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This is mostly a gripe...I am considering selling my house and buying another but am amazed at how large most houses are. Seems like new house developers are still building huge houses when it is known that many seniors want to downsize and much of the younger market actually prefer and can better afford smaller streamlined homes. It seems short-sighted to me to continue the paradigm of the 80s on up for building 2500 sf+ houses. And it is very frustrating not to be able to find something smaller that is not in a bad neighborhood or in bad shape. I know there must be others like myself looking for a well-designed, efficient smaller home on a private lot - say in the 1600 sf range. And one has to wonder what will become of all these huge houses as time goes by.
I concur. We actually live in a quite small house (1100 sq ft) on a large lot. But it was built in 1950, back when they would often do things that way. We raised two kids here, it was plenty of space for us. Now that just my husband and I live here, it is even very roomy for our needs.
We are looking to move fairly soon, and what I'd truly love is something like this but on a smaller lot, ideally. I really don't want shared walls with people, but other than that, something condo-sized would be great. It is rare to find these. I find that really odd given how society has moved toward more single people, more retirees, smaller families for people in that stage of life.
Keep making noise! Keep creating a demand. I think there are increasingly two kinds of divergent buyers... many like you who want smaller simpler homes... but there's still a lot of demand for the bigger homes you're seeing. They're building them because there are people who want them!
I don't know what state you are in, but here in SWFL you can find all sizes. Builders have returned to building lhouses over 2200sq ft however, in the 2012-2014 timeframe under 2200sq ft were all they were building.
The future will be smaller but people will have to demand it. As long as the big homes sell, since there is more profit in it they will keep building them.
I'm looking in the 1200-1800 sq range. I don't know where you live. However, I doubt that all the smaller homes are in the "bad" parts of town. All types of people want smaller homes. Are you limiting your search to the higher income, all white only areas?
I'm having luck finding what I want in moderate income (80-120k) neighborhoods and there is a good mix of diversity.
I was lucky to find a 1100 sq ft home in my last move. House was built in 1955 and completely renovated. It's on a small lot, but it's actually fairly wide, so the neighbors are not on top of me. There are a lot of these little ranch and cape homes in this area, I just got lucky to find one that had been updated. This town seems to have pretty diverse types of houses, everything from very small, like the house I bought, to huge victorians. Not too much new construction though, a small neighborhood of McMansion type of houses I've driven through and a row of new townhouses, but generally most houses are older around here. This is New England though so, no surprise really.
When we retired and downsized we had a terrible time finding the home we wanted. A one level brick ranch home with 1400 sq. ft. and NO stairs, with an attached garage. We finally found one after two months.
A 1960 model 1350 sq.ft. brick ranch that had been "lipsticked" nicely by a flipper with new windows and doors, tile baths. kitchen updates, refinished real oak floors. But I had to re-do the 1960's electric, plumbing, HVAC that was still in it. Good Luck !
I was lucky to find a 1100 sq ft home in my last move. House was built in 1955 and completely renovated. It's on a small lot, but it's actually fairly wide, so the neighbors are not on top of me. There are a lot of these little ranch and cape homes in this area, I just got lucky to find one that had been updated. This town seems to have pretty diverse types of houses, everything from very small, like the house I bought, to huge victorians. Not too much new construction though, a small neighborhood of McMansion type of houses I've driven through and a row of new townhouses, but generally most houses are older around here. This is New England though so, no surprise really.
I hate to think of what I spent remodeling and repairing my small house. Over $200 per square foot. I should have torn it down and built a new house. There isn’t much left that is original. As I gutted rooms, I had to replace most of the framing. All the systems are new. Plumbing. Wiring. Heat. I added a mini-split A/C. French drain around the foundation.
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