How Much House Do You Need?

My husband and 2 boys and I (and dog) live in an 1850 square foot ranch in a close-in suburb to a medium-large size city. We love it. We used to live in a significantly larger, 2 story house on the east coast and I could NEVER get to all 3 bathrooms. We always felt overwhelmed. We wanted a ranch in case we stay in one place, they are great houses to age in, and we felt like we would be closer – which we are, and can be an advantage or disadvantage (must be very quiet in the kitchen if folks are sleeping). A small portion of our basement is finished, where I suspect the boys will escape to once they are teenagers. I think this is the perfect size for us, and there is room for entertaining a medium-size crowd if necessary. We feel very lucky.

I now have 3 kids and we live in a ~1700 sgft house. I think the yard size and ‘extras’ make all the difference. Meaning, if I had a garage, we would have more living space and less storage space. We will be moving and like the older houses, due to the larger size rooms not more unused rooms. I am considering a different floor plan, more of one that is open. This would allow for the usable space vs. just rooms.

Keep in mind that there’s more to house “size” than just size. For example, when we were house-shopping, we quickly decided that we wanted (relatively) small bedrooms, but more family room/living room space. To us, a large bedroom would be a lot of wasted space, but we love having that extra space elsewhere; if we had the same square footage with larger bedrooms, the house would certainly feel too small!

My husband and I live in a 950sq ft condo and it is the Goldilock’s House for us. When we were looking for a condo 8 years ago, we were conscious of wanting to live in a smaller space than our 1500sq ft apartment, and smaller spaces are much more affordable in the city. We were also looking to buy a condo that we could easily afford on one income if we needed to, which has come in handy a couple of times already.

We’re just two people (and our greyhound), and we didn’t want to heat/cool more space than we needed, and we know that the bigger space you have the more “stuff” you get to fill it. Living in a smaller space means choosing your possessions carefully, and culling the closets regularly, and that’s fine for us. I do wish I could have a garden, but other than that, we’re very content in our space, and not having to do all the upkeep that having a home with a yard would require.

I’m hoping to end up in a condo-sized place, probably anywhere from 600 to 900 square feet. I think we’ve got around 1,000 or 1,100 in our current rental, and it’s just way more space than we need! All I really want is a kitchen, bedroom, bathroom and living room. (Right now, we have what’s supposed to be a dining room and a second bedroom.) Definitely more than necessary! However, the rental agreement I can’t argue with, so as long as it isn’t permanent I’m not so picky.

While I’m not a huge fan of Texas, Texas Motorsport Ranch is looking like the kind of place my husband and I would love to end up in…. Yeah, the smallest house is almost 1,600 square feet, but I’ve never found another house that small with a four car garage either. (Each of the three sizes they have comes with a garage that is nearly as big as the living space above it…. Perfect!)

One last note — There’s a tour of Jay’s tiny house on youtube, I’m surprised I didn’t see the link anywhere…. Definitely interesting to see, I really like it myself! So here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SbRvsWuWNUM

It’s interesting to see what people “need” – when I grew up, children did not have walk-in closets, double bed, or sitting area in their bedrooms. And my brothers grew up 3 in a bedroom (I was a late addition). When we look at houses in DC – overpriced – the easiest way to get into the affordable range in a good neighborhood is to seek smaller bedrooms; it gives you more yard, too.

cmadler makes a good point. We downsized from a 2200 square foot single family home to a 1700 square foot rowhouse and actually gained more usable, livable space for our family of four. Our open plan living/dining/kitchen is just far more functional than separate rooms.

There is one hidden cost of small spaces, however – a few other comments mention that it can be tough to find furniture and that is absolutely true. No more hitting the resale shop or picking up garage sale/Ikea As-Is finds and making them work. Now that every square foot counts, we’ve realized that having custom-built shelving is a better choice.

Of course, some of that is because smaller homes remain relatively uncommon. Should the average home size drop, perhaps finding skinny shelves and streamlined sofas will be easier.

My husband and I lived with our cat in a 300 sq foot studio for three years. We now upgraded to a 800 sq foot two bedroom apartment and it is incredibly luxurious! Our bedroom is the smaller of the two, and the larger bedroom (adjacent to the living room) is a study. I would not want our space to get any bigger though, because I already spend too much time cleaning it! While we could certainly be happy in a much smaller space, it is very nice to have room to spread out.

It’s tough to “calculate” the right size of house. Every house is a compromise and you never really know what you want until you have lived there for a while.

I’ll add that one negative for a house that is “too small” or even “too big” is resale value – that 89 sq foot house likely would sell for land value plus the value of firewood.

We have 4 people in about 1200/1300 sq feet. It’s not huge but we like the location (close to work) so it’s a worthy tradeoff.

3000 sq feet. 1 husband, 1 child, 2 cats, hopefully someday a second child.

What were we thinking?
1. We had been living in tiny apartments for 6 years (first apartment: 100 sq feet, second 300 sq feet, third was less than that with a shared kitchen). We went a little crazy, especially since our mortgage is considerably under the rent we paid for the first two places.
2. We thought we each needed our own office, based on our parents’ experiences. Turns out we miss each other when we’re in separate rooms (and our rooms are, of course, bigger).
3. We didn’t want to have to move after having children.
4. We would have had to look harder for a smaller home away from undergraduate housing that didn’t also have snakes and other wildlife in the backyard (though they definitely exist).
5. We LOVED the screened in patio and didn’t see smaller houses with that feature (though yes, we could have built one ourselves and saved money).

Yes, it is too big. No, we don’t really need the entire guest bedroom suite (though visiting relatives enjoy it, they don’t visit often enough to make it worthwhile). No, we don’t need 4 bedrooms and a study. We don’t need a separate dining room except on rare occasions when we entertain. We don’t need two living rooms (the family room and the Great room). Yes, the Great room went unfurnished for years because at first we couldn’t afford to furnish it (then we turned the dining room into a second playroom, then we moved the dining room furniture back and split up our living room furniture across the two rooms). We don’t need the huge lawn either, at least not the front and side lawns that the HOA keeps tabs on. Yes, it’s easier to buy stuff when you have a place to put it– back in the city we almost never had to ask, “Could we afford it?” because it was trumped by “Where would we put it?”

In our defense, most of the people we know got ~2000sq foot starter homes and upgraded to monstrous 4000+ sq foot homes farther away from the city once their salaries and job security increased. We definitely don’t want to have to move as our family grows, but we didn’t realize that a 2200 sq foot home is also palatial compared to a 300 sq foot apartment. It is a beautiful, lovely, well-built home in walking distance to a playground and pool and we love living there, and we can comfortably afford it (and its a/c bills) but it is definitely too big.

If we were allowed to have unrelated people staying with us without getting sued by the HOA (or wanted a full-time nanny), we might consider renting out or just letting someone stay in that unused guest suite. If only our dead-beat relatives lived in our state.

We have a 1920s bungalow that is 1,200 sq ft. With one toddler and a second child on the way, I know that at some point in the next few years, we will probably want to move. The main problem with our house is that it is two bedroom, one bathroom. If we could just add another half bath and about 200 more sq ft., I think we could stay for quite a while. But one bathroom is really the problem. I don’t ever see us moving into a house larger than 2,000 sq ft. Frankly I don’t want to heat, cool, and clean anything bigger than that.

I think the most inane trend in home building these days are the bathrooms and closets large enough to do cartwheels in. To me that is wasted space. I hardly fill the small closet I have in our house, and why do you need a huge bathroom? I would rather have that space in the living room. I also don’t like new housing, because the yards tend to be so small. We are in a metropolis, but our yard is still pretty large for the area. If you go further in the suburbs, it’s harder to find a large yard in our price range. For the developers, it’s all about maximizing profits, so they fit as many houses as they can in a certain space.

I think it’s harder to live in a small house in my area, where it’s bitter winter 9 months out of the year. Whereas living in a small house in San Diego on the beach? No problem!

Me and my 2 kids live in a 2400 sq ft 4 BR 3 Bath split level ranch. It seems big to me–I’d be happy with 1/2 the size. However, small houses in my town are designed horribly–tiny cramped kitchens and only a 1 car garage (we only have 1 car, but we need a big garage to store not only the car but our bicycles, skiis, lawnmower, and 1 cord of firewood for the winter to heat the house.

I love the idea of the Tumbleweed homes. Last Christmas, I bought my father-in-law Jay Shafer’s Tiny House Plan book for some ideas he was bouncing around in his head.

1700sq ft sounds like a modest, yet good sized home. I currently live in a 1,100 sq ft home and it seems large enough for the time being. My husband and I have talked about building our own home, but it is a bit daunting. I’d be curious to see the floor plan you picked out. (I love architecture!)

I live in a 2 bedroom, 2 (tiny) bathroom apartment that is about 800 sq ft and I love it. I only have my cat and a few plants but I love the extra room for guests to stay over. I grew up in a family of four with only one bathroom so I just wanted my own bathroom out of vanity!!!!

I think when I am ready to get a house I can live happily with about 1000 sq ft. I love the size of my current bedrooms even though they are not large…I just wish the bathrooms and living room were a little bigger.

I’d really go for a small house with amenities like wood floors, a fireplace, granite counters in kitchen and baths, a big lot in a nice neighborhood, and decent quality kitchen appliances.

Instead builders of small houses seem to always put them in sketchy neighborhoods, on small lots, and they skimp on finishes and appliances.

I guess if you want a nice small house you have to build it yourself! But then, good luck selling it at a decent price!

Before we were married my husband and I lived in a 900 sq feet “shotgun” house (2 bedroom, 1 bath). We called it our spacepod, because no matter where we were in the house we could sense all the other areas of the house.
We bought a 1500 sq feet house (3 bedroom, 2 bath). When it is clean we still marvel walking through it at how spacious and nice it feels (2 adults, 2 children, cat and dog). Since it is an old house it does have a lack of closets/storage space so we do have to be conscious of how much stuff we have and find creative but attractive methods of stowing stuff.

I understand why people want more room. There may come a time where my mother or my sister may need to move in with us; I wish more houses (or at least mine) had a MIL suite for that circumstance.

Interesting topic! We currently own a home with 1267 sq feet of space. This is my husband, myself, four children and a fifth on the way. We would love an extra 40 sq ft or so on our living room, but it’s not a possibility the way this house is situated on the lot. And really, we do just fine in our amount of space. Most importantly, we can afford it comfortably on a single income, since dh is enlisted military and I stay home and homeschool the kiddos.

It always amazes me to watch HGTV shows and see families with two children looking at 4,000 sq foot homes. To each his own, I guess, but I wouldn’t want that mortgage payment!

We are a family of 4 living in a 1400 sq.ft house and it’s just fine for us, EXCEPT for that fact that it is too many tiny rooms… we’d rather just have fewer, larger rooms. We’re looking into working with a designer to help us figure out a cost-effective way to change that.

Someone else posted that furniture has gotten too big, and I agree. Couches and chairs in particular seem to have these monstrously large arms and backs, causing them to take up a lot more space without actually providing extra seating. I hope that if there is a trend to smaller homes, then furniture will go the same way!

I want a house. *sigh* I’m addicted to HGTV, so I have a feeling I’m going to be thoroughly disappointed when I can actually go house hunting for myself.

I live in a shoebox-size apt with my boyfriend and our cat. It works for us most of the time, but when we have family visit, it is a mess. We don’t even have space for a kitchen table. Whatever the square footage is, just go with tiny.

Although, my sister taught me a smaller house isn’t necessarily cheaper. For a US Dept. of Energy challenge, she built a $650K solar powered house. It’s about the size of a doublewide trailer.

It might help to remember that a house is a permanent expense. If you buy more house then you can afford there’s no turning back. The only way out will be to sell it, and that can be painful if other negatives are driving your decision, typically a job loss.

So after many years in the mortgage industry, here’s my recommendation: figure out the most house you can comfortably afford on your current income, then reduce it by 30%.

The reason for 30% is that if you lost your job, you probably could find another that pays 30% less than your current salary pretty quickly.

The prevailing mindset of buying a little more house than you can afford has pushed too many homeowners into either being house poor or into foreclosure.

A little more conservatism at purchase time could save many a household budget.

Suzanne Says: “My best friend believes that she would be almost abusing her child if the two of them lived in less than 2,00 sq ft. And she doesn’t understand why she can’t get ahead.”

I Says: “Whoa! I’ve heard that argument before, from my American SIL. It’d be funny if it weren’t so tragic.”