Another family of 4 here, in 2k square feet. It has been fine for the most part. Would love larger bedrooms and closets/more storage/a butler's pantry. DH wishes for a 3-car garage (current is two). A looming issue is there is no room to make any kind of addition or ADU to potentially accommodate an aging parent.

2400 for a family of 4. It's perfect for day-to-day life - we use every room, but don't feel cramped. I do sometimes wish we had a dedicated guest room, instead of a combo office /spare room, as it only has room for a twin air mattress. But that's a once-a-year problem, which seems like a reasonable trade off for having the right amount of space the rest of the year.

When I was young I actually dated a very rich girl who lived at home. Yes a house can be too large. I actually was dating her 12 months when I stayed on a summer weekend on a Saturday night. Her Mom was a very strick Italian Catholic so of course in one of guest rooms. In morning I ask her you want to go to Beach, she goes sure. I say great and she says to you want to walk or drive? I am like Walk. She was yea we have a beach. I am like what? I also found out she had a pool with a diving board. A gazebo. Only after we broke up via searching google maps.

So yes a house can be too big. her Mom had
Six acres, waterfront, beach, full pool, tennis court, Main house with 9 bedrooms, guest house with four bedrooms, Servants house with three bedrooms, she had 9 car garrage.

her Mom was always stressed. I recall a roof repair cost $40,000 in 1991 and weekly gardner was $1,000 a week in 1991 and if it snowed was $1,000 in 1991 to clear out driveway. The bills were outrageous.

The house so big, she had a new husband, (he did not own house), all four kids lived at home and I could stay over and not see anyone for hours at a time. And she named everything, the Pool room, library, Den, Sunroom, main kitchen, the lady even had a Guest Pool. Yes she had a large pool for when kids out there, having a party people staying over, but she had a second pool just for her to enterain so if kids and her wanted to have a pool party at same time they could

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are in an interesting spot, we have an 8000 sf home and 4 people + 2 (nannies) live there. Our kids are now late teens, and we have been travelling a lot to our other 2 houses in the mountains and on the beach, as well as to Europe and other parts of the US, so we are debating whether it makes sense to keep it. We are also debating whether to buy maybe 2 smaller 3-4000sf houses in different parts of the country after the kids go to school.

Lol

I’m not that poster but why the “lol”? You jealous?

There are 2 nannies living in for 2 teenagers 🙄

We are a family of 4 in 2000 sq ft. We are happy and comfortable. We could probably use another 500 sq ft but would def not want more 3000 sq ft. But our boys only have a few more years left at home before college so we won’t change anything

A little over a year ago bought a ~1300 sq ft home with my wife and now 9 month old, but that doesn’t include ~700 sq ft finished space in the basement which has a rec room and 2 separate rooms with closets but no egress so technically not legal BR’s.

In hindsight have some buyer’s remorse because we were in a 1 BR apt when we found out my wife was pregnant, layout of the house is a little awkward, supply was limited and we didn’t want to move out too far (we live walking distance to a metro and near the beltway). And our budget was limited.

But I’m also used to living in smaller spaces most of my life. Maybe we’ll rethink things if our family grows much more.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are in an interesting spot, we have an 8000 sf home and 4 people + 2 (nannies) live there. Our kids are now late teens, and we have been travelling a lot to our other 2 houses in the mountains and on the beach, as well as to Europe and other parts of the US, so we are debating whether it makes sense to keep it. We are also debating whether to buy maybe 2 smaller 3-4000sf houses in different parts of the country after the kids go to school.

Lol

I’m not that poster but why the “lol”? You jealous?

Anonymous wrote:We are in an interesting spot, we have an 8000 sf home and 4 people + 2 (nannies) live there. Our kids are now late teens, and we have been travelling a lot to our other 2 houses in the mountains and on the beach, as well as to Europe and other parts of the US, so we are debating whether it makes sense to keep it. We are also debating whether to buy maybe 2 smaller 3-4000sf houses in different parts of the country after the kids go to school.

Lol

We are in an interesting spot, we have an 8000 sf home and 4 people + 2 (nannies) live there. Our kids are now late teens, and we have been travelling a lot to our other 2 houses in the mountains and on the beach, as well as to Europe and other parts of the US, so we are debating whether it makes sense to keep it. We are also debating whether to buy maybe 2 smaller 3-4000sf houses in different parts of the country after the kids go to school.

Anonymous wrote:Ranch style home with min 3br on main level plus basement. Approx 4000sq ft. 3 or 4 car garage. Multiple outdoor living spaces. Had this home in CA - can’t find anything like it here.

+1 yup....love larger, modern ranch style homes, one level living is the best

Ranch style home with min 3br on main level plus basement. Approx 4000sq ft. 3 or 4 car garage. Multiple outdoor living spaces. Had this home in CA - can’t find anything like it here.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are DINK and have a 4500 sq ft newer build in the suburbs. We really like it, but admittedly it's too much space. We couldn't find a SFH that had the things we wanted in a smaller size. We have rooms that we didn't even bother to furnish. It's too bad this is all that gets built in this area.

How much time do you spend taking care of it? That seems horrendous. I'm a DINK and our 1,300sf house is plenty, we don't even use all the rooms. I can't even imagine cleaning another 3,200 square feet.

Not much at all. No kids so we really don't have much cleaning to do. It's not hard to clean bedrooms and bathrooms that you don't use. I think the fact that we didn't buy unnecessary crap to fill the space helps.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are DINK and have a 4500 sq ft newer build in the suburbs. We really like it, but admittedly it's too much space. We couldn't find a SFH that had the things we wanted in a smaller size. We have rooms that we didn't even bother to furnish. It's too bad this is all that gets built in this area.

How much time do you spend taking care of it? That seems horrendous. I'm a DINK and our 1,300sf house is plenty, we don't even use all the rooms. I can't even imagine cleaning another 3,200 square feet.

I have six thousand SF as a empty nestor. To be honest my wife and I sleep in one bedroom. We dont use the other six bedrooms. We use bath in hallway on main level and master bath. We use Kitchen and Den a lot on main level.

Honestly, now any more cleaning my old 900 sf place. However, Xmas week the three kids home for week, they brought their pets and friends in and out it was a nightmare. I have 6,000 sf of space that all at once needed cleaning.

Anonymous wrote:We are DINK and have a 4500 sq ft newer build in the suburbs. We really like it, but admittedly it's too much space. We couldn't find a SFH that had the things we wanted in a smaller size. We have rooms that we didn't even bother to furnish. It's too bad this is all that gets built in this area.

How much time do you spend taking care of it? That seems horrendous. I'm a DINK and our 1,300sf house is plenty, we don't even use all the rooms. I can't even imagine cleaning another 3,200 square feet.

Anonymous wrote:we are in a late 60s colonial 2200 sf for a family of 4. did some renovations during covid to make some spaces better for us, but didn't mess too much with the layout. I wish we had a proper entryway and a better laundry space. we could also use a slightly better kitchen space. It's decent space, but could use a few tweaks. I think I'd add maybe 300 extra feet, to add an in law suite and a small exercise room.

That's not enough room for both. You can either have a tiny in-law suite or a large exercise room for 300 sq ft.