Our house is bigger than the range you sited. I wanted a small house, DH wanted a big house, he makes the bulk of our HHI and we could afford it so I gave on the condition that we have a lot of help cleaning it. There are a couple things I love, like we have a great home gym, two home offices, and our kids have a play room that our guests never see. I dislike that we text each other at home because we're often so far apart, that I feel uneasy about such a flashy display of wealth, and our house is basically a hotel for various guests, mostly DH's extended family.

We have a 1970, 5BR, multilevel home with a small finished basement and are in the cusp of being empty nesters of 3 DC.

Too big for us right now - wasn’t when we moved here 22 years ago. Selling in the near future.

We have a huge new build and it's about 25-33% too large. But it's what they were building when we were buying and it was great for us for many other reasons. The extra space isn't problematic, just isn't used much.

Anonymous wrote:We have ~6k sq feet and use almost all of it every day. This is three floors, 2k per floor.

Main level - use everything except the dining room every day.

Upper level - use all 4 bedrooms every day (3 kids, 2 parents)

Basement - home office, exercise room daily, living area almost daily, bedroom not very often.

And to add, I feel like we could use more space on the main level. It's very crowded getting in and out of the house through our mudroom/kitchen area and those spaces could definitely be larger.

We have ~6k sq feet and use almost all of it every day. This is three floors, 2k per floor.

Main level - use everything except the dining room every day.

Upper level - use all 4 bedrooms every day (3 kids, 2 parents)

Basement - home office, exercise room daily, living area almost daily, bedroom not very often.

Anonymous wrote:I'm talking 5000 or 6000+ sq ft. To me, half of that seems plenty, but I've also lived in apartments for a long time. I can't decide if I would adjust to the large space or if I might find it excessive for what we need. (Family of 4 with 2 kids). Plus the costs of cleaning, maintenance, utilities, furnishing, etc. seems like a lot. But I don't know if anyone would prefer a smaller houses, all things (including cost) equal.

Most people can afford bigger homes in their 40's when kids are in teen years, they grow up and move out and you end up as empty nesters in huge homes to maintain. Buy something around 2500-3000 sq ft so you can retire in peace without having to downsize.

I think it makes sense if you like having parties and/or house guests.

We have a 7200 square foot house for a family of 4. Right now, we also have an au pair which makes it 5 people. We have lots of family that comes to visit us so the extra space is fabulous. We literally use all of it. Seems ridiculous but we truly do.

We didn’t “need” it this big but the value has skyrocketed so it was a great investment. One day I will want to downsize and I will be happy to not pay such high taxes. But for now, I love our house.

only those who can't afford the large home. Post covid, builders started making them even larger vs prior.

My townhouse has about 2200 sq ft excluding the garage. We’re only 2 for now and we use half the (relatively small) rooms in the house. The rest are guest rooms and future bedrooms that are storage right now. We keep the unused rooms closed for the time being

We lived in 1000 sq ft for a while and don’t have enough stuff to fill double that space. But it was an investment and we love the outdoor area the TH offers: rooftop terrace and deck

Square footage is always subject to different interpretations. Is that 4k including the basement and garage, or just above ground and not including garages? Huge difference.

People generally grow into the larger spaces up to a certain point and I agree with the PP that it's when you go above 4k that you start getting aspects of feeling too large. Bedrooms are bigger than necessary, too much excess space underutilized.

Re housing sizes, yes, cost of maintenance goes up, as does cost of cleaning. Utilities vary depending on efficiency. I'd rather have the smaller house in a better location than a larger house in a less convenient location but there are other variables I'd nee to factor too.

I have 4000 sq ft and we use all the space except for the guest BR on a daily basis. I don't have a formal dining room though (by choice).

The biggest space wasters I see in that next notch up house (6-8k sq ft) are multiple separate eating areas and also just really big rooms and extra bedrooms for people with only 2 kids (I am same and have 2 kids).

Ours is a Victorian mansion and we rarely use the 1st floor, which has two guest rooms and two bathrooms, and then a third room which we put a pool table in. Neither of the guest rooms has a closet though both have windows. We have guests more than the average person, but not quite for half the year if we added up all the days.

Mine is larger than I would have chosen. We needed (okay, wanted) four bedrooms all on one level, and where we were looking our choices were 1300 square feet or 4000. It doesn’t impact me on a daily basis really, but I hate having new people over bc they notice the size and it makes me seem like a show off or spender or something.

I'm talking 5000 or 6000+ sq ft. To me, half of that seems plenty, but I've also lived in apartments for a long time. I can't decide if I would adjust to the large space or if I might find it excessive for what we need. (Family of 4 with 2 kids). Plus the costs of cleaning, maintenance, utilities, furnishing, etc. seems like a lot. But I don't know if anyone would prefer a smaller houses, all things (including cost) equal.