Downside to buying a home much larger than one needs? (Murphy: how much, living in)

[biafra4life]

Originally Posted by mikestrong

I have sold new homes for 13+ years total. It always amazed me how much space people get. I always think what a waste.

I obviously cant speak for everyone, but for me, it's an ego thing honestly. I remember when we were house hunting I had dreams of 4500 sq ft. After years of being cooped up in a 1100 sq foot apartment with the wife and then 2 kids I was ready for some space. Budget forced me down to 2600 sq ft, and I'm now thankful. Trying to clean that on a weekly basis really brought home to me just how hard it is to maintain a super large house. And that's before we get to the utilities and what not. The space we have is sufficient for all of us without being excessive.

[sapphire]

Why would anyone care what size house someone chooses for themselves? I don't get that mentality.

[Squirl]

I have friends who would prefer a house about 2500 sq feet but the neighborhoods where they want to buy have homes 4000+ sq feet. They are very set on specific neighborhoods. So they will be getting a larger house than desired. Oh well.

I moved from 4500 sq ft to a 1600 sq ft condo and really like having a more manageable space. As a retired couple, we were only using about 3-4 rooms in the house and we didn't enjoy walking the distance between bedroom and den, along with the lack of coziness.

It can be an ego thing. All the hungry years, there was an admiration of big showy places and upscale neighborhoods. But then when that became very affordable for us we started turning inward and really looking at the suitability of our house to our lifestyle. Maybe sometimes you just gotta get the big house out of your system! I just hope when you decide its not the place for you any longer that you can sell it.

[4Movingeast]

Originally Posted by Squirl

I have friends who would prefer a house about 2500 sq feet but the neighborhoods where they want to buy have homes 4000+ sq feet. They are very set on specific neighborhoods. So they will be getting a larger house than desired. Oh well.

I moved from 4500 sq ft to a 1600 sq ft condo and really like having a more manageable space. As a retired couple, we were only using about 3-4 rooms in the house and we didn't enjoy walking the distance between bedroom and den, along with the lack of coziness.

It can be an ego thing. All the hungry years, there was an admiration of big showy places and upscale neighborhoods. But then when that became very affordable for us we started turning inward and really looking at the suitability of our house to our lifestyle. Maybe sometimes you just gotta get the big house out of your system! I just hope when you decide its not the place for you any longer that you can sell it.

Good post. Wanted to rep but gotta spread it around. We are a bit odd for our community for purposefully buying "less house" than we could afford. We had been there/done that with the big house that had rooms we didn't use and decided to cut the fluff and look for a "right sized" home. Granted, my 2 aren't teens yet, and we may well decide to upsize when we have 2 man sized boys hulking around. The one room we both miss is our office, but the dining room stand in for now. As far as utilities, we had a fairly energy efficient "big house" but even so the electricity has been about half. Don't know about water since we had a well. I hope all the posters enjoy their homes!

[bencronin04]

For some reason I've never had a desire for a large two/three story house. I'd prefer something with 3-4 bedrooms in a ranch style lay out. Each person has there own feel and desire though, no reason for me to pass judgement onto others for what they like.

[HockDad]

Originally Posted by Squirl

I have friends who would prefer a house about 2500 sq feet but the neighborhoods where they want to buy have homes 4000+ sq feet. They are very set on specific neighborhoods. So they will be getting a larger house than desired. Oh well.

I moved from 4500 sq ft to a 1600 sq ft condo and really like having a more manageable space. As a retired couple, we were only using about 3-4 rooms in the house and we didn't enjoy walking the distance between bedroom and den, along with the lack of coziness.

It can be an ego thing. All the hungry years, there was an admiration of big showy places and upscale neighborhoods. But then when that became very affordable for us we started turning inward and really looking at the suitability of our house to our lifestyle. Maybe sometimes you just gotta get the big house out of your system! I just hope when you decide its not the place for you any longer that you can sell it.

Sometimes it is also what a bank will approve with the loan. The lots in my neighborhood are going for 500k. If you wanted to build a 2,000 square foot house, and it cost $150.00 a foot to build, your loan would be 800k. However, your price per square foot would be $400.00. That would be way outside the normal comps and a bank would likely not approve that loan.

[WorldKlas]

Originally Posted by HockDad

Sometimes it is also what a bank will approve with the loan. The lots in my neighborhood are going for 500k. If you wanted to build a 2,000 square foot house, and it cost $150.00 a foot to build, your loan would be 800k. However, your price per square foot would be $400.00. That would be way outside the normal comps and a bank would likely not approve that loan.

good point for those who need a mortgage (not the case for some)

[MovingtoDFW]

Thanks for the responses. We prefer a smaller home but have not found one suited to our taste.

Can someone familiar with such things please comment on the import of the below lines on a home structural inspection report? Is the below just minor issues written in technical jargon or is there a potentially major issue here? If we do go ahead, we will definitely have a full inspection, of course. The rest of the report says all else looks good.

"The 2nd floor family room wallboard fracture and the 2nd floor Hall door misalignment are evidence of a structural compromise. The discrepancies are on opposite sides of a common area with two separate walls enclosing a fireplace chimney. I suspect that the walls are partially supported on the fireplace concrete foundation and a portion partially supported on the first floor wood floor joists. The wood framing support being flexible will allow differential movement with respect to the rigid concrete. That condition may be the source problem. On the other hand a framing joint compromise may exist in that area of the 2nd floor: inadequate nailing and inadequate support for members."

[Siggy20]

Originally Posted by sapphire

Why would anyone care what size house someone chooses for themselves? I don't get that mentality.

Agree with you. People do love to judge don't they?

To the OP....we bought a larger house than what I wanted last summer. I won't post the square footage for judgement here on this thread. We did look around a bit but with the tight housing market, our choices were limited. It hasn't worked out that badly. For a large house, it doesn't have gazillions of rooms. Each room is quite spacious and well layed out. In fact we've had to get rid of much clutter from our much smaller house in NJ (with basement). We really didn't have to buy more furniture either. We are in a lovely neighborhood with big mature trees, kids can walk to school. I can't imagine a more perfect location for our needs at this time. I really had my doubts about a large house but really had to compromise when it got down to the house purchase. I think it also depends on the layout too. Our 4100 sf rental felt like a mausoleum and creeped me out with its large open spaces. I hated it...loathed it with all my being. Some other large houses feel like Downton Abbey and I would hate living there (love the show though!). Also don't like hugely ornamental fancy places. The moment I walked into our house we bought, I knew it was the one. Our house now has a cozy, well layed out feel and doesn't feel huge. That is SO important IMO.

Drawbacks...a bit more to heat/cool but still cheaper than our 2,500 sf house in NJ. We have cleaning ladies who come twice a week (my indulgence in life at this point). Our house in NJ took almost as much time to clean.

My dream is to move into a smaller home with a bit more land and views when kids are out of the nest and my hubby doesn't have to commute into work. Would I ever consider a "tiny" house. No way. I need a bit of privacy and living in super small houses makes me go crazy.

Again, be flexible. If a house feels right for you, go for it!

[MurphyPl1]

We had a few things we weren't willing to compromise on and unfortunately at a certain level you can't get an office, media room and 3 car garage with out getting the extra bedrooms that you may or may not need. We really could do with one less bedroom but could not find it at this price point with the other items we'd like.

I'd love to see a builder build for the empty nester market - the 3 car garage, the gourmet kitchen, the home office, great patio AND with a decent size yard (I don't think empty nest means you have to live in a zero lot) and without having so many rooms you could have every grandkid move in with you.