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To answer the OP's question I think huge houses are mostly to show people's wealth and enhance their status.
I would like to have a couple of places. One in central New Mexico for the winters and a small condo in New Hampshire. I have enough money for the condo and find that paying a condo fee for all outside maintainence fits our needs.
On the Win the Lottery basis where money was not a consideration I would want a small house in NH next to a couple of million sqft old textile mill. I would like to have a 100 yd rifle/pistol range in the basement, room for a car restoratiion shop and a huge deck called the roof. In NM I would want a several bedroom adobe so I could have guests as well as a tiny cabin in the woods where I could be alone.
Reality looks like keeping the condo and renting a small place for winters in New Mexico. That is actuall fine with me.
A house has to be large enough so you can pick up your longbow and shoot a few arrows the length of the house into the straw target hanging on the wall near the fireplace. Prefer an open design to hang your woodstrip canoe in the rafters when not in use.
As to why dreams are not stunted, that has to do with the family which raised you and the social/ political atmosphere which confines or encourages one's hope and dreams. The death of dreams is the death of a society. Dreams are the fuel we need to carry on. They don't have to be realized, they just need to be
Relativity is an important consideration here as big is a meaningless concept unless a reference point is given. For instance if someone promises hope and change they offer nothing without referencing what will be changed and what it will be changed to. Hope can mean anything from hoping to know where your next meal is coming from to hoping to afford a new kevlar canoe.
A house has to be large enough so you can pick up your longbow and shoot a few arrows the length of the house into the straw target hanging on the wall near the fireplace. Prefer an open design to hang your woodstrip canoe in the rafters when not in use.
As to why dreams are not stunted, that has to do with the family which raised you and the social/ political atmosphere which confines or encourages one's hope and dreams. The death of dreams is the death of a society. Dreams are the fuel we need to carry on. They don't have to be realized, they just need to be
Relativity is an important consideration here as big is a meaningless concept unless a reference point is given. For instance if someone promises hope and change they offer nothing without referencing what will be changed and what it will be changed to. Hope can mean anything from hoping to know where your next meal is coming from to hoping to afford a new kevlar canoe.
Dream big!
I have the house of my dreams, I choose it because it's absolutely beautiful, bright and just feels wonderful inside, and it's in a fantastic neighborhood where people know each other, care about and often help each other out (that's priceless), it happens to be about 1800sf plus a full basement, I looked at bigger houses, but didn't want them. I like smaller cozy houses, I HATE unused rooms that end up full of clutter and crap. Dreaming big doesn't necessarily mean large sized, a lot of Americans don't understand this. My worth is not determined by how much space I take up on this planet.
I also have the career of my dreams, I gave up the higher pay some who graduated with me chose, because I wanted to live a joyous life that is of real measurable benefit to others, rather than just make myself rich.
BIGGER and MORE is not always better, choosing less with purpose doesn't meaning dreaming small.
My old victorian is set up so if I open the doors I can shoot my recurve thru 2 15' bedrooms the nursery living room and hit the target set up on the kitchen sink. bout 25 yards, house is 1500 sq ft kids are grown ,safety first
My old victorian is set up so if I open the doors I can shoot my recurve thru 2 15' bedrooms the nursery living room and hit the target set up on the kitchen sink. bout 25 yards, house is 1500 sq ft kids are grown ,safety first
I can shoot from just to the left of the front door, through the formal front room down to the end of the hallway, it's really not very far, but I still love my house
The "big house syndrome" is kind of going away. A realtor told me that a 4 bedroom two story is a harder sell these days than a smaller 3 bedroom ranch. The national volume homebuilders have downsized the upper-end homes; average size of new homes has been going down in recent years for the first time in history.
For my part, I'd rather have two smaller ones in different locales instead of one big one. We bought a small place for a second home and love it. The next step is to trade down from 2200 sq ft to 1400 or 1200 for the main place. It will happen, and money is not the object. It is about right-sizing after the kids are gone.
I had a similar idea. I bought an unfinished 4-bedroom home, and converted two of the bedrooms into a master bedroom with a large walk-in closet and a master bath.
The primary purpose for buying such a large home, however, was an investment in the future. Just before I retire in a few more years I will have the home paid off. Regardless of the price I sell the home for, I will be able to buy a much smaller home, pay for it in full, and still have a little left over. I will be buying this smaller home in an area where there are no property taxes. So the money I have left over from the sale of the larger home will go into insurance and utilities.
I had a similar idea. I bought an unfinished 4-bedroom home, and converted two of the bedrooms into a master bedroom with a large walk-in closet and a master bath.
The primary purpose for buying such a large home, however, was an investment in the future. Just before I retire in a few more years I will have the home paid off. Regardless of the price I sell the home for, I will be able to buy a much smaller home, pay for it in full, and still have a little left over. I will be buying this smaller home in an area where there are no property taxes. So the money I have left over from the sale of the larger home will go into insurance and utilities.
The previous owners of my house also combined two bedrooms into a large master bed/bath, and they turned a downstairs bedroom into a formal dining room after they combined the small kitchen and dining room to create a large and very stylish eat in kitchen. It went from 5 bedrooms to 3 and increased in value dramatically. A great benefit to buying less house than I could afford is that I could do a short mortgage and will have it paid off while I'm young, and since I love it, there's no need for an upgrade, that's a lot of extra money that can go into a retirement account or toward travel.
Because they're nice usually. But I go for quality over quantity. If I'm gonna buy a house, whether it be "small" at 1500 sq. ft., or "big" at 3000 sq. ft, I want a NICE house.
Because they're nice usually. But I go for quality over quantity. If I'm gonna buy a house, whether it be "small" at 1500 sq. ft., or "big" at 3000 sq. ft, I want a NICE house.
That was my criteria also when I did my house hunt. Nice is usually more about price per square foot than total square feet, but it can depend on the area. I saw some hideous big houses and some gorgeous smaller ones. It's important to be careful and look closely, sometimes what looks nice is actually crap quality, especially with newer construction, or flips.
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Big is relative, dreams stunted
