That and we actually spent time together as a family, went outside to play, learned to appreciate our time alone(rare as it was). :shrug:

Ed, you are such a Houstonite. :lol:

yup , i live in houston (well not anymore really) but anyways, whats your point?

we came out of a 1800sq ft townhouse, it sucked w/ 1 kid.

just cuz you had fond memories of your child, doesn't mean back then you wished you had your own room or space. you just don't remember it.

fleck/hurri-heather , do ya'll have kids?

We have a 3 bedroom ranch that's just under 1400sq feet on 100x100

No problem with 2 kids, 2 adults, 2 cats and 2 goldfish.

I would consider that a good location would = greater land/house appreciation.

Also, I've seen HOA's raise their fees like crazy in some places. If the carry costs are high now, what will happen later....

Plus if a smaller house means not being house poor...

Definately B!

and if you could have bigger?

my guess is the i-net answer would be, we'd stay.....:?:

Not everyone wants excessive large places. That is a suburbanites mindset that more is better. :wink: More than anything when I was kid I just wished we had an air conditioner. :lol: We all had our own rooms, what more do you need? Seriously? If you have your own room to get away and shut the door, what else would you want? I had enough room for my toys and clothes and myself. When I was a teenager my dad made a vanity in my room with lights and a mirror so I could get ready in my room. It worked.

We went with house A when we bought. It wasn't exactly like your description, but it isn't that far off either.

We looked at all of the trade offs and decided that for us, it was the right choice overall.

couple other things to think about -

how long do you plan to live there? with the housing market in the toilet right now you can pick up those huge houses in fancy places pretty dirt cheap. Hold on to that for about 2 years and you might find yourself making a large profit selling it for something you want in a better location.

Resale value of either house? school districts? even though you don't have kids a potential buyer might.

You mentioned renovating the smaller house, how much will that cost you? if you're going to spend 30K on renovations why not get a house that doesn't require that?

well if he's considering it then he's thought about buying it as well.

and smaller always isn't better also.

how'd you have a 4bdrm 1000sq ft house?

possible needs for a mac-mansion:

show off

doesn't like to be around the spouse

can't control the children - or doesn't like children

compensation for a small ****

underground pot-farm

likes to waste money on utility bills