Yup |
Why do you care so much if OP builds a smaller house? I don't understand why people (err, NDI?) get so worked up about this. |
| You would lose money building smaller homes. Of course people want cheaper shacks but no one should build one unless they are prepared to lose money and depreciate the structure completely. |
| Smaller homes are better for the world. |
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Bigger house means bigger taxes, bigger utility bills, bigger maintenance costs, bigger cost to furnish it, more time needed to clean it, etc.
It also means cheaper materials and finishes to keep within the same budget as a smaller house. And. depending on the lot size, it could also result iin having a undersized yard, which would likely result in a lower resale price. |
I'msomeone who would prefer to build 2200 above ground with basement instead of 3500 above ground with basement, even if the additional building cost were say, a mere 50k extra. |
| Any thoughts on the quality/value of Sekas? |
You don't get it. There are sunk costs to building a house that will be the same whether it's 2000 sqft or 4000 sqft. The price of the house does not go up or down proportionally to its size. So if you build small, you will end up with a small expensive house. It won't appraise so you better pay cash because the bank doesn't care about the quality of finishes, it only cares about location and square footage. When time comes to sell, you will be competing against similarly priced bigger houses. Who would want to buy a smaller house when they can buy a larger house for the same price? |
| Merion is selling new builds in Pimmit Hills that are about 3,200 sqft for just over a million. This is your benchmark for size. |
what kind of problems does one get with a house that small? |
Why? Are you suggesting Pimmit Hills is as cheap/small as it gets? That’s only true for an area near Tysons. |
| Very stupid idea, build at least 3500sf or larger |
Good quality and costs more for it. |
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My parents built a cape cid a few years ago in Arlington. It has a large main level master bedroom and bath and 3 bedrooms and one bath upstairs and unfinished basement. It is abot 2000 sq ft above grade. Every builder they talked to said they should build larger and would regret at resale. They hired a renovator who built their house. They loved it but are now moving back to Austria.
Putting word out through their church and neighborhood, they received five offers on the house and it sold for $53,000 above the appraised value. theoruce approached that if large new builds in their neighborhood. |
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As others said, unfortunately economies of scale and sunk costs make a bigger house cheaper to build dollar/sq ft. That's just the reality. Many builders won't even take jobs or bid on a build that's smaller than say 4k sq ft, simply because it's less money for them.
The way the market is these days, it's simply not cost effective to build smaller homes vs bigger homes. |