5 ms·

No new house around me was sub 1500 sq ft... guess bigger is better. But all the other houses in the area built between 1950-1990 were all under that.

Ididntdothis 6y ago
I would be perfectly fine with 800-1000 sqft and little yard but nobody builds this anymore. And if you have a basement for storage you need less garage too. Why do US houses rarely have usable basements?
- three_seagrass 6y ago
  Not saying this applies to everything, but the houses I lived in without usable basements were close to the water line, which would have made a full-sized basement a liability for the house.
  - CameronNemo 6y ago
    Basements do not react well to earthquakes either.
  - nitrogen 6y ago
    I'd also imagine that excavation is more expensive than just pouring a concrete slab.
- xur17 6y ago
  I think it depends on the area - pretty much every house in my local market has a basement.
- mullingitover 6y ago
  It depends on where you live. If you live in a place where the ground freezes in the winter, you must build your foundation deep enough below ground or your foundation will go to hell the first winter after you build it. So in large areas of the midwest, for example, pretty much every house has a basement. In places where the ground doesn't freeze, most people skip the expense of excavating a basement.
- mleo 6y ago
  Too expensive. The cost of building the new house is incremental to size, not proportional. And there is probably a larger market for homes with more space. Smaller space works for town homes and condos, but that doesn’t align with yard and basement.
mleo 6y ago
The cost of land is too expensive in California. So if you buy a house that needs to be rebuilt, why tear down a 2-bedroom house and build another when you can build a 4-bedroom for 20% more? My house was built in 1951. It was 2-bedroom and around 1000 sq-ft. A bedroom was added around 2000. We moved in 2013 and added another bedroom in 2017. So we now have a house double the size it was 20 years ago. In the process, a starter home was taken out of the market. Why didn’t we just move to larger home? Unfortunately, buying a new home would cause property taxes to reset much higher. Buying something 25% more than my home is worth now would cause property taxes to double.

Ididntdothis 6y ago

I would be perfectly fine with 800-1000 sqft and little yard but nobody builds this anymore. And if you have a basement for storage you need less garage too. Why do US houses rarely have usable basements?

three_seagrass 6y ago
Not saying this applies to everything, but the houses I lived in without usable basements were close to the water line, which would have made a full-sized basement a liability for the house.
- CameronNemo 6y ago
  Basements do not react well to earthquakes either.
- nitrogen 6y ago
  I'd also imagine that excavation is more expensive than just pouring a concrete slab.
xur17 6y ago
I think it depends on the area - pretty much every house in my local market has a basement.
mullingitover 6y ago
It depends on where you live. If you live in a place where the ground freezes in the winter, you must build your foundation deep enough below ground or your foundation will go to hell the first winter after you build it. So in large areas of the midwest, for example, pretty much every house has a basement. In places where the ground doesn't freeze, most people skip the expense of excavating a basement.
mleo 6y ago
Too expensive. The cost of building the new house is incremental to size, not proportional. And there is probably a larger market for homes with more space. Smaller space works for town homes and condos, but that doesn’t align with yard and basement.

mleo 6y ago

The cost of land is too expensive in California. So if you buy a house that needs to be rebuilt, why tear down a 2-bedroom house and build another when you can build a 4-bedroom for 20% more? My house was built in 1951. It was 2-bedroom and around 1000 sq-ft. A bedroom was added around 2000. We moved in 2013 and added another bedroom in 2017. So we now have a house double the size it was 20 years ago. In the process, a starter home was taken out of the market. Why didn’t we just move to larger home? Unfortunately, buying a new home would cause property taxes to reset much higher. Buying something 25% more than my home is worth now would cause property taxes to double.