They are called ladders. I have them.

I raised two boys in a 1000 sq ft apt. I guess the answer would be that I would stay because I did for 13 years. Now decided to buy a house. it's not better, just bigger and I don't have to deal with idiot neighbors.

of course living in the apt gave us lots of time and extra cash for traveling and getting out, so we never felt cramped.

better yet, my neighbors have them.

they help me mess w/ house stuff
i help them mess w/ car stuff

he did have to rent a 20' A-frame ladder when he changed the fan in the "great" room

so why not buy as small a house as your apt?


i guess this ? is like, why buy a gix1k, when a 6 will do or a 'busa.........

this may blow your mind but utilities don't cost the same in every state. how much do the utilities cost per month where you are for an 800 sq ft home? then you would see your larger house costs more then smaller.

going to a larger house my utilities went up a huge amount. NO I DIDN'T WANT A LARGER HOUSE, but I love the land and being out in the country. I have blueprints in the making, if I stay the two story farm house is getting bulldozed and replaced with a house half it's size.

Do what makes you happy. That's all that really matters.

because I bought the house in the country. it's a very old farm house, that's what you get when you buy out of town. No desire at all to live in a subdivision.

oh and I have never had a litre bike, I prefer the 600 sportbikes

um building codes. building practices, building materials. one contractor is very often the same as the next, building larger ie: more expensive homes doesn't make one better. it simply means he has amassed enough revenue to carry the overhead of larger more expensive construction.

or nicer homes may get your better insulation, better windows, more efficient A/C units, tech shield in the attic, etc.......vs bare min. smaller homes.

so a bigger house w/ better effeciency may actually be cheaper utility wise vs a cheaper home thats not as efficient. the cost is relative to the area, its how much your household uses.

our elec. bill was in the $70-80 range during the winter in our new house. our old townhouse was in the $250-300's.......

kinda strange very few actually buy smaller houses, but most buy bigger, yet everybody is on the small house bandwagon.....



sounds like your kids are outta of the house or about to be, where mike is in the beginning stage of his "family".

"nicer" does not always mean bigger. you can have some very well built smaller homes. If you feel your house has to be big in order for people to think you are successful you have a sorry outlook on yourself.

as far as my kids yep they're out. remember when I said I raised them in the apt? The only reason I bought a large house is because it was sitting on the piece of dirt that I wanted. My son was there for the last couple years of his schooling, but he would have easily fit in the house I'm thinking of building.

Why can't ya'll just say, "I like to be glamorous" and "I like to be confined." :lol:

I am a small house person as well. My wife is a large house person because she has a ton of junk. We settled in the middle with a 2000 sq ft house. Actually she won pretty much everything because I am in a subdivision in way too big of a house.

I grew up in everything from a 500 sq ft trailer to a 3500 sq ft mac mansion in a nice HOA community living with my family growing up. The mac mansion life isn't for me. It's mostly cause of the people mac mansion subdivisions usually bring in (see the emails from crazy people, our subdivision in the large home was very much like that) and I have no want to remotely maintain something of that size. I very much dislike having to maintain a 2000 sq ft house.

The only reason I bought bigger was the wife. As I tend to only occupy one room, well two if you count the garage. She has crap everywhere. I am better off in the country because of my complete dislike for most human beings.

Good builders are a lot a like. I have a good friend that is a builder for the mac mansion subdivisions. It's amazing how you add fancy words to the same materials that he uses on smaller homes to trick the rich people. Efficiency is more about age of home, than price and size.

If you really want efficiency. Build it yourself and pick out all the best efficiency building materials. Otherwise you will get a lot of the same materials.