Small vs big house (Plano, Frisco: best neighborhood, mortgage, daycare)

[ubetman]

HI all - I am in the market for new house. I got a two year old and 2nd one due next year. I work near legacy. Although I can afford big house (like 3000+ sqft, of course little far away from work place), I am thinking it's not really required now given the size of the family, instead live in a small house of around 1800sqft (3b/2b), close to work place for about 5-8 years and then move to big one. what are the pros and cons you guyz think of given your experience. TIA

[Skipito]

The only thing approaching a "con" I could see is that the smaller house is likely a bit older, as most new construction has been heavily focused on big-box neighborhoods.

The "pro" side:

Closer to work, so more time at home with little ones, less time in traffic.
Possibly lower utility bills.
More established neighborhood (bigger trees, closer to services and shopping).
Likely a MUCH larger yard.

I've got a similar setup (1900 sf 3/2.5) - actually having downsized as my two oldest moved on to college/service academy. We have nary an issue with space, and my utility bills are less than half of my prior home. I did have to build a shed in the yard for lawn tools and bikes to keep enough space in the garage for two cars - and my two remaining kids are older than yours (7/5). They love having almost 1/4 acre reasonably flat yard and the huge driveway/alley ends up being an extension of such. Plus, we have a tree big enough for a "tree fort" for the boys and a ton of shade.

ETA:

I just saw that your focus is "new home", which I assume is new construction. That eliminates almost all of the pros. There's absolutely nothing beneficial about new construction homes today. Get the big house, hope the market doesn't crash and enjoy the commute.

[calgirlinnc]

If you do not own a lot of quality furniture that you have invested in, then I would say size is not that important.

Focus on commute, schools, the floor plan, the neighborhood, storage (really important when you have kids!). Think about if you only have a 2 bath house, how big is that second bathroom? Does it have two sinks? How high are your ceilings? Do you have mature trees, a nice size lot, a garage that doesn't face front, quality finishes?

There's so much more to house hunting than "small" vs. "big."

[wheelsup]

We bought over a decade ago into a planned community. We are house hunting and no way we will be buying in a small lot / large house scenario ever again. 1800 sq ft is not that small.

Look at the floor plans of these larger homes. The builders beef up the sq ft by adding rooms and space that goes completely unused or used so rarely it is essentially meaningless.

Buy a 3/2.5 ranch with two car attached garage on 1/4-1/2 acre close to work in an established well maintained neighborhood close to things you need. Don't buy a flip. Upgrade the floor plan and materials inside as you go. You'll get 5x the quality of the new construction in a higher appreciating area.

[UnfairPark]

With young kids, short work commute is a necessity not a luxury. If you want a smaller home, go for it. Just don’t fill it up with too much stuff.

Imho age of the house doesn’t matter unless it’s practically a tear down. Parents tend to become too touchy about new house and get stressed out keeping it as a model home for instagram. It’s better to have a lived in and casual home to stay relaxed yourselves and raise happy children.

[biafra4life]

My two cents:
If you plan on buying small now only to upgrade later, my advice would be to try to get the house that you would be happy (or at least ok) living in forever. Home prices have been rapidly climbing over the last 5 years and barring another Great Recession, I don’t see any reason for this price climb to not continue for a few more years.

I bought my 2,500 sq ft house in Wylie back in 2012 for $175K. I could sell it today for close to $300K. The wife and I are happy with the house so we will most likely not try to upgrade to a bigger house and that’s fine since this house meets all our needs. We don’t need more space heck we have space that we don’t really use much now.

If we had bought smaller back in 2012 and now needed to upgrade, we would be looking at closer to $400K now. Best to buy cheap now

[TurtleCreek80]

I’m on team “buy the best floorplan in the best neighborhood you can afford.” The exact square footage doesn’t matter as much as how it lives. With two little kids, you definitely want two living spaces. One for kid/family stuff and one for adults. Two bathrooms might work but 2.5 is probably better so that you have a half bath for guests. From houses I’ve been in, anything between 1800-2200 has the potential to be a great starter family home IF the floor plan flows well.

Other things to consider:
-You may not want a pool while your kids are little.
-You may want a shorter commute so you can get home faster and have more time with them before their early bedtimes.
-Less money towards mortgage is good when kids are younger, especially if there is daycare to pay for, your spouse isn’t sure if she will continue working or return to work, etc. Keep the overhead low and flexible.

[Teacher Terry]

5 of us lived comfortably in 1600 sq ft. Those big houses cost you more every month plus you have to clean it.

[Katana49]

If I were in your situation I'd be looking at a 4 bedroom house. You don't want the kids sharing a room, the baby will wake up the two year old and vice versa, so there's two bedrooms right there, plus the master for a 3rd, and if you want to have guests, you'll need another bedroom.


As someone else said, you need two living spaces, one for adults and one for the kids and their toys, otherwise the whole house ends up being a mess if you don't have a defined space for the kids. (Even with the defined space, they'll still bring their toys and junk all over the house, you'll see.)


Buy a house big enough to give you some room to grow into, while not being overly large. Otherwise I think you will regret your decision as your kids get older and your house starts feeling more and more cramped.

[Soccernerd]

You will probably want to stay in northern Plano or southern Frisco. The further south and east you go in Plano the more affordable but older the housing stock becomes. The schools will be excellent. Unfortunately most brand-new (and even ten year old houses) will likely be over 2,500 square feet.

I’d recommend looking at a mix of larger smaller houses. Pay attention to floor-plans for living space flexibility, storage, and bedroom configurations. If possible, I’d recommend looking for houses around 2,500 and try to find one with four or five bedrooms. If your wife is looking forward to going back to work, having an office might come in handy or just having a guest room is convenient.