Can you go too BIG on a house?

[wnlbutterfly]

I was trying to watch one of the home shows on HGTV the other day. One where they help the seller do some improvements to sell their home faster or get a better price. This was a family of 6+, mom/dad, 4 young children and one on the way. That sounds like a good reason to move on up to a bigger home right?

Well, I stopped watching right after finding out they currently have a 5-bedroom house. It is HUGE! I thought what on earth size of house is going to be big enough, you don't see too many listings for a 6 bedroom home. Buy some bunkbeds!

This home is the type that you don't move out of until all the kids have moved away and it is too big just for the two of you. Too bad they don't tell you what the hubby does for a living, I would have been interested in that, or how much they owe on the home, what kind of downpayment they will have on the next home. All things that went through my mind. This family maybe should have looked into the shows on help with organizing perhaps.

I don't know if it would have struck me the same this time last year (before I was rethinking our own spending habits, and comparing needs and wants).

[wincrasher]

Well I've seen plenty of houses that were fairly large, but seemed small. All bedrooms and small common spaces.

Or just the opposite - huge greatrooms, formal living and dining, but tiny bedrooms and only 1 or 2 bathrooms.

So maybe it's an issue of the right fit for the lifestyle, not square footage or number of rooms.

[graceful]

Maybe after they fix up the house to "sell," they decide to stay!! Haha! That's what I always think that the homeowners really want - FREE labor. Lol.

[Ima saver]

Yes, I think you can go too big with a house. The last BIG house we built was 4800 square feet. We had 3 bedrooms, all with their own bath and 2 powder rooms. (upstairs and down) There was a media room, but it had a closet and a window. There was a formal living and dining room. The kitchen had a seperate eat in area,(breakfast nook) and there was a small office/computer room off of the kitchen and a large pantry.
Downstairs had a family room with it's own complete kitchen for entertaining, parties, etc. The master bedroom had a seperate sitting room. There was also 3 fireplaces; one in the family room, living room and sitting room.
So, it was listed as a 3 bedroom house, but could have been considered 4 bedrooms. I can't imagine wanting a 5 or 6 bedroom house.

[disneysteve]

The concept of kids sharing a bedroom seems to have faded away along with cell phones for elementary school kids, iPods and luxuries of every other manner. Sure, young kids can easily share a bedroom. Heck, growing up, I knew a fair number of pre-teens and teens who shared a room with a sibling. In college, I shared a room for 4 years and survived just fine.

Today, it seems, it is only the poor who subject their children to sharing a room.

[Broken Arrow]

I think there is such a thing as too much house, but I agree with Wincrasher that part of that equation is space efficiency.... Not all floor plans have what I feel are efficient layouts and efficient uses of space, and vestigal space that counts as square footage may make a house feel smaller than it really is.

[Ralff]

My wife and I watch that channel all the time. I find it odd that some of the people/couples on there have a price range of $4 or $500k and they have lower paying jobs. We've come to the conclusion that the show must help them out a bit. That or they are better with money than I am (which is very possible).

[rizzmo]

I definately think there is such a thing as too much house. My wife and I purchased our first home last October. It is a 2 bath/3 bedroom with 3000sqft. and has a furnished basement with 1 bath/2 bedroom and is 2500sqft thought it is not counted as such since there is only one stairwell. Anyway, we don't even use one of the bedrooms upstairs and we only go downstairs to do laundry. We are planning on building our next home, and it will be much smaller than what we have now. I sometimes think these shows are put out by the realtors association to make the purchasing of such large homes seem normal.

[wincrasher]

Another thing to consider is energy efficiency.

My new house, at 3700 sq ft, is much more energy efficient than my old 1900 sq ft house.

Spray in insulation, thermal glass, high efficiency heat pumps, energy star appliances, instant on water heater, low flow shower heads and toilets, flourescent lighting... my utility bills are roughly 1/2 what they were in the old house.

So why not have the extra footage?

[LivingAlmostLarge]

I have a 3bd/2.5 ba home and it's NOT a good layout. So while we don't really need more sq footage or rooms right now, the layout really is not working for us.

It's over 3 stories, so it's purely vertical, KWIM?

[MonkeyMama]

Yes, you can definitely go too big on a house! The average person doesn't really consider all they are getting into.

On the flip side, not sure a family of 7 wanting a larger home is all bad. You don't really know their motives, nor their means.

Says I, the 4-person-family with the 5-bedroom home. I am used to extremely inaccurate judgements about the cost and maintenance of our home, etc. The thing was, in our unique situation, it was an extremely frugal buy. & one that was important to us (we spend a lot of time in our home, and we like our space). So, the judgements get old.

[Caoineag]

To each their own I say, but for me, anything over 2000 sq ft would be insane. I just don't like cleaning and even with company, my 2 person, 2 dog household just doesn't need that kind of space. But like I said, everyone has their own space requirements and mine just happen to be minimal.

[cschin4]

Our current home is about 2700 sq ft. And, it is TOO big for my family which consists of myself, spouse, 3 kids (13, 11, and 7) and a dog. I really don't care for a home this big and it seems like the cleaning never ends. Also, taxes and insurance are higher, higher utility bills and maintenance will cost more down the road as well. Anyway, we are hoping to downsize to about 2000 sq ft. as we just listed our current home. I already own a smaller home and we are moving into that as soon as we sell.

[Snave]

We live in a newer neighborhood and the homes are 3300-4000 sq feet. We have a few single people that have homes that are on the upper end of that spectrum. I know one has said they wish they hadn't and it is too much house for one person to keep up.

[PrincessPerky]

Since I have 4 kids in 1100 sq foot I can certainly see living in such a 'small' house.

But having said that I have a well layed out 1100 sq foot. I have been in homes twice this size where each and every room feels small, giving the whole house a small feel. I have also been in 1100 sq ft houses that feel much smaller. Part of it is the layout, part of it is the lack of furniture, we have more than I want, but not as much as could be.

For example, no end tables, or coffee table, they take up a large amount of space that is better used for kids playing. The kitchen has a bench along the wall so the table is farther out of the middle, leaving room to work.

The kids bedrooms are nearly the same size, but one has a bunkbed in the middle, making it feel really small, while the other has a twin and toddler bed up against opposite walls, big open floor in the middle making it feel nice and airy (and big).

My point it, sq ft is not all equal. Though I would love to upgrade my house, I have the whole floor plan for putting a second story all worked out

Oh and yeah my kids share a room, they will be fine. My only wish is for a 'nursery', and a dining room. A third bathroom wouldn't hurt either.

I mean if I was going to dream I want a game room, 4 car garage, husband junk room, and stables, and a pool house, and suite for the live-in maid and cook..but lets keep it real .