Buying A Home
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Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
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800 sq ft house?
Anyone live in a house roughly 800-1000 sq feet?
We are looking at buying one, our mortage would be around $300/mo. Right now, we are paying $400/mo for rent alone. I know FI and I would be fine a house like this, but we would like 1 child in the future. Are we crazy to even consider this?
Re: 800 sq ft house?
What do you live in now? We live in 800- it's a condo but we're looking to move up asap! Also, will you have outdoor space? If your house is small but you have a large yard it would make it easier. Are you willing to rent it out or sell down the road if you need bigger? The difference between 800 sqft and 1000 is pretty big when you actually start comparing. I'd try to shoot for the higher end if you can, 800 would be tight for a couple and a kid (and if you have pets it might get insane). DH and I are comfortable but we still want something larger with a yard.
We live in a 1000 sq ft condo, 2bd/2ba.
There's a big difference between 800 and 1000 sqft. Having 2 bedrooms in 800 sqft seems way too cramped to me and I can't imagine having a baby with only 1 bedroom.
People certainly manage to do it, though. I'm a big fan of the blog Apartment Therapy and they have tons of ways to organize small spaces.
The small cool contests are always very interesting to check out:
http://community.apartmenttherapy.com/contests/smallcool/2011
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BFP #1 EDD 12/14/12, C/P 4/9
dx: DOR
Clomid + trigger + IUI #2
Everyone welcome.
Curly - do you happen to remember what the approximate dimensions of each of the bedrooms were?
I ask because our 2nd bedroom is 9x10 and I find that very small. Another foot or two would be a huge difference to me.
I think that would be tight even without a kid - at least if you're planning to stay there long term. It depends if there is a basement you can use for additional living space though (either finished, or dry so it can be finished), which could potentially almost double your living space.
We live in about 1100 sq feet (plus basement which isn't really finished, but has a bathroom + storage). It's surprising how quickly the space was filled.
I think that the last apartment we lived in was around 900 square feet, and to be honest it was cramped. Personally, I'd never want to have a child in that small of a space - I know people do it, but I wouldn't be happy.
I grew up in a house that was 890sf. It was tight, but we were fine. I was an only child for 10 years, then my sis came along. My parents gave us the master to share, and they had the little room. We all shared a bathroom.
Honestly, I would not change it. My parents could have purchased something bigger when I was in HS, but we all loved our home and had no desire to move. Now their house is completely paid off and since they have a ton of extra income they travel a lot (and take us with sometimes!).
Anyway, to answer your question, I would do it if you feel you can live there for the foreseeable future.
An 800-1000sf home *can* work with kids, but it's going to be cozy.
My first house was a 925sf, 2br/2ba condo. I was great for just me. Then my H moved in a few months before we got married, and we felt so cramped. I had the place fully furnished already, then had to put a bunch of stuff in storage to make room for some of his stuff (most of his stuff went straight to storage). We hated it and were miserable with just 2 adults living there. There's so way we were staying there long term.
That being said, I know there were families with kids living in that condo complex, and the biggest units there are just over 1000sf. A small house can work if you want it to. You'll have to use lots of smart storage solutions, keep the clutter to a minimum, and make sure you're not accumulating a lot of stuff you don't use regularly, but it could work. It would be a big help if there's a garage or an attic or something to use for storage.
Mr. Sammy Dog
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BFP #1 EDD 12/14/12, C/P 4/9
dx: DOR
Clomid + trigger + IUI #2
Everyone welcome.
Our house growing up that we spent most of elementary school in was 900 square feet with 3 bedrooms and 1 bath. It had a living room, eat in kitchen with laundry closet and that was it! I LOVED that house. It didn't matter to me at all that I shared a bedroom with my sister. We never had 2 bathrooms before that so we never knew what we were missing. At christmas time the real xmas tree smelled up the entire house. You were always close to each other whether you wanted to be or not, which was great for the most part. You couldn't really go hide out in your room and get into trouble. There was 1 tv in the living room and we all spent every night in there as a family. It had a large yard and we actually played outside every day (do kids still do that!?). We were outside in the morning and came in when it got dark so we weren't holed up in our rooms all day moping about space.
DH and I have lived in spaces from 700-3000 square feet. We're actually looking to downsize now from the 3000 because it's too much space. We're looking at anywhere from 1000-probably 1500. If it were our first place together I would not hesitate at 800 square feet and would be completely content with 1000, keeping in mind the market and the fact that you will be living there for a few years. In your situation it sounds like that would be fine though. Our duplex was 1000 square feet and was fine.
We live in a 632 sq. ft. apartment and it's plenty spacious for two adults and one kid. We love it.
But like others have pointed out, it's all about the layout.
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{ For Adam | For Adria }
We lived in a 900 sq ft apartment with 1 child for 2.5 years and a 2nd child for 2.5 months. There were no hallways, so every sq ft was liveable space and we had access to plenty of basement storage space as well as a good sized backyard. The only time it was a problem w/ 1 child was when we had company because there was no way for anyone to have any privacy. We could have made it work with 2 kids of we had to; they would just have shared a room when the youngest one started sleeping through the night.
We are now in a 1,500 sq ft house, and while I love having the extra space so things don't look so cluttered there are times when I miss the coziness of our old place. I never really had to worry about leaving DD alone b/c I could hear her from pretty much any other room. That's definitely not true anymore.