You east and west coast guys need to remember that your dollars buy a hell of a lot more house comparable to income in the midwest than it does out there. We have a 4 bedroom/3bath 2 story house with 2 car garage on 2 acres, right in town. I am 3/4 miles from work. My daughter's school is at the end of the block. Paid $257K.

My wife and I started with just under 1000Sq/ft. 2 bedrooms, bathroom, kitchen, livingroom and dining room on the main floor. The basement had a small bedroom and a rec room. For the two of us it was perfect, when our son came it got a bit cramped. When the second car came and we had to deal with street parking it became a little worse. When the wife got pregnant again we pulled the plug and moved to a 4bed+den thats about 2300sq/ft. I have since finished part of the basement adding another bedroom for my office and a rec room for all the kids toys. At just over 3000sq/ft I think its fine, my only complaint is that with 3 cars now the 2 car garage is too small.

When the kids leave (they are 3 and 5 now so LOTS of time) I would like to go back to a small house with a double or triple garage.

All of you with the big garages.......I hate you. Were it not for our small 2-car garage, I honestly think this house would suit us until our kids are gone. Once I finish our basement, we will have 6 bedrooms for my wife and I and two kids. We plan on having two more kids, so it should be perfect. The neighborhood is amazing, very well kept, nice neighbors, and it's a small loop so no thru traffic. It also has a neighborhood pool within 2 minutes of walking. We have a large yard, and hopefully by the end of the summer, a nice large back patio. Backyard looks into an adjacent more expensive neighborhood, so we're looking at the fronts of several nice homes and a landscaped pond.

But the damn garage! I need to look into the property lines and setback requirements, it's possible I might be able to add on and go wider, but only 5 feet or so. Straight back isn't an option, as it's our family room.

The solution for many would be to move into a large 2 story house with 9 or 10 foot ceilings and about 1600 sq feet on each floor. Must have a personal elevator. Early years of raising a family and better wages. As you mature and kids move out, convert downstairs to an additional garage or showroom.

Do all of this before you move into the 500 sq. foot assisted living-nursing home your kids have chosen.

I enjoy open space, 3+ acres, beautiful weather with great neighbors.

John_AZ

Ba$tard! ;)



Dang Kurt, we paid 2.5x that much for a (900 sq ft/2br/2ba/roof terrace/1 underground prkng space) condo in the city. On a positive note, we can both walk to work now. :)

4 br, 2.5 ba, 2400 sq ft 2 story, full unfinished view-out basement, large yard, 2 car garage, very nice small neighborhood adjacent to a golf course with pool and no thru traffic, $211k. There are good things about living in KS.:)

880 sq. feet (it's all about the layout) and a two car garage for me, the wife and the dog.

Yeah the average guy should be happy with 1800 to 2000 sqft.

Now, the question is, "are you average?"

I always wanted a 10,000 sqft house; never did get one and likely won't now at this point in my life. Shucks, another goal missed. I do enjoy our current 4500 sqft home though, but with the 3rd kid with a foot out the door already and an empty nest in just a few short years, a large house is not likely for us?

Back in the 80's I owned a 4 acre property in an area called Bears Paw outside Calgary. It was a sweet piece. I designed a 10,000 sqft home for the property and was only months away from starting the construction when a business fiasco set me on my a$$ hard and fast. Sold the land as it was pretty liquid and needed the cash. That was as close as I ever came. I really wanted to build one similar here at the Shuswap a couple years back, but it was too darn expensive to build and much cheaper to buy/renovate. So that's what we did. Ended up with 4500 sqft which is very comfortable and only 2 blocks to the kids school.

;)