House shopping, you decide.
 

Our house shopping is finally appearing to net some results.

There are two places that we are interested in but are at opposite sides of the spectrum.

Both places meet our requirements and are about the same price. Both are move-in ready.

Given the choice which would you choose?

House A (Gixxer 1000):
Pros:
HUGE 5 bed / 5 bath 3500+ sq.ft.
HUGE, Incredible yard
3 car garage
Beautiful, gated community

Cons:
High carrying costs (high HOA, big electric, big lawn bills, insurance, etc.)
Less desirable area
45 minute commute


House B (SV 650):
Pros:
Location, location, location
Nice house, nice neighborhood
5 minute commute to work, beach, downtown
More desirable area
Smaller = lower costs of upkeep


Cons:
May want to upgrade/upsize when kids come along
Neighborhood is decent, doesn’t “wow” you
Yard is plenty big for entertaining but not big enough for fiddys


All constructive input is appreciated.

What's the sq ft on house B?

You have told us next to nothing on house B.

House A sound like the choice not to make

I'd go smaller, but I think the idea of any less than 10 people living in 3500 sq ft is just assanine. :lol:

That's personal preference. I'd rather have a cozier place with lower bills(including gas mileage) than a giant box out in the suburbs. I had the big box in suburbs. It's mega lame.

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Plan B

house A sounds like a waste unless you're really into trying to impress people from the "outside" No kids why have that big of house. huge costs can get much worse if something needs to be fixed. Yeah don't think contractors don't notice the size of the house being worked on. if you look like you got money they'll want a lot of it.

House B sounds like a no brainer. good location/size/price all good

House C sounds like you already don't really like it but if it was a choice between it and being homeless you'd make do with it.

House B is a 3/2 2cg just shy of 2000 sq. ft.

What else would you like to know?

I'd like to know why you are even thinking about House A. :lol:

2000 is a lot of space. Like a lot.

I think we would end up knocking down some walls.

The bedrooms are nice and big but the center of the house doesn't flow as well as I'd like.

If it were more open, I wouldn't think twice about it.

:iagree:

Oh okay, I gotcha.

Do you have pics of floor plans?

knocking down walls isn't hard to do.

you save 1 hr a day on commute - this should give you plenty of time to fix the hole in the wall.

How big is the garage? You have to have someplace to call your own, ya know.

And the money you save NOT paying HOA fees can go toward renovation.

And yes, I watch HGTV WAAAAAAY too much.

It is a 2 car garage but they took some garage space to widen the laundry room.

As soon as I saw it, I said "That wall will be removed before we move in."

The listing agent was horrified. :lol:

2000 sq ft gets real real small when you start having kids...........

school district?

Laundry can be done outside, the bike and car are much more important. :D

But the short commute would be the deal sealer. You can't buy time, or sanity, which commutes suck the life out of. :cool:

And this way you can put the car up on blocks, which you can't due in an HOA place.

I was raised in a 1200 sq. ft. house with 6 of us living there. Kids can go outside, make friends, go to THEIR houses instead of yours. We also had a full basement.

You're in FL, right? Does house A's neighborhood have a lot of foreclosures?

House B sounds like a winner. 5 minutes to the beach and downtown has a LOT of value. Jobs come and go, but the beach ain't movin'.

I wouldn't call 2000 sq ft a ton of space (me, my wife, and 4 cats fill it pretty well with all our crap), but it's certainly not crowded for the average family.

And does B have space to expand the garage? Build a workshop/bike storage/detatched? A regular 2-carhole leaves zero room to boogie. But if you don't have to deal with HOA bullshit and have at least a bit of land, there's potential.

I would guess that house A is new/recent construction, and B is older, maybe 80s? New construction in boom areas tends to be of shit quality, but tropical weather ages stuff quickly.

My parents raised three kids in 1000 sq ft. Stayed there until we were all grown and out of the house. :shrug:

And you learned how to respect each others space/stuff, I bet. Either that or you learned how to run. :D

you can raise a family in an outhouse, doesn't mean you or the family will like it.

and babies take up alot more room then older kids.

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

so what do you consider exp?

2000 isn't small to most people, unless you have a thousand indoor hobbies to house.

And cheap houses built in the 70's with really small rooms. :shrug:

My parents sold the house not to long ago, but I guess they took down the listing. I was gonna post it up so you didn't think I was lying. :lol:

Anything over $300 month for power/water/gas













easy for me to say - I have spring water

I understand that, but people only take up as much room as you allow them. I raised my son in 800 sq ft house. He had his room, I had mine. One TV, one bathroom, one kitchen. I was the adult in the house that decided things. My kid didn't run the house, I did. Sure, it was small, but I had a good sized yard which I grew flowers and he played. It was also what I could afford and pay bills in.

We rent here in KC. The gas bills runs me $300 bucks a month in the winter. The duplex is 500 sq feet and the thermostat never goes over 67 degrees. Air cond. is costing 150 a month, at 80 degrees. All depends on where you live, I guess.

ok, if you could have afforded more, would you have moved to a bigger nicer neighborhood?

i think we pay $300-325/mos for all our bills gas/elec/water, adn this was last month, w/ 100+ deg temps everyday, and Z at home w/ the AC cranked. thats for cuttle.........and we have a 3400+ sq ft house. so we prolly pay alot less then fleck in bills throughout the yr........so who's wasting?

Probably not. I'm not much into neighborhoods, just a nice sized yard. I like living in town, but hate neighbors. Doesn't matter how nice the houses are, there are always poopheads that inhabit them, regardless of how much money they make. :hangman:

ok, same neighborhood, same everything, what would you want for your family, 800sq ft or 2500?

Now imagine the money you could save by having a smaller house....

There is a difference between 2000 and 3500..... (a whole house for the average person)

800. I hate cleaning. :D No, really.

The whole point of raising children is getting them out of the house. If it's a small house, they'll move out sooner. :p

Some additional factors have already been mentioned. Age of each house. School districts. Amount of foreclosures in each neighborhood. What you are going to have to spend to get either house how you want it.

Some that haven't been mentioned. Traffic in each area. Crime in each area. Sex offenders in each area. How much you are stretching your finances to buy.

If it were me, with all things being equal, I would go with house A. While most on this board would prefer the smaller house, from what I have seen most in the public would choose the larger house. At least around here there are a lot more families who would prefer a 5/5/3,500 over a 3/2/2,000.

OR NOT, my point was fleck pays more then i do for bills, yet he's in an apt. buying a "nicer" house may be more efficient that your not gonna get w/ a cheaper house, i know my builder doesn't build less then 3000sq ft. so who's to say another builders 2000sq ft house is as effecient as my 3500.

ok same neighborhood samo samo, would fleck rather have his family in a 800sq ft house or 3500sq ft house, both that he can afford comfortable.
NOW thats a great point........lol, we have kids to clean.......kekeke, ok a maid right now till the kids get older.

1. Fleck's a chick
2. Fleck I'm guessing is in an older house than yours, so that has to be taken into consideration when you think about efficiency. And EVERYONE in KC has $300 gas bills in the winter.

oops

sure it does, but cuttle made a blanket statement about big houses and big elec. bill that always isn't true.

and why am i the only 1 defending "big" houses, :whatwhat:, i know troy and lee both have big houses......:hitfan:

Choice B period

Choice A tends to be foreclosure central.........Younger, less-stable homeowners who bought way out in the outskirts because that's the only place they could afford to buy a real house instead of a condo. But they're not desireable neighborhoods because they don't have any history, they aren't close to anything, and the architecture is generic. So they suffered the biggest drops in value. See: desert areas of Cali, Phoenix and Vegas.

apparently your builder is the only builder in the world that's able to build energy efficient....

When I had my 800 sq ft house, the bills never cost me over $150 a month. I spent money in new windows and it was insulated VERY well. It was 80 yrs. old, but it was built with solid oak, and had no structural problems. Also, the smaller the house, the cheaper the taxes.

I'm a small minority, I know. I hate huge houses. You never see the people you live with, something always needs cleaning. We live in a small duplex at the moment, but we have a basement, so it allows a spot to spend time alone, usually cleaning/working on the bikes. Everyone needs a refuge, but I would rather it be the basement than 3500 sq ft. :)

and here i thought CA AZ and FLA were the reason for all our probs being what 50+% of the F/C are in those 3 states.

talking w/ alot of peeps you'd think. for whatever reason "our" houses are crazy efficient.

you think your gonna get that kinda efficiency from a cheap house, not. even "green" houses are crazy expensive.

Hmm, think I'm gonna call bs to that stat

going to dinner at my next door neighbors house tonight, to meet his mom. and the guy across the street works w/ US as well.

so ever sit. is diff.

even for mike, and w/ that i'm out for the day, CYA!

have a good evening. :D

I think you already know what my choice would be, Sean. http://smiliesftw.com/x/laugh2.gif

What defines nicer?

Just bigger, newer homes with bigger lawns?

What if it also means generic architecture, with very few trees, nothing to do within walking distance, and all your neighbors were $40K millionaires who are only 3-4 paychecks from missing their mortgage payment?

Two co-workers also agree B is the right place. :lol:

Choice A = OWN3D

With the info given, I'd go with the better location = B.

Although I want to know when the houses were build. I prefer newer homes myself. :cool:

I think Shmike would actually like that....

I never said if it was a positive or negative.:lol

...

Originally Posted by cuttle View Post
possible needs for a mac-mansion:

show off
To who, my neighbors, whose houses are similiar? Or my family, who cares about nothing pertaining to my house except that now when they visit they don't have to stay at a hotel?
that's just sad - how do you find your own house late at night if they are all similar?

doesn't like to be around the spouse
Now I carpool with my wife, which gives me an extra 1.5hrs a day 5 days a week that we never had before
see - you can have a good time in a small space

can't control the children - or doesn't like children
My children don't need to be "controlled", and we spend lots of time together in the game room - which we didn't have room for at the old house.
such a huge house and your kids don't have their own room to play in? I'd complain to the architect.


compensation for a small ****
Dammit, you might have me there.
we need to decide by ourself: PICS!!!

underground pot-farm
Negative. As I understand it, the clay content in the soil out here makes it hard to grow good ganja.
apparently you thought about it.....

likes to waste money on utility bills
Can't speak for everyone, but my utilities are about $75/ month higher than my old house. 3 times the size of the old house, but eliminated the pool / spa.
That's impressive - just imagine how little your bills would be in the similar build house with less square footage

I still really believe that if people thought about having to clean 20 ft cathedral ceilings and change the light bulbs up there, they wouldn't buy a house that had them. :D

It actually isn't very difficult to do either.

I have a friend whose lights need to be changed up there. He bought the telescoping stick changer thing, but it's not long enough.

Please tell me how you do it.

Needle-nosed pliers, and a trampoline.

JC

House B

The telescoping stick changer thing I used must have been longer. It was either 8 or 10 feet collapsed and had 2 telescoping sections. It was threaded on top to take a duster or a suction cup.

I knew a girl like that.

I would have married her, but she was a redhead.

ETA: It's not that I don't like redhead's, but my mom is one, so, you know, creepy.

JC

I think he'll have to get a ladder, too, to do this job. Thanks for the info.

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.

[QUOTE=Trip;251642]Why can't ya'll just say, "I like to be glamorous" and "I like to be confined." :lol:

QUOTE]
no because if I say I like to be confined they'll put me back in that little room. :didntdo:

cuz then we'd have nothing else to waste our time w/ :td:

I voted House B but in my case I guess we bought house A. It's huge and yes...too big for two people but we found a deal that we couldn't or didn't want to refuse at the time.

Our house is 3300 sq. ft. but it had sat vacant for 9 months due to the owners being transferred to Ohio and the house being purchased by the company the guy worked for.

It had been taken off the market twice but the financing fell through both times and we just happened to be looking right when it went back on the market.

We bought it for below tax value. :idk:

We love the place but I'm sure our next home will be smaller.

3 stories gets old when the master is on the top floor and you get to the basement to pull out of the garage and realize you forgot something and it's on the dresser in the bedroom. :wtfru:

A townhome with $250-300 electric bills? How is that going to happen. The most I've ever paid is $50-60, and that's California, not some cheap state like Texas lol.

elec heater vs gas
old house w/ poor effeciency

plus TX is deregulated, so of course our rates are higher vs what they're supposed to be.

I have elec heat too. You use the AC every day for 6 mos or something?

I think it's interesting how 2000 sq feet is considered small :)

Our current house is like 1100 sq feet and that includes the garage :)

2000 sq feet in this city will run you over 340,000 and that doesn't include a garage, use able basement and parking for more than 1 car..

I've learned I don't want an exceptionally huge house. I hate cleaning and the fact I feel I "need" to fill it with crap.

I choose B - location is important....

for prolly 9-10mos outta the yrs, it's either on HEAT or COLD.

and we had a prog. thermostat too.

hey Kirsty, you know everythings bigger in TX lol

i didn't think garages were included when talking house sq ft

So for those who bought homes 2x as large as their previous one.......How much did you spend on furniture & artwork in order to fill the extra space, lol

Me too. My house is 620 sqft. I inhabit the house with 1 cat, 2 dogs, and sometimes a boyfriend (who has his own mcmansion down the road in Destin that he rents out).

I HATE big houses. Of course, I don't care if YOU live in a big house... I just prefer the security of the walls being a little closer and everything within earshot.

My idea of heaven would be a 450 sqft cabin in the Alaskan mountains (Cordova, specifically). So my opinion might be slightly skewed in this question of house A or house B. :lol:

alot :rockwoot:

the perfect choice

"More than you can afford, pal."

you got a ferrari? :lol

:lol: This was our first home purchase together so between all of my stuff and all of her stuff we were able to fill most of it up.

Now as far as "artwork"...well we're still working on that part...still have some bare walls. Oh well. :idk:

She had a 1400 sq. ft. townhouse and I had a 1000 sq. ft. condo but we both also had storage units rented that needed to be emptied as well.

Both had been married before too so we had a bunch of stuff in these storage units that we weren't using but didn't want to get rid of either...so it came in handy with the bigger place.

Ok now that I think of it...your question didn't really apply to my situation but I posted this anyways. :lol

I don't think 2000 sq ft is small. I live in that and think it's huge and too big.

Nothing, the wife works and I told her if she wants to fill the place, use her money. I consider it her house since she

This is one time I disagree with a small house. There is no question of this, none, you will go flippin nuts in a house that tiny in Alaska. I lived in a small house in Alaska. By the end of winter, it was lucky someone in my family wasn't dead. If you are just going to stay in the summer, it would be nice cause you would never be inside, but in the winter someone will die.

we had the biggest UHAUL truck full of stuff, and our house looked pretty empty.

now we got a jog stroller and another stroller parked in the formal dining room......

we got a new King sized bedroom set, now there's a portable crib and bassinet next to it.......

and charlie's room has our old queen bedroom set + a full on crib in it.

WOW, it will always be OUR house and we'll use OUR $ to furnish it.

we have 1500 sqf for the two of us, and we don't even use it all :shrug:

Granted, it helps to have another 1200 sqf of ride-in basement for my hubbies crap and my bikes.....

Not much, I got to unload our storage rental. Yay!

if you're specing the house why would you end up with lower grade building materials? even if you didn't have the house built, you can go over the specs of the materials, find out what the R rating of the insulation/windows...

I don't like paying taxes in the first place, why spend more for something bigger and have to pay more taxes on top of that?

I like where we live now, the garage/basement is the same size as the living space. plenty of room down there for my half finished projects.