a bonus/rec/rumpus room... Instead they hang out in the room that has a kitchen table and computer desk - that is adjacent/open to the kitchen.

At times I wish I had Gumby's sewing room... The dining room is currently set up as my sewing space, but I stow the stuff away when we use it for dining.

Looking forward to downsizing. This is way too much space for 2 people and the next home will be 1 level, with a patio or balcony but no yard. Let someone else maintain the common area green spaces.

 

[goingtotravel]

We looked into the costs and adding an elevator would be cheaper than the commission to sell the house.

Funny you mentioned putting in an elevator vs moving because that is exactly the discussion we have been having this year. We love our property and can afford to have someone maintain it for us so that's not our issue. Adding a first floor master will just add way more space than we need. Putting in an elevator and renovating the master bath to have wider doors and a zero entry shower might be cheaper than moving. Are you considering just an elevator between your 1st and 2nd floor? Are you adding space for a mechanical elevator or considering a lift system?

 

[2cheap2eat]

When you say financially it doesn't make sense, do you mean affordability-wise or bang-for-the-buck wise? After all, if retirement isn't meant to enjoy those things you can afford in your latter years, then what's the use of retiring? Read up on the thread, "Blow That Dough" and consider treating your wife to the home she's dreaming of. Might not make financial sense, but if you've been saving for a lifetime for retirement, then now is the time to enjoy those savings. Me personally, I find trips to financially not make sense. Rather stay home and develop my own home into a resort.

Besides, those kids come back for visits with a spouse, grand kids, even their friends some day and won't you be glad you can host them all in comfort? We have 2 sons, married with a total of 6 grand kids. They live within 2 hours, and we are on the way to the mountains for camping, skiing, etc. So they visit fairly regularly. Add that they all stay for Christmas because we have a place large enough to host them all, and I could not be more pleased that we spend money on a larger home than not. Now, when my sister-in-law visits, I kinda wish we didn't have the size, but that's my cue to take an extended fishing trip. Ha!

Some excellent points, I meant financially in my case. I’m still ~7 years from hopefully FIRE. We still have a son to put thru college, thus my view is not move / build a big house. It’s something I can re-consider in the future of course.

 

[ExFlyBoy5]

We retired and sold our 2600 square foot house on 10 1/2 acres and down sized to an 1100 square foot cottage on a tiny .12 acre lot.

I could live in a 1100 SF cottage with no issues at all...but .12 acre lot? No way, no how. We lived in a rental for a few months while we hunted for our current home. It was on a .15'ish acre lot and we could hear the neighbor coughing as he sat out back and smoked pack after pack of cigarettes.

Thankfully, our current home sits on a 1.5 acre lot that is situated in a way that we can't see/hear our two neighbors when we are in the back. As an added bonus, we bought an undeveloped 5 acres that is behind our home lot...that's a nice buffer to keep any new developments from interfering with our privacy.

 

[KarenF]

Our house is 3500 square feet. I have always thought it was too big, but with our recent stint of months at home, it is working out well. We have a home/office/craft/workout room. We also have a theatre room with 4 theatre chairs and bar seats behind them. We have both been working from home and I use the home office and my husband uses the theatre room for his office. I also have a large laundry/mud room. We have three bedrooms and room for our kids/grandkids to visit. We were thinking about retiring this fall (both 59) but have decided to keep working due to current uncertainty. I do like working from home and our dogs like it too.

 

[sengsational]

I'm odd on my opinion of master down houses. To me, master up means you "get to" exercise every day, guaranteed. So many places where people live a long time are places that require exercise as part of the daily routine. Usually it's walking down hill to the grocery and up a hill to the house. At some point, it may become "impossible", but you're probably not too long for this world at that point, and can set up a hospital bed in the living room.

 

[Andromeda]

I'm odd on my opinion of master down houses. To me, master up means you "get to" exercise every day, guaranteed. So many places where people live a long time are places that require exercise as part of the daily routine. Usually it's walking down hill to the grocery and up a hill to the house. At some point, it may become "impossible", but you're probably not too long for this world at that point, and can set up a hospital bed in the living room.

When I was 45, I ruptured two discs in my back and I was almost paralyzed for a week - and it took another month to get a decent range of motion back. Good thing we lived in an apartment building with the rooms all on one level.

More recently, I broke both my arms and although that didn't impair the ability of my feet to take me from one floor of the house to another, having one arm in a sling and the other not functioning well left me quite uncomfortable navigating stairs for a couple of weeks. So I know from personal experience that one of us could experience periods of time when going up or downstairs frequently would be problematic. Currently, we've also got parents who visit and have some difficulty with stairs.

It is easy to imagine scenarios where someone could experience temporary or long-term limitations on their ability to manage stairs - and yet still have many years left until their "ultimate" retirement from this plane of existence: e.g. knee or hip replacement surgery, a serious illness impairs their cardio capacity, balance or energy levels (e.g. cancer treatment, COVID etc).

That said, I don't feel the need to have a master bedroom on the main floor - just a room that could serve as a bedroom and at least a powder room that could be converted to a full bath if physical limitations were going to require a long-term solution.