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Who has moved, or is planning to move, to a very small house (say 1,000–1,200 SF or less, total) in retirement—as opposed to a condo, townhouse, mobile home, or CCRC?
Why, and where (what city/state)?
Part of a community of other small houses, or on its own somewhere?
I already live in a very small house -- 1005 square feet, 2 beds one bath.
It's old, and has all the charm of an old house. Built in bookcases next to the fireplace (which is an old gas style where the gas part has been removed, so it's not good for wood) and built in china cabinet... just darling. 6 inch baseboards and wonderful picture mouldings...
With a house like mine, you need to really choose furniture carefully. It should be smaller scaled, and less ornate. And if at all possible -- on legs up off the ground. In a small house you have little room to move things to clean under them. When I used to clean our living room, I had to shove all the furniture to the left to clean the right and then shove it to the right to clean the left. What a pain.
My house is small...912 sqft... but my previous house, which I sold to my son, was not a lot larger.
Old neighborhood with quite a few small homes, many have additions.
There is a large yard--that was important to me, as I have four-footed roommates and like to garden.
I'm in Northern Virginia.
This is a great thread. I want and need a small house, with a small yard for the doggies, and a fence around it. I would like it to be old, have 2 bedrooms and one bath with a tub. It must have a garage. I want it to be in the southeast either NC, SC, or thereabouts and want it to be charming with a white picket fence, big trees hanging over the street, and sidewalks. I do not want a condo or townhouse. I would like to be able to walk to shops and stores and coffee houses. This is my dream, but where in the heck is it? If anyone knows, please clue me in.
This is a great thread. I want and need a small house, with a small yard for the doggies, and a fence around it. I would like it to be old, have 2 bedrooms and one bath with a tub. It must have a garage. I want it to be in the southeast either NC, SC, or thereabouts and want it to be charming with a white picket fence, big trees hanging over the street, and sidewalks. I do not want a condo or townhouse. I would like to be able to walk to shops and stores and coffee houses. This is my dream, but where in the heck is it? If anyone knows, please clue me in.
Well PhxBarb, it will pretty much have to be old, because very few houses of that size have been built in the last 40 years or so. That sounds very much like the house I grew up in (1950's) in a suburb of St. Louis, except for the walking proximity to shopping. Two bedrooms and one bath are just fine for a single person or a married couple without children. I have two bedrooms and two and a half baths because that's how townhouses come nowdays (mine built in 1980), not because I decided I needed two and a half baths, although it is nice for over-night guests. When my ex-wife and I got married in 1971 we rented a one-bedroom, one bath (very old) house for five years at a very cheap rent. That house was torn down about 20 years ago - an example of why there aren't as many around. There just wasn't much demand for houses that small, but the tanking of the economy about five years ago has changed that somewhat. Good luck.
We originlly retired to a 1280 sq ft house with a pool west of Phoenix. No sooner had we done that than the family started moving in and I had to buy a bigger house. It was nice but not practical.
I wish I had 900-100sqft. I'd like to have two bedrooms, at least 800sqft, a small yard, parking and it must allow four footed roommates. I'd also like to have a white picket fence.
I currently live in a 400sqft one bedroom cottage. I have no yard, just a side concrete area, and there's no offstreet parking. There's street parking, and it's hard to get, plus there's a grocery store on the corner, and their customers take up a lot of street parking during the day.
My four-footed roommate and I hope to move next year.
We recently built our retirement home, it's about 1270 sq ft. Number of factors went into our decision to build smaller, all dealt with money of course. We are on the coast, so house had to built to hurricane code, which is expensive. Hurricane insurance, flood insurance, and even earthquake insurance went into our decision to build small, smaller home = smaller premiums. The cost to heat, air condition, and maintain all contributed to the build small.
Yes there are inconviences, husbands office is in one of the guest rooms, so when we have guests he moves his office to our bedroom. We have 3 baths they are all small, but my feeling is a private bath for each bedroom is better then sharing a large one. The positives though far outweigh the negatives, cleaning is a breeze.
Well PhxBarb, it will pretty much have to be old, because very few houses of that size have been built in the last 40 years or so. That sounds very much like the house I grew up in (1950's) in a suburb of St. Louis, except for the walking proximity to shopping. Two bedrooms and one bath are just fine for a single person or a married couple without children. I have two bedrooms and two and a half baths because that's how townhouses come nowdays (mine built in 1980), not because I decided I needed two and a half baths, although it is nice for over-night guests. When my ex-wife and I got married in 1971 we rented a one-bedroom, one bath (very old) house for five years at a very cheap rent. That house was torn down about 20 years ago - an example of why there aren't as many around. There just wasn't much demand for houses that small, but the tanking of the economy about five years ago has changed that somewhat. Good luck.
Due to the practical limitations of 1000 sf houses (age, location, maintenance, convenience, upgrades, space) ... it would seem that a condo would be a better 'small home' choice --- for most retirees.
We've lived in 3 condos over the past 12-years (1850sf, 2250sf, 2100sf) ... and find so many advantages over older/smaller homes, that we will never move back to a house. Even the reasons for houses posted herein (pets, privacy, etc) are not really issues in condos.
In contrast, if one really doesn't mind house/yard maintenance and the typical limitations of 1000 sf house neighborhoods/neighbors (security, zoning control, parking, etc) ... as they get older and less able to do these things themselves... then a tiny house is probably a goodidea.
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