What is more important in a house, interior space or storage?

[mtemm]

I would go with the family room and put a storage shed in back, personally. When my kids were younger they always wanted to be where we were but now that they are older (13/11/11), it is nice to have separate spaces for them.

We bought our current house 10 years ago. It only has a 1 car garage which is too small for either car and I hate that, here in New England, but we bought at the height of the market and it's what we could afford. We have an open concept living room/dining room/kitchen and thankfully a finished basement that can act as the kids space. I hadn't worried too much about it because we knew we would only be here around 2 years. We are still here and not looking to go anywhere anytime soon. I guess what I am trying to say is you have a 5 year plan now but don't necessarily count on it. Think long term even if you hope not to be there.

Good luck!!!!

 

[Southernmiss]

With 2 very young kids, I'd go for the smaller, cheaper home. Save the $50,000 and put it towards your next home.

We lived in 1300 square feet with 4 kids 9 and under. It's easily doable. I preferred the kids playing where I was when they were small.

We're now in 2100 square feet and the kids at 14 to 21. I'd love to have more room now. They are bigger, noisier and need more space themselves. And they don't need my constant supervision.

 

[scrhsa]

At this point in my life I would say storage. I live in a decent, yet, small house with absolutely NO storage. There is no hall closet, no linen closet, no pantry, one cabinet in one bathroom and in the other is an under the sink cabinet and one over the toilet. In that bathroom I can sit on the toilet and reach both the sink faucet and the tub faucet, with out reaching The bedrooms have normal to small closets. Attic space is limited because half of it is a bedroom. The other half doesn't have flooring and the giant air vent runs awkwardly down the middle. The guy who lived here before us built it himself and apparently didn't have a woman's input

 

[The Mystery Machine]

I've posted many times before about our house search. We'll probably wait until the summer, but we are looking, especially since our house is now under contract and should close within the month. If something great comes along we may go for it.

In the neighborhood we're looking in there are two types of houses. We're debating what is most important to us.

One type is 1600 square feet. A 3/2 house with a one car garage. The layout is decent but there is only one living space so the kids would have to play and watch tv in the living room. These are older and would need some new paint and some new carpet.

The other is 1900 square feet and brand new. It is a 3/2 house with no garage. It does have a living room and a family room so that kids could use that as their playroom. It would need nothing to move in.

The price difference is around 50k, with the larger home costing more. So, what is more important to you, storage space or interior space?

ETA: This would probably not be a forever home. Only 5 years or so. In 5 years if DS can go to regular public school then we can live anywhere. If he still needs the special needs school he is at we'd have to move because the middle/high school is 40 minutes away.

Ouch, tough decision.

I have been house shopping for several months while we ready this house for sale. Talk about purging stuff. I have WAYYYY too much STUFF!

I would go for the bigger house and purge my stuff since it appears that more square footage is more valuable where you are at than a garage.

 

[SparklePixie]

No garage, no deal.

 

[MIGrandma]

No garage would be a deal breaker for me, unless we could afford to build one and there was space beside the home to build an attached 2-car garage.

As for which is more important, interior space or storage, I would have to say interior space. We live in my husband's childhood home (it was remodeled back in 1974 - completely gutted and redone). Originally it had a living room, dining room, kitchen, laundry room, master bedroom and bathroom, family room and second bathroom on the main floor. Upstairs are three large bedrooms, storage room and third bathroom. In '87 we built on a 24'x24' family room off what was then the family room (it was small) and now that room is an office. There are huge closets in all the bedrooms, and other closets (in the bathrooms, by the laundry room, in the upstairs hallway, etc.) and I remember when we first moved here in 1980 I thought I would never fill them up.

But. They are filled up now, and some with a lot of stuff we just no longer need/use. For us, the more storage space we had the more stuff we stored. We could be happy with less storage options, but I do love having all the rooms/space.

 

[scrapquitler]

I've posted many times before about our house search. We'll probably wait until the summer, but we are looking, especially since our house is now under contract and should close within the month. If something great comes along we may go for it.

In the neighborhood we're looking in there are two types of houses. We're debating what is most important to us.

One type is 1600 square feet. A 3/2 house with a one car garage. The layout is decent but there is only one living space so the kids would have to play and watch tv in the living room. These are older and would need some new paint and some new carpet.

The other is 1900 square feet and brand new. It is a 3/2 house with no garage. It does have a living room and a family room so that kids could use that as their playroom. It would need nothing to move in.

The price difference is around 50k, with the larger home costing more. So, what is more important to you, storage space or interior space?

ETA: This would probably not be a forever home. Only 5 years or so. In 5 years if DS can go to regular public school then we can live anywhere. If he still needs the special needs school he is at we'd have to move because the middle/high school is 40 minutes away.

I'd buy the smaller house and use half the money I saved from not buying the bigger house to put a family room addition on it.

 

[eliza61]

With a growing family storage would be my number one priority. Pantry to hold staples, cabinets for dishes pots and pans. Closets for clothes etc.
Kids can play in their room so a playroom is not necessary.

Another deal breaker for me would be the HOA. They are a pain in the backside. Are you sure they will let you add a shed? Can you tell I've had bad experiences with HOA's?

I would probably keep looking.

Why?? omg I love my HOA. first let me say, there are only 16 houses involved lol, we know everyone. I pay 125/month. they shovel in the winter and cut grass in the summer.

The only real restriction I have is the color of my front door but considering I was in my last house for 19 years and never painted the outside I don't think that will be an issue.
I'd darn near carry someone's child to never have to shovel again.

 

[eliza61]

How on earth can a new home not have a garage? I'd keep looking. The perfect family home to me is 3 or 4 bedrooms, 2 baths, 2 car garage, 1,700 to 2,000 square feet with a family room and a living room. Oh, and garages are for cars, not storage.

It is interesting to see the differences in houses on my street,and the street my house backs up to, defending on what year they were built. Lots keep getting smaller, houses keep getting bigger. Houses were built in 1956....1976-1979, 1985 to 1986 and 2009 to 2011.

Comparison:
1956. .25 acre lot. 1,000 to 1,200 square foot 3 bedroom 1 bath house, 1 car garage.
1976 to 1979. .17 acre lot 1500 square to 2,000 square foot 3 and 4 bedroom, 2 to 3 bathroom house 2 car garage.
1985 to 1986 .15 acre lot, 1700 to 2200 square foot, 3 and 4 bedroom, 2 or 3 car garage.
2009 to 2011. .14 acre lot, 2,100 to 2300 square foot, 3 or 4 bedroom, 3 or 4 car garage.

Mike, is that you?? lol tv, my last house, we had a 2 car garage, except it had so much crap in it we could only get 1car in there. My late hubby use to yell at me..."garages are suppose to be for cars". lol, He had a Portuguese accent so I just pretended I couldn't understand him. He parked in the driveway.

 

[indygirl99]

Why?? omg I love my HOA. first let me say, there are only 16 houses involved lol, we know everyone. I pay 125/month. they shovel in the winter and cut grass in the summer.

The only real restriction I have is the color of my front door but considering I was in my last house for 19 years and never painted the outside I don't think that will be an issue.
I'd darn near carry someone's child to never have to shovel again.

Ah I see the president of your HOA doesn't think he is GOD.

Our paid for mowing the front yard which is the size of a postage stamp (not the back yard) and water backflow testing. For which we paid $75 a month. Other than handing out fines for stupid stuff: garbage can out before 6am or not put away after 4 pm, toys in the front yard, Christmas decorations up after December 29th, I could go on but won't, they did nothing.

Glad we moved. Now living in our tiny house, with all the crap from the grown family happily foisted off onto the kids or donated or trashed, with no HOA.

We also no longer have a garage and I have a feeling if they are wrong about the weather and it is colder than they think I am going to regret the no garage when I have to shovel snow off the car.

 

[tvguy]

Mike, is that you?? lol tv, my last house, we had a 2 car garage, except it had so much crap in it we could only get 1car in there. My late hubby use to yell at me..."garages are suppose to be for cars". lol, He had a Portuguese accent so I just pretended I couldn't understand him. He parked in the driveway.

I have 5 cars, 6 when my son visits. Room for 3 on the street in front of my property, 2 in the garage and 2 in the driveway. The classic car insurance on my 1965 Mustang REQUIRES that it be parked in an enclosed, locked garage.

 

[eliza61]

Ah I see the president of your HOA doesn't think he is GOD.

Our paid for mowing the front yard which is the size of a postage stamp (not the back yard) and water backflow testing. For which we paid $75 a month. Other than handing out fines for stupid stuff: garbage can out before 6am or not put away after 4 pm, toys in the front yard, Christmas decorations up after December 29th, I could go on but won't, they did nothing.

Glad we moved. Now living in our tiny house, with all the crap from the grown family happily foisted off onto the kids or donated or trashed, with no HOA.

We also no longer have a garage and I have a feeling if they are wrong about the weather and it is colder than they think I am going to regret the no garage when I have to shovel snow off the car.

ouch. I think I'm lucky in that we are a very small townhouse community in the city so everyone knows one another. I think most that's happened is I got a phone call from a neighbor because one of the kids cars was blocking another neighbors garage. 2 years so far so good. no fines, didn't even know we could get fines

 

[tvguy]

Ah I see the president of your HOA doesn't think he is GOD.

Other than handing out fines for stupid stuff: garbage can out before 6am or not put away after 4 pm, toys in the front yard, Christmas decorations up after December 29th, I could go on but won't, they did nothing.

I would think the city would step in on those restrictions because they are unreasonable. DW and I would have been at work for several hours by 6 am, unless the HOA President wants to put out my trash can.
The Christmas light would be totally unenforceable. The Epiphany isn't even until January 6. You know, the whole 12 days of Christmas thing.

My favorite is when we get calls from viewers about an HOA not allowing them to have TV, CB, Shortwave antennas or Satellite Dishes. That one went all the way to the U.S. Supreme court. No landlord or HOA can prohibit those. The only thing they can do is tell you how they want them mounted on the building.

 

[indygirl99]

I would think the city would step in on those restrictions because they are unreasonable. DW and I would have been at work for several hours by 6 am, unless the HOA President wants to put out my trash can.
The Christmas light would be totally unenforceable. The Epiphany isn't even until January 6. You know, the whole 12 days of Christmas thing.

My favorite is when we get calls from viewers about an HOA not allowing them to have TV, CB, Shortwave antennas or Satellite Dishes. That one went all the way to the U.S. Supreme court. No landlord or HOA can prohibit those. The only thing they can do is tell you how they want them mounted on the building.

Yeah and in some areas the courts favor the HOA.

Had a neighbor put up solar panels. HOA said no way, they "affect the aesthetics" went to court and the homeowner lost and had to remove the solar panels. The court agreed with the aesthetics crap. The court said the homeowner could put them in the backyard where they could not be seen from the street. Only problem with that was the backyard was postage stamp size also so no room to place them.

I'm just glad to no longer be there.

 

[tvguy]

Yeah and in some areas the courts favor the HOA.

Had a neighbor put up solar panels. HOA said no way, they "affect the aesthetics" went to court and the homeowner lost and had to remove the solar panels. The court agreed with the aesthetics crap. The court said the homeowner could put them in the backyard where they could not be seen from the street. Only problem with that was the backyard was postage stamp size also so no room to place them.

I'm just glad to no longer be there.

Fortunately, all those restrictions have to be disclosed during escrow, so if you don't know about them, it's your own fault.
Although I one episode of Love It Or List it they were trying to remove an interior wall in a condo and the property was set up so you owned the "air" within the walls, but not the actual walls, interior or exterior.

 

[LJSquishy]

No garage would be a deal breaker for me but it seems like you don't need one for parking in so it's not a big deal for you.

I would go with the newer home with more living space. With the extra square footage you can also create more storage space by using cabinets or constructing built-ins in the family room for kids' toys, etc. Having more than one common area is priceless... When you need to have adult conversations without kids screaming while playing, make an important phone call, or just have somewhere quiet to read, a secondary space is wonderful.

We are just starting the process of building a new house and a few big requirements were to have more than one common space (we will actually have three...family room, formal living/dining which we're unsure which it will become but probably dining, and an enclosed loft upstairs), plenty of elbow room, large enough bedrooms, and 2-car garage. We are really excited to have multiple areas where people can hang out and do separate things. Our new house will be 2669sqft, and our last house was 1400sqft and we hated having people over because it was so cramped and had no private spaces.

 

[meowser]

Usable space is the most important thing to me. Total space doesn't matter if it's not laid out in a usable fashion. And I consider interior storage to be an important part of that. How would you live in each house? Where does your stuff go? Can you easily access everything you need?

 

[indimom]

How old is the older home? Because "older" can mean a lot of things. 1990s? No problem in my opinion. Pre-1970s? Very Likely, it needs more than carpet and paint (unless it's been updated which wasn't mentioned).
So, I'd base a lot of my decision on that. Will it need a new roof in the next 10 years (just in case you stay a bit longer?). What's the age of the heating and air? Has the electric and plumbing been thoroughly checked?
If all of that has a good amount of life left in it, I'd go with the older home. Save the extra cash... OR, Possibly turn the garage into a play room with a good size closet for storage since you don't need it for cars.

Good luck making your decision.

 

[tvguy]

How old is the older home? Because "older" can mean a lot of things. 1990s? No problem in my opinion. Pre-1970s? Very Likely, it needs more than carpet and paint (unless it's been updated which wasn't mentioned).
So, I'd base a lot of my decision on that. Will it need a new roof in the next 10 years (just in case you stay a bit longer?). What's the age of the heating and air? Has the electric and plumbing been thoroughly checked?
If all of that has a good amount of life left in it, I'd go with the older home. Save the extra cash... OR, Possibly turn the garage into a play room with a good size closet for storage since you don't need it for cars.

Good luck making your decision.

You've made all the arguments for hiring a good home inspector before completing the purchase. I really don't think age of a home is a good indicator of fewer problems. Condition and quality of materials/equipment are a better factor.