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But that makes the assumption that the higher interest rates aren’t lowering supply by keeping homes off the market. I have a decently sized home (2300 sq ft) b

But that makes the assumption that the higher interest rates aren’t lowering supply by keeping homes off the market. I have a decently sized home (2300 sq ft) but had wanted to move onto something around 3500 sq ft and pay a new mortgage in proportion to the bigger home. Of course the interest rates increase would have been paying like 2.5 times what I’m currently paying so it is a no brained for me to stay put. On the other hand, no one in my neighborhood is moving anymore so nothing is available and prices remain pretty close to their peak. So at least where I am, we now have high purchase prices and even much higher monthly mortgages.

oblio 3y ago
I'm curious as a non-American. How big is your family? I can't fathom needing a 360 sqm house except if I had 3+ kids. Also... how do you clean it all? How much is heating, cooling, etc?
- Scoundreller 3y ago
  Generally, heating and cooling are a lot cheaper in USA (thank you cheap natgas, and solar if you can do it). Cleaning… a lot of the space goes unused or just stores stuff so it doesn’t get too dirty or people don’t care as much outside core areas. Central HVAC helps keep the dust down a bit vs. dead air and radiators.
- kitsunesoba 3y ago
  Speaking for myself, the primary draw of larger houses are more spaces dedicated to particular tasks/hobbies/etc. So it might not be square footage that's the goal but the higher number of rooms that usually comes with that. For example my house is ~1800sqft which is very comfortable and a massive upgrade over the apartments I used to live in that were half as large, but as someone who works from home it'd be nice to have one more room than my house has to use exclusively as an office to maintain mental partitioning between work and downtime. Similarly it might be nice for my garage to be a bit bigger so I could better fit in a "workshop corner". Is that sort of thing needed? Absolutely not and many get along just fine with far less, but it'd still be a welcome quality of life upgrade.
- scarface74 3y ago
  The average size of a new build in the US is almost 2600 square feet. https://www.nahb.org/blog/2022/03/new-single-family-home-size-continues-to-grow https://www.nahb.org/blog/2022/03/new-single-family-home-siz... The smallest home my builder was building when we were looking was 3100 square feet. It was $335K in 2016. As far as what a family did with a 5 bedroom 3.5 bath house. Bedroom for me and my wife, bedroom for my son, guest bedroom with a bath, office, and gym. There was another room that was converted to a dance studio for my wife. We did downsize late last year and now we stay in a 1300 square foot condo.
  - throw9away6 3y ago
    I don’t understand why anyone needs 3000sf unless they have 3+ kids. That’s a lot of maintenance on space you don’t use
    - scarface74 3y ago
      What “maintenance” do you think is more for a 3000 square foot house than a 1500 square foot house? I just mentioned it. 1. Master bedroom 2. Son’s bedroom 3. Gym with three pieces of cardio equipment and weights 4. Office 5. Guest bedroom The 6th room was a dance studio for my wife. She taught online fitness classes during Covid. It’s not like we paid millions of dollars. I qualified for it when I was only making $115K and put 3.5% down - less than $12K. In 2016. It’s now worth twice that (we rent it out to our son and two of his friends at a discount). My wife and I have since moved to a condo in a resort area where one fee ($650) pays all utilities, access to a decent gym, 3 pools, a running trail, three restaurants on site and a lake. It’s the same price that our house was in 2016.
      - oblio 3y ago
        Do you pay someone from cleaning or do you clean it yourself? That looks like a lot of work, probably 1 full day per week (probably more) to: - vacuum everything (including the skirting boards) - mop the floors - dust everything else - clean all the windows - change/wash/dry the linens/towels - clean the kitchen - clean the toilets
- croutonwagon 3y ago
  My home is 3300 sq ft/306 sqm on 2.5 acres or 10,000 sqm. My kids each have their own space. My wife has her own space. I have an office/space for myself. We have a guest bedroom (well 2, if we pick up the playroom). It keeps the kids clutter out of the common areas. Gives us each a place to escape to. For example I play music a lot. That would be obnoxious in the living room all the time. Though I do play in common areas here and there. Utilities cost about 200-300 USD month. Repairs we keep stashed away as they can cost more. For example our well pump died and it was 3k. Our ac died before that and it was 8k to replace. We live well below our means though and pay cash for stuff like that.

oblio 3y ago

I'm curious as a non-American. How big is your family? I can't fathom needing a 360 sqm house except if I had 3+ kids. Also... how do you clean it all? How much is heating, cooling, etc?

Scoundreller 3y ago
Generally, heating and cooling are a lot cheaper in USA (thank you cheap natgas, and solar if you can do it). Cleaning… a lot of the space goes unused or just stores stuff so it doesn’t get too dirty or people don’t care as much outside core areas. Central HVAC helps keep the dust down a bit vs. dead air and radiators.
kitsunesoba 3y ago
Speaking for myself, the primary draw of larger houses are more spaces dedicated to particular tasks/hobbies/etc. So it might not be square footage that's the goal but the higher number of rooms that usually comes with that. For example my house is ~1800sqft which is very comfortable and a massive upgrade over the apartments I used to live in that were half as large, but as someone who works from home it'd be nice to have one more room than my house has to use exclusively as an office to maintain mental partitioning between work and downtime. Similarly it might be nice for my garage to be a bit bigger so I could better fit in a "workshop corner". Is that sort of thing needed? Absolutely not and many get along just fine with far less, but it'd still be a welcome quality of life upgrade.
scarface74 3y ago
The average size of a new build in the US is almost 2600 square feet. https://www.nahb.org/blog/2022/03/new-single-family-home-size-continues-to-grow https://www.nahb.org/blog/2022/03/new-single-family-home-siz... The smallest home my builder was building when we were looking was 3100 square feet. It was $335K in 2016. As far as what a family did with a 5 bedroom 3.5 bath house. Bedroom for me and my wife, bedroom for my son, guest bedroom with a bath, office, and gym. There was another room that was converted to a dance studio for my wife. We did downsize late last year and now we stay in a 1300 square foot condo.
- throw9away6 3y ago
  I don’t understand why anyone needs 3000sf unless they have 3+ kids. That’s a lot of maintenance on space you don’t use
  - scarface74 3y ago
    What “maintenance” do you think is more for a 3000 square foot house than a 1500 square foot house? I just mentioned it. 1. Master bedroom 2. Son’s bedroom 3. Gym with three pieces of cardio equipment and weights 4. Office 5. Guest bedroom The 6th room was a dance studio for my wife. She taught online fitness classes during Covid. It’s not like we paid millions of dollars. I qualified for it when I was only making $115K and put 3.5% down - less than $12K. In 2016. It’s now worth twice that (we rent it out to our son and two of his friends at a discount). My wife and I have since moved to a condo in a resort area where one fee ($650) pays all utilities, access to a decent gym, 3 pools, a running trail, three restaurants on site and a lake. It’s the same price that our house was in 2016.
    - oblio 3y ago
      Do you pay someone from cleaning or do you clean it yourself? That looks like a lot of work, probably 1 full day per week (probably more) to: - vacuum everything (including the skirting boards) - mop the floors - dust everything else - clean all the windows - change/wash/dry the linens/towels - clean the kitchen - clean the toilets
croutonwagon 3y ago
My home is 3300 sq ft/306 sqm on 2.5 acres or 10,000 sqm. My kids each have their own space. My wife has her own space. I have an office/space for myself. We have a guest bedroom (well 2, if we pick up the playroom). It keeps the kids clutter out of the common areas. Gives us each a place to escape to. For example I play music a lot. That would be obnoxious in the living room all the time. Though I do play in common areas here and there. Utilities cost about 200-300 USD month. Repairs we keep stashed away as they can cost more. For example our well pump died and it was 3k. Our ac died before that and it was 8k to replace. We live well below our means though and pay cash for stuff like that.