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One kind of house I really hate are bi-levels. My daughter has a big bi-level, but all day long, we go up the stairs to the bedrooms, or down the stairs to the family room. It's a pain.
Love one story houses (grew up in one, and my last house was a gorgeous one) but the cost of building a big one story vs two story these days makes it hard to justify. Ended up (reluctantly) building a two story, but couldn't be happier. There is plenty of space to spread out and we'll grow into the house instead of out of it. Our biggest stipulation was a 2nd bedroom on the first floor for a nursery or for any aging visitors we have that can't do stairs. Houses with masters upstairs aren't common at all here in Houston, but neither are two stories with a 2nd bedroom down, but I wasn't willing to relent on that.
I *love* my ranch house because its cheaper to heat/cool, easier for babies/elderly/pets, exterior maintenance is easier. The thing that is the main reason why I like a single story is the lot size is larger to account for the bigger footprint of the property (so more privacy from neighbors). Sometimes I miss a two story though... the living room is near the kids' bedrooms so we have to be quieter in the evenings (well, I have a finished basement so we do end up down there most evenings, but I could see how people who like to entertain might have this issue). I like to sleep with the windows open at night in the spring/fall and I have obvious safety concerns doing that in a ranch. But overall, living in a one story makes the most sense long term for us.
One kind of house I really hate are bi-levels. My daughter has a big bi-level, but all day long, we go up the stairs to the bedrooms, or down the stairs to the family room. It's a pain.
I thought bi-levels were really just 2 story houses where the front entrance is between the floors?...
In my area they are more like elevated ranchers, with basements (finished as family rooms) that are only a few feet below grade.
Maybe you are thinking of split level?
We have one now, and love the house (the entire property) but I do agree that we have a lot of twisty steps. hah
To go from Kitchen/DR/FormalLR level... even just to go to bathroom, you are taking steps.
Bedrooms are up the steps (with bath). And large family room is down (with another bathroom).
We have a small basement with laundry and the steps are like a corkscrew... 4 separated segments.
More backyard for with the same square foot house. Here we have tiny city lots and no basement. A decent size ranch, leaves only a small sliver of a back yard. A ranch sandwiched between 2 story homes, may have rooms with only side windows, which don't get any light.
A couple perks of a two story: Smaller roof squ footage means a cheaper bill when re-roofing. Smaller house footprint means you get more "yard" in your lot compared to a one story of the same lot size.
Cons: Heat rises, when we come home (in Florida) in the summer the upstairs is probably about 5 degrees hotter than the downstairs. The upstairs AC will run more in the summer, though in the winter you only need to heat the upstairs which is nice.
Oh.. a pro for 2 story house. Just the view of the property (if you have a nice property).
We moved in this year. Ours is 2 story split, neighbors is one story house.
We both have large and deep back yards, pool, with woods as a backdrop. 300+ ft deep.
When we gave the neighbor a tour of our renovations, he paused for a while looking out our 2nd flr master BR window (which faces the back yard and has a great view of the "estate").
After several long seconds he said "wow this is nice. I wish I had this view".
Literally the same back yard setups.. the only difference is I have a second floor.
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