I would say too small. We are family of four in 1500 sq feet and I think around 1300 sq feet would be our minimum. Our kids are both girls, too, which helps with room sharing.

Why not get a condo or townhouse and live there until the market gets better again then rent it out.

do an analysis of how much the prices have increased YOY and decide if it makes sense to buy now and trade up in a 2-3 years. With some places having 6% YOY appreciation you can make a profit in 2-3 years.

We are a family of four in 1100 square feet. It works very well for us.

Is there a possibility of adding an addition to the house?

Too small is very subjective and depends a lot on what people are used to. Go by what's right for you, not what's right for other people.

That said, I was house hunting last year and a LOT of the houses I saw were smaller homes being sold by parents who had recently had a child (bottle drying racks in kitchen) and presumably found they needed more space.

Selling a house costs 6% of the house price in Realtor commissions, so make sure you're sure before you buy as it could be a costly mistake.

We're in a similar quandry. The house we looked at is a bit bigger, but part of that SF is in the "finished" basement, which is the pits (drop ceilings, linoleum floors, etc.) so we'd have to totally redo it. The second full bath is also in the basement (of course!). We're a bit concerned the house needs too much work, but it's priced well and is in a great neighborhood. It's tough- I doubt we'll find anything priced that low in that area again, but don't want to bite off more than we can chew only to outgrow it in 5-7 years anyway. We're just starting to panic because there really hasn't been much out there.

Good luck with your decision!

Anonymous wrote:Thanks everybody! Think we agree with everyone on here....makes no sense to bid on place neither of us are excited about.... And to pp, 1300 is our dream square footage, enough room to get away from each other, but still cozy.

Just curious, where are you looking?

- someone who is about to put my 1400 sq ft place on the market.

I think it depends what else you've been seeing an liking. In other words, is it realistic to expect you'll be able to afford something bigger that you'll like in a neighborhood you'll be happy with? If so, I'd pass on this one. However, if it seems like you might be priced out of bigger places, and this is the best small place you've seen, go for it.

--Spoken from someone who just closed on a 1300 sq foot home for a family of four

We're at 850 with 2+ a toddler. We love it. However, planning to finish another 500 in the basement. We really need the second bathroom!

Thanks everybody! Think we agree with everyone on here....makes no sense to bid on place neither of us are excited about.... And to pp, 1300 is our dream square footage, enough room to get away from each other, but still cozy.

Don't settle. Rent another year.

Anonymous wrote:Don't settle for something that you may outgrow in a few years, just because you've been house hunting for a certain number of months. If you are already thinking about having to add on, that's not a good sign.

This is good advice. I was ready to settle for a smaller, cramped house, and thankfully, my realtor wouldn't let us. We found "our" house a few months later.

Too small.

1000 sq ft is pretty small, especially if it's broken up into a lot of little rooms. The lack of DR would be a problem for us. Could you afford to remodel the interior to open it up like the PP did? Or you said there is room to expand? Does it have any additional storage space (attic, basement)?

FWIW, we are a family of 4 (plus 2 large dogs) in a 1300 sq ft house and so far it works. We do have a good amount of storage in an attic so that REALLY helps a lot. Actually we prefer a smaller home now that the kids are little (2 and 4) and we just downsized a bit. When they are teens we might feel a little different though! But for us, everything about the house felt right -- location, style, etc.