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My wife is a home inspector, so we have speculated a lot about why people choose various amenities. She has inspected everything from 3 story loft apartments to log cabins with horse stables and lots of acreage to mobile homes to 6000+ sq ft homes that have outdoor kitchens, an elevator, pool, spa, pool house, firelplace, and maid's apartment. As others have said, the answer comes down to desire. People want what they want, and they buy what they can afford. And often they buy what they can't afford (remember the mortgage crisis?) and then the bank takes the house away in the foreclosure Her job is extremely interesting because she gets to see how people truly live. What's better than getting an extremely thorough look at thousands of people's homes over years and not even being accused of snooping?
Don't you think its kind of creepy that a home inspector checks out how people live and then you guys discuss those people. Ew... I wouldn't want someone so nosy at my property. Do you also stalk the people who live there?
It´s all about cultural narratives and socialization. We are always taught, from day one, to accumulate, collect, buy, and gather...and it all has to be as fancy, big, modern, and cool as possible, the better to impress others. A lot of us don't care about that, and many others can't afford it, but plenty of people simply adhere to the script that they are given, and thus, they buy big homes that they don't really need.
Who coined that old saying that goes, "Webuy things we don't needwith money we don't have to impress people we don't like"?
Are your kids young? When they are teenagers, they won't want to all be in one room all the time I can tell you that!
One of my biggest gripes about newer homes is that all the bedroom sq footage is allocated to a grand master suite and the secondary bedrooms are often no bigger than the master closet! That's one of the reasons we chose the house we did. All the secondary bedrooms are very generously sized.
Do we really want to talk about what we "need?" You don't even "need" 2200 square feet. It's all relative.
I don't try to second guess what size home people buy. Too many variables and besides that, if they can afford it so what?
It is my opinion that the more rooms a family has to go into the less time they spend together. In this age of technology I have seen families go to a restaurant and they all have their noses in a device. Maybe "need" was not the correct word, but just saying. There are only two of us in 2200 sq. ft. and the majority of our time is in the family room and kitchen, even when grandchildren are here. I don't "need" 2200 sq. ft. and didn't build this house, but inventory of ranches was limited.
If people like the big mansions, fine. My opinion is what it is.
for 10 years we lived in 1000 sf condo. couple months ago we moved to a 1700 sf house. it is plenty big enough for five of us. due to my job, i often go to people's houses and i see 3000sf+ frequently. i just do not get it at all why anyone would want such a big house. and it's not that the families are huge. i've never seen a family with more than 3 kids, tho it's usually 1 or 2. i seriously am curious what exactly is the benefit of a big house? to me it's more to keep clean and more to keep heated/cooled.
Sometimes its just about the neighborhood! It happens occasionally that the neighborhood we admire and those that just "speak to us" happen to have larger homes.
Sometimes its just about the neighborhood! It happens occasionally that the neighborhood we admire and those that just "speak to us" happen to have larger homes.
Our neighborhood did indeed speak to us. Houses in our area of the neighborhood are required by the HOA to be a minimum of 2000 square feet. It really wasn't a big deal...and we do like having a large house.
We started with how we lived and how we wanted the house to function. I wanted a nice kitchen that didn't feel too tight and had enough space to store everything. We wanted a big family room and one large dining space. Plus we wanted 3 bedrooms, a workout room, and a home office. Add all that up and it is hard to get in less than 2500 sq. ft. We also live in land of no basements. If we had a basement, the workout room would be down there.
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Her job is extremely interesting because she gets to see how people truly live. What's better than getting an extremely thorough look at thousands of people's homes over years and not even being accused of snooping? 
