How much house do you need?

[Dueller]

Originally Posted by cairns

I would rather have 3400 square feet of garage and a 1500 square foot house.

You wanna be Tim Hancock, eh?

[Drago]

3600 sq. ft, three car garage, 17,000 lot. Unfortunately I don't live there anymore, but my soon to be ex, my three boys and currently my Porsche does.

[Racerbvd]

Originally Posted by tabs

I really don't see how I could get along with less than the 3700 sq ft Trailer I have now. I know I know it doesn't look like it is 3700 sq but believe me looks can be deceptive.

I often sit out in my recliner pondering what I will write next for this Board.

Doesn't get much smaller than this

[VaSteve]

Originally Posted by TWork

It seems like houses are just getting bigger and bigger. I see empty nesters with 4500 sq ft houses. Even if you want a decent size spread to entertain, that just seems like a whole lot of house. And, this is in CA. I agree with a previous poster, seems like a lot of money spent to heat and cool just for a family of 2 -- heck, even for a family of 5.

We've got ~2800 sq ft -- but, we're breaking ground on a 1500 sq ft workshop later this week. :-)

My hood has 4 bedroom houses on my street ~3500sq feet. One couple has no kids and occasionally has some folks over. There is another couple. In 4 years I have seen the wife ONCE outside. Nobody every visits. We live in the back of neighborhood and it's a dead end. We call the guy "Witness Protection" because we think he's hiding out. The rest of us have kids. The house is OK sized with all the kid's junk about. The garage is too small. Of course.

[tonypeoni]

Our current place is pretty small. The economy in Indianapolis is so shaky that houses are almost given away. There is a 9000 Sq Ft house a couple of streets down from me that is currently on the market. I was curious so I thought what the heck Ill stop and look around no harm in that. I was having fun looking around seeing how the other half lives when a car pulled up It was the Realtor and she had a early 20ish couple looking at it. I thought wow either hes from money or this house is way under valued so later that week I called. The house was only on the market for 425k. More then I am willing to pay but still cheap. Anything under 2000 Sq Ft and you might as well get a condo.

[sammyg2]

The couch, the big screen tv, half the bed and the garage. That's all I need which is perfect as the wife has all the rest

[WolfeMacleod]

My wife and I are currently in 950sq feet, witha one car garage.
No kids. Fours cars. And, the business that I run out of the garage.
What we need is 2000 sq feet - preferabley 2500. Or more. Plus at least a two car garage with workspace, minimum.

Wife's been looking at houses in Pheonix for the past couple months. Huge places there, for what we rent for here....two and three times bigger, for within a couple hundred $ of our current rent.

[71T Targa]

One piece of advice I received form someone who I truly trust in things dealing with money was to buy as much house as you could afford, and as little car as you could get by with.

I didn't really follow that advice on the car though...

[JeremyD]

We just remodeled - our house went from a chopped up, 4/2/2 seperate rooms 2000 square feet to 2700 square feet large open areas, Now is a 5/3 with a seperate office.

Wife, 3 kids, dog - active lifestyle. I built the garge with room for two lifts so potential for four cars.

We wanted room for the whole family (kids are small) but not too big when the kids grow up and get out on their own. It's about as much as we need - the kids bedrooms are not overly large - but we also don't want them in their rooms alone all the time. It's all a compromise - but I like the way it turned out -

[Flatbutt1]

I've been in 800 sq feet for 30 years now. The only change I'd make i to add a garage, or at least a workshop.

[Hugh R]

I love my house, about 2,700 sq.ft. single floor three car garage,about 750 sq.ft. of unimproved attic for the stuff. Don't really use it all with one kid gone and the other moving out in the next year or two. Just moved the MIL in, she's 80, but she has her own area. Never use the formal living room, wouldn't mind taking it and putting in a pool table. What I really like is that I have 18 acres (non-dividable) which is mostly canyon slopes and oak trees, several hundred of them and a 500 ft driveway. My quarry stone back deck and pool area must be 4,000 sq. ft. I'll post a pic when I get back to LA. Oh, and this is all in the middle of suburbia in the outskirts of LA.

[Oh Haha]

Our house is just what we need right now. We bought in July 2001 and got it for a steal. We had to do some fixing up as it was built in the 50's and showed it's age a bit. Total living area is around 1600 sq. ft., full bathroom upstairs and down. Small kitchen/eating area.

We are centered on three city lots, all fenced in. We like the little town atmosphere and the neighbors all around. While we could probably afford to move to a bigger or more upscale house we like it where we are. Would I like to renovate and make it nicer? Sure but i just don't see going into debt if it's working for us. We don't entertain or have parties except for the occasional family function.

The economy in MI isn't exactly the greatest so keeping our itt-bitty mortgage payment is near and dear to us.


The garage, you ask?

2.5 cars, around 1000 sq. ft. with built in workbench and cabinets. the furnace and water heater are in the garage which means it stays around 45-50 degrees even in the coldest of Michigan winters.

[Dantilla]

My house is about 3000 ft, with an 1100 ft garage.

Only three bedrooms, but every room is spacious and unique. None of the rooms in our house has only four walls. Great floor plan that uses space efficiently, but with far more creativity than McMansions.

Probably more space than we need for three of us (me, wife, and 12-year-old), but my wife put it very well a while ago:

There is no clutter.

There is a place for everything, and when everything is in it's place, the home is very welcoming. This makes my wife very happy. She loves our house, so it's definately worth having a bit more space than "neccesary".

She has a cool house, I fill the garage with cool cars. Well worth it.

[VINMAN]

Our house is 3800 sq ft. 5 BR , 2BA 3 car garage. Acre of property Bought it 3 yrs ago.
Problem is, it is only me and my wife now. We love the house, but its a total waste. My stepdaughter recently moved out, and my stepson moved out last yr. Lots of unused space to heat and cool. Utilities are not cheap. But to sell it would not pay. With the price of houses around here, if we sold it we'd have enough money to maybe get a townhouse. I have yet to find a townhouse with a 3 car garage, so that aint happening!

[artplumber]

Originally Posted by Drago

3600 sq. ft, three car garage, 17,000 lot. Unfortunately I don't live there anymore, but my soon to be ex, my three boys and currently my Porsche does.

Sorry to hear that.

Gotta at least get the car outta there!

[artplumber]

To answer orig question: Well we need an office, 2 bdrms for kid + hoped for, 1bdrm for guests, and master. We like the kitchen and greatroom, and a garage, preferably big enough for lifts to double capacity. Gotta have formals per the wife. Be nice to have an indoor-outdoor kind of area for entertaining pool, BBQ (not just a grill). Then I'd like the gameroom with pool table and old arcade games.... Who am I kidding? I am not going to clean all that!

[tabs]

Originally Posted by Hugh R

What I really like is that I have 18 acres (non-dividable) which is mostly canyon slopes and oak trees, several hundred of them and a 500 ft driveway. My quarry stone back deck and pool area must be 4,000 sq. ft..... Oh, and this is all in the middle of suburbia in the outskirts of LA.

Hey you there, get out of my dream house....

[Tobra]

Originally Posted by berettafan

You're divorced, right?

That's how come you get to throw stuff out.

it's funny 'cause it's true

[Tim Walsh]

Originally Posted by Wayne at Pelican Parts

I don't know about sq-ft, but we comfortably need 3-4 bedrooms plus an office, since I work from home, and a 3+ car garage with a backyard...

-Wayne

Sounds about right, We've been in our dream house now for a few months and it's perfect. A 2000sq-ft 3/2 with a nice backyard and 1100sq-ft of of garage space(enough to hold 4 cars in a pinch). Just two of us right now, but there is plans for a third in a couple years.

[Tim Hancock]

Originally Posted by Dueller

You wanna be Tim Hancock, eh?

I don't know about the square footage of our 40 yr old split level house, but it has 3 small bedrooms upstairs, one small one downstairs that acts as a den, a two car garage and a small basement. It is far from fancy, but it is PAID for and I intend to live out the rest of my life in it.

My shop/hangar is around 5000 sq feet and in that regard, just like money, one can never have enough space

I consider my place home and can't imagine ever wanting to leave it for any reason.