Home size / rooms

[corn18]

Buying a house for two in TX has been interesting. We bought a 4,600 sq ft house that we will not use any of the upstairs (about half the house). We found a great ranch house (new spec home) but it was on a crappy lot. Buying a home for 2 with all the rooms/space we want and none that we don't has proven to be difficult. To get the open concept entertaining area and only 2 bedrooms seems to be something of a unicorn house. I think we may end up building a custom house when it comes time to retire. We've never done that before. So, here's our list of rooms we think we would like to have:

1. Kitchen w/ eating area
2. Formal dining room
3. Den
4. Master bedroom with on suite bathroom (does not need to be huge)
5. Guest bedroom w/ full bathroom
6. Office
7. Exercise area
8. Powder room
9. 2 car garage

I think 2,000 sq ft would be sufficient.

This house we are moving into has all of this on the first floor, so we are going to use the upper level for storage only and live on the first floor. Maybe we can purge everything we store up there and end up with a much smaller footprint.

So, what are your requirement for a home?

[Fishindude77]

If you someday plan on selling the place, the majority of buyers want three bedrooms. One could be your exercise room or office for now, but get something with three bedrooms.

[Drake3287]

Agree, unless your building in an adult/retirement community, 2 bedroom homes are much harder to sell.

[Thrif-t]

Well after the kids leave we'd only need 2 bedrooms and if we moved in a condo we could get that but I see us moving into a little ranch so it'll probably have 3 bedrooms. I'd turn one bedroom into some kind of sitting room. Right now we have a family room and living room and I like that! DH can be in the family room watching the game and I can be in the living room where it's nice and quite to read. Most older ranches around here only have the living room, hence me turning a bedroom into a little den.

I don't care if we don't have a dining room as long as the basement would be big enough that I could put a big table down there to still host family dinners, and if its a ranch the basement should be big enough.

If we still have 2 cars then a 2 car garage, if we only have 1 car then a single will do. But one thing I loathe doing now is moving cars around all the time for people to get in and out. 5 cars, 2 car garage, someone always needs to move for someone to get out, ugh.

Oh and one other thing, if we live in a ranch I don't want a lot of landscaping! Pine trees and arborvitaes are fine, but nothing with leaves.

[disneysteve]

This partly speaks to the age-old conundrum of people complaining that it's hard to find "affordable" housing but at the same time the average home size has more than doubled over the past 30-40 years. Families are smaller but people demand more and more space. Nobody wants a small house anymore except, as Drake noted, folks in retirement communities, and even there 3 "bedrooms" is often the norm though one of those three is generally used as an office or craft room.

Our home has 3 bedrooms and we've always felt it was too small. We don't have anywhere for a guest to stay as the 3rd room is our office and computer room. We don't have anywhere for my wife's crafts. She would love a sewing room. It would help if we had a finished basement but we don't.

If and when we move, I'd actually like something a lot bigger than our current home. I'd want a ranch house so that we don't have to deal with stairs as we age and that becomes more challenging. I'd want a master bedroom and 2 other bedrooms, but I'd also want an office and a craft room for DW, so 5 "bedrooms" most likely. Of course, we wouldn't have a basement (pretty much non-existent in Florida) so we'd need adequate storage space to replace what currently lives in our basement here. A larger garage (we have a 1-car) might be good except that's not climate-controlled space so of limited value for storage.

[riverwed070707]

I agree with the others that a 2 br is less marketable for resale. It’s a tricky spot as if one came on the market you could probably get a Great deal but it will be no where near 2000 sq ft... it’s just not what people in that size/price range generally want. I bought 2 years ago and would have happily taken a 2 br with great closet and common space over the 3 br with a small kitchen and awkward living room we ended up in. Building wasn’t in the cards and I don’t plan to be here forever so it’s tolerable but not ideal

[bjl584]

That's a lot of living space.
My house is 1800 sqft.

[TexasHusker]

It all depends on personal preference and what you want to pay for. I could live quite comfortably in a 1500 square foot house, but we have around 3500 square feet, 900 of that upstairs. As we enter empty nest, we really still want to keep our space so that our kids feel comfortable coming and staying and having their own privacy, and some day their kids. We could get a 3500 square foot single story house I suppose, but I really like my house and it has features that would be very hard to replicate. I have a massive live oak tree in my front yard that I enjoy looking at every day. I can't take that with me. We have an amazing entry and spiral staircase that I can't take with me. Etc. We are actually thinking about "upsizing" our home with an addition downstairs of a larger family room with another fireplace and room for a pool or ping ping table, and reconfigure the upstairs so that it is more conducive to overnight house guests. The cost to do all of this could exceed $150,000, but if we move, that would be a hugely expensive proposition itself.

There is a new neighborhood where I could *possibly* get most of what I want in a single story, but it would run me $600K, and my property taxes would be $1200-1300 per month. My house is worth possibly $400K. Right now my taxes are around $600 per month.

But we aren't doing anything right now!

[TexasHusker]

This partly speaks to the age-old conundrum of people complaining that it's hard to find "affordable" housing but at the same time the average home size has more than doubled over the past 30-40 years. Families are smaller but people demand more and more space. Nobody wants a small house anymore except, as Drake noted, folks in retirement communities, and even there 3 "bedrooms" is often the norm though one of those three is generally used as an office or craft room.

Our home has 3 bedrooms and we've always felt it was too small. We don't have anywhere for a guest to stay as the 3rd room is our office and computer room. We don't have anywhere for my wife's crafts. She would love a sewing room. It would help if we had a finished basement but we don't.

If and when we move, I'd actually like something a lot bigger than our current home. I'd want a ranch house so that we don't have to deal with stairs as we age and that becomes more challenging. I'd want a master bedroom and 2 other bedrooms, but I'd also want an office and a craft room for DW, so 5 "bedrooms" most likely. Of course, we wouldn't have a basement (pretty much non-existent in Florida) so we'd need adequate storage space to replace what currently lives in our basement here. A larger garage (we have a 1-car) might be good except that's not climate-controlled space so of limited value for storage.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U16TycMow0I&t=74s

[Scallywag]

My must haves are:

1. Single story, single family home built after 2000, with 4 bedrooms, and at least 2 bathrooms, 2-car garage, between 1800 sq ft to 2200 sq ft, on a 6000+ sq. ft lot.

2. Corner lot backing on to open space or creek -- may not get open space at the back but definitely want a corner lot.

3. No HOA.

4. Close to public transportation.

[Singuy]

HOA is the best if done correctly. Too bad most neighborhoods sees it as a nuisance rather than not. I live in a large community with a pretty awesome HOA. Sure, I get the letters telling me to put away my trash can and pressure watch my drive way. But in return I get cable/internet pennies on the dollar since it's paid via HOA and seasonal events like Xmas with petting zoos, bounce houses, and train rides for the kiddo. Our HOA really tries to bring the community together with paint nights, bingo nights, and adult field trips. I honestly have never experienced such HOA and it's truly one of the highlights living where we are.

[Scallywag]

I am sure there are good HOAs and there are bad ones but I just don't want to take the chance. All it takes for things to unravel is for one bad apple to move into the neighborhood.

Before you know it you are party to a lawsuit you want to be no part of or paying $$$$$$$ towards attorneys' fees to fix said apple. Or people are telling you that the shed in your yard thar the previous owner installed is too buff with the fence and needs to be taken down NOW even though the previous owner had it on the property for over 10 years and no one said anything ! Or how I have no right to paint my house bright yellow because the other homes are all pale white or have pink roses in my yard while everyone else has marigolds because "we like uniformity in our community". Or how my son is not "allowed" in the backyard because he yowls too loudly.

Or, you lost your job or have to relocate to help an elderly relative and want to rent your home out while you're moving ? No can do because "it is all supposed to be owner occupied only !"

These are all true nightmare HOA stories.

No thanks !

[TexasHusker]

My only wish for my neighborhood is for an HOA. We have had a few neighbors decide not to keep up their lawns, put strange roofs on their houses, and one who likes to keep all of his commercial vehicles in the street. All of this serves to lower the value of homes in the neighborhood. We do have a supposed municipal code here that prevents a lot of this stuff, but there is little-to-no code enforcement, which means the code is pretty much useless.

[Scallywag]

My only wish for my neighborhood is for an HOA. We have had a few neighbors decide not to keep up their lawns, put strange roofs on their houses, and one who likes to keep all of his commercial vehicles in the street. All of this serves to lower the value of homes in the neighborhood. We do have a supposed municipal code here that prevents a lot of this stuff, but there is little-to-no code enforcement, which means the code is pretty much useless.

If the houses predate the HOA then would the properties not be "grandfathered" in ?

The other thing is that people are going to do what they want to do do - HOA or not, except that, as part of the HOA, you now are a part of the dispute whether you care or not just by living in the neighborhood. I don't care where my neighbors park or if they are not keeping up their lawns as long as they don't bother me. To me, most HOAs are trouble that I avoid like the plague.

[disneysteve]

We very deliberately sought out a neighborhood with no HOA when we bought our house. I did not want the expense or the headaches that come from having one. If someone is doing something that creates a hazard, report them to the city. Otherwise, let people do their thing. I've heard so many insane HOA stories over the years. If and when we move to Florida, we'll probably have no choice but to go with an HOA as most areas have them, so I just hope it isn't over the top insanity.