How much house do you need?

[erickonphoenix]

The kids are gone so me and the misses are looking for a smaller place in the city so I'll be halfway between my two offices. Attempting to get both a rooftop patio AND a garage is putting us squarely in the 3,000 sq ft plus category which is way too much house for just the two of us.

We're thinking a 1,500 sq/ft two bd/two bath should be fine but that's a hard size to find outside of a high rise. But, I like to work on my car so I'd like a garage but then we're back in the sq/ft problem.

I suppose we'll just compromise on the patio but how much house do you really need?

[2000cs]

As a guy, I need a bedroom and a bathroom, small kitchen and a huge garage. That is all.

My wife needs bedrooms on the theory that everyone we know might visit on the same day and stay over, one full bathroom per bedroom, a kitchen at least as big as my garage even though she doesn’t cook…

We downsized from 8,000 to 2,500 sq ft when we moved from central KY to the east coast of FL. But here we live outside a lot more. If I need the garage space for hobby work, I’ll have to rent something. I think I’d be fine in about 1,100 sq ft not counting the garage or balcony/deck, but there is no way my wife would go for anything that small.

A couple of generations ago families were raised in much smaller houses and did just fine. Somehow that has changed?

[RickFLM4]

My wife and have 2,700ish sq. ft. in a 4/3/3. In addition to master BR, one BR is my office where I work full time, one is a gym that isn’t used much and the 4th is a guest room for when our parents visit. I think sq. ft. is ok but (with hindsight) would rather have it allocated a little differently with a bigger kitchen and laundry room with a great room instead of separate family room, living room and dining room. Only way to get exactly what you want though is to spec it and build it.

We also have a smaller 1/1 825 sq. ft. condo we use for vacation. That is fine for its purpose and even month-long stays but won’t work full time if I am working from home and we want to entertain.

I’d say 2,000 - 2,500 sq. ft. +/- 3/2/2 is plenty spacious for 2 people. Some may want a little more but most could easily get by with 1,500.

[ryan stewart]

The smallest I could get away with is a 2100 ft², 3/2.5. mainly because I wanted a nice master suite and a two-car garage for the same reasons as you. Realistically if I could have gotten those two things with just one guest room and slightly less entertainment space I would have.

Unless you're doing custom on open land I don't really see how you do anything else, everything's built to a resale specification anymore.

[fgpalmer71]

Originally Posted by 2000cs

As a guy, I need a bedroom and a bathroom, small kitchen and a huge garage. That is all.

My sentiments exactly. Downsized 2 years ago and it was just my 16 yr old daughter and I. Went from a household of 4 in a 4k sq ft house (basements don't count towards square footage where I'm located....it was more like 5k sq feet). Bought a 2 bed, 3 bath house that's 1200 sq ft with a heated 3 car garage, complete with a full bathroom, with ~ the same 1200 sq feet. I'm happier then ever with my decision! The only thing that's missing is a lift. Unfortunately the garage ceilings aren't tall enough to have one installed and raising the ceiling isn't an option.

[Tommy-G]

So, I'm at 2160 sq ft with a pool but we dont need all this space. Truthfully it was great during COVID b/c you were comfortable and not cramped up like a NYC apartment.

Truthfully, I could be fine with 1500 and a pool.
In Wisconsin we were 3200 and my wife complained everytime she cleaned it. She picked the house though so she couldnt complain too much

(It's just my wife and I, plus a dog & 3 cats)

[BMW F22]

1,800 sq ft is good enough but ideally I’d like 2,100-2,200 sq ft.

[Humdizzle]

I'm in the same boat. Current house is 3000 sqft w/ 2 car garage and its way too much space. Just me and my lady and no plans of having kids. I can't remember the last time i was even in the basement. 1500-2000sqft would be plenty for just us two so we'll probably buy something after the housing market cools off.

I want a 3 car garage. She just wants a nice kitchen and water filtration throughout the house. the only issue is trying to eventually sell a house designed for 2 people and 3 cars lol. you'd be better off just buying the extra house and not using it.

luckily houses are cheap around here compared to some of you guys in cities:
- https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/6...50760436_zpid/
- https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/6...50760407_zpid/

[dscabra]

2,000 square feet of garage space and something attached to eat, sleep, and crap in would be nice.

[UncleWede]

I have 5 adults (6th just moved out) in 5/3, about 2000 ft2

[frchdragon]

I have a 7 bedroom house right now, life is making me downsize.
I will be happy with 3 bedrooms and a double car garage.

It isn't the size of the house that I care about, it is the kitchen and the garage/shop.

[exE36M3]

Soooo.... My wife and I bought our house in a working class neighborhood about 40 miles from San Francisco. It was 1999 and the house was $265,000 for 3 bedrooms, 2 baths or about 1120 square feet on a 6000 square foot lot. So the rooms are roughly 8x10, 10x10, 20x10. Garage can fit two SMALL cars, but usually only has one. (Wife and I rotate the X3 and 435i in/out).

And yes, my mortgage is probably less than what a lot of you guys pay in rent.

It was our "starter home" but it was great because the elementary school is 4 doors down, and the junior high and high school are about a mile away (easy bike ride).

Fast forward 22 years, this same house is now over $1M and the city considered upper-middle class. We will probably stay in it until retirement (about 10-15 years out).

As much as I love BIG FANCY houses, when it's yours and the lawn needs attending too or you need to do some remodel work or heck a new roof... sticker shock to update, upgrade or fix ain't so bad with a modest place.

My net worth puts me in the millionaire category, but laughably THIS IS middle class for Norcal.

[dreamingat30fps]

NEED? Very little. Me the gf and 2 dogs lived in a probably 200-300 sqft RV for 3-6 months at a time for the past like 3 years until last year. It was perfectly fine. I didn't feel like I NEEDED any more.

What I want though is different. As long as I can have an office space, guest bedroom and garage I'm good. Don't really care what the sqft is really. Our house in FL is around 2300 sqft and we don't use a lot of it. Our "new" house in NC is around 1600 sqft and is also fine and we will actually use all the space. Lived in an 850 sqft apartment also for like 5 years and it was also fine.

If I had to pick a number though I think you are right about 1500 sqft being enough for everything we need without having extra unused space.

[Tommy-G]

Originally Posted by Humdizzle;

I'm in the same boat. Current house is 3000 sqft w/ 2 car garage and its way too much space. Just me and my lady and no plans of having kids. I can't remember the last time i was even in the basement. 1500-2000sqft would be plenty for just us two so we'll probably buy something after the housing market cools off.

I want a 3 car garage. She just wants a nice kitchen and water filtration throughout the house. the only issue is trying to eventually sell a house designed for 2 people and 3 cars lol. you'd be better off just buying the extra house and not using it.

luckily houses are cheap around here compared to some of you guys in cities:
- https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/6...50760436_zpid/
- https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/6...50760407_zpid/

I dont feel like thats too reasonable. Those same places approx in Florida with an inground pool would be about the same price. I assumed MO was much cheaper. Now compared to NJ or CA you are 100% correct.

[M_Six]

We have a 2400SF 4BR/2BA with two large living room type areas. Only one bedroom has a bed. One is my office, one is the pain cave, and one is sort of just a general storage for excess furniture and books. I just wish our kitchen was larger. I'd love to have a center island and a bigger fridge. The 2-car garage could be 3 or 4 ft wider as well. Our lot is just under an acre, but most of it is wooded, so there isn't much grass to deal with. If we didn't have Wifey's 12k+ book collection, we'd have way too much space. But her bookshelves take up a ton of footage.

[King Rudi]

I'm in 1300 sq ft. 3/2, 2 car garage and I live alone. It's prefect. I have a smaller bedroom that I use as a makeshift gym at the moment, this room will eventually become my office and one other spare bedroom for guests.

[vreihen16]

My wife, OCD psycho dog, and I have lived in a small 2BR house that's about 500 square feet for 15 years now...and we're still married. That doesn't include our 1.5 car unheated/detached garage. We don't really need much more space.

As a side benefit, we can heat/cool the entire house with a single 18,000 BTU (1.5 ton) heat pump for peanuts, and even the oil-fired baseboard hot water system is under $500/year to run for heat and hot water.

In our early retirement garage planning, I'm looking at 1,200 square feet of house on a slab...mostly because I want room to park one of my cars in the living room and to be able to drive a second car into the kitchen to unload groceries. My DW wants a detached 10-car garage with a lift and full metal shop, so we may have to go larger with the house to get around the typical zoning rules where the accessory building(s) cannot be larger than the primary house.....

[upstatedoc]

I have a 4000 ft.² house which I don't need. In this current market I could probably sell it in a week but then I'd have nowhere to go. I've looked at Town houses around the 1500 ft.² range. They go on the market and are sold in a few days it's ridiculous

[auburnf30x]

I'm a full time single dad. My seven year old (and my pittie who is also seven) share the 3 beds and 2.5 baths in about 2000 sqf.

It's an interesting house built by a local college professor in 1974. It's built on a hill, so from the front it appears to be one story, from the back, it's two. Coming in the front door, you can't tell where the bedrooms are upstairs, the hallway to them is hidden behind a set of closet doors. Only thing you can see from the foyer is the door to the garage and the open stairs leading down. Walls and ceilings are lined with concrete, my realtor said the guy lived alone and was very paranoid about the cold war. And about people finding his bedroom(s), apparently.

Most importantly though, it has a garage and a workshop. And plenty of room for the three of us. Heavily wooded lot with a creek in the back, and not a blade of grass to mow. I don't think I'm moving again.

[damnitBobby]

2 car garage
3 bedrooms (would use one has a home gym)
roomy kitchen
1 office

so probably around 2500-3000 sq ft

[2 SLOW]

Married, have a 3 and 6 year old

4,600 sqft
All living/bedrooms/gameroom/gym/bar are downstairs
Guest room and home office are upstairs
4 car garage/1,000 sqft

Feels like just the right size. Our last house was about the same size but no gym, and had a formal dining which we got rid of. But it had 3 bedrooms, gameroom and media upstairs which we didn't like.

[translux]

We're in the same position with a big house that costs a small fortune to own. Between all the maintenance, utilities, and taxes I could fund a small nation. It's been great to have all the space during the pandemic with all my kids home but I believe this is going to come to an end in the near future.

We've been working on plans for a new house. What started out as something reasonably modest has grown to be another monster. Over the next few months, we'll start value engineering to get back down to something that more in line with our original vision. Around 3,500 square feet ranch with a finished basement and 5-6 wide by 2 deep garages with high ceilings for lifts and a loft for my office. Will do flexicore floors again for a basement below the garage for a theater, shop, and storage.