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Old 03-18-2013, 01:28 PM
 
Location: Chicago area
18,761 posts, read 11,755,546 times
Reputation: 64148

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I think my car would be very happy there
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Old 03-18-2013, 01:34 PM
 
793 posts, read 1,416,309 times
Reputation: 422
I wouldn't mind my current 900 square foot house if it wasn't so stupidly designed. Simply removing the dividing wall to the living room and flipping the kitchen to the opposite wall would fix a lot of space issues!

I don't see the point of a giant master bedroom/bath... or big formal dining room.
I'm happy with an open concept kitchen/front room.
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Old 03-18-2013, 01:40 PM
 
Location: Austin
7,244 posts, read 21,755,019 times
Reputation: 10014
Both my husband and I work from home, and there is no way we could survive in a small house. We each need our own space for our businesses, and the kids need their space too.
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Old 03-18-2013, 02:53 PM
 
Location: Boise, ID
8,046 posts, read 28,418,388 times
Reputation: 9470
For some people, with some lifestyles, these work. For others, they don't.

Hubby and I are just right in a 1250 square foot 2 bedroom + office, 2 bath home with a 2 car garage. We have our bedroom, and the 2nd bedroom is an exercise room. We don't even have a spare bed. If guests come to town, they can have my bed and hubby and I will sleep on either the couch or an airbed. Not a frequent occurance, and hasn't been a problem.

When we first got married, our apartment was about 750 square feet. We didn't have the second bedroom or the 2nd bathroom, it was essentially a 1 bedroom + office (they called it a 2 bedroom, but the 2nd bedroom was TINY), 1 bath, no garage. We got by ok in that, but I'm definitely happier with the 2nd bed, 2nd bath, and especially with the garage.

For my parents, on the other hand, their 2 spare bedrooms are in use very often, and they could not easily live in a house the size of mine. (In fact, their 3300 square foot house is a significant downsize from the house I grew up in, which was around 6000 square feet). Sometimes, they have as many as 10 houseguests at once, if everyone comes to town for a wedding or something, mom owns quite a few airbeds and has room to set up a dozen or so. Also, as builders/real estate agents/property managers, they have a lot of "stuff" in their garage (mostly tools and the like) for situations that come up often, and so their garage is 1150 square feet, only 100 square feet smaller than my entire house, and it is not only full, it is full of things they USE on a regular basis, instead of just junk like most people have in their garages. They can also fit 3 cars in it, along with everything else, including dad's extended bed, extended cab pickup, which doesn't fit in most garages.

Even though they have the same number of occupants (2) as hubby and I, mom and dad could never live in a smaller house like ours. They would have to rent a storage unit for all their tools, and go visit it nearly every day. It just wouldn't make sense for their lifestyle.
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Old 03-18-2013, 06:00 PM
 
6,192 posts, read 7,329,677 times
Reputation: 7569
Quote:
Originally Posted by 2tall View Post
I wouldn't mind my current 900 square foot house if it wasn't so stupidly designed. Simply removing the dividing wall to the living room and flipping the kitchen to the opposite wall would fix a lot of space issues!

I don't see the point of a giant master bedroom/bath... or big formal dining room.
I'm happy with an open concept kitchen/front room.

I'm the same way.

My parents have a small house (720 square feet) that is far smaller than most in the area. We had five or six people living in it at any given time. If the layout/design wasn't so awful, I don't think it would have been as bad. But many of the things don't make sense at all---why is there a separate staircase/entrance for a single bedroom for a one family house?

My husband and I purchased our first home (an apartment) that is a little under 700 square feet. The space is okay for us. I really don't like small spaces; however, by this I don't mean square footage. You can have a place feel way bigger than it is with the right layout. That being said, I don't want a tiny home but I don't want a huge home either.
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Old 03-18-2013, 06:32 PM
 
Location: East Bay, San Francisco Bay Area
23,394 posts, read 23,819,817 times
Reputation: 23813
We have a relatively "small" house (1200 sq ft) and find that it is perfect for our needs. Just my wife and I. We downsized from a larger house (1500 sq ft) and we donated some items when we moved, but the smaller space is cozy and comfy.
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Old 03-18-2013, 08:13 PM
 
3,276 posts, read 7,832,178 times
Reputation: 8308
$325,000 for a 432 square foot "home"?

They say a sucker is born every minute...
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Old 03-18-2013, 08:44 PM
 
5,075 posts, read 11,039,449 times
Reputation: 4664
Quote:
Originally Posted by statisticsnerd View Post
$325,000 for a 432 square foot "home"?

They say a sucker is born every minute...
Someone paid $280K for a 640 sq ft fixer upper a few blocks from me. 6700 sq ft lot though, so it seems like a decent price and probably the least expensive inhabitable (or not) house in the neighborhood. Not saying it would be my first choice, but buying the lowest priced house in the neighborhood is often a safe investment.
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Old 03-19-2013, 01:32 AM
 
Location: Folsom
5,128 posts, read 9,814,275 times
Reputation: 3735
Quote:
Originally Posted by John1960 View Post
This is all I need for one person or even two people.

Tiny houses on the market nationwide - Yahoo! Homes
No thanks! I love having my 1500 sqft house & yard all to myself!
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Old 03-19-2013, 01:38 AM
 
Location: Los Angeles area
14,017 posts, read 20,869,471 times
Reputation: 32530
People differ so much in how much space they think they "need". Personal comfort zones just differ a lot, depending on many factors including what we are used to. When I was growing up in the 1950's four of us (mother, father, and two kids) shared a two-bedroom, one-bath home with basement. That was just normal at the time and lining up for the bathroom was just what was done - we didn't really question it. When I was 14 we moved into a 3-bedroom, one and a half bath house which seemed so wonderful by comparison, although most families with kids nowdays would feel cramped there.

Now, at the other end of my life (69) I am divorced and live alone in a two-bedroom plus loft, two and a half bath townhouse. This is more room than I really need for one person, but I really like being able to put up a guest (each bedroom has its own full bath) and I especially like the spacious feeling of the cathedral ceiling in the master bedroom which runs up on an angle to the loft. I don't like to feel cramped and hemmed in.

I could make do with much, much smaller if I had to, but I'm glad I don't have to. I believe my townhouse is about 1400 square feet. By today's standards that is not really lavish, but I feel fortunate to be able to afford it easily.
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