Size of home

[anonymous_saver]

What size homes do you have for the # of people living in your home?

I am thinking of buying a home. I am not having kids, so the only people living in the home will be my partner and myself. If my partner and I part ways I would be the only one living in the home, although I would perhaps get one roommate in that scenario.

The home I'm looking at right now is 1,488 sqare feet. It has 4 bedrooms, 1 nook (tiny sewing room or something like that), and a bathroom. My intentions would be to make one of those bedrooms a bathroom if I buy this home. So that would leave 3 bedrooms, 1 nook, and 2 bathrooms. I like the 2 bathrooms so that I could have a bathroom on each floor of the home. However, since I am really into sustainability, a 1,488 sqare foot home seems a bit large for me and most likely 1 other person. Although, there is the chance I would at points be living there alone. My plan right now would be to have the 3 remaining bedrooms be: master bedroom, spare bedroom, and office. And I know I wouldn't use the spare bedroom much at all, and the office, who knows, I may just sit in the living room with my laptop at times.

I can afford the home with or without another person, this is more about not wanting to waste resources I guess. Initially when looking at homes my ideal was 2 bedrooms, a nook, and 1.5 bathrooms.

Any thoughts?

Thanks!

[jIM_Ohio]

2.5 bath, 4BR house about 3200 sq foot
4 people (wife and I, twin boys)

If you can find a way to add the second bathroom and keep 4 BR, that would be best for a few reasons

1) 4 BR houses will generally sell and appraise better than 3 BR houses.
2) your taxes will be based on 4 BR house because that is what it is now

For example, not sure of the size of the nook, but if you do not sew, why not convert that into a bathroom. Another idea is to take 2 BR which share a wall and put a jack and jill in between both rooms. A third idea is find 2 rooms which have closets back to back, and make the closet a shared closet and then use the space saved for a bathroom.

Try to preserve 4 BR if you can.

For example, I have an office in my house, and on a recent appraisal the office (which also has a closet) was listed as a 5th BR to the bank. The appraisal was much higher than the 4 BR houses which are same floor plan on our block.

[disneysteve]

We have 3 bedrooms, 2.5 baths. I have no idea what the square footage is. One of these days, I need to figure that out. There are 3 of us. My wife and I have the master bedroom. Our daughter has one bedroom and the 3rd bedroom is our office - my desk, our computer, bookcases, etc.

[anonymous_saver]

I appreciate the advice about the 4 bedroom, but I want to add a large bathroom to the first floor, so the nook wouldn't be big enough (or at least I'm very doubtful). I do know there is potential of me to lose out on money in the long run, but my goal is to have a home that is the right fit for me. And that would mean at least 1.5 bathrooms. I guess originally I thought I would be getting a home in the 1,000-1,200 square feet range.

The bedroom that I think I would convert into a bathroom is on the other side of the kitchen, so right by the plumbing!

How many people live in your home Jim?

I do sew, and paint, so I thought I could make the small nook area an arts area. Unless I think of something better.

Funny enough, I just checked the property info on the city's website and it's actually wrong on there, says 3 bedrooms, 1 bath. But I have been inside the home and know it is in fact 4 bedrooms (with closets of course). Hmmm...

[Joan.of.the.Arch]

Be sure and check around to get an idea how much adding a bathroom might take. And perhaps the nook should be the area to make into a bathroom or half bath. Most likely you will want to put the bath near the existing plumbing if you want to save on materials and having to break through walls, foundation, (slabs?), etc.

My DH and I have about 980 square feet plus cellar and detached garage. We raised one child here. We have 1.5 baths.

To take a generational perspective on how much space people need, I find it remarkable to think that a family of 8 (six kids) lived in this house previously---and that was before adding on to it, doubling its size after World War II. So eight people lived in about 490 sq feet. This was very common in this neighborhood.

Our common rooms are unfortunately the smaller ones. We would rather have a bigger living room, dining room, and kitchen instead of larger bedrooms if that were possible. Entertaining here is awkward. I call the one space a dining room, but it is really an all-purpose room. There are two desks, two computers, a shared printer, storage for DH's art, storage for DH's students' works coming in and going out, storage for less frequently used large kitchen items, storage for music CDs and DVDs. The dining table (currently full of seeds, bulbs, notes on some on-going projects) In one chair sits my bag for tutoring. The chairs at the desk swing around to join the dining table as needed, and one dining chair is in the living room. Oh, there is also a clothes closet in the dining/all purpose room, left over from the days when it would have to have been a bedroom pre-WW-II....We once had a Russian visitor who said our place looked just like a Russian apartment. Eh, he might have been strongly influenced by the fact that we had a bucket of cabbage fermenting for cabbage in the dining room at the time. (Not its right place, even in this house.)

As far as sustainability goes, I think one of the biggest things to think of is insulation. Has your little house got any, or can any be added? Personally we are very limited on possibilities. There is no attic space, the walls are solid masonry and brick. The only thing that seems do-able is a product I read about used in the UK for such buildings ---one puts sheets of semi-soft insulation on the interior of the walls, kind of like putting up wall paper. Laugh, but I have the hardest time thinking about bringing our walls in a mere 1/2 inch all around. I guess that means I do find the space small!

With a small house, I find the outdoors matters more. I find I look outside a lot, for the mental relief and the treat of seeing distances greater than 12 feet. But that is fine, as I am also a gardener and there is a pleasing abundance to see out the windows. Also for sustainability, where I live it would be great if I could have a tree to shade the house in summer. However, with the yard only 25 feet wide there is not place to put a tree that does not endanger the sewer line. So don't forget there are sustainability issues relating to the yard.

Please say happy birthday to my house, by the way. It is a century old this year.

[snafu]

The one thing you can't change is location. Perhaps this home is not for you. In the circumstances you describe, I'd choose a home with two master bedrms, each with it's own 3 pce [shower]in-suite bthrm as well as a main bhtrm with tub.

We are on home #4. Downsized to 4 level, 1,500 sf condo. We take out-of-country contracts and need a NO maintenance home. Bsmt & 1st level ea. have 2 pce bthrm. Master has 3 pce in-suite [shower], main bthrm with tub/shower. 2 adults, 2 college kids who are mostly in res or traveling. Lots of family & friends who stay over or visit for a week.

[jIM_Ohio]

I appreciate the advice about the 4 bedroom, but I want to add a large bathroom to the first floor, so the nook wouldn't be big enough (or at least I'm very doubtful). I do know there is potential of me to lose out on money in the long run, but my goal is to have a home that is the right fit for me. And that would mean at least 1.5 bathrooms. I guess originally I thought I would be getting a home in the 1,000-1,200 square feet range.

The bedroom that I think I would convert into a bathroom is on the other side of the kitchen, so right by the plumbing!

How many people live in your home Jim?

I do sew, and paint, so I thought I could make the small nook area an arts area. Unless I think of something better.

Funny enough, I just checked the property info on the city's website and it's actually wrong on there, says 3 bedrooms, 1 bath. But I have been inside the home and know it is in fact 4 bedrooms (with closets of course). Hmmm...

I updated my OP to show 4 people live there- we have lots of out of town guests and parties, and wife and I work from home on occasion and do not want to see each other while working. It's more house than we need, but enough house to use when we need to use it.



You need to think outside the box...

1) you need 1 bedroom
2) you have 3 others
3) you want to keep 1 of the 3 others for a roomate
4) can one of the other bedrooms get converted to a painting room?
5) can another bedroom get converted to a sewing room?
6) would the painting room need a closet?
7) would a sewing room need a closet?

and if you needed more space, remember the seinfeld episode about levels.... levels create more space.

[Ima saver]

I have a 3200 square foot home. It has 3 bedroom, 2 1/2 baths and a large area we call the library. When we added on the extra 2 stall garage ( we have 5 vehicles and need to keep 4 of the garaged) We added on a full bath room and an upstair efficency room (with kitchen). So that adds about 400 more square feet of living area. My dh would love to add on a family room and make the house even larger.

[Ima saver]

According to a realtor I talked to, if it has at least one window, and a closet, it is a bedroom.

[MonkeyMama]

If the home is too large for your taste, why not look for something smaller? Doesn't really matter what anyone else does. Everyone has their personal preferences.

We like a larger home, but part of the reason we bought a larger home is that it was cheap by our standards. We traded a 1200-square-foot/3-bedroom condo for 2600 square feet/5 bedroom home. They both have their perks. We will probably downsize when our 2 kids are grown. This is WAY too much house for only 2 people - but with 4 of us - we really like our personal space. Though we clearly would have had to make do with 4 of us in a condo, if we didn't pick up and move to somewhere a little more affordable. I am used to much smaller homes, overall, having grown up in a really pricey region. I know plenty of families our size content in 2-bedroom/1-bath homes.

[jIM_Ohio]

If the home is too large for your taste, why not look for something smaller? Doesn't really matter what anyone else does. Everyone has their personal preferences.

We like a larger home, but part of the reason we bought a larger home is that it was cheap by our standards. We traded a 1200-square-foot/3-bedroom condo for 2600 square feet/5 bedroom home. They both have their perks. We will probably downsize when our 2 kids are grown. This is WAY too much house for only 2 people - but with 4 of us - we really like our personal space. Though we clearly would have had to make do with 4 of us in a condo, if we didn't pick up and move to somewhere a little more affordable. I am used to much smaller homes, overall, having grown up in a really pricey region. I know plenty of families our size content in 2-bedroom/1-bath homes.

I had a similar conversation a few weeks ago

I grew up in a 4 BR 1.5 bath house with 6 people sharing 1 shower.
now the standard is 2.5 baths for most 4 BR homes (if built new).

things change, but people can make do with less

[woodie96]

DW and I have 3500 SF, 5 BR, 4 Bath....When we first got married in 2002, we had SEVEN children living in the house...I had 2 and she had 5....
Thankfully we are down to only one 14 year old female left....

We could downsize, but we got the place at a steal in 1999....So hate to downsize and end up losing all of the equity we have, just to get into something smaller.

[GREENBACK]

I have a 3 bed, 1.5 bath,1900 sq. ft home for two people. I work out of home quite a bit and one bedroom is an office. The home is a bit more spacious than what I grew up in with 5 people sharing about 1200 sq. ft. and one bathroom. It's about right for my taste. The more house you have, the more house you have to take care of. I have a 1 acre lot with trees that backs up to 100 acres of woods. That sold me on the place. I probably spend more time outdoors than in.

[Snodog]

I have no idea what the square footage is. One of these days, I need to figure that out.

I learned my square footage from Zillow.

975 square feet for me and wifey, although with the finished basement it is probably closer to 1500. More than enough room for 2.

[maat55]

3 bedroom 2 full baths, 2 cars and fire place. Approximate sq ft. 1600. My DW and I are empty nesters(except for our boxer).