How big is too big (sq. footage)?

[SusanBAnthony]

We looked at a house today that we loved.  Really loved it.  If I was going to guess the sq. footage based on the billions of houses we have seen, I would guess 2200 sq ft.  It is actually 2800, plus it has a huge unfinished basement.  I am going to upload a sketch of the floor plan in a minute.

Our first house was a 1200 sq. ft ranch with a full finished basement.  We felt like a 1500 sq ft house with a basement rec room would be about ideal for 2 kids (not planning to have more).  

I love the house, no question, but I feel kind of nutso even considering buying that big of a house.  Do you have a max size you were willing to consider before it felt wasteful?

[tarheels]

We lived in 3100 just the two of us and it was way too big. 1700-2200 for the two of us is my comfort zone. I couldn't do less than that. I grew up in 2800 with just my mom, so I'm used to lots of space. DH grew up with 4 people in 2500 sq ft and felt like they were always tripping over each other and hated it, so we're just big sq ft people.

[SusanBAnthony]

 

Main floor is living room, eat in kitchen, formal dining room (would be empty or a sewing room or playroom for the foreseeable future), office/den, laundry, half bath, and master bedroom and bathroom.    Ignore how wide the master bedroom and garage look.  It is a normal 2 car garage so imagine that it is that wide.
 
  

2nd floor is 2 bedrooms, a bathroom, and a bonus room which we would put a door on probably, bc we would sleep upstairs with the kids for a few more years.  It would eventually be a rec room I guess.  


I like the flexibility of the extra rooms, but it also seems wasteful.  





AND!  It has light wood trim.  MY FAVORITE!  Haters gonna hate.

[julygal]

We live in 2068 sqft and it feels too small. There are 5 of us. Things that make it feel too small:
1. We have 3 bedrooms, and the kids rooms are small even mores so since 2 of the kids share
2. Lack of storage for the size house we have
3. We are a 3 story TH with a large bonus room/playroom on 1st floor. I feel this space could be better utilized for us, but due to its location we don't have much choice with its use. I would love it we could use it as a 4th bedroom, but don't want to be 2 floors away from kids as all other bedrooms are on 3rd floor. I guess layout makes it wasted space, so actual sqft doesn't matter as much as functionality of the sqft

We would like a 2500-3000 sqft place next, but I will consider anything that is our current size if it is laid out better for our use and needs. I would not go smaller at this time.

[littlemisssunshine]

H and I bought a 3/2 house, 2700 sq ft a year ago, and we don't have any kids. I love the flexibility of a large house. H uses the formal living room as his gaming room, I have a office, H has a game room with a ping pong table, we hang out in our family room all the time and we have two guest rooms. So yeah, we have a ton of space but we use every room. I also love being able to entertain large groups. I had 17 people over for a sit down dinner at Christmas and it was a piece of cake. If you like the home and see yourself using the space, why not have a large house?

[sailorgray]

There are 4 of us and our house is about 1100 sq. ft. It's tight, but we make it work. I will say that we use every single square foot of space. That being said, I do not think 2800 sq. ft. is too big at all and that's what I hope our next home is.

[Deleted]

I think it's just right. I dont think it's too big. Go for it!

[Deleted]

Do you have an estimate of utilities? That would be my biggest concern. I live in 960 sf, and our average power bill, gas and electric combined, according to Quicken, was around $75 a month. We sometimes have 2 people, sometimes 3 (we have a tenant during the summer), and I cook on my gas stove every day. That's enough to keep me in a small, one-story house forever. We started our married life with a tiny studio, and we just don't collect stuff because we're used to living small. I sort of like it. I also wouldn't want to clean anything that big. But I don't think it's an outrageous size.

[Deleted]

We have just under 2000 sq. ft. in our new build. We haven't lived in it yet but chose it because it had a great layout and use of space. There are 5 of us and we had previously lived in 1700 and it was cramped. It wasn't cramped because it was small but rather because it was poorly set up. I hated having all the bedrooms right off the kitchen and having a huge dining room but a small living room.
I don't think 2800 is too big but I personally wouldn't want that much space, especially if you plan to finish the basement. I don't like to heat/cool or clean any more space than I need. When we were looking at houses we looked at one that was 2779 and it felt like the living and family areas were soooooo far away from the berooms. I also grew up in a small (900 sq ft) home and like having my family close together, well, with limits.
It really is personal preference. Different strokes for different folks and all that.

[SusanBAnthony]

Juno, I also do not want to clean that much, or heat/cool that much. But every smaller house we have looked at has felt way too small. We do not want to have to move when the kids are teenagers, you know? Our current rental is 760 sq ft, and it is SO HORRIBLE that I am willing to clean anything, compared to this!

And we do have regular overnight guests (family all lives out of town), so I do think the space would get used. I am going to call the power and gas companies on Monday and find out the average utility costs. I have a feeling they won't be much more than the much older, somewhat smaller houses we have looked at, but we will see.

[SusanBAnthony]

Offer is going in tonight, though, so I will update tomorrow, or whenever we hear back.

[Deleted]

Well, I really don't think it's outrageous for 4; just listing the only downsides I saw. Just train the kids to clean Good luck!

[boiler717]

We went from 1300 (with a 1300 unfinished basement) to just over 4000 with a 2400 sq ft unfinished basement. While it's a lot of house for the two of us now, we will grow into it for sure. Our utility costs are the same (old house was 90 years old). I work from home and once we have kids we will probably have a nanny, so having enough space for all of that will be great. We entertain a ton, often with large (30+ people) groups, and having large living spaces helps a ton. We frequently have multiple overnight guests so having more than one guest room is great now, although we will go down to one when we have kids.

I do miss our small house, though. We drove by it tonight and it was so nice to have everything so quaint and cozy and together.

We definitely have more space than we NEED, though. We could easily manage on 2200 or even less. Our housing costs are still low comparatively so I would recommend that if you aren't stretching the budget to not be afraid of it. Even at 4000 sq feet our house does not feel large at all.

[boiler717]

Feb 2, 2013 22:12:40 GMT -5 SusanBAnthony said:

Offer is going in tonight, though, so I will update tomorrow, or whenever we hear back.

Good luck!

[heygrey]

It's far more about the layout than the footage. 2800 is about 5x our current place so it sounds HUGE, but wouldn't necessarily feel that way with kids.

See if you can get utility estimates before ruling it out.

[Deleted]

We live in 2000 now with an unfinished basement.  I think 3500 liveable sq ft would be my max.

ETA:  I think it looks great!  Good luck!

[mrs.jacinthe]

Yay ! Good luck on your offer! Fingers and toes crossed!

[Deleted]

Feb 2, 2013 23:57:02 GMT -5 @callmefia said:

I'm so excited for you! We are in approx 2200 and its just the two of us now, but we are hoping to add so we think its perfect. That layout looks nice and probably a great size for your family!

We have all new windows and maybe pay $20 more per month on our gas & electric than we did in our apr that was half the size and on the second floor in a 3 floor building. The windows were crap and our new house stays much warmer. We also keep the thermostat lower but still comfortable. We end up paying a bit more overall due to trash pickup and water/sewer.

eta: SusanB, we live not too far and may have the same gas & electric and similar weather. Gas right now is about $100-120 and electric is about $50. Juno, I wish we. Old only pay $75, but my guess is you don't have to heat like we do... It's like 12 today in these parts. 

Well, my point was that I'd want to know what utilies are because that's a deciding factor for me, and heating three times the space would cost me almost three times as much, which isn't acceptable to me.  Not that everyone should pay $75   But I do admit I  at some of the utility bills I've see on TN/GBCN.

[ellipsis]

We have over 3000 sq ft, with just 2 of us. Master is on the main level, and we have 3 separate HVACs. We mostly "live" on the main floor so it works for us and we can grow into the surrounding area.

[Deleted]

Yeah, electric is SO expensive.  I don't think I'd ever consider moving to a non-gas-hooked-up place for that alone.  I'm WAY too cheap for that sh!t.  Although why that's worse to me than our 2007 Bay area mortgage payment I don't know, since it probably far outstrips any power bill ridiculousness.  Somehow cost doesn't seem as bad when it's fixed and known and has an end date, not variable with weather/rates/usage though.  Or maybe I just tell myself that so that I don't jump off my roof.

[SusanBAnthony]

Merida, YGPM.

It is all gas appliances, so I just need to check and make sure the windows all have screens, since we tend to have windows open for summer unless the temp is above 90, which keeps the electric will be fairly low.

[minniebee]

Good luck! I'm excited for you, I know you've been looking for awhile!

2800 doesn't sound unreasonable to me at all, especially with kids. Really, it's not that hard to clean a big house. Our last house was 4200 for 2 people and it was not a problem to clean. And because it was a newer house with efficient mechanical systems and appliances, our utility bills were less them some friends/family who had significantly smaller but older houses that were not as efficient.

[Deleted]

I'm with the poster who said it's lay out dependent.
I live in a ranch that's about 2100 sq. ft. including basment. That's H, I, Rubes, Exchange Student and a stream of weekend guests usually.

My kitchen is big, my 3 bathrooms are great and easily accessible. My bedrooms are spread out so there's still privacy and I don't feel like we're all on top of each other. My kitchen flows into the LR for ease of entertaining etc.

I wouldn't want more than what I have though. I can yell from one end of the house to other and everyone can hear me. I don't have any unused rooms. It's a lot to keep cleaned and organized though. Much more and I'd be nuts in that regard.

[gtkim]

Sounds great to me!  We are in 3600 + 2100 in a finished basement and it is just the 2 of us. 

[sillygoosegirl]

We just moved into a 2300 sq ft house. I expected it to feel enormous for just the two of us, but it really doesn't. We are already using 3 of the 4 bedrooms (or will be once we get unpacked), and we don't have any kids yet (planning on 2). The downstairs fills up quickly with a large gathering too. It is more space than any family really needs, but it's nice to have and I could see how even more space would be pretty nice.

[pitterwoo]

Feb 3, 2013 0:39:08 GMT -5 @juno said:

Yeah, electric is SO expensive.  I don't think I'd ever consider moving to a non-gas-hooked-up place for that alone.  I'm WAY too cheap for that sh!t.  Although why that's worse to me than our 2007 Bay area mortgage payment I don't know, since it probably far outstrips any power bill ridiculousness.  Somehow cost doesn't seem as bad when it's fixed and known and has an end date, not variable with weather/rates/usage though.  Or maybe I just tell myself that so that I don't jump off my roof.

lol, yeah your roof isn't high enough for that anyway.  

I think it's great if you can ask other people around you about the utilities.  Our gas company would only say what the last month's bill was.  They wouldn't tell us any more and so we didn't know until we got our first bill that she had been paying on the budget plan and our heating costs were about 3x more than expected.  Enter our insulation quest that we've been on ever since.

SBA, I'm glad you finally found a house you want to put an offer on.  I don't think it sounds too big as long as your kids do chores.  I grew up in a big house and was always cleaning bathroom sinks and mirrors and emptying wastebaskets from all the different rooms.  And there were always plenty of windows to do.  In retrospect though I don't know how my mom kept up with the sea of countertops and rugs and baseboards.  She did better than I do in my little home now.

[stephm0188]

We're just shy of 3000sq ft. Our last house was 1400.

It has it's pros and cons. We more than doubled our space but our utilities overall are cheaper (electric is more, water is waaaaay less), and we pay less interest on our mortgage. It balances out.

We use all the space. I didn't think we would, but every room is used on a daily basis.

But the cleaning.... gah, the cleaning. It is never ending. It's tough to keep up with a house this size with a small person underfoot. I don't think the entire house has ever been completely clean and organized since we moved in. By the time I get one area under control, the rest has gone to hell. It'll change when the kiddo is in school full time and I don't have a mini tornado following me around all day, but for now I just try to control the chaos as best I can.

The other downside is how much is costs to update a large home. More space means more money. Everything costs more. More windows to cover, more paint to buy, ect ect ect.

[Deleted]

Hey, on the downhill side, I have 2 stories (walkout basement) over the neighbors concrete driveway. I could at least break an arm!

[pitterwoo]

ah, well I didn't know about that part, Juno. I guess it could be serious!

[cosmowife]

We have 3900+, but it doesn't feel big.  Everything is very spread out but there is virtually no wasted space.  It is all on one level.  We don't have a basement, so all storage is done in the closets.  We didn't go out looking for a house this size - we just came across it during an open house and fell in love (even though it was a total disaster at the time).  I don't think we even realized how big it was until we started renovating (wait, we need how much square footage of wood floors??!!).  I like it because there is a lot of room for DS to run around, and we have a separate playroom so we can keep the main living areas clean.

Our last house was about 2200sf.  We always complained that it was about three feet too small on every wall.  We needed to take each of the four sides of the house and stretch them 3 feet.  There just wasn't ever a good way to arrange furniture.  

I really think it all depends on the layout.   Our first house's layout was horrible, and the layout in our current house is genius.