Anyone downsize from 8,000 sq ft to 3,000–5,000 sq ft? What surprised you?

[Anonymous]

Anyone here downsize from a big house to something in the 3,000–5,000 sf range? We are a family of 4 in an 8,000 sf place (7 bed, 9 bath). It made sense when the kids were younger and we had a live in nanny, but nanny is gone and both kids will be off to college soon, so it is starting to feel way too big. We are already stressing about stuff like our giant dining table that really needs an 18 ft room, which smaller houses just do not have.

What is really surprising is the pricing in other so called cheaper markets. In equivalent nice areas in Florida I am seeing 3,000 sf homes in Fort Lauderdale and Tampa for 2–3M, so basically no savings on price, just less space. New construction around 4–5,000 sf is more like 5.5M, which is a shock. So now we are wondering if it even makes sense to move or if we should just stay put and live in part of the house. If you have done a similar downsize as a family of 4, what were the biggest surprises, good or bad?

[Anonymous]

Nice try at a humble brag.

[Anonymous]

I'd say you aren't ready to downsize if you're truly stressing over your large dining room table.

Anyway, if you find a house you love in the price range that works for you, don't worry about the size. You may need to purge some of your belongings, but I promise you that it is not remotely difficult for a family of four to live comfortably in a 3,000 sf home if it's a well-planned home.

[Anonymous]

5,000 square feet is still large. You could probably bring your drawbridge-sized dining table with you

[Anonymous]

Went from 6,000 to 3,500 and don't miss anything other than the mudroom in my larger house. I love the feel of the smaller home.

[Anonymous]

its funny, almost like we are shopping for houses based on the size of our dining room table, its not that big but seats 10.

[Anonymous]

I wouldn't move too often, OP. Are you retired? Is this move going to be your retirement move? Then your criteria will need to include ADA-compliant homes, or at least ones that can be retrofitted.

If you can afford to build, you can build new and get the dining room you want.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Anyone here downsize from a big house to something in the 3,000–5,000 sf range? We are a family of 4 in an 8,000 sf place (7 bed, 9 bath). It made sense when the kids were younger and we had a live in nanny, but nanny is gone and both kids will be off to college soon, so it is starting to feel way too big. We are already stressing about stuff like our giant dining table that really needs an 18 ft room, which smaller houses just do not have.

What is really surprising is the pricing in other so called cheaper markets. In equivalent nice areas in Florida I am seeing 3,000 sf homes in Fort Lauderdale and Tampa for 2–3M, so basically no savings on price, just less space. New construction around 4–5,000 sf is more like 5.5M, which is a shock. So now we are wondering if it even makes sense to move or if we should just stay put and live in part of the house. If you have done a similar downsize as a family of 4, what were the biggest surprises, good or bad?

I don’t understand where you live…in any nice areas of the DMV your 8,000 sq ft home would likely sell for $10MM+…thinking McLean, Mass Heights, Georgetown et al.

[Anonymous]

Yes construction costs have gone up. If you want to truly downsize move into the new townhouse complex being built in McLean.

[Anonymous]

You're definitely going to have to accept that downsizing by that amount will involve getting rid of all the furniture you don't need, including furniture that is perfectly fine but out of scale with a smaller home. I bet you also have lots of "stuff" in the garage, basement, and closets that will need to go. Your house is huge so you probably don't even realize how much you have accumulated, unless you're very disciplined in regularly donating/purging.

If you can configure a master suite on your first floor, you could just use the upper level when you have houseguests.

[Anonymous]

Hold off on moving until kids are both done with college, and then move once. At that point, when kids are not coming back for long periods, you may want to downsize to something more like 2,500 square feet. Way easier to maintain.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'd say you aren't ready to downsize if you're truly stressing over your large dining room table.

Anyway, if you find a house you love in the price range that works for you, don't worry about the size. You may need to purge some of your belongings, but I promise you that it is not remotely difficult for a family of four to live comfortably in a 3,000 sf home if it's a well-planned home.

DP
My mom stressed about stuff like this too but it turned out to be the beginning of dementia. The part where you over control and over think what you can

[Anonymous]

we "downsized" from 3600 to 3600. we moved to a lake house and we need the extra space for visitors. we only use the downstairs ourselves.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Anyone here downsize from a big house to something in the 3,000–5,000 sf range? We are a family of 4 in an 8,000 sf place (7 bed, 9 bath). It made sense when the kids were younger and we had a live in nanny, but nanny is gone and both kids will be off to college soon, so it is starting to feel way too big. We are already stressing about stuff like our giant dining table that really needs an 18 ft room, which smaller houses just do not have.

What is really surprising is the pricing in other so called cheaper markets. In equivalent nice areas in Florida I am seeing 3,000 sf homes in Fort Lauderdale and Tampa for 2–3M, so basically no savings on price, just less space. New construction around 4–5,000 sf is more like 5.5M, which is a shock. So now we are wondering if it even makes sense to move or if we should just stay put and live in part of the house. If you have done a similar downsize as a family of 4, what were the biggest surprises, good or bad?

To be clear, no family of 4 "needs" 7 bedrooms and 9 bathrooms.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Anyone here downsize from a big house to something in the 3,000–5,000 sf range? We are a family of 4 in an 8,000 sf place (7 bed, 9 bath). It made sense when the kids were younger and we had a live in nanny, but nanny is gone and both kids will be off to college soon, so it is starting to feel way too big. We are already stressing about stuff like our giant dining table that really needs an 18 ft room, which smaller houses just do not have.

What is really surprising is the pricing in other so called cheaper markets. In equivalent nice areas in Florida I am seeing 3,000 sf homes in Fort Lauderdale and Tampa for 2–3M, so basically no savings on price, just less space. New construction around 4–5,000 sf is more like 5.5M, which is a shock. So now we are wondering if it even makes sense to move or if we should just stay put and live in part of the house. If you have done a similar downsize as a family of 4, what were the biggest surprises, good or bad?

I don’t understand where you live…in any nice areas of the DMV your 8,000 sq ft home would likely sell for $10MM+…thinking McLean, Mass Heights, Georgetown et al.

You’re out of touch. Here’s a random 7,600 sq ft McLean home for $2.99 Million. Many others that size around here are in the $3-5 range. Only a small portion are $10 million+ https://redf.in/aJ7k9B