House size - family of 5

[Anonymous]

We have 6000 sq feet, and it feels right. 5 bedrooms, room for guests.

[Anonymous]

our first house was 1800. it really would have been fine if the rooms were designated differently. we had a living room and dining room we never used. we could have used a game room and office instead.

now as empty nesters, we have 3600. we never use the upstairs except for when people come. we don't need the game room anymore. our downstairs is 2700.

[Anonymous]

We have 10k and it feels right. 3 kids and a live in housekeeper. Space for in-laws when the come, mud room, sunroom, walk in pantry, large closets, gym in the basement, home theater, etc. We were happy to have it during Covid.

[Anonymous]

Family of 4, kids are late ES, and we moved from a 1400 sq ft house to a 3300 sq ft house further out and we love every inch of the new space we have. Kids have their own rooms, big kitchen with an island, a sun room, a designated office for DH, and a sitting area in the master suite that I use as my office, and a finished basement. I wake up every day and wonder how the hell we did it for so long in the old house.

[Anonymous]

Family of 5. About 1,100 square feet. Its definitely adequate. The three bedrooms are small but we only sleep in there so I don't really see the need for bigger bed rooms. We don't really have room for guests, but it is more cost effective to pay for our guests to stay in a hotel or airbnb than to buy a bigger house to house them.

[Anonymous]

We moved recently from ~2,000 square feet to ~6,000 square feet. Three kids.

Is it more space than we need? Yes. Do we use (nearly) all of the space regularly? Also yes.

[Anonymous]

1500 square feet for a family of 5. We have been here since we got married but have hit financial roadblocks that have prevented us from saving for something bigger. It’s only 2 bed and one bath but we do have a basement. I’d love more room, but for now we will have to be content with what we have. Kids are on the smaller size but all potty trained so the one bathroom is killer.

[Anonymous]

Family of 4. Moved from 2450 to 2950, excluding basement and its a bit big. 2500 ft is probably about right for us with the right layout. In our old house, some rooms where too narrow, while others were too big. Had the room size shifted some it would have been perfect. Neither house has a mud room and that is my biggest issue.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Everybody saying "We're ok with xxx sqft" is lying. Period.

In the end, it's ALWAYS about money. If you could afford 10,000 sqft (and the accompanying maintenance), you'd do it in a heartbeat.

I've yet to meet an actual person, who said, they don't like their house, because it's too big.

That's the reality check.

LOL thank you for the laugh. You’ve reminded me why we recently left the DC area (still own property in NoVa so still on this board occasionally). Y’all are so insanely spoiled and shallow. We have a HHI of over $400K and plenty of savings and investments, and we just bought a 2,000 square foot house in the medium cost of living area we moved to for $500K for our family of 4. Some people truly don’t want a lot of excess space. We could afford so much more house than this. We don’t want it.

[Anonymous]

We are a family of 5 and have 5 bedrooms/2.5 baths and around 3000 sq feet of finished space and it is plenty.
We are looking and changing the half bath to a full bath but other than that I'm happy with the amount of space.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:1500 square feet for a family of 5. We have been here since we got married but have hit financial roadblocks that have prevented us from saving for something bigger. It’s only 2 bed and one bath but we do have a basement. I’d love more room, but for now we will have to be content with what we have. Kids are on the smaller size but all potty trained so the one bathroom is killer.

All 3 of your kids share a bedroom? How do they fit? Bunk beds?

[Anonymous]

Honestly I have a 4k upstairs house with a 2k finished basement and two car garage.

What I am missing is I wish I had a three car garage, master suite with full bath main level, plus an inground pool with pool house.

I saw a house same size as mine I wish I stretched for. Had a separate three car garage with breezeway between it and house and a full apartment/guest suite above garage.

I don’t park in garage as use mainly storage and extra fridge and lack of MBR main level for aging in place sucks. Plus the separate place above garage with WFH and kids coming back school after college would be great.

Also nice inground pool I like.

I have 5

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Everybody saying "We're ok with xxx sqft" is lying. Period.

In the end, it's ALWAYS about money. If you could afford 10,000 sqft (and the accompanying maintenance), you'd do it in a heartbeat.

I've yet to meet an actual person, who said, they don't like their house, because it's too big.

That's the reality check.

Maybe I am the anamoly. Grew up in a 6200 Sq Foot home with a full finished basement. 7 bedrooms/5 bathrooms. Five people. It was a nightmare and too big. I hated it and swore I would never have more space than I needed.

Family of five - 3000 square feet, just a bit roomier than necessary. I love it. I could easily afford 6000 square feet but don't want my kids to disappear in the house like I did growing up. Thrilled with the 3000 square feet.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Everybody saying "We're ok with xxx sqft" is lying. Period.

In the end, it's ALWAYS about money. If you could afford 10,000 sqft (and the accompanying maintenance), you'd do it in a heartbeat.

I've yet to meet an actual person, who said, they don't like their house, because it's too big.

That's the reality check.

Maybe I am the anamoly. Grew up in a 6200 Sq Foot home with a full finished basement. 7 bedrooms/5 bathrooms. Five people. It was a nightmare and too big. I hated it and swore I would never have more space than I needed.

Family of five - 3000 square feet, just a bit roomier than necessary. I love it. I could easily afford 6000 square feet but don't want my kids to disappear in the house like I did growing up. Thrilled with the 3000 square feet.

I'm with you.

We were able to upgrade from 1500 to 2400 when our oldest was born, and it stressed me out (yes, really). I felt like we were rattling around in there, and we're not even in a SFH. I'm now used to it, but I have zero desire for more space since we already have at least one room that we rarely use. I don't want the associated cost, but I also don't want the associated work/cleaning/etc.

[Anonymous]

Its not really a question of square feet, but rooms for the the things you need. 4 bedrooms could be 280 square feet or 800 square feet. But the important part is that there are 4.