N3TR- How big is your house?

Shortie24

We've been saving for some now, and with our income tax refund, we'll be right where we need to be! So the plan is to start (hopefully) looking in the next few weeks. We still need to go back to our loan officer since we had to build DH's credit and start all the pre-lim paperwork/approvals.

So how big is your house, sqaure footage wise? This would not be our "forever" home, since it'll be our first. We definitely need at least a 3 bedroom/ 2 bath.

I found one that I really like! It's 1,430 sq ft. I don't think that it's too small or too big.

 I'm going to call our officer tomorrow and see if we can get everything going and make an appt to go look at it.

CarolinaGirl411

We are actually closing on our 1st home tomorrow.  It's 1600 sq ft with a 2 car garage.  It's 3 bedrooms/2 bath and we got an awesome deal on 3+ acres when we decided to build.   I would have gone smaller on ours except we are hoping to stay in it for a while.

The house you're looking at is really pretty. I think the square footage is a good size.  It all depends on the home, the floor plan, and if y'all are planning on staying there for a while.  You mentioned this wouldn't be your forever home, what do you think your next home will have that this one doesn't besides the extra space?

Our big thing since we were building was to get what we wanted, but we aren't going to pick up and move anytime soon (if ever).  Just getting out and looking at the areas, comparing where y'all work, and getting ideas of what type style home may trigger more questions too.  GL in the house hunting, it's so much fun. 

jjdale288

We built our house. We've been in it three years in July. Its 2000 sq feet. 4 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms. 3 stall garage. We're hoping to live here for quite a while though. Its like our blood, how we picked everything out and finished the basement ourself.
Good luck finding something you love!

Shortie24

CarolinaGirl411:

We are actually closing on our 1st home tomorrow.  It's 1600 sq ft with a 2 car garage.  It's 3 bedrooms/2 bath and we got an awesome deal on 3+ acres when we decided to build.   I would have gone smaller on ours except we are hoping to stay in it for a while.

The house you're looking at is really pretty. I think the square footage is a good size.  It all depends on the home, the floor plan, and if y'all are planning on staying there for a while.  You mentioned this wouldn't be your forever home, what do you think your next home will have that this one doesn't besides the extra space?

Our big thing since we were building was to get what we wanted, but we aren't going to pick up and move anytime soon (if ever).  Just getting out and looking at the areas, comparing where y'all work, and getting ideas of what type style home may trigger more questions too.  GL in the house hunting, it's so much fun. 

Congrats on closing!!!

I would love to buy one house and be done with it, but my H likes the idea of buying, buying another and renting out the first one, etc. That's what his grandfather did. I'm not on board with that idea! Too much hassle and liability! And I hate moving!!!

I think that our "prefect" house would be at least 4 bed/2.5 bath, but with finances right now, we can totally do the 3/2. We do want to hurry up and buy especially with the interest rates so low!

Since as of right now, it's just the 2 of us, I think that 1,400sq ft should be big enough!

Cara1024

That's a really cute house! I hope you get in to see it soon. We purchased our home in April and it's 4 bed/2.5 bath, 2,000 sq ft. We are hoping to stay here for a few years. I guess I'm kinda like your husband in that I actually want to move in a few more years. We moved a lot growing up so I feel like I'd get bored if we lived in the same house for forever. Good luck house hunting!!!

Mochadoodle

We purchased our first home a couple of years ago. There are 2 bedrooms and 1.5 bathrooms. It's just right for us. We don't plan on having a large family. 

We're hoping to build our next home.

GL! Buying your first home is such an exciting time!

NBA0703

I really like the house you have a picture of!!!  We just got our first home 6 months ago.  It is 3 bed/ 2 bath and it is a little over 1800!  It is perfect for us!  We planned on having a bigger family but now with our issues we pry will have just 1 or 2 soo this house is just perfect!!  I really want it to be a forever home and get it paid off and have my children grow up in it!

jfb29

I moved in with DH when we were married - he had lived in this house for 10 years.  We have a 3bed/2bath home - can't say I like this house (the layout is a bit crazy for a smaller house (its 1600sq ft).  Hopefully we will get to move soon and look for a house - good luck with your search!!!

lobosabby

We had our house built - we settled on it right before Thanksgiving 2011. We've been there just over a year now and we love it!

We have 4 Bedrooms and 3.5 bathrooms. Our house is 4600 square feet - without a finished basement. Our build out for our basement starts this April - I think once it's done H said our square footage will be 6000.

This was built as our "family" home and we have no intention of moving anytime soon. We're in a new area that is "up and coming" with all new schools, the works. We really love where we live.

lobosabby

Shortie24:

I absolutely LOVE it! I REALLY like to garden so I'm already envisioning tons of flowers, ect in front of this home.

PurplePanda2

Our house is about 1900 sq ft and is a 3 bed/1.5 bath.  We moved in about 2 years ago and I love the location because I can walk to town from my house.  I also love that it is an old house (1892) and it has a lot of character.

asilwhite

Yay for buying a house, that one is really nice looking!

We bought our house 3.5 years ago and it's a 3 bed/2 bath at 2,000 sqft. with a finished basement (not included in the square footage). We live near both of our parents and we plan on having (hopefully) 2 kids so we don't need a guest bedroom. It has an office for me too, which is perfect since I work from home. If anyone from out of town wants to stay with us, they can sleep on the pull-out in the basement. We're also planning on adding a bathroom in the basement at some point as well - the plumbing is all roughed out.

I think this will be our forever home because the location is amazing and we're on an acre which is fenced in with mature trees, perfect for the dogs and kids (again hopefully).

GL in your home search!! 

 

futurehuber

How exciting! Buying a home is so much fun! The one in the pic is super cute too!

We bought our house almost six years ago. It was 2 bed, 1 bath and a funky added on den, basically a bedroom with no closet. It was 1150 sq ft. Then we added on 500 sq ft in 2011, turning it into a 4 bed, 2 bath by adding a master suite and adding a closet to the den. No basements here in CA, super jealous of those who have them!

We love our home and location, so we plan for this to be a forever home. That's why we added on. Only thing is I love to entertain and the living room and kitchen area is pretty small. Luckily we just did a big project on our backyard, so that felt like we added a bunch of entertaining space, it was nasty before!

GL in your search!

katib77

We don't own, we rent a townhouse.  But it's a townhouse with 1400 square feet which I think a perfect amount for now.  

vpine

We got our forever house (hopefully) in Oct 2012. It's 2,400 sq ft, 2 story, 1 master bedroom downstairs, 3 upstairs bedrooms, 2.5 baths.

Laylarue

We bought our first home about 3 years ago now.  Our plan was to make some upgrades and sell for bigger, but now with this IF crap I do not want a bigger house with no babies to fill it.  I already get sad having an empty nursery. Ugh.  Anyway, ours is 2,000sq ft.  I agree with a pp that it depends on the floor plan as well.  We have a huge bonus room that I wish they would have used more wisely for more storage space or something.  I really like the house you posted!!

vanillajen

katib77:

We don't own, we rent a townhouse.  But it's a townhouse with 1400 square feet which I think a perfect amount for now.  

We also rent, which works perfectly for us. We're moving in a few weeks and going from a two bedroom 900 sq. ft apartment, to a 1100 sq ft upper with tons and tons of storage. I can't wait!  

Manada

We rent as my partner is still doing her phd and I just graduated and building my career.

We rent a house that's about 1200 sq ft and centrally located. If we can I think we will try to buy something similar when the time comes if we can afford it. Though sometimes I dream of big sprawling bungalows in the country :

MTDB

We have a 3 bedroom/1.5 bath house that is 2,000 square feet. It's an old house with lots of character, which is what DH and I were looking for. With just the two of us, it honestly feels too big at times, but when we have family come to visit (we don't live by either family), it feels just right, though it would be nice to have 2 full bathrooms. If we stay here (which we'd love to but will depend on DH's job), we'd like to either add another bath, making it 2.5 baths, or turn the half bath into a full bath. And if we ever manage to have children, we'd maybe have to consider moving if we had more than one because with family far away, we'll always need a guest room.

I'd say 1,430 square feet with 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms would be a nice sized house for you and DH + hopefully a little one or two. Good luck with the search. Buying your first home is a lot of fun (though also a bit stressful).

ufsandra85

ours is 2200 and it is just right for the 2 of us and hopefully a baby one day. This is by no means our forever home. we will only be living here for 3 years unless the military decides to keep us here for some reason. The first house i bought was a townhome that was 1000 sq feet and that was my favorite house I have owned. We owned a 2500 house as well. i think layout can make a bigger difference than square footage. The last house we lived in was the same "size" but the layout was completely different and felt bigger. Good luck on buying your first home

SnowLady1019

Our house is pretty small. Its 2 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms. About 1100 feet upstairs and 800 sqft finished walkout basement and 1 car attached garage. We bought it as a starter house 3 years ago. We have made some small improvements (remodeled the entire living room, new windows & doors, remodeled 1 bathroom). Now we are planning on refinishing the basement, updating the kitchen and redoing the bathroom, to hopefully sell within the next 2 years, for our "forever" home. We have completely out grown it nevermind when we have a child.

nicnique

We bought out first home Sept 2011. It is a 1700sq ft. 3 bedroom, 2 bath. We plan on this being our starter home and hope to upgrade a few years down the line. Although since our family is not expanding very fast I don't plan to move into a bigger house with out any children to help fill it.

I LOVE our house now and at this time the size is perfect for us and the two pups.

 

I love the house you posted! Very nice.

curlylocks3

I really like the look of the home you posted! Hope you like it just as much after seeing it in person

We have a 1300 sq ft 3bed/2bath condo. We'll consider moving if we end up having two kids, but at that point we'd rent this place out. We picked a condo for several reasons- I had no desire to maintain an entire home and the location. A house in the same area would be out of our budget and moving further out of the city was not an option for either of us. 

ena724

Our house is 2400 sq ft., not including the finished basement. I need to hire a cleaning person because it really is a lot to keep up. It was our dream house though!!

herecomesthesun

We've been in our house almost 2 years. It's just under 2200sqft 3 bed, 2.5 bath, 2 car garage. I love it. Fell in love with it instantly and still love it, though I would like a fireplace.

twinkl5379

Ours is 4,000 sq (including finished basement), which I was not necessarily looking for when we found it. But when we relocated, the new developments in the area we wanted to be in STARTED at this size. It's crazy, but I do enjoy the space now that we have it.

We have 5 bedrooms, but my H has 2 kids already, so they now have their own room even though they don't live with us full-time. That leaves 1 room for our baby (fingers crossed) plus a guest room, which we need b/c both families live out of town.

I would suggest buying as much space as you can afford b/c it seems like you'll always find a use for it!

ksgsmu

That is a good size for a first home... Good luck!

Twinkie0612

IntuitiveBlue:

Wow, everyone else has such nice houses.  You'd think two lawyers like me and DH would too, but not so much.  You'd be surprised at how much stuff you can cram into 864 sq. feet (plus unfinished basement).  Two bedrooms, one bath, tiny kitchen.  However, having your dining room ceiling cave in from the rain (last night) and your brother in law stay with you for 7 months - those things I could do without.  At least you can't lose too much money on a $80,000 house.

Shortie, I like the house you posted too.  I think it will be big enough for a small family (but might start feeling crowded after baby #2, especially if a home office is important to you).  Good luck, and congrats on saving up for that down payment!

Glad I'm not the only one on here living in a small house!

Our house is 816 square feet, two bedroom and one bath.  It's definitely not our forever home, but we got a great deal on it since we bought it from my parents.  Unfortunately the reason my parents sold it to us for so cheap was because it really needed a lot of updating.  DH and I have spent the last 2.5 years remodeling the entire house ourselves.  

The one good thing about buying a small house is that with our low mortgage we have more money to spend on fertility treatments. 

scbedi

We bought our first home about 3 years ago. We couldn't believe how lucky we got! We got a 2600sqft 4br/2.5bath house on 3.25 wooded acres in a great neighborhood. We got the house for 30k under appraisal! We plan to stay in the house for a little while. We currently have "to much" space. We have one room that will eventually be a nusery but right now it's just empty! We definilty have rom to grow in our house and since it is an older home we have updates we can do but don' thave to do. The only reason we would move is if we decide to move to another part of the country. I was born in Maine (currently live in Mississippi) so I have dreams of returning to my homeland! I love the house you have a picture of!

skinnykate9

Looks like a really nice house!

We bought our first house last summer. It is an 1800 square feet, 3 bed/2bath, split level. It is a good amount of space for us. We currently use the 2 extra bedrooms as an office and a guest room, but we could easily do without that if we needed them for kid rooms. We don't use the finished basement much, now, but hopefully we will grow into it as our family grows. We bought it knowing that it would work for just the two of us, but that it could work with up to 2 kids.

Neesey

When we bought our house two years ago I told DH that I'm not moving for 30 years. It's too stressful!
Our house is 3000sqft including a motherinlaw's quarters downstairs. It has its own entrance and a full kitchen. We rent it out right now to a guy my husband used to work with. I know it's only a matter of time until he leaves. The extra income helped us pay back a loan from DH's dad so we had a bigger down.
We just had slate installed in our entry and new carpet goes in next week. I'm so excited. I love fixing up a house just how I want it. Having gutted many as rental properties, I have gotten really good at seeing the 'bones' of a house. Good luck with your search! It can be so much fun!

brookelynpaisley

Ours is just under 1,500 sq. ft. 3 bed, 2 bath, and all of our bedrooms are a good size - the living room is cozy small and we just have an eat in kitchen. When we initially bought, I thought of it as a starter home, but since we won't be out-growing it, I can see us staying here a long time. We are considering pushing out the living room evenutally to add some space, but that wouldn't be for quite a few years.

Svenny1011

We bought our house five years ago - it is about 1700sq.ft., which I think is perfect, with 3bed/2ba. We have our master suite on the lower level, and everything else is upstairs, so there is good separation when we have people staying here. We've remodeled everything over the last few years - bathrooms, kitchen, floors, bar, lighting, expanded the entryway, etc. It was really fun to make it "ours" - we bought it knowing we'd have to do everything. 

Now, DH and I might be moving back to the city, which is super exciting (DH has a big meeting with the CEO this week, so fingers crossed!). We'll keep this house as a weekend / vacation lake house, and then rent an apt or condo in the city. We're looking at smaller places - maybe a 1bd for a year to figure stuff out, or maybe just go for a 2bd at the start. It is nice to have the option to get up here and have more room and a big (acres) yard. We both are excited about the prospect of having a good balance between big city life and mountain lake life. And it will be great for a kid, when that happens. I have missed the city ever since we moved, but it has taken DH a bit longer to get there.

pulga131

3700 sqft. It's our first and forever home. It's 1850 on the main level 3 bed 2 bath and then had 1850 unfinished basement. We finished the basement ourselves and added a 4th bedroom office 3rd bath and home theater by doing that. The upstairs is def enough living space. If we would've been able to have children then the 4th bedroom would've been a necessity but with 01 child or without the need for an office or guest room then the upstairs could've been enough room for us forever