What is considered a "big" home?

[eliza61]

We have a visiting scientist from Greece here at work. very nice young lady and we were in the cafe just talking about snow. anyway conversation drifted and she mentioned how much space the houses here (East coast Delaware, PA area) have.

The house she's renting is about 2300 sq ft which I thought was pretty average, not big.

What do you consider a "big" home? lol, I got to tour a bilevel condo in NYC last year, that sucka was 4800 sq ft. now that's big.

 

[kamik86]

I would consider 2300 sq foot big. My house is a bit over 1200 (3 Bed, 1.5 baths). I would want a bit bigger, finished basement and slightly larger bedrooms and kitchen, but honestly if I got past 1500 not sure what I would do with it all..

Then again we don't ahve kids so that would probably change my answer

 

[Christine]

I think anything around 3500 sq feet starts bordering on BIG. 20 years ago it was lower.

I can imagine that those from Europe and other countries would think that 2000 sq feet was big.

 

[Stacy's a freak]

We have about 1900 sqft and that seems plenty big for 2 adults and 2 kids. I see people on those house search shows and they want 2500+ and I always wonder why they need so much damn space. It's always "we need a home office" and "we entertain ALL the time" and "we need guest roomS for family". Just another example of excess, in my opinion.

 

[Disneylover99]

2200 - 2600 sq feet is an average house size to me.

But it totally depends on the layout. Some bigger homes that have chopped up rooms or more square footage upstairs instead of on the main floor seem smaller to me.

 

[Poohforyou]

It's all in what you're used to. Our house is about 2400 sq ft and I don't consider it large. It's 3 bed/2 1/2 bath with open concept downstairs but no basement. It's big enough for our needs (2 adults/1 teen/ 1 small dog) but not big enough for much entertaining. I think something in the 3500-4000 range is large, especially if there's a finished basement included in that.

 

[Gumbo4x4]

That's quite a bit larger than my house, but really it's only a little larger than the average new AMERICAN home (which has gotten slightly smaller in very recent years).

 

[Neesy228]

Around here big is over 3,000 sq. feet. We have neighborhoods where the average size is over 5,000 -- those are huge! My house is 2,400 sq feet, which would be perfect for the 5 of us if it was laid out better. As it stands right now, we don't use half of the space on our main floor, so the space we do use is too small.

 

[NotUrsula]

I'm a city dweller, though not in the dense part of the urban core; I live in an 1100 sq. ft. single-family home with a front and back yard, with a separate 2-car garage on the alley. In my world, anything over 2000 sq. feet is big. Anything over 3500 may as well be a hotel, unless you have a really large family.

 

[asta]

It is relative. We have around 5,000 square feet but most houses in our neighborhood are bigger.

 

[elgerber]

Are these numbers counting all finished space? Around here 2300 above ground would be considered good size, but not really large, but we all have basements also. My house is 1970 feet above ground, two stories, but then we have another 1100 or so in the basement, which is finished, so that puts us around 3000 total. If we had 3000 above ground plus the basement, that would be considered big for sure.

 

[HM]

My house is 3600. I think it's big. My prior house was ~2000. I think it was a better size, but it wasn't designed in a way that made the downstairs areas very usable. The house before that was 998. That is small.

 

[Gumbo4x4]

2200 - 2600 sq feet is an average house size to me.

But it totally depends on the layout. Some bigger homes that have chopped up rooms or more square footage upstairs instead of on the main floor seem smaller to me.

Very true on the layout. Good friend had a 2,000 square foot home, but it was 1,000 per floor and the downstairs rooms were all tiny. My 1,520 square foot home "feels" much larger by comparison with all that on one floor, an open floorplan, and high ceilings.

 

[Wendy31]

I think 3,000+ is starting to get big, but it depends on the layout. For instance, is part of the square footage a finished basement? However, generally, I would say 3,000-3,5000+ is big.

Our house is 2,400 sq ft, but that is including a finished basement. I'd like another bedroom & larger living spaces - dining room, kitchen, family room.

The spaces are perfectly fine for us except the kitchen which needs more counter space for 2 people to work together comfortably.

However, when we entertain (holidays, birthday parties, etc.), it feels a lot smaller. In our dining room, we have a table & 6 chairs, &, when there are actually 6 adults around the table, it seems crowded. We tore down the wall between the dining room & living room which has helped, but there is still only room for a table sitting 6.

 

[Juliet25]

Ours is 1900 sq ft and it's plenty of space for a family of five with two cats and three gerbils. I think the size of McMansions and those faux chateaus borders on ridiculous. What a waste of resources.

 

[LisaR]

2200 - 2600 sq feet is an average house size to me.

But it totally depends on the layout. Some bigger homes that have chopped up rooms or more square footage upstairs instead of on the main floor seem smaller to me.

So true. We moved this fall. Our old home was 2439 sq ft under air. Our new home is 2440. Yes, the new home is one whole square foot bigger! lol Every single person who has come to our new home says it is huge, way, way bigger than our last home. They don't seem to believe us when we tell them it is the same size. It is all in the layout.

 

[Patch'sD]

I would say anything over 2,000 sqft is big. But as others have said it depends on layout and how many live there. I would prefer a house of about 1,800 sqft for two of us. Less to clean and maintain.

 

[minnie mum]

I remember when we moved to Germany and were looking for a place to rent. The rental agents complaint : " You Canadians and Americans. You all want big houses. Why do you need so much space?" And he was right. In the town we lived in, the North Americans all had larger houses, while our European friends were quite happy in their smaller houses and apartments. It's what each of us is used to.

Our current home is a bungalow with 1600 sq feet on the main floor. With the open concept living area its actually 'roomier' than our previous house, which was 3200 sq feet on 3 levels. Now that was big by our standards. We ended up finishing the basement, so the total sq footage ended up being only a couple hundred sq feet smaller than the old place.

 

[Christine]

I think 3,000+ is starting to get big, but it depends on the layout. For instance, is part of the square footage a finished basement? However, generally, I would say 3,000-3,5000+ is big.

Our house is 2,400 sq ft, but that is including a finished basement. I'd like another bedroom & larger living spaces - dining room, kitchen, family room.

The spaces are perfectly fine for us except the kitchen which needs more counter space for 2 people to work together comfortably.

However, when we entertain (holidays, birthday parties, etc.), it feels a lot smaller. In our dining room, we have a table & 6 chairs, &, when there are actually 6 adults around the table, it seems crowded. We tore down the wall between the dining room & living room which has helped, but there is still only room for a table sitting 6.

I never count the basement (even when it's finished) in the size of the house (and neither do our realtors around here when selling). So I have a 2400 square foot home. I also have a finished basement so I guess I really have 3600 sq ft. living space.

 

[soccerdad72]

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