Would you buy a very small house?

[razz]

Off topic but TVR reminded me that it is fun to read over the years about members who marry, move, have family and then hear as they grow up. Some members have children who have grown into adulthood, left home after post-secondary education and moved on with their lives. Makes for a vibrant site keeping up with all the changes. SLF are an enjoyable and interesting online community. Thank you for everyone's sharing. Back to the topic of OP.

We're a family of 5, with three kids 10 and under, in a 1300 sq ft home, 2 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms. All kids share a room. So I would definitely say that what you describe sounds like plenty of space for me. But I'm not planning to move there, you are! So is it enough for you? I join the others who say that you need to see it. I agree with whoever suggested a detailed inspection. When we bought our home, it needed work. We used the inspection as a to-do list, and DH and I tackled almost everything on it in the first few years of ownership. There are still things that could be improved, and a home is always a work in progress, but if you can fix it enough to suit you, then it's worth considering.

[artist]

I would love a smaller home and we currently live in 964 sq ft if you include our entry porch. It is simply too much space for the two of us and even with my son and his wife visiting, we still have more room than we need. We have had four adults and three kids living in my home and at that time it felt full but never cramped. Just the right size. Now it just feels like a lot of empty space.

Everyone is different though. For example, you can't pay me to have more than one bathroom in my home. More work in terms of cleaning and so unneccessary to daily living.

[catherine]

I would love a smaller home and we currently live in 964 sq ft if you include our entry porch. It is simply too much space for the two of us and even with my son and his wife visiting, we still have more room than we need. We have had four adults and three kids living in my home and at that time it felt full but never cramped. Just the right size. Now it just feels like a lot of empty space.

Everyone is different though. For example, you can't pay me to have more than one bathroom in my home. More work in terms of cleaning and so unneccessary to daily living.

We are having trouble selling my BIL's house because it "only" has 1.5 bathrooms (as does my house--the one I raised 4 kids in with no bathroom hardship at all). The feedback comes back, Shows really well, but I don't know if I could live with one bathroom". Excuse me--1.5 bathrooms. I was just perusing some real estate listings and there was a 2 bedroom house with 3.5 bathrooms.

I grew up in the Post-War era, where Cape Cods were a dime a dozen, and families tended to be bigger than they are now. I think people feel they are depriving their kids if each kid can't have their own room, but I have so many fond memories of my kids in their bunk beds chatting in the dark into the wee hours of the night. No wonder we all feel disconnected, with each member of the family needing 600+ square feet of personal living space.

[jp1]

I agree about the bathrooms. SO and I have lived together in 4 places now. The first had 2.5 bathrooms. The downstairs half bath was basically the cat's litter box room and very occasional guest bathroom. The mini-closet under the stairs would've worked just as well. Cleaning 3 bathrooms was a time consuming annoyance. The second place had 2 bathrooms and 3 bedrooms. We each claimed one of the bathrooms and one of the bedrooms spent 2 1/2 years as a storage room with a bed as a shelf... The third place was only about 700 feet and was 2 bed/1 bath. And the bathroom was small. Sharing one small bathroom ended up being fine. The litter box went in the second bedroom (my den) closet. Our current place has 2 bathrooms but the downstairs one is mainly the litter box area and gets used by dinner guests and the like. SO and I mainly share the upstairs bathroom. Again no problem, especially since we have a nice sized counter in it. One sink is totally fine for us. As a kid I grew up in a family of 4 with one bathroom. The only time it was a hassle was when someone had a stomach flu thing going on and needed quick access to the toilet. That (hopefully) doesn't happen very often though.

[iris lilies]

Lately I've been making fun, in my mind, of all of the snowflakes who need 1 bathroom per 600 sq feet, it seems. (Exaggeration)

We renovated our house during the time when it was fashionable to turn one bedroom into a big bathroom. Now, the fashion is to take that same sq footage and create 2 bathrooms out of it. Sigh, I will never keep up.

In our old age I will say that it is nice to have two toilets, since when we get home from being out and about we both "call the toilet" at the same time. It I dont care if it is a half bath or full, I dont bathe that often! Haha.

[SteveinMN]

We have 1-3/4 bathrooms on two levels. Having only one bathroom in a house cost it a demerit by me because any plumbing issue then becomes a crisis and, with only me or one other adult, neither bathroom gets all that messy. If I had to clean both all the time, I might feel differently.

I knew when I bought this house that it was -- at 1100 square feet up and about 600 finished square feet down -- "too big". But I figure there always will be a market for a three-bedroom ranch house with a basement and a fenced yard close-in to town. Until DW moved in, I only went downstairs to store stuff and do the laundry. It's now more her "she shed"/"woman cave"/whatever the RE term is for it. Fine with me. The place is relatively cheap to run for what it is and we certainly are not short on space for our stuff. There are several of this model house sprinkled around Saint Paul, too, and they seem to sell pretty quickly. Probably not to folks from the suburbs.

I'm going to create a separate thread for this, but lately I've been reading a blog called "Granola Shotgun " The writer is (his words) an "architecture buff with a passionate interest in where and how we all live and occupy the landscape". He takes a quite dystopian view of sprawl and most suburbs. But his take reinforces my wish to stay in this house, for lots of reasons. More in the other thread, I guess.

[JaneV2.0]

We have 1-3/4 bathrooms on two levels. Having only one bathroom in a house cost it a demerit by me because any plumbing issue then becomes a crisis and, with only me or one other adult, neither bathroom gets all that messy. If I had to clean both all the time, I might feel differently. ...

My sentiments exactly. I like options.

[ApatheticNoMore]

it's not that hard to get a plumber to come that day or the next. I guess it's the reality I've always dealt with, but could be far more of a mess with way more people.

[Float On]

just perusing some real estate listings and there was a 2 bedroom house with 3.5 bathrooms.

I notice that a lot on real estate listings. "8 bedrooms 12 bathrooms", "5 bedrooms 7 bathrooms"....just why? Mom was 1 of 10 kids with an outhouse and a metal tub in a 2 bedroom house (boys rolled out cots in the living room). My husband's cousin's "estate" has 6 bedrooms 9 bathrooms...2 bathrooms right next door to each other because "that one is for the cleaning help".

[Teacher Terry]

While raising my kids we were a family of 5 with 1 bathroom. Never really that big of a deal. However, when we downsized to a 1400 sq ft ranch with 1 bath we did add another one. The dining room was huge-like a dining hall and the wall abutted the MB. We just moved that wall and used the space for a 2nd bath. Like IL now that we are older we both need to go at same time with less ability to hold it. We do each have our own office so do have our private space to get away from each other plus 2 tv's for when we want to watch different shows.