Buying Small?

Often clients ask me what might seem an odd question.  How big, or small, of a house should we buy?  In these days of mindful living, being aware of ones carbon footprint and all, many of us don't want to buy too much house.  Or, sometimes, folks fall love with a house that is really on the small side.  These folks want help thinking through the pitfalls of buying small.

First, buying too big.  The downsides are obvious; more utilities, more cleaning, higher taxes and perhaps a bit of eco-guilt.  Houses that are too big can also rob a home of a "center";  a family may be a bit too spread out and sacrifice some beneficial interaction.  The pluses of buying big are an amount of comfort, room for guests, project space and room for life changes.  As we age, and our kids age, we'll use space differently.  A larger house will give us more options.

Smaller houses.  Three or four years ago I sold some gals a cute as heck, 550 square foot house.  It was perfect for them.  They were used to apartment life and were adept at living small.

Living small also fit with their values.  When asked the downside,  I reminded them that almost any life change for them, short of breaking up, would make the house untenable.  Life changes come in many forms, and often unexpectedly; babies, working from home, taking in a roommate or family member that needs some help and so on.  Earlier this year I was glad to hear from my clients.  They're looking toward having a baby next year and will be needing to buy up.  They don't regret the small house, but had they bought bigger, they might be staying in their first home a bit longer.

In general, my advice is to buy a house that not only works for you now, but will allow for some changes.  Moving costs money, no doubt. Balance buying something small enough that it doesn't cost too much over time, with a house big enough to grow with your lifestyle a bit.
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We bought up in 2003, and had a bit of eco-guilt about buying something too big.  It was important to me that we not have any of those rooms no one really uses. That would feel wasteful.  I thought we should use every room every day. Okay, so nine years later, with lots of entertainment now viewed on our computers, the television/guest room/cat room is not used by humans everyday.  But the cats, they love that room!