Bigger homes offer more bedrooms, bathrooms, living spaces and bonus rooms like a home office, crafts room, playroom or game room.
Smaller houses are more affordable to heat, cool, furnish and maintain and easier to clean.
Given those differences and the obvious allure of a larger home, how much square footage do you really want?
The answer is likely to be more about your lifestyle than the specifications of different-sized houses.
Usually, some buyers will tell us pretty quickly how the home they’re living in isn’t working for them and then we can demonstrate how to solve that concern.
How Space is Used
Once some buyers find a home that works for them, their focus shifts from size to functionality. For growing families, schools and affordability are also common considerations. The possibility that a home may be too big is rarely a concern.
At that stage of their lives, it’s about ‘How much house can we afford with the schools and location we want? No one ever says this is too much house for us.
In addition, experienced homeowners tend to be more specific about their square footage needs.
The Bedroom-Living Space Ratio
Despite that steady rise in square footage, the design is so crucial that a smaller home might be a better fit for a particular buyer than a larger one, depending on the way the square footage is assembled.
Note one important element is the ratio between bedrooms and living space. The bedroom count is “the primary driver” for total square footage.
Think of it this way: for every bedroom, you need to provide places for two people to sit in the dining area and living area.
Another consideration is that person living in a home should have an “away space” that affords privacy from other family members. It could be a balcony or a study area.
Budget-Minded Choices
One obvious limitation against more square footage is the relatively higher cost of bigger homes.
Some custom-home buyers want what they want and are willing to pay for enough space to accommodate their desires. On the other hand, others reconfigure their needs to fit the size of home they can afford within their budget.
Buyers are often surprised by the functional use of space in today’s new homes and how much square footage they can buy.
Moreover, many buyers see “so much value in the larger homes” that they end up buying a bigger residence than they’d planned. This love of space is so common that some people end up upsizing rather than downsizing.
Some people after their last kid has moved out and buy bigger houses. Much of the extra space in these splurgy residences is devoted to a bigger master bedroom, larger master bathroom and walk-in closets. This more space is devoted to the owner’s ensuite.