Upgrade to Larger Home for When Kids are Teens?

[Anonymous]

We are in a similar situation but 3 kids. It isn’t so much bedrooms for us but would be soooo nice to have a rec room or somewhere for them to hang out with friends.

We have decided to stick it out. We really like our house and I think it will be ideal for retirement/possibly be our “forever” house. Also with the expensive teen/college years coming up, it helps to be a bit more conservative financially (for sure)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Teen years fly by.

I see people upgrade to these huge homes in late middle school and then want to downsize fairly soon when the rooms sit empty at empty nest.

I know several people that can’t afford to downsize! They sold their close-in/walkable and city homes to get something larger farther out and the way things have appreciated more drastically close-in they can’t afford to go back to where they want to live.

[Anonymous]

We moved in late MS. I get that these years are short but our house felt uncomfortably small with WFH and large kids.

[Anonymous]

maybe there is a large rec room and kitchen for teenagers to feel comfortable hanging out.

Yeah but I don't want a bunch of teens hanging out in my house.

[Anonymous]

We live in a small house (1500 sf including finished basement), though my teens (now early 20s) each had their own rooms. But they only slept in there--they always did their homework at the dining room table and played video games/watched TV in the basement. We were not the hangout house, but I suspect we would not have been even in a bigger house....we are around too much for the teens to want to be here. (I WFH and spouse is a teacher.)

[Anonymous]

Don’t enlarge. In a few years, you should be down-sizing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We moved in late MS. I get that these years are short but our house felt uncomfortably small with WFH and large kids.

depends on your plans. We moved when I was in MS, and my parents still live in the house 35 years later.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Teen years fly by.

I see people upgrade to these huge homes in late middle school and then want to downsize fairly soon when the rooms sit empty at empty nest.

I know several people that can’t afford to downsize! They sold their close-in/walkable and city homes to get something larger farther out and the way things have appreciated more drastically close-in they can’t afford to go back to where they want to live.

It's best if you plan to leave the area completely.

[Anonymous]

I think your kids will want their own bedrooms, but otherwise a tiny house might be fine. We always thought we'd need more space when the kids became teenagers, but even all through covid, the four of us were always hanging out in just two rooms (living room and den.) I feel like it's cosier and maybe also helped us feel closer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is DCUM! A MINIMUM of 2000 sqft per person over the age of 12 plus 500 for each pet to keep from being hit will the "Pimmit Hills Poor" label.

But Pimmit Hills really IS for the poors.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For the person who dug out their basement, please share contractor and cost.

That was me. We spent about 85k for 750 sf. I’m mostly happy with the finished product but not sure I would recommend our contractor because he did kind of crappy work in some places. We had to be pretty vigilant. But he redid most of what we didn’t like, so maybe that’s par for the course?