Poll: ideal home size, # of bedrooms and price (wood floors, short sale)

[SJNE17]

It's one thing to be able to buy a 3.5k sq. ft. home, it's quite another to be able to OWN it.

Insurances, electricity, heating/cooling, maintenance, etc. Things just get magnified.

Originally Posted by MartyGras

The home size chosen may be a direct reflection of the amount of money the chart shows people are willing to pay for a house. How much money do I want to spend? And what can I reasonably expect to get for that amount of money?

Who wouldn't want a 3500sqft home with a pool on the water for $225,000

One thing that is missing from the poll is location. Its a very important factor in what someone is willing to pay for a house.


Gary

[coastal chic]

Originally Posted by JERSEY MAN

Looking at the poll results. People voted 43-4 for a home smaller than 2500 Sq. ft. More than 10-1. I know people are looking for smaller homes but didn't realize the overall percentage.

I was shocked by this too. What this poll clarified for me, even more than the smaller home size, is that people buying here don't want to spend a lot of money. Notice I say "want", not "can't". We are a builder and have, in the past several years, specialized in custom homes in the $275k-450k range. All these new builders are coming out of the woodwork and building the same thing. The "custom" market is saturated and there simply aren't that many people around who want to spend that much money.

[SeaRay35]

People have to realize you get what you pay for.

[motordavid]

Having had a smaller SFH in Naples for past 9 winter seasons, (~1900 under air, with 2 car garage & large lanai), and now a new SFH in Nokomis, (~2650 under air, 2 car + separate cart garage and large lanai), and having looked at model homes until we were eyes glazed over, my opins:

-skip the tub in M bath, or at least make it optional.
-make bedrooms smaller: who has a house full of overnight guests very frequently?
-make M bedroom smaller: the cutesy bedroom with sitting area is for magazines. When was the last time you sat in your bedroom, reading a book gazing at your model spouse?
-make great room larger and get the typical galley kitchen with the usual small narrow counter island 'out of' the great room, or with more 'definition'. The frequent kitchen noise and odors so close to great/fam room is like living back in the frat house room, circa 1966.
-our new joint has considerable wasted space of hallways, non defined walk areas, etc.
-larger pantry and that conditioned 'room' a poster mentioned are exc ideas.
-better quality windows. Most of the stuff we saw/have is crap from a single wide, imo.
-better quality upgrades and quit ripping off the buyer, as in 30-50% markups on stuff that is 1-2 levels below what one can buy all day, for a third less.
-more levels of options and species of options.
-allow for slight changes within the footprint. Most builders do not. And, I know load bearing walls and how one can 'move' some room(s) around within the 'footprint'.
-can ceilings get any higher? Lower them a foot or so in most rooms, esp spare bedrooms and we don't have to condition or 'move' as much air.
-kitchen cabinets: our new joint has more cabinets than we have stuff to potentially fill them with...and with the high ceilings I can barely reach the upper cabinet shelves and I'm 6'1" with a 34" sleeve.
-insulate better: walls, and esp ceilings. It is cheap to do even in the cookie cutter building process and really saves owner dough over short time.
-offer interior wall insulation at reasonable cost: exc for reducing sound. Our builder did, we took it, but they cheated in many rooms. Typical...
-every SFH should 'come with' a simple solar roof panel for domestic hot water: cheap to do in the building process, the sunlight is ubiquitous and 'free', and most of us don't use hundreds of gallons of hot water in a week.
-design-wise, many of the new models, by all brands of the major builders, have floor plans that are unimaginative, poorly planned, have never been 'walked through' by the original 'designer', and most seemed aimed at how easy it is to build and how we can pad the gross margins.

No expert, but we designed and GC'd our New York house, '85 to 2001, designed our NC mtn home where we spend 7+ months 2001 to present & ongoing, and have traipsed through a hundred plus 'models' here in SW FL. Generally, SW FL houses are bland, boring, so-so designed, and all about the same, regardless of builder brand.

As for house 'size', everyone talks about downsizing, but what most of us really want I suspect, is better layouts, more great room/fam room/kitchen size and more lanai size. While some choose to go to 1200 -1500 sq ft, unless one has sold most of what they owned and live very sparingly, one will run out of living and use space quickly.

We are seasonal, and it isn't difficult to put up with the typical so-so FL house layout; if we were full time here, I would not appreciate the lack of real living space, both inside and outside in these close in communities.

My 50 Cts.
GL, mD

[coastal chic]

Motordavid- thank you for the well written post. The only thing I question is the open kitchen.....are you saying you prefer a more closed off kitchen? Our model has an 8' long x 3.5' deep island, all one level, and people seem to love it!? It is fully open to the great room. Maybe I'm wrong on that one too lol!

Speaking of NC, my dad has a summer home in the mounts of Frankiin and we go to Waynesville every time we go up. Our son loves the general store! Dad had snow for thanksgiving!

[motordavid]

cc: just my personal preference...in many models, (inc the house we bought a year ago here in Nokomis), the kitchen is simply the 'end' of the great room, as in the middle side/end. Some like that casual open look/feel.

I would prefer the kitchen be set back more, better defined, maybe room for a larger/wider counter, etc.

Add in the high ceilings, the ubiquitous tile floors and the kitchen 'noise', even running the tap, is like one is sitting on a couch in a commercial kitchen.

Our Mtn house has its kitchen back more from great room, under a normal 8' ceiling which serves as a 'roof'/overhang vs the 18 ft multi tray ceiling we have in that house great room. And, that kitchen is defined by a granite topped 'table for two'/attached to large wide granite island, and then the 'kitchen'. Just a very different feel that we have not found in any SW FL house design short of the $1 dot Five joints in Quail West, et al.

Everyone has their own wants, needs, and livability factors.

I don't dislike FL houses or spending winter season here; it is just a very different housing situ than we had in NY or have in our Mtn home. 3 1/2 acres of steep hillside woods vs zero clearance lots are very 'different', also.

We live in Waynesville, actually 'above' Waynesville, on a 5,000 ft mtn ridge overlooking the our golf club, the town, etc.
A warm summer day at that altitude is maybe 75 in the shade...

Good luck on your house hunting and decision making process. There will be many trade offs and expenses that pop up. And remember, many of the stuff/parts/add ons can be done after the fact by trades people for a third less and with better quality 'parts' than many of the big name cookie cutter builders offer in their 'design' (profit margin) center.
GL, mD

A couple views from our deck at 5000 ft, typical.

[mr&mrssunshine]

we have had a large amount of foot traffic in our new spec home that has been 'open' for a little over 10 days.

the consensus we have seen is that 1900-2100 is fine even desired .

the features that have drawn the most 'wows' are ;

zero corner sliders
ultra modern kitchen with upgraded appliances and walk in pantry
stone floors
high ceilings with coffers and drop trays
large lanai
large walk thru shower
a waterfall (YUP)
extra closet space


.....................................

no tub in the master was never an issue
good size bedrooms commented on but not a main point
....................................

we accepted an offer within 5 days and have also taken orders for 5 builds..........and it isn't even high season yet !!

[SJNE17]

congrats to you!

one thing i absolutely can't stand but my wife just loves is the "open concept" layout, which to me means the builder just saved a ton on labor, sheetrock, wiring, paint, lighting, and other materials. and yet for some reason charges as much if not more than something that's segmented. go figure!

i want to hurl every time i hear the term. it means, to me, that one gets to see the dish pile and assorted counter chaos in the kitchen while sitting in the dining "area" or relaxing on the couch.

gimme at least a damned wall that sets it off, please!

if we end up going custom, i'm having two dishwashers installed....

Originally Posted by mr&mrssunshine

we have had a large amount of foot traffic in our new spec home that has been 'open' for a little over 10 days.

the consensus we have seen is that 1900-2100 is fine even desired .

the features that have drawn the most 'wows' are ;

zero corner sliders
ultra modern kitchen with upgraded appliances and walk in pantry
stone floors
high ceilings with coffers and drop trays
large lanai
large walk thru shower
a waterfall (YUP)
extra closet space


.....................................

no tub in the master was never an issue
good size bedrooms commented on but not a main point
....................................

we accepted an offer within 5 days and have also taken orders for 5 builds..........and it isn't even high season yet !!

[JERSEY MAN]

Originally Posted by SJNE17

congrats to you!

one thing i absolutely can't stand but my wife just loves is the "open concept" layout, which to me means the builder just saved a ton on labor, sheetrock, wiring, paint, lighting, and other materials. and yet for some reason charges as much if not more than something that's segmented. go figure!

i want to hurl every time i hear the term. it means, to me, that one gets to see the dish pile and assorted counter chaos in the kitchen while sitting in the dining "area" or relaxing on the couch.

gimme at least a damned wall that sets it off, please!

if we end up going custom, i'm having two dishwashers installed....

I'm the same way. We didn't even close yet and wife is talking about tearing two walls down, one with a pocket slider to CREATE the open view concept. Me, it looks fine like it is. Guess who is going to win?

[mr&mrssunshine]

not you :-) ....again , feedback, the open plan single room, high ceiling (ours went to 14') concept is most definitely IN.....the mid 2000s cathedral ceiling split room plan is OUT......we haven't had one person walk through not loving to one entry/dining/living/kitchen/breakfast nook theme

me, coming form a country where every room is blocked off...I love it