bigger house or more land? Opinions please!

[puffkin]

Looking on opinions on what we should do. We bought our house 2 years ago, but we need more room. We plan on having kids in the next few years so we definitely need a bigger house! (ours is roughly 800 square feet). There are two semi-attached houses for sale up the street from our house that are new construction, never been lived in. We love the area so we would like to stay close. My husband is concerned about the attached part, but single homes of that size in our area are way out of our price range.

Anyway, the first home is approx. 1600 square feet, 2 1/2 baths, 3 bedrooms, kitchen, family room. The lot is about .4 acres.

The second home is 2100 square feet, 2 1/2 baths, 3 bedrooms, kitchen, dining room, family room, and living room. The lot is .19 acres. This property is approx. $24,000 more.

Would you spend the extra money for a bigger home with less land or save the money and buy a smaller home with more land.
We plan on staying in this home for 15-20 years, for most of our childrens childhood.

Thanks for the opinions!

 

[kimwim8]

I'm not very good at picturing how big lots are by their acreage. What size are the lots? My family just moved last year, and while we were looking for a bigger house, we also knew that we wanted our kids to have some yard to be able to run around in, especially while they are young. So lot size was also important to us.

A lot of developments in our area had lots of 75 x 100 feet, and once you put a big old 2500 square foot house on it, there's no yard in front or back. So we chose to sacrifice the development neighborhood & go with the house of our dreams (2500 square foot, lots to clean house) with a 100x200 lot, for the same amount of money as developments were asking.

I guess what I'm trying to say is look around a little more. There may be more out there for sale with both a bigger house & enough land.

Good luck!

 

[CJMickeyMouse]

I vote bigger house. You can always go to the park, etc. We love our large house with lots of room to "get away" and also rooms big enough to enjoy family time.

I grew up in a 10 x 10 bedroom and I swore I would never do that to my children. Their rooms are 12x14 and 12x16 now and they each have a queen bed.

Good luck with your decision!

 

[PrincessDeb]

When your kids are young, you will want more land. When they're older, you'll want more house. It's a trade off!
Deb

 

[nemo1987]

i vote bigger house also. i loved having a bigger house when i was younger and we had a small small yard but the neighbors had a large yard that everyone in the neighborhood came to play in. it was like a small park. if we ever needed more than that we went to the local park to play. i would much rather have a big house than a bigger yard. plus when they are old enough to ride bikes you can take family bike rides to local parks!!
**Sarah**

 

[bananiem]

I vote for the bigger yard for several reasons:
1. Place for kids to run around and have volleyball games or croquet matches with friends. (I'm a big believer in having the kids all hang out at my place. Then I know where they are and what they're doing! )
2. More space will probably mean a little space between houses. We could hear our neighbors in our old house through shut windows in the winter!
3. When the kids are old enough to go out by themselves but not all the way to the park, it's nice to be able to say "Go in the backyard." Pllus, parks are not always convenient. OUr closest one is a good 7 minute drive and not safe to walk to because of the traffic.
4. A smaller house makes you get rid of unnecessary stuff. You'll have less clutter.
5. Who wants to clean more house?

 

[The Mystery Machine]

3 bedrooms can be tricky. I watched alot of families move on because of that. In fact several families with the oops! we didn't plan for THAT kid.

If I had the choice go for the bigger house. 2100 sq ft is comfortable for a family, 1600 sq ft is too crowded.

Yard? The kids play in the street alot of the time.

 

[binny]

Originally posted by CJMickeyMouse
I vote bigger house. You can always go to the park, etc. We love our large house with lots of room to "get away" and also rooms big enough to enjoy family time.

I grew up in a 10 x 10 bedroom and I swore I would never do that to my children. Their rooms are 12x14 and 12x16 now and they each have a queen bed.

Good luck with your decision!

:yes: ITA

You can always go to the park but if its rainy or cruddy outside you are at their mercy! LOL

 

[Lewski709]

Originally posted by puffkin
Anyway, the first home is approx. 1600 square feet, 2 1/2 baths, 3 bedrooms, kitchen, family room. The lot is about .4 acres.

The second home is 2100 square feet, 2 1/2 baths, 3 bedrooms, kitchen, dining room, family room, and living room. The lot is .19 acres. This property is approx. $24,000 more.

Depends on if the 1600sq ft is a ranch or not. Do either have a basement?

We are in a 1800sq ft two story now, looking to move. The house is fine, space wise. We have NO land though and with 2 boys under 6, we need a place for them to play safely.

We are looking for a 1600st ft ranch with full basement or 1800sq ft 2 story with full basement. Also, laundry on main level, not in the basement as it is now. What a PAIN!!!!

Main reason for the move, though is the yard.

Hope this helps.

 

[jipsy]

You can always add on to the smaller house, but you can't make the smaller lot bigger, unless someone next door is willing to sell property to you.

 

[Pamlur]

What is semi-attached? Is it like a duplex?

 

[SandraM]

Don't know what the weather is like in PA, but from what you've written, my choice from here in Dublin would probably be the first one of the two options you've offered.
By the way, I'm only a few miles south of Dublin City, and my detached house of about 1,400 sq. ft. on a site of maybe .1 of an acre would cost about $750,000 to buy. Prices are crazy here!
In a nutshell, I'd say if you spend more time inside, then go for the property with more interior space; if you spend more time outside, then go for the one with more land!
Also, having lived in a detached house for about 15 years, I would want to carry out all sorts of sound tests before I would agree to go back to a sem-detached type. I've had too many problems in the past with sounds travelling through the walls. Do you really want to know if your neighbour doesn't like the dinner his wife cooked for him?
Anyway, whatever you do, I wish you all the best.

 

[Barb D]

We chose the smaller house/bigger yard option. Our house is about 1300 square feet (with a 1300 square foot basement), but since we have half an acre we have room to add on. Frankly, though, even with 3 children I feel that we have enough room. We're not on top of each other. We have three bedrooms, but "built" an extra bedroom out of bookcases for DS in the basement.

Most of the new development in our area is HUGE houses on tiny lots. It's almost claustrophobic to me.

 

[Margie J]

I'd say bigger home if you intend to stay in it for a while. As the kids grow up and want friends over it's nice to have the space for them to play inside and sleep over. The dining room and living room are great for you also if you want to entertain.

I have a home on .25 acres and believe me, it's a lot to take care of. It takes about 1 1/2 to 1 3/4 hours to cut the lawn alone. Don't even get me started on the trees, bushes, flowers, etc. If you LOVE yardwork, go for the .4 acres otherwise .19 acres is manageable without losing most of your weekends to yard maintenance.

 

[Disney Princess 6]

More HOUSE, not more land. We have .75 acre and it is way too much for us. We do not like having to take care of all that yard and all the landscaping. To many people, this is a tiny amount of land, but to us, it's too much.

Anyway, like me, I see you live in a colder climate. We spend a LOT of our time inside. As you have kids, you will definitely appreciate having the additional space to spread out. We're looking for a new home now because we've already outgrown our 2000 square foot home.

 

[puffkin]

Thanks everyone for all the opinions. I think we are leaning towards the bigger house, less land option. We have .3 acres now and it is a lot to maintain (I absolutely hate yardwork, I would much rather clean). We seriously considered adding on to our house, but the prices for additions are OUTRAGEOUS! We had bought our house with the attention of eventually adding on, but that was a foolish mistake on our part. We have a call into our agent today to try and set up a time to walk through the house. It is just scary how quickly this is moving. We only decided this weekend that an addition is not feasible, and now we are possibly selling our home!

 

[robsmom]

I think when you have the kids you will be happy that you have the space. It is really amazing how much stuff kids have and the space it takes up. One thing that I would advice would be to really think about how you are going to use all of the space that you have. A formal living room and dining room can be beautiful and nice if you entertain alot. If you are like most people I know, however, your entertaining is family and friends and is not that formal. We find that everyone gravitates to the kitchen and family room. Had I not already bought my living room furiture before I had DS, I would have set my house up differently. I would have used the living room as playroom for toys, etc. and waited until DS was older to have a formal living room.

 

[vernon]

Given the weather in PA I would go for the bigger house.

It would be a more difficult choice if you lived in an area with good outdoors weather 12 months of the year, but PA is more of a even split, 50% of the time the kids can't go outside to play anyway and as has been said on good weather take them to the park or let em play on bikes etc. With more indoor space you should feel less like you NEED to get them out the house ( and your hair )