Why are all houses so skinny? What is considered a big family in MN? (St. Paul: appointed)

[boisean]

We are moving to the Twin Cities and I have been looking at houses online, but I am disappointed to find that all the floor plans are so skinny. We are looking at abt 3000 sq ft and wanted to have abt 2000 on the main floor. Is this because it is more efficient for heating? Is it because of weather concerns? (tornadoes, flooding, i don't know) Is it because there are no building lots wide enough for that floor plan? Or am I just being too cheap and can't find a plan like that in my desired price range? I am also noticing that none of the realtor.com listings list the acreage - our lot here is not all that big (.19 acre) and we were hoping for something closer to .33 acre for the new home there - is that going to be doable at all for less than $400K in the area east of St. Paul (i.e. woodbury, etc)
Also, we have 5 kids (obviously why we need all that sq footage) - is that size family very common around the Twin Cities or are we going to seem like a side show?

Thanks for any help!

[Sobefobik]

Originally Posted by boisean

We are moving to the Twin Cities and I have been looking at houses online, but I am disappointed to find that all the floor plans are so skinny. We are looking at abt 3000 sq ft and wanted to have abt 2000 on the main floor. Is this because it is more efficient for heating? Is it because of weather concerns? (tornadoes, flooding, i don't know) Is it because there are no building lots wide enough for that floor plan? Or am I just being too cheap and can't find a plan like that in my desired price range? I am also noticing that none of the realtor.com listings list the acreage - our lot here is not all that big (.19 acre) and we were hoping for something closer to .33 acre for the new home there - is that going to be doable at all for less than $400K in the area east of St. Paul (i.e. woodbury, etc)
Also, we have 5 kids (obviously why we need all that sq footage) - is that size family very common around the Twin Cities or are we going to seem like a side show?

Thanks for any help!

Is that size family common anywhere! It was in the '50s, but not so much anymore.

[kuan]

Maybe find a 2500 sqft. place with an unfinished basement?

[Thegonagle]

Because a standard city/first ring lot around here is 40 feet wide?

You have to go out to the second ring suburbs to find wider lots that would fit a ranch-style house such as you seem to be looking for.

[golfgal]

Where do you live that it is common to have 2000 on the main and then 1000 on a second floor? I think around here that would seem lopsided to most. You typically find 2 story houses with the same or close to the same square footage on both floors. We also have basements so that gives you added space so most people don't need that much space on their main level, even in a single story home.

We have about 1500 sq feet on our main and it doesn't seem skinny to me. We have a 2 story with a finished basement and have plenty of room. I think once you get into the houses they won't seem skinny.

Realtor.com isn't always the best source for information. Try some of the national companies and find a local office and search their listings. Most have all of the MLS listings on their sites so you can search all of the homes for sale, not just the ones they offer. They tend to have more pictures and information.

As for having 5 kids, yes that is on the larger side for families everywhere, including here, but you certainly won't be the only family with 5 kids nor will you be the largest.

[boisean]

Thanks for all the replies - I will definitely start checking out the local real estate office sites. We have a ranch with a bonus area above the garage that extends all the way to the back of the house (that gives us close to 1000 more sq ft, but all you see from the front elevation is a window above the 3 car garage) A basement around here is considered a luxury so I am really excited to have one there. I guess what I am mainly looking for is a house with a split bdrm plan that has a master bedroom AWAY from all the other bedrooms (I love my kids, but definitely need my own space at times!) Do houses there just have all the bdrms together on the 2nd floor?

The family info puts me more at ease, too - Thank you! I wouldn't have worried about it much, but we recently vacationed in Sun Valley (a resort community in ID) and it felt like we were a side show. Those that didn't come right out and ask us if these kids were really all ours, might as well have with their stares and gawking. Sigh...

Originally Posted by golfgal

Where do you live that it is common to have 2000 on the main and then 1000 on a second floor? I think around here that would seem lopsided to most. You typically find 2 story houses with the same or close to the same square footage on both floors. We also have basements so that gives you added space so most people don't need that much space on their main level, even in a single story home.

We have about 1500 sq feet on our main and it doesn't seem skinny to me. We have a 2 story with a finished basement and have plenty of room. I think once you get into the houses they won't seem skinny.

Realtor.com isn't always the best source for information. Try some of the national companies and find a local office and search their listings. Most have all of the MLS listings on their sites so you can search all of the homes for sale, not just the ones they offer. They tend to have more pictures and information.

As for having 5 kids, yes that is on the larger side for families everywhere, including here, but you certainly won't be the only family with 5 kids nor will you be the largest.

[golfgal]

You are going to find bedroom configurations all over the scale. Most 2 stories will have all the bedrooms off a central hallway, not separated, but you will also find a lot of 2 stories with a main floor master and 3-4 bedrooms upstairs. If you are lucky you might find a rambler with 3 bedrooms in the basement even.