What is considered a "big" home?

[wishesuponastar]

My townhome is 1600 sf with an unfinished basement. the 4 of us plus one dog live in our space pretty comfortably although it would be nice to have one extra room to fit the kids music and art stuff. So anything over 2,000 sf would be large to me.

 

[Vicki926]

When our kids were little, we could usually only fit one car in the garage because the other side had way too many outdoor "toys."

I think cars are pretty well built to withstand the outdoor elements, but I do understand it bothers some people to see cars in the driveway. When my sister is looking for a new home, she'll drive up and down the neighborhood and see how many cars are out. If there are too many out, she won't look at homes in that area. I think she's a nut! To each their own, though.

We would always have 1 car in the driveway anyway, there's 3 cars to park.
Next year when DD turns 17, we'll have 4 cars, so even if I parked 2 in the garage, 2 would be out in the driveway. We can fit 3 across on our driveway, so we'll probably leave all 3 out.

 

[JanBlessed]

Obviously, this is something that varies between regions and countries.

 

[eastendlights]

This thread is very interesting.

I live in Southern CT about 50 minutes from NYC and in my area "big" starts at about 4,000-4,500 sqft.

We live a bit further east. Our house is 5700 sq ft-about 700 of that is finished basement space. The rest of the basement is unfinished-I don't know how big it is.

Our house is big but certainly not the biggest in our town by far.

We are "those people" who have cars parked outside our 3 car garage because we have 6 cars-one is mine, one is my daughter's and the rest are my husbands-we'll call it one of his hobbies. Scarily enough, we also have a pretty big barn that is filled with one of the cars, a motorcycle, 2 dual sport motorcycles, a quad, etc etc-yep, more of "hubby's hobbies" that are now also becoming our son's hobbies.

So it is not always the wife who is filling the garages with "stuff".

 

[Gumbo4x4]

We live a bit further east. Our house is 5700 sq ft-about 700 of that is finished basement space. The rest of the basement is unfinished-I don't know how big it is.

Our house is big but certainly not the biggest in our town by far.

We are "those people" who have cars parked outside our 3 car garage because we have 6 cars-one is mine, one is my daughter's and the rest are my husbands-we'll call it one of his hobbies. Scarily enough, we also have a pretty big barn that is filled with one of the cars, a motorcycle, 2 dual sport motorcycles, a quad, etc etc-yep, more of "hubby's hobbies" that are now also becoming our son's hobbies.

So it is not always the wife who is filling the garages with "stuff".

Well yeah, but he's filling it with the RIGHT kind of stuff

 

[Christine]

I'm kind of amazed that people know right off the top of their heads.

I only know my square footage off the top of my head because I bought new construction. Every piece of paper with information on the model I selected had the square footage all over it. I don't ever think I knew the square footage of my townhome (bought from other owners) or my childhood home were. Of course, that information is in the MLS when you buy but most people never dwell on it. But when you buy a new home, it seems to be all over everything.

 

[asta]

I only know my square footage off the top of my head because I bought new construction. Every piece of paper with information on the model I selected had the square footage all over it. I don't ever think I knew the square footage of my townhome (bought from other owners) or my childhood home were. Of course, that information is in the MLS when you buy but most people never dwell on it. But when you buy a new home, it seems to be all over everything.

A great website for square footage and other types of information is your state property data assessment page. This is the page for my county:
http://inigo.williamson-tn.org/assessor/
This is all public knowledge and I would assume that many other states have this type of info. It is a great way to waste time if you want to know who lives at a certain address or are just nosy about your neighbors

 

[Christine]

A great website for square footage and other types of information is your state property data assessment page. This is the page for my county:
http://inigo.williamson-tn.org/assessor/
This is all public knowledge and I would assume that many other states have this type of info. It is a great way to waste time if you want to know who lives at a certain address or are just nosy about your neighbors

Yes, our county has that also. I just think most people don't look at it. I only happen to have my square footage "memorized" because they told me about it constantly when I was buying my new home.

 

[Julie's Haircut]

I only know my square footage off the top of my head because I bought new construction. Every piece of paper with information on the model I selected had the square footage all over it. I don't ever think I knew the square footage of my townhome (bought from other owners) or my childhood home were. Of course, that information is in the MLS when you buy but most people never dwell on it. But when you buy a new home, it seems to be all over everything.

Makes sense. I'm sure when I bought this house I knew the square footage, but it's been over 25 years.

And I'm sure I could go to my township's or county's tax rolls and find out if I was really that interested.

 

[tvguy]

IMO, anything over 2500 sq ft (not including finished basements, garages, enclosed sun rooms, etc.) starts to become large.

I have no idea how many sq ft my house is. I'm kind of amazed that people know right off the top of their heads. If I have to guess, probably between 1800 and 2000 sq ft.

We have a two car garage, but most of the time I park in the driveway. DW is about half and half. It's not that there's too much junk in there, it's just too much effort for me to push the garage door opener on the visor. We did tidy up a bit to fit both cars in before the snowstorm, however.

Generally realty websites like zillow.com will have the square footage of your house (or any house to care to look up).

 

[Diznygrl]

I live in 1100 sq ft, so anything more than that is big to me.

 

[Dan Murphy]

Generally, most people will think their house is average and houses that are larger would be considered big and ones that are smaller are considered small.

 

[tinatark]

SE United States... Our "big" house was 3300 sf on one level - 2 car garage and an additional 6-800 sf unfinished, as well as a poolhouse. We were SO happy to be out of there - downsized into our current home, a little over 2200 sf on one level, 2 car garage and a carport. We remodeled this house, literally, from the studs, and added on 800 sf, so it is exactly what we wanted. We park in our garage and under the carport, but right now have SEVEN cars in our driveways at any given time... hubby and I have 3 between us, DS and DDIL (staying here while we renovate their apartment) have 2, DS has 1, and 1 for sale!

Property tax is lower, utility bills are WAY lower, and our current home is MORTGAGE FREE! Perfect for me!!!

 

[lovin'fl]

Our first house was 1500 SF. We had DS and I got pregnant, had twins and that 1500 SF became tight real quick. Our last house, the best one we've had, was 3500 SF on an acre. We have since moved to an expensive housing area and are currently in about 2500 SF. We also have a 900 SF condo elsewhere. I'd say 900 is small and 3500 is big. Even this 2500 has wasted space and we could make do with 1800. We are a family of 5 but DS is off at college. I feel like we need about 450 SF per person.

But by American standards I'd say 2800 on up is big.