House Sizes Are Getting Absurd
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- Опубликовано: 21 ноя 2024
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Just how small and how big do houses get? How much space do you need in order to live? This video takes a deep dive into these questions by looking closely at the worlds largest and smallest houses. It also goes into the research on how much space we actually need to live comfortably and assesses what ultimately goes into our satisfaction with the size of our living space.
Correction:
09:44 That's $2,000,000,000
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Architecture with Stewart is a RUclips journey exploring architecture’s deep and enduring stories in all their bewildering glory. Weekly videos and occasional live events breakdown a wide range of topics related to the built environment in order to increase their general understanding and advocate their importance in shaping the world we inhabit.
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Stewart Hicks is an architectural design educator that leads studios and lecture courses as an Associate Professor in the School of Architecture at the University of Illinois at Chicago. He also serves as an Associate Dean in the College of Architecture, Design, and the Arts and is the co-founder of the practice Design With Company. His work has earned awards such as the Architecture Record Design Vanguard Award or the Young Architect’s Forum Award and has been featured in exhibitions such as the Chicago Architecture Biennial and Design Miami, as well as at the V&A Museum and Tate Modern in London. His writings can be found in the co-authored book Misguided Tactics for Propriety Calibration, published with the Graham Foundation, as well as essays in MONU magazine, the AIA Journal Manifest, Log, bracket, and the guest-edited issue of MAS Context on the topic of character architecture.
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I’m in Kentucky and the housing market here over the last 7-8 years is unlike anything I’ve ever seen. Homes that were bought for $130K in 2015 are now being sold for $590k. I’m talking about tiny, disgusting, poorly built 950 square foot shit boxes in quite mediocre neighborhoods. Then you’ve got Better, average sized homes in nicer neighborhoods that were $300K+ 10 years ago selling for $750k+ now. Wild times.
Home prices will come down eventually, but for now; get your money (as much as you can) out of the housing market and get into the financial markets or gold. The new mortgage rates are crazy, add to that the recession and the fact that mortgage guidelines are getting more difficult. Home prices will need to fall by a minimum of 40% (more like 50%) before the market normalizes.If you are in cross roads or need sincere advise on the best moves to take now its best you seek an independent advisor who knows about the financial markets.
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Rebecca Noblett Roberts, is respected in her field. I suggest delving deeper into her credentials, as she possesses experience and serves as a valuable resource
She appears to be well-educated and well-read. I ran an online search on her name and came across her website; thank you for sharing.
One of the critical aspects that I wish you'd have touched on but understand it'd probably have derailed the video into a much different topic is how acceptable space intersects with urban planning. Living in a smaller space is much more acceptable if you live in a nice walkable environment where you don't feel the need to be at home all the time because it's not a hassle to leave and go somewhere else. Having places to go an socialize within walking distance means you need far less space to spend time with people outside the home. And it's a lot more understandable why a kid would want a dedicated gaming room and mom might want a sewing room in their suburban home when there's not readily available third places for them.
He did mention that small housing means relying on public amenities.
I was just about to mention this.
Yes, yes, and yes. (A thumbs up wasn’t enough for this comment).
I was thinking the exact same thing, it´s not the same to live in a studio apartment in tokyo or NY than in a small cabin in a car dependant suburb.
Absolutely agree, and I'll add that disability can also create a need for more internal space.
The problem isn’t that houses are too big, it’s that people don’t choose house sizes based on their needs. If you have ten kids, having a ten bedroom, or at minimum a five bedroom house. I have three siblings and we lived in a two bedroom house. I really felt like I lacked personal space until my oldest sister moved out. And that was with us using the office as a third bedroom.
But the only houses being built in my area are the big ones. I know a lot of people who are 1. single (like me) or 2. only have a small family living there.
So no, the problem isn't, on an individual level, that any given house is "too big". The problem is that smaller houses aren't being built at all (at least not in my state), which not only leads to suburb sprawl but puts most houses well out of the reach of buyers without a 2-person income.
Here in America it's quite common for people to downsize after all kids have moved out. It's also common for a young child free couple to buy a larger home before they start their family. Then yet and still you have folks who start in a tiny apartment but move to large suburban homes after their first kid. So yeah, many people choose their home based on their own needs.
The main problem I see is in how unaffordable most nice houses are here. In my area the really nice houses start at about a quarter of a mil. It's insane.
@@firiel2366 Weird all I see being built are small houses, and apartments.
@@Dead_Goat it’s because you don’t go in the number of suburbs in which big houses are being built (look up zoning)
@@Dead_Goat apartments are just as expensive in reality. I’m willing to bet they’re the “luxury” apartments that are cropping up all around me as well? My mothers mortgage costs less than the new luxury apartments 1 mile down the road
I've lived in houses from 800sqft to over 3k, and dorms and apartments much smaller. And hands down the number one predictor for feeling like I have enough space is storage. Particularly for the vacuum cleaner, toilet paper, and linens. No house will feel big enough if you trip over the vacuum twice a day.
Finally someone other than me gets it! It's all about how much you need to store, and how often you need to get to the stored stuff. I am very comfortable "living" in my small apartment, I am not comfortable having to share that space with my storable items that I use too often to store long-term elsewhere, like my bicycle or my vacuum cleaner or my hobbies. I'd be happy to quit cleaning and give up my vacuum but I'm not about to give up my hobbies or bicycling, so here I sit cramp and miserable, forever tripping over my vacuum cleaner.
@@RoySATX Some apartments & dorms have "bike rooms" and you hit on just the reason why. Some complexes have outside garages or a storage area in the basement. More apartments should have those kinds of amenities. People in mobile homes will have a shed to store deck furniture, kids outdoor toys & gardening tools for the winter. My wife and I had to find a larger (2400 sq ft) home bec my dad lives with us in the basement. And our 2 kids! They share a bedroom so we can have a guest bedroom, doubling for Lego & video games. We wanted a side-by-side duplex or an upstairs apartment , but the first was never for sale, and the latter sold first day on the market every time. We still don't have a dedicated closet or space for the vacuum!
@@Nphen You're right, many apartments do have those things. I'm personally not in a situation where I can be too picky on amenities. At my age and fixed budget I am happy to have a place at all. And to be honest, even when I lived in a home with twice the sq footage I still couldn't find a place for the vacuum that I wouldn't trip over it. There is an area large enough that a person's belonging won't naturally expand to fill, I just haven't found it yet.
My home is 1200 sqft and i feel like im running out of space. Now im gonna build a home in 2500 sqft , even thou it is just me and my 2 dogs. Upstairs is on rent.
I have a small area in my space that functions like a foyer. its maybe 5ft by 6ft but it is tiled for easy cleanup and has a closet. The closet is particularly helpful. Keeps shoes, coats, and my vacuum and broom hidden away and even though its a "waste" of space most of the time it keeps things feeling so much nicer.
When I was younger I wanted a McMansion. I thought that was how you knew you made it. A big home. But now in my mid-30s, the craftsman bungalow is what I want. I want a nice cozy home, that gives me space but can feel like a home. If that makes sense? The illusion of bigger is better has basically shattered for me.
I’m in my mid-20s and even I think the craftsman bungalow is attractive and just enough space to live comfortably.
@@Loveisfun123 I never wanted a big place. Way too much to clean 😳
Nice I want a under ground home basically a underground bunker with 4 rooms
McMansion is pretty much all that's left to my town in south FL. Sterile cookie cutter McMansionville with a distinct Stepford wife feel to it. Sad. It also does not appear that it has made any of them any happier. As I have gotten older it has also occurred to me that when I have all of these things that I never really needed to begin with someone else does without.
I could live in a tiny home if it meant I had land
I’ve been a carpenter for 50 years now, and yes they are getting ridiculous in size. Although they are nice to work on, it’s hard to see one or two houses torn down for a much much bigger home. I have mixed feelings about this trend. Especially when I see the tremendous amount of homeless people.
Building a 6000 sq ft house for a retired couple is ridiculous. I've built more than one $40,000.00 cabinet sets for people too busy to use a microwave. It was too often just a private monument to someone's ego.
Most homeless people put themselves in that situation. And don’t want to work to get out of it. It’s on them.
That’s the easy thing to say and believe! Until it happens to you! So keep taking the easy conclusion!
While homelessness is complex on an individual level, it is fairly simple on a societal level. In the US and Canada today, there simply aren't enough homes in the cities and towns where people want to live. We can do something to address this by easing zoning to allow for a denser and more diverse housing stock.
That's funny, in Australia it seems like the opposite happens. Bigger houses on big lots are being torn down and being replaced by 2-4 houses on the same lot. Streets are getting crowded cause there's suddenly triple the amount of cars needing to be parked in the same area.
The Craftsman bungalows are such visually pleasing houses to me. Nice proportions, artesian look, cozy looking, sturdy looking, and slightly fairytale-esque.
Love ours. When that shot came up in the video I had to show it to my wife as it looks a lot like ours (but not quite as nice)
I live in a 690 foot craftsman bungalow. I love it.
My grandma lived in a Craftsman bungalow. It had a lot of the furniture built in and this amazing stained glass around the fireplace in the living room. We had so much fun playing in that house. When she passed the neighborhood was going through a renaissance. We had people fighting to buy that house.
ikr it's pretty cool
Large houses are “dream” houses based on the British Manor House. The manor houses used to house many people, chamber maids, butlers, footmen, stable boys, cooks, laundry people, etc.
They were also combo event spaces hosting months of visiting friends and family, dinners, small or large balls, and even musical shows (such as string quartets). At a time when social interaction was the main form of entertainment that space was needed for a family of leisure.
Hmm not only "British Manor houses" whole EUrope probably the whole world had Mansions already - in Germany you had "Herrenhäuser" in the Roman Empire you had the "Villa Rustica". So yeah, long time ago, before Germany or England would even exist, they had big Mansions in their regions. But this is not all, you can trace them back to the Greek ancient and probably also to the Thracian one. In the ancient egypt they had houses with 30 Rooms already ;) - and depending on what you do and where you want to live and end, this is what you sometimes need. Eventho you might just use 90% of the rooms only 2x a year. But everything else would cost more or would be less convienient
You hit the nail on the head. Certain members of the British Royal Family devised the Civil Rights Movement with the ulterior motive of reverting the US to a British colony based on England's real estate-based socioeconomic hierarchy. They had learned from experience that equal employment rights could be rendered worthless because the value of US currency is malleable. In the end, the only reliable store of wealth is land which has intrinsic value regardless of fluctuations in the economy. The Fair Housing Act heightened the popularity of already high-end homes, which in turn appreciated their market values all the more. The additional equity was then continually reinvested to build progressively larger homes. It's difficult for American citizens to detect these ulterior motives in advance because our major industry is entertainment. We're easily bedazzled by public displays of grandstanding and we don't stop to consider corresponding unspoken processes beneath the surface.
...All black American churches were originally founded by "former" slaveholders or their sympathizers, and all black preachers were/are their puppets. Leave it to the greatest slaveholders in history to utilize these seemingly insignificant toadies for purposes of epic proportions. In a bad way, it reminds me of a parable about a soldier who discarded a broken horseshoe, and a prince who came along and discovered the horseshoe, fixed it, used it, and won the war with it.
Of course even real estate provides limited guarantees. In the event of a cataclysmic earthquake, property values can be shuffled around a lot. Matter fact, someone might just seize the opportunity to come along and shuffle your teeth around too.
You mention that the family members spend most of their time in certain areas of the home. This seems to imply that other areas of the home are less necessary. I would argue that unvisited spaces are actually crucial for enjoying your time at home. A coat closet that does nothing but store winter coats in the summer keeps these items from cluttering the remainder of the living space. A broom closet to store the vacuum cleaner and maybe even a mop and bucket is great for keeping these bulky items out of the way. Then there's utility areas like the space for the HVAC system and water heater. I also think that many people need space to do their hobbies. My favorite house I've lived in was 3 bedrooms for 2 people. We both had a hobby room and slept in the master bedroom.
I quite agree. My opinion is that you'd need at least an extra room per person, and maybe an extra on top of that, for every four or five people (E.G: a bedroom per person and a living room, and after the 4/5 person, there should probably be some kind of guest/hobby room on top of that).
They weren't counting storage. There was a map showing the unvisited spaces, which included things like the dining area. Storage is necessary, an unused dining area is not
The issue is it’s totally unnecessary. You don’t each need a hobby room. I’m sure that’s nice but in reality that’s some privileged stuff. It isn’t a need.
True. And things like bathroom/shower is definitely necessary even if you don't spend much time there. Same with a bedroom. And quality of life matters. If I lived with other people, Id definitely feel the need for my own private space, at minimum my own bedroom, but that varies between people depending on personality. I think you kinda need enough open space to not feel trapped and claustrophobic, even if its not survival need (but a relatively small house could still fulfill that). And having at least just enough space to exercise could make it much easier to stay in shape and healthy, can still be met in a somewhat small house but not the absolutely smallest. Enough space for hobbies (not necessarily a separate room) is at least very good to have and can add a lot of value to your life, but many dont have hobbies outside their computer. I still think many houses are bigger than you need even for quality of life unless many people live there.
And the study was only done in the afternoon which isn't helpful
We bought our first house last year, and I quickly noticed that the homes were huge! I don’t wanna clean that many bathrooms!
We were able to find the perfect house under 1400 ft.² for our small family. We had been living in a 1000 ft.² apartment with kids, pets, homeschooling, and I work from home! We knew we could make it work in a “small” house 😂
I live in a 1900 sq ft house by myself
where is your house at?
Plus you won't need to move to downsize later on
My spouse and I live in a 1500 sq. ft. home, where we've raised and homeschooled our four kids. There were times when it felt a tight fit, and I wished that we could afford to upsize to something larger. Now we're at the stage where the "baby" is 15 and the other three are grown and I actually find myself thinking about downsizing in the future when our nest is empty and we're retired and don't want to mess with maintenance issues. To everything there is a season!
I love how 1000sq ft apartments are small to Americans. That's larger than any apartment size I could afford in my country. By the time you can afford that, you might as well buy one in the US
I just went from a 1-bedroom bachelor type apartment with my husband to a 2-bedroom with a living room and even though the kitchen is small I realized that I don't own that much stuff lol. I went from feeling over-crowded with items to looking around to a semi-empty space. Having the perfect size apartment for your needs is so important to your mental health and I personally can't see myself moving back to the 1-bedroom bachelor type apartment.
"I used to live in a two-room apartment, neighbors knocking on the wall. Times were tough, I don't want to knock it. I don't miss it much at all." - Tom Petty, "The Apartment Song"
@@editingsecrets "Oh, yeah! I'm alright; I just feel a little lonely, tonight..." Love that song.
Great! But couples with kids, especially more than one child would not be as content. There in lies the rub. Raising a family on the 7th floor sucks. Lol.
@@stevelopez372 Luckily, most apartment buildings with 7 or more floors have elevators. It would be a pain in the rear to live in a 7th floor walk-up apartment.
For the question of how much space you need to live, it’s different for everyone. For example: my brother has a bigger room than me because he’s older. The problem is I actually need more space. Most of his hobbies are digital ones, so he pretty much only uses his room for sleeping. But I am an artist and so literally everything I do takes up space, so when we move house, I’ll get to have two rooms; an art studio and a bedroom, becuase I need more space
My studio is a little ten by ten room. Some times projects spill out to other rooms but the majority of works gets done in a big closet.
@@timeenoughforart you must be a very tidy artist 😂😂
Exactly. As another example, it's a reality of the modern era that in a family with two adults, both work. And post-pandemic, this means that many non-rich families need two office-like work-from-home spaces.
It's also worth nothing that multi-level dwellings are not suitable for everyone. Those who (otherwise understandably) advocate a move to ubiquitous medium-density dwellings don't often think of this; medium-density can be made completely accessible for those with disabilities, but it usually isn't.
something Stewart didn't touch on clearly that I thought he would is that as houses get bigger, not only do spaces get more specialized but the lives of the residents get more insular. You start building what others consider "public" amenities inside your own home (gym, pool, movie theater, office, etc). Ofc, because of how much cheaper residential space is compared to commercial space due to taxes & zoning, the financially sound (and traditional) decision is to move highly used spaces (such as office & artist studio) into the house, as opposed to keeping the living situation minimal, and the "hobby" space outside the home.
One piece about tiny homes - it's not only a psychological effect. These homes are, by necessity, not generally handicap accessible. Loft spaces, standing showers, and composting toilets aren't ideal when you're disabled. Very insightful and interesting video, thank you for the content! Aye for the McMansion Hell shout out rofl
Yikes. Try living in East Asia. Elevators in smaller buildings are often nonexistent, hidden, or not open to the public. I've seen many open areas (like around a mall) designed so no gaps are large enough for electric scooters to squeeze in and park. I always wonder how a wheelchair is ever supposed to get through.
I don't think it's really the size of the building as much the age of it. Older buildings weren't designed with handicap accessibility in mind, and in many places, new buildings are required by law to have ramps and elevators.
THE ONE PIECEEEEE!
not only that those tiny homes jsut suck in genral unless you like constantly tidying things
About 10% of people can't walk well, so for most weird house arrangements aren't an issue. The 10% with limps and wheelchairs aren't a great reason to say ban all small houses, that's a big leap, fat people hate small cars ban them too?. Joking . My old mom fears stairs, any house with 2 floors is bigger problem for disabled than small mini house... 2 floors are awful for old, they'll deny it but eventually they fall down stairs we should ban stairs. Literally. Ha. . Kidding.
Another aspect with house size is...cleaning. The bigger it is, the longer it'll take to clean, as well as more cleaning products which means you need to spend more. Being an introvert I wouldn't mind at max a 3 bedroom, since I'd have 1 as a room to sleep in, and 1 other as a gaming room since I tend to not care to go out to socialize much. 3rd room I suppose could be backup for something. I've thought about studio, just 1 room with everything in 1 but...I don't want my sheets, blankets, and pillows smelling like food all the time from cooking, it gets irritating after a while constantly smelling food when you're trying to sleep.
I think, despite being American who grew up with the idea of big houses on big lots, mixed use like in Europe is nice... 5 or 6 story buildings where the 1st level is commercial, and the upper 4-5 floors are residential. That way it's not too inconvenient to have to travel far to buy things.
Can confirm as a European (specifically Dutch, so I can bike everywhere) that mixed use land use is amazing. The only downside with medium density housing (imo) is that noise can be an issue. I would love to have chickens for sustainable eggs and meat, but I wouldn't want them to bother the neighbours. One of the neighbours has a kid that's getting into drumming, and while he's very respectful of the times we've asked him not to play, it can still be disruptive, which isn't his fault. I hear his parents are getting him an electronic drumkit for Christmas though, and I honestly can't wait for that.
Having everything more densely packed also means you don't have to go as far to get into nature. While there's not a lot of true nature left in the Netherlands, there are a LOT of smaller nature reserves here, and I can reach several of those in ~20-30 mins of biking. Having easy access to nature has been so important for my mental health the last few years
It extends beyond cleaning. Time, and energy too. I'm an energy auditor so I know in depth how these buildings operate from an energy standpoint. I'll see old 1950s homes with a little work perform better energy wise (total energy as well as energy per area) than brand new "efficient" homes.
There are multiple other factors making this more expensive.
These larger homes are usually in areas with higher incomes (or at least higher credit limits) and many contractors don't charge on the job, they charge on the client as in "how much can I get away with charging this guy" rather than 'what are my materials + 50% O&P that I'd charge to anyone regardless of who they are". I've seen with my own eyes the same area of driveway replacement cost almost 50% more in my friends richer neighbourhood, same work!
Larger homes have taller walls too, that means more siding to buy, more framing, more drywall, more paint, more moulding/trim. More insulation. Larger ceilings means more insulation and lights and such. More windows, I've seen larger homes with multiple furnaces and only 2 occupants! And what's more depressing is how all these homes look identical inside and out. They all have white/brown/beige/grey vinyl (plastic) siding. They all have white vinyl windows.
The energy/carbon intensity is insane with modern homes despite claims otherwise. I did some napkin math a while ago and found a 3-4k sqft home has enough materials to build two 1200 sqft homes. With some adjustments and such. Post war bungalows are my personal favourite and all I'd want to build/buy. We have a housing crisis in Canada at least, we still produce the same 200-250k dwelling units a year that we did in the 70s despite twice the population/labour force. Bigger homes are resulting in less homes being built. Something really needs to change.
I could have a bedroom skip the 'Livingroom' I've never used one as such make it a 'gaming room' then I'd need another room for my pets and one more for my crafting OH need to add a room for my plants too lmao
Rich people pay people to clean their large homes.
Once your house gets to a size where that is an issue, if you can afford a house like that you can also afford to pay someone to do those housekeeping functions.
I want a big house, not because I want a large family. But because I want "hobby rooms". I grew up in a 2800 sq ft home that had a space for everything. We had a TV game room, a hobby room, a music room, and an office. This was in central CA about 20 years ago and I miss that house so much. I never thought it felt like too much space, as every room got used, most of the time on the daily. It helped keep the spaces separate, and I never had to worry about picking up and cleaning up for the next project. As someone who spends 90% of there free time at home working on projects I want to feel comfortable and not cramped in my own living space. I hate not having an office, and having my bed a foot behind where I'm typing, as it becomes a struggle to work in the same room I sleep.
It's unfortunate you just can't find small houses in desirable areas. Or if you do, they are an insane amount of money. We recently viewed a house where the main living area was a kitchen/living room combo, and bedrooms were in tucked away wings. So you were either in a bedroom, basement, or in the kitchen/living room area. Being sold for half a mill. Crazy.
Tf? Where I live you can get a 3 story (Including the basement) house with plenty of space for like a family of 4 for only 300k, and its not even a cheap neighborhood, its right next to downtown.
A house of that size in Los Angeles county/suburbs costs 700k-800k. 😢
Smaller homes are more expensive to buy per square foot... But they are more inexpensive to maintain and live in. Finding that sweet spot is a challenge
All of the houses I've found near me that are reasonable sizes are either absurdly overpriced for the area or in neighborhoods with $500 monthly HOA payments.
@@ToomanyFrancis Same. 20 years ago our house was 183k. We currently have a 2 story home with 4 beds, 2.5 baths, partial basement, and 3 common living areas of kitchen, dinette, living room, family room, game room. We'd like to scale down to 3 beds, 2.5 baths, kitchen, 2 common living areas, basement. Those homes are like 550k. Can't justify smaller home, much much bigger monthly payment.
I work with my father doing drafting and residential construction (4-6 homes a year). We used to build mostly houses in the 1800-2600sf range (Pre 2012), now it seems like the smallest house we do is around 2800sf. We have done houses that are 4500sf+ for two people. Lots of rooms dedicated to one function or having two offices.
I definitely think more people are looking to 1-Up their peers in a lot of cases especially when there are a few friends building next to each other.
I also think there are few other reasons why houses keep getting larger. At least in North America.
1. The wants of the clients now are a lot more specific and they come in with a lot more requirements. Not only the house gets larger, but it makes it much harder to come up with a cohesive design. Especially when there are already a lot of constraints with the lot they may have. I've been noticing a lot of people wanting their living rooms with 20'+ Ceilings.
2. Price per sf is higher on a smaller home as opposed to a larger one when we price it out. Its pretty cheap to add a room that's just 4 walls without any fixtures.
3. Drafts people and the introduction of more easy-to-use design software has flooded plan websites with inefficiently designed homes. It seems like its a lot harder to find plans from Architecture firms that really account for proper human scale. A lot of times a client will bring in a set of plans they've paid for, and we have to rework/redraw it because of how many issues it has or the room and hall sizes are unnecessarily large.
4. I also think clients get nervous about investing in building a new house and not having enough space, especially when they are thinking this is the biggest purchase they will make. Its hard to explain to them function without them just defaulting to room sizes and sqft requirements.
Great video. I think the biggest issue with all of this can go back to zoning, the difficulty to get density and the lack of walkability or close access to groceries, work or stores. There are neighborhoods designed with walking trails and somewhat decent zoning but they take years to develop, cost too much for a normal person to create, and then what ends up happening is a supermarket like Walmart or Publix gets built across from the entrance. Then everyone just drives there instead of walking to what's nearby.
Large lots allow for people to just take up as much space as they want.
Brilliant comment on all fronts.
I've always had an interest in designing dwellings, my late father's interest in sustainability left a strong mark, & my own frustrations with the houses I've owned... all combined to lead me to seek out the best value materials & methods for building a reasonable PassivHaus-ish dwelling.
It's been years of research & putting ideas to pape...well, Sweet Home 3D file, heh. Going full ICF, southern gain, min E/W exposure with deep shade, floor as thermal mass (thermally broken foundation), no plumbing in envelope walls, picture & casement windows only, etc (plus some wild thermodynamic uses i don't see anyone else doing)...
Hope to buy land & get started early next year (know a great engineer in NM?). Tired of living in constantly degrading junk, dressed up nice for the Joneses & to impress their "friends"!
I think it’s also probably a shift in who’s looking to build homes. This generation is the poorest in a good bit so I was kinda shocked reading that but then I realized all is poor people aren’t building homes anymore they’re renting or finding a cheaper older home. The few people actually looking into building a home usually have a good chunk of money. I know home construction in general is way down, much less homes are being built and it’s a huge issue
Two offices might be a result of the pandemic, because there are more remote workers.
@@suigintouivanhoe1167 yeah, I work at home, i need a 70 cm deep table, a quiet, ventilated space and a good background.
Many developments don't let you build a small/normal size house, they specify minimum sizes and styles, or they might not even let you build your own house, and you have to build one of a few different designs they provide you.
I don’t want a 3,000 SQFT McMansion, don’t want a 900 SQFT early century craftsman. JUST BUILD 1500 SQFT HOMES
Same bro I jus want a small livable and well built place
Agreed. 1500-1800 sq ft is a great size for the vast majority of people
3,000 sq. ft. isn't a McMansion, they start at around twice that if you include the garage. We have one, my father was obsessed with it for decades and finally bought it. It's a gargantuan, bland joint with a huge 3-car garage that's mostly full of junk :)
I'm a single guy, I'd be fine with 1,000-1,500 square feet max and most of it is only for a good stereo system :)
3000 SQFT + 3 car garage + full basement is a McMansion to me. And a McMansion is more so a style of home you see in sprawling suburbs than a size of home.
@@SU1C1D3xPR4D4 Well, a McMansion is a big ass house that's cheaply built. Pretty sure that's the definition
One thing I would question. You made note of the study where they tracked families and where they spend their time during they day, with 68% being in the kitchen/dining area. A huge thing that would effect those stats is just the general size of the house. I live in a 1400sqf house with 4 kids, and I've found when the kids rooms are clean and everything is put away they LOVE to spend time in "their space" doing arts and crafts or playing legos etc.. but as soon as those rooms get messy, the kids quickly spill out into the common areas like the dining room table with their games and crafts etc...
So it would be really interesting to see the room size and cleanliness of the homes used in that study.
I think for older kids access to electronics in their bedrooms would probably make a big difference too. We were never allowed to have TVs in our rooms growing up (mostly before the age of streaming), and so if we wanted to watch TV we had to be in the living room. And we didn't have our own computers until college when you can't really get by without one. But now that schools give 10-year-olds computers/ipads, they don't need to be in the living room to watch things, because they can probably access it all on their own devices.
Interesting observation. I'll have to watch now if that's the reason my kid spills over into the living room 😅
Thank you for adding the measurements in meters and not just in feet, as someone that doesn't live in USA it was very helpful :)
Roughly divide square feet by 10 = +/- m2
@@g.baaijer557 or you could learn to the the international unit of measure. My comment wasn't helpful? well neither was yours.
I've lived in both and now Canada, where there are both. I constantly am having to bring my mobile/cell phone out to convert. It's so messy! Just include both.
@@SilkyCayla That was bitchy. Why would you insult someone who tried to help?
@@tracienielson7183 you perceived their comment as helpful i perceived it as bitchy...
My husband and I have to move a lot, and between our books and my husband's board game collection, half the battle is finding not square footage so much as just uninterrupted wall space. We're basically a community library, wherever we go, and it’s a great way to build new networks. Either way, we tend to measure our spaces in uninterrupted linear feet, rather than square footage. Our current library is deeply annoying, because our books line all the walls, and we are not going to buy furniture just to fill the giant dead space in the middle, when we only have two years left in this town.
Uninterrupted wall space is so hard to find I feel like. I have a lot of books too, and finding adequate space to put shelves is so hard. Like, no I don't want windows on three separate walls, I just want walls, so I can put up my bookshelves! My mom always said I was a vampire though, so in most spaces, I would just prefer less windows overall.
@@elise85391 I agree so much. We’d take out some windows (or at least make them smaller) if we could, it’s not like we have a view… here’s an enormous picture window, of a fence or a brick wall… 😡.
Wall space in living areas feel like an endangered species 😂
I too have this problem . I want places to put my furniture on ! our last place had 2 large sliding glass doors on one wall about 33 ft long and I Hated them ! our new place has less closets and one less outside door/window but enough light to be happy but different wall space which makes space planning tricky . more wall space is a must for bookshelves ,a cozy sofa and or chair
We have a similar problem not so much with books but Lego. Between my husband's huge childhood Lego collection and now my son's ever increasing Lego collection there is a lot of built Lego on display and not a lot of wall space left to add more. Almost need a separate structure just to house all that Lego lol
Book cases don't need to be on walls. Fill the dead space. Turn a couple rooms into actual libraries with aisles between stand alone bookshelves.
As an introvert, though, a private space not used for sleeping is paramount
Yes!!! Introverts unite! Separately...lol
They don't care. The socialists will not tolerate introversion.
Introverts are ruining society
Same. I love my family but I *need* to be able to get away from them from time to time. The fact that I have a basement where I can spread my art projects out and just vibe for an hour or two before bed is huge for my mental health. Our two bedroom/one bathroom apartment was fine before we had a kid, but I'd be pretty miserable if we hadn't gotten lucky and found a larger place
@@SnoopEastwood Extroversion is fundamental to fascism. You are a fascist, cope.
If you view houses only as market investments, and not places to live, then size is a better attribute than subjective quality, or even built integrity.
If you build in the middle of nowhere, yes build big. In an actual city costs are driven by the location more than size.
Size to a certain point. I live in the west suburbs of Chicago and prior to the pandemic houses were much easier to sell if they were $350,000 or less. More than that was a much tougher sell.
@@mick0matic Your not wrong. Rent seeking is very profitable. Why work when you can let the community work hard to raise the property values :P
I used to work at a hardware store that was very near a Mcmansion neighborhood and we made deliveries for the customers that lived there. Especially air filters for the HVAC unit, which we installed for the customers. I saw the interiors of a lot of these homes and they were largely empty. The average living room, was easily 500 ft/sq and usually contained a single couch and a small TV.
The owners were sinking everything they had into financing the home, at the cost of everything else and that aint living.
50 sq metres is so huge
@@peterkiprop1 And just a small couch and a small TV sitting on a folding TV dinner stand.
And the HVAC filters for those homes were huge and expensive as well. You could see the life draining out of the customers eyes when it came time to pay.
I feel like the amount of space needed for comfort is very relative. If you live in a city like New York, you don't really need a lot of cooking or entertaining space because there are restaurants to suit almost any budget. You don't need bookshelves all over because their are giant libraries with anything you could want. You don't really need a laundry room because you can do your washing at a laundromat or have your laundry sent out. The more rural the area you live though, the more your life needs to be self-contained. I don't have a decent French bakery for miles and miles and miles from my house. If I want French patisserie, I need to make it myself. There are good museums sort of near me, about a 2-3 hour drive. That's not super convenient, so I have multiple floor to ceiling bookshelves for things like art books.
When I lived in Paris I was pretty happy living in an apartment the size of a generous closet. Living in New England though, I need vastly more stuff to have the same quality of life.
Actually this was a very intelligent way of sizing up different environments that one can live in and how a persons home can be vastly different given their surrounding environment.
@@BipolarAbusiveX And the award for the most absolutely provincial comment goes to... Poor grammar and thinking libraries and restaurants are a waste of time and money? 10/10
@@globalautobahn1132 It's not something a lot of people think about. People who have never lived in a city think tiny apartments look claustrophobic, but the whole point of living in a city is *living all over the city.* The same goes for people who put tiny houses on land that abuts a National Park or something. If you're super outdoorsy and basically just plan to sleep and cook simple meals indoors during the winter, you really don't need much interior space.
Claustrophobia can mean different things to different people. Living in a more rural setting, in a very adequately sized house I feel more boxed in than I felt living in tiny apartments in New York or Paris because if I want to do the things I love, like shopping for designer clothes, going to the opera, visiting museums, I generally have to plan well in advance. (Admittedly, I feel less confined than I did in LA. It's the fucking worst. It takes twelve years to get anywhere, nothing is centralized, and there's barely any culture. It's the worst of city and country living rolled into one.)
@@Bunny-ch2ul LA is the worst... excluding any city in Texas. When I lived in Texas my city didn't even have a bus stop.
Living in NYC requires enormous amounts of money. Low budget food is virtually assured to be garbage. Doing laundry in the basement of an apartment complex is easy for a 26 year old, but very difficult for anybody who is disabled. Urban living may be hell on earth for some, or heaven on earth for others.
McMansion Hell is incredible. She has no business being that insightful AND hilarious.
I thought the exact opposite, pure garbage. No valid criticism, just "This looks stupid".
Ex: Many McMansions exist to mock the concept of architectural consistency and historical continuity. This is one of them. About every single type of expanded second-story window elaboration exists here: bay window, covered balcony, juliet balcony. None of them work.
None of this has any substance. Why don't those work? Because the person said so.
@@player276 well IT would be better She proposed something better. But Her points Are Valid.
I really like McMansions that aren’t too overdone
@Steve Sherman I do not. I just looked at the pictures she provided and they honestly look fine. Several aren't to my liking but the criticism is simply nonsensical. McMansions with uniformity are stated to be "boring and unoriginal" and McMansions with variety are stated to be "clashing styles".
@@player276 Are you familiar with Brent Hull?
I feel a three or four bedroom house is the sweet spot because if you have extra bedrooms as an elderly person, you have bedrooms enough for other people to live with you and take care of you. If you only have one bedroom, that option doesn't exist. I know someone in that very fix. He's afraid of falling down in his one-bedroom condo and no one even knowing.
We’ll be honest with you as you get older you’re likely going to be in a situation where you need long term care (nursing home) or an aide who comes in daily to help. Both options are very expensive unless you purchase long term care insurance which most don’t
@@SaintGBar22 There are lots of ways to handle things. A nursing home or assisted living cost more than hiring someone. If you own a house, it does make it easier to have a companion. You could even make a deal that someone lives with you in exchange for not paying rent.
That's a very specific reason though, and not really relevant unless you're nearing the age of 70 or so
@@Roanmonster Unless we die earlier, we will all be nearing the age of 70 at some point.
FOUR bedroom is a "sweet spot"? Bruh
We went and built a large home for our multi-generational household. Granted, we live in a rural area, I work from home so I needed a home office where I can shut the door, and a litany of other needs that have us using all but the spare bedroom in the basement every day for many hours. How much space you actually need is heavily dependent on your use case, and ours is substantially different than most.
and typically when discussing home sizes and the pointless expansive homes, typically the discussion is on single family, single/bi-generational homes (family with grand parents), with 2-3 kids.
larger families will also need more space than a smaller one just because of the space people take up.
generally also having a job from home means that you should at have a dedicated area for your job. so you can at least have a space that when you are done with work you can leave and forget about. and if you dont have the space (i.e. dont have a spare room to use for your work desk) you should atleast have a desk that can fold out of the way when you are done so you don't have the visual stress of work. Old roll top desks are a great option as well.
@@Reverend_Salem it's also mostly in urban or suburban areas
Rural population in 1st world countries are generally in the 10-30% area and the functions of a rural house are generally broader and more significant (i literally don't know anyone in an urban environment that has an actual pantry for example)
@@Reverend_Salem i will remember the roll top desk.
Even in school a designer will still come home and see alot of work that must be done.
Especially for a person like me who wants to move apartments to have better infrastructural connection to my school...
Almost 3 hours on train which I can barely use, but are very needed.
Great point and thank you.
Having to completely re-arrange a room to switch functions, like the 300 square foot home that transformed between bedroom and entertaining area, is going to be a non-starter for many people with physical or mental disabilities, and only a dedicated minimalist for whom organization and tidying are a fun hobby, is actually going to enjoy such a space.
The traditional 1000 square foot homes also often had basements and/or additional outbuildings, shed, barns, etc that could be used for storage or hobbies. Out buildings are less common in a modern city, and units in a high rise have neither basements nor outbuildings, so these changes forcing the home itself to be a few hundred square feet bigger. The growing popularity of working from home will also push minimum comfortable size requirements up, add an extra "bed" room, or perhaps one per adult in the home, as private office(s). But the reduction in commuting should make it a win for the environment. That probably puts one in the 1500 foot range, or 2000 if one needs/want spacious rooms, so still far short of a McMansion.
Layout and location definitely matter, plus what functions are needed of the space. Someone who is an avid book lover might want a library, but someone who doesn't have anything they physically collect may be comfortable in a smaller space for example. If you don't spend a lot of time entertaining or don't have a lifestyle which uses spaces such as dining rooms, those can be converted into use for other functions. An interesting note is also the inclusion of pets. While there might not be more than 2-4 humans living in a space, there is greater awareness in recent decades of just how much space is appropriate for the well being of various animal species. I would say it's not uncommon for people to have a dedicated space for animals within the home, especially those who venture beyond just cats or dogs. (Dog owners especially may seek out single family homes or other units with adequate yard space/fences.)
I think layout is really key though, a 1500 sf home with a layout that matches up well with a person/people's lifestyle can be just as comfortable as a 2000-2500 sf layout that is badly designed or is just not a good match for someone's needs. Space that is efficient and allows for a person to transition between different activities well can cut out a lot of stress and distraction. Poor design choices lead to inefficient spatial use. I wonder how many people in the last few years bought homes that weren't a great match for them simply because everything moved so quickly, they didn't have enough time to properly evaluate the space for function? I could see this leading to people overbuying for what they need, just to ensure they get something that's big enough and not looking too closely at the details.
A 1000 square foot house probably has an additional 500 to 1000 square in it's basement that isn't counted toward the official square footage. This makes it a lot larger than a 1000 square foot apartment.
If one works from home, a dedicated office, while not strictly necessary, makes it easier setup a proper ergonomic chair and desk to prevent repetitive strain injuries, as well as to avoid interruptions or background noise from other residents. The latter is going to be pretty much essential for some jobs. And adding 100 square feet or so to one's home is going to be better for the environment than driving to the office 5 days a week.
Many hobbies require a work area, and a dedicated room for them can be a big quality of life boost. It separates hobby mess and clutter from the living areas of the home.
@@TrystansArt your life might not need as much space as anothers.
If your married you need more space also if your a home body like me then more space is favorable then going to a place do w n the street even if its not an inconvenience to leave your home.
1000 sq ft is not ideal with children or with spouses with different interests then you
@@TrystansArt so WHAT if it's "very American"?? Not everyone has a complex about resenting their own country, or thinking that other nations must inherently have it better. People doing more stuff at home doesn't necessarily mean they socialize less, as the video itself pointed out, smaller spaces isn't conducive to gatherings.
@@TrystansArt to be fair 2,000 sq. ft. is smaller than the average size house.
As someone from the UK which has some of if not THE smallest houses in Europe, American houses always seemed huge to me. I can only dream of having enough money to have a house that isn't attached to another or one that has a garage/drive.
We have too many people and not enough room, also we don't build enough homes year on year.
England has some very large mansions and manor houses that the US was inspired by
I would've assumed houses in the UK would be among the biggest in Europe considering how wealthy of a country you guys have been throughout history.
You shouldn't be envious of Americans who live in private fiefdoms in these semi-rural developments which are usually borderline impossible to form communities in. Antisocial behavior isn't something you're meant to be instilling in entire generations of citizens. Human beings are inherently social and they for all of their history of tended to be in dense places where they can know and form alliances with very nearby families for the purpose of building a safer, more trusting and more resilient community.
I repeat: do not ever envy Americans living in McMansions who only ever end up staying in these little private holding cells and developing weird complexes that keep them distrustful of everyone, especially neighbors.
@@poptart8804I completely agree, the US lifestyle is not something to be inspired by, especially for the fact that it is carcentric as hell because of the giant suburbs. To me there is honestly no problem with a house that has enough bedrooms for the people living there, which is well-isolated so you're not bothered by the neighbours' sounds, and that has easy access to public transit, shops etc.
@@poptart8804Everyone can live whatever lifestyle they want, not everyone wants to live in big dirty cities like London, NYC, Paris etc hearing nothing but construction, and random crackheads screaming on the street. Also I have lots of friends and talk to lots of people in my little suburb of Carmel, Indiana
Also My suburb has miles of biking path from westfield to carmel, feels like netherlands.
If you look at many older homes, they are smaller in size and made use of yard space for outdoor activities. In many newer housing tracts and McMansion neighborhoods, the house takes up all of the land footprint and hardly any yard to enjoy. It's really a shift to generations who want house space just to have house space, and don't go outside to enjoy their yard. Not to mention the awful architecture of McMansions and the illusion that more is better.
I also thought that having a big house was the way to go when I was younger, but now I realize that's just more cost, more space to clean, and higher utilities. I'd rather have a smaller house that is well designed and built, with yard space and access to trails and woods.
The problem is the land value has increased so much that it isn't worth it anymore for developers to build on large lots. Especially anywhere where multi-family development is allowed, a big lot would just get a bunch of townhouses on it instead of a small house.
Big houses are not houses. They are ways to make money, and are an investments. Build a 15 million dollar house , flip it for 20. Easy 5 million. Why a 20 million dollar house? Because its not a house, its a place for people to party. Cause 20 million is nothing when you have 100s of millions. You don't want 1000 of guests in your real house.
Once air conditioning, home computers and cable TV came into common use, most Americans quit spending time out of doors. Now that most Americans spend their free time playing video games or on the internet? There is no reason to waste money on an unused big yard, just to hire someone else to mow it.
Out of all the homes I’ve had, the yard was the biggest selling point. However, the factor of needing to become a caregiver for parents as they get older is now playing into my preferences. I also run 3 businesses with my husband and homeschool, which add to the necessary space. With those in mind, a 4k-7k home is ideal… bigger than that would be too hard to clean, but smaller and the parent we’re caring for would be way too much in my personal space. Without moving, we are a family of 6 in 2800 sq.ft. which is tight because of the businesses, but works, and we have to travel 45 minutes regularly to care for her which isn’t great. I know this video is an argument against big houses but moving up would be ideal for people in my situation.
Some of us just don't like maintaining a yard.
As someone who grew up in a big suburban house (3000+ sf) with all my friends in similar homes, I’ve learned to love the peace that larger living spaces provide. Being able to live with other people but also get away from them is a huge luxury you may not appreciate until it’s taken away. Some of my fondest memories are playing with childhood friends in the basements of our homes, able to be kids and play away from parents yet close enough if we needed them. I couldn’t imagine living a childhood stuck in an apartment, condo, or small family home.
I think your comment really highlights the difference between more urban and suburban living culture that can be hard to notice if you haven't experienced both. In the suburbs you are right that most times you are literally "stuck" in the home as a kid. Most lots are large and distant from each other with limited options beyond driving anywhere to "get away" which, at least in America, isn't an option until kids are 16/17 AND have a car at their disposal. Having that extra space to have friends over and play was vital, ironically, because of the fact that the home you grew up in had so much space. Contrast that in more walkable urban areas and those smaller spaces like an apartment or condo don't feel so constraining when you can leave and meet friends in public spaces outside of the home like a park or library.
I agree. Growing up with 3 sisters (4 girls) the big house was big enough to one to practise piano, one to find a quiet corner with a book, one to run around with a friend and the youngest could still have a nap. A big old house in Virginia was a great place to grow up.
Suburban dystopia with no community and enforced alienation is chefs kiss perfect.
Go outside?
Its not just the size of your house! Its how close your neighbors are and how loud the traffic from the street is! 2 very important location factors!
in case your wondering thats how city dwellers survive in tiny apartments several stories from the ground
the feeling of house size requirements is directly proportional to how much time you spend there. for someone who leaves the house maybe twice a week I'm constantly wishing for more space.
I think it works both ways, you stay home a lot because you have a large home or you're constantly out because you have a small one. Once you find your goldilocks space it becomes about maintaining it so it stays just the right size.
Eh, depends on the person. I'm a shy introvert which means homebody and my 730 sq ft apartment is plenty. I could do smaller as long as it had storage options, but overall I think the space is pretty much perfect. Just wish I had a garage for working on little projects haha. Like the video stated, people tend to spend their time in just a couple spots (same is true for me). More space would be kinda pointless for me.
I would take a smaller size house with a large wooded lot with maybe a small lake or stream.
I've always like the idea of a smaller house until I ended up in a wheelchair and can no longer turn in the hallway so I don't have access to half of my house.
There is also a degree of the size of property you were raised in, I grew up in a small, UK, 2up 2down house, bumping elbows all the time. As an adult, I knew I wanted more space and have thankfully got it. Those early experiences formed a lasting need.
In my experience, a 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom, 1400 sg ft house is more than adequate for a family of 4, if it is well designed. Unfortunately, many small homes of this size are poorly designed with small windows, low ceilings, and poorly arranged chopped up spaces.
that's it! Poor design is a killer.
Every kid should have their own bedroom at the minimum.
And if a family wants more than something merely adequate and can afford it, what then? Fine or imprison them?
@@robinlillian9471 then they say it's a matter of "wanting" and not "needing"
@@robinlillian9471 Whoa! Back up Chicka. In no way am I implying that wanting more is wrong. If you can afford it and want it, go for it. I was simply trying to express "Not So Big" principles that higher quality with less square feet can be more rewarding than lower quality with more square feet. There are a series of books called the "Not So Big House" that you might want to read. Bigger houses mean bigger mortgages, more maintenance, more housekeeping, more environmental impact, etc. I know lots of people who live in big houses and they don't even use many of the rooms like the formal living room, dining room and extra bedrooms. Why have it if you don't use it. I also think that there might be some logic in buying a house that wouldn't be too large for retirement. You might not want to want to maintain a 3000 sq ft house when you're 65.
I grew up in a 100 year old two story farmhouse with a full basement. The basement was bare concrete walls and floors but it was clean and dry. I was kinda shocked when I first saw how small single level houses were in comparison. As a kid I just thought everyone had houses that size. If anything, I think most dwellings have gotten smaller over the years as people have fewer and fewer children. Most of the old houses around where I grew up where about the same, big old farmhouses. Lots of bedrooms.
Yes, and many people do not have houses. Work is becoming so scarce, that not many people are able to find work that pays the rent or bills. You are a farmer, so you'll always have skillsets that other people won't. But, for most of us, never having been around heavy equipment or dangerous work environments, our options are limited.
@B. K. Neifert I'm not a farmer. My dad was an owner operator truck driver for 35 years. They just needed a house big enough for several kids. I own a business of my own. I'll never work for anyone ever again. Jobs pay too little now for the cost of living. They wanna advertise $25/hour starting pay but cap you at 40 hours. Then they take taxes out and you're left with dogwater.
@@BKNeifert Tradesmen make bank. You're never too old to learn a trade. I know several welders that retired at 40 or 50. Same with plumbers, electricians, and a whole host of other trades.
@@twistedpixel2558 I have a trade. I'm a writer. I'm doing this because I want to avoid the problem so many Americans are having lately. As well as everyone else around the world. I hope to cause a lot of thought about it, and help people realize the problem.
I saw something somewhere about how people have WAY more possessions now than they used to. So they may have fewer kids, but it's generally expected that each kid would need or want their own room, instead of everyone having to share with at least one sibling. And that's not to say that a lot of us don't have way too much stuff, but that's the way it is for people right now. You need more space per person to accommodate all the extra stuff that each of us owns.
I remember being struck by just how lonely and isolating really big houses are even when everybody is home.
Don you think its something you get used to? Just like you get used to not feeling cramped living in a tiny house.
But that's just you. That's personal. It's not a flaw. For me it's the opposite. Only large spaces give me enough room to be comfortable living with other people.
And not only do I need my space alone in this very literal sense, I also need space for every single one of my hobbies and my work.
Space, and foremost space that is private, is the most useful thing a person can own. Private space pretty much equals possibility.
This is the only place where you can do anything you want the way you want.
No community space can fulfill this need. In my workshop on my property I can work the way I want whenever I want.
I can walk in there in the middle of the night after an idea struck me and start working on it.
@@sparklesparklesparkle6318 You must be fun to interact with
@@sparklesparklesparkle6318 Groovy
@@sparklesparklesparkle6318 Come on. Seriously?
I don't get violent, though there certainly are moments when I'd like to.
I think we have that much control over ourself, don't we?
But the fact that the presence of other human beings gets me to the point where I have to suppress this anger says it all.
That takes a lot of energy.
Energy I could use elsewhere.
So I either live alone or with lots of space in case I live with another person.
But having that work space where I can do as I please is the most important thing.
If I had to use someone else's space and play by their rules I'd never get anything done.
It's interesting watching this from the UK, where houses are generally getting smaller and have been small for a long time. Where I grew up, the vast majority of people lived in small terraced houses. You'd have 2/3 bedrooms, a single bathroom, a kitchen-diner and a living room, with maybe a basement.
These were originally worker's cottages for the mills. You'd sometimes find a family in one or two rooms. Of course, back then there wouldn't have been an indoor bathroom.
The house I lived in was fairly average for the area. I found in the 1881 census, there were 12 people living there. A couple with 8 children, a grandmother and a lodger.
Now, houses are rarely that overcrowded, but homes are still very small on the whole. Some new build houses have second bedrooms barely large enough to fit a single bed in. The rooms are often too small to be of any practical use. As much as American homes are often too big, be wary of going too far the other way.
I think the U.K. has a particular problem which the US doesn’t - we value houses based on number of beds, in the US it’s sq ft, I believe. Hence why we see homes with ridiculously tiny rooms
Interestingly, there's a perception the US has the biggest houses, though actually Australia has the largest average house size in the world, and the US is second. I've noticed however in Google Maps satellite shots, their lots tend to be tiny relative to the size of the house, and while US homes tended to have large lots, especially those built from the 1950's into the 80's, US home lots are getting much smaller, as well.
This is common as well in the USA in older areas. For home built before WW2, bungalow style homes were often small 2- or 3-bedroom homes with 1 bath, Usually the garage was detached. Even mid-century modern homes were relatively smaller.
Theyre always built for maximum profitability by the developer too; poor materials, shoddy assembly, pointlessly detached and priced at the maximum thrrshold for the help to buy scheme. Housing codes are so laxly enforced because thryre mainly built to sell to landlords, and the landlord industrial complex of developers, portfolio owners and estate agents/banks run parliament
@@Fortramnasdaq Unfortunately, Buyers who purchase properties are just as responsible for the size of home and quality being built. In my area ( California, US), if a builder spends a vast amount of money for a lot, in order to get a return on it, he has to build a substantial size of home. If the builder builds a 1200 sf home, the market is extremely limited for that home. So, there needs to be home at least 2200+ sf for them to make their return. In other states, some parcels/lots sell for as little as $30k, so the demands are less. But in my area where buildable parcels start at $500k+, the size of the home as doubled due to Buyer demands.
I find my one bedroom apt to be ideal for me and my cat. I wouldn’t want more space, but I will add the caveat that my vintage apartment has a walk in closet and a very large bathroom closet (made from weird spaces that you don’t typically find in newer construction) that makes the living spaces more open as I definitely have a few more pieces of clothing and decorations than a minimalist. You might say it’s like having an extra .5 of a room.
my apartment is kinda similar, 1bd 1 bath, large closet in my bedroom though just a minimal closet in the living room and hall to the bedroom (really, just a coat and linin closet). I kind of have enough room but what I would really like is at least one more, that and tbh I'm not a huge fan of apartments but it's what I can afford right now (the people who live in my roof are not too bad but they are noisy at times as you would expect, and I'm always worried about disturbing the people who live in my floor...) now if I could have a bedroom, a good living room, a "gaming" room and a room for my military history collection, I would be set. Preferably a basement as one of those rooms.
We bought our first home last year (3 ppl, 1900sq ft) and it feels massive compared to where we came from. One thing that can drastically change the feel if your home is the storage/closets/shelving.
I think houses are growing because of consumerism. Ppl own way more than they need.
I think this when I see some of my youtubers do stuff around their house. They will have a "single family home" as one person and I see the kitchen which makes me feel like you could feed several families out of it. I wonder how all these people find the time to clean all that space lol!
I grew up in a 4200 sq.ft home with a big garden, and now live in a very central 240 sq.ft apartment. Both have their pros and cons!
In 1980, on average UK houses boasted 75 SQM of space, but in 2020, the average house size is now at around 67 SQM, which is an average decrease of -18.61%.
Similar decrease in Finland
that's very interesting! was there also a raise in popularity on tiny houses in the uk in the last couple of years?
@@im_youknow_marty No. Quite the reverse. It results from environmentalists' demands that we use less land for building, so the Government imposed a rule so that houses have to be built at much higher density. That rule came into force about 2005. Since then houses are much more closely packed together and smaller. Back in the 50s we were building 10 homes to the acre for private housing, now it's nearer 20 or 25.
I spent a lot of time at home-stays in Costa Rica and noticed a big variance in the average home size depending on the region. Houses in much of Costa Rica are very small--because most people spend the majority of their time at work or outside. But this works because of the climate and weather; it is neither too hot nor too cold to do so. However, there are areas of the country where it rains a great deal of the time, and in those areas the houses are much bigger, more like the average US house, because the people spend a lot more of their time inside. I'd say in much of the US the climate/weather combination is also a big factor underlying the average house size whether that's conscious or not. Also our culture encourages more individual isolation than some others. Most of us don't have public spaces near our homes that we can reach without getting in a car and driving somewhere. Other countries like the Netherlands do, and from videos I've watched it looks like their living spaces are also generally smaller than our norm.
I really am resonating with your bit of the social aspect. My home just doesn't feel right to host friends because it just old and small and just not laid out for that.
Another friend has a basement and bigger multipurpose rooms that just feel right and encourages social events.
Yeah. I thought this was part of the correlation vs causation issue with the video. If all your neighbors want large houses then probably there is a reason for that and probably you want a large house too. But if all your neighbors are happy with a small house (because they are single instead of a family of six) then probably you are single too.
Of course, people are often envious of their neighbors as well, but it's hard to tease out how much is nonsense envy and how much is reasonable.
@@baronvonjo1929out of curiosity, you don't have a front/back yard patio or other flat space you can put out tables + chairs on?
I just recently purchased my first house. Very modestly sized bungalow with only the first floor and a basement. This is PLENTY enough space for me and my small family. In fact, personally, in terms of the living area SIZE, I would have been satisfied with living in a condo or apartment my entire life if it wasn't for two things. I believe these two reasons are actually the reasons why most people want a house. It's not really for the space. 1. Noisy/annoying neighbors (lack of privacy) and 2. No backyard. Your very own, private backyard, even if it's a small one, is a godsend. Nothing beats having your own private outdoor space, specially if you have animals.
Agreed! Also for anyone with a "noisy" hobby, i.e. singing, dancing, instruments etc. living in a shared building is not practical unless it is soundproofed VERY well. Thankfully I have other hobbies but I do feel sad that I'm not able to full-on dance/sing because I worry about bothering other people. Growing up in a single family home it's not something I ever really thought about, but spending a lot of time in apartments the last few years I realize how essential it is to my well being.
You forgot smokers. I don’t mind noise too much, but I want a SFH so I don’t have to be breathing in weed and cigarette smoke when I exit my apartment every day.
Main reasons I want a house, living in an apartment now: 1.) by far: I own it. 2.) garage lol 3.) yard
Out of all the homes I’ve had, the yard was the biggest selling point. However, the factor of needing to become a caregiver for parents as they get older is now playing into my preferences. I also run 3 businesses with my husband and homeschool, which add to the necessary space. With those in mind, a 4k-7k home is ideal… bigger than that would be too hard to clean, but smaller and the parent we’re caring for would be way too much in my personal space. Without moving, we are a family of 6 in 2800 sq.ft. which is tight because of the businesses, but works, and we have to travel 45 minutes regularly to care for her which isn’t great. I know this video is an argument against big houses but moving up would be ideal for people in my situation.
Rent office space/storage space for your businesses. 4k is just wasteful.
@@networth00 haha.. I’ve always thought the exact opposite, that it would be wasteful to spend the extra on office space or storage space. I’d rather make everything I do fit in the space I’m in. I’m not in a 4k space but goodness it seems appealing in my situation. Especially where a good chunk of the space would be an apartment for family we would be caregivers for.
Just out of curiosity, why is combining your office space into your home wasteful? I see it as a way to save time and money as I work from home, but I’d love to understand your perspective better.
@@aqueen13 I didn't say combining your office space into your home wasteful... I said a 4000 home would be wasteful. You're telling me you can't get by on a 2800 sqft home. LOL. Trust me, people make it work, and have an office, with WAY less square footage.
@@networth00 ah.. I must have just misread your comment about combining the office space. I didn’t say 2800 couldn’t work, I literally said I was making it work with 2800 sqft for a family of 6. It just isn’t always easy… This gives zero room for a MIL apartment, which makes caregiving life difficult because she doesn’t live close. I guess to each their own. I’m not planning on moving anytime soon, but I definitely get why people in my position would choose to.
I was just curious of the why behind your thoughts on space being wasteful. Personally I think it is wasteful if you’re in a home larger than you could regularly use each of the spaces. If there are enough people in the family that every space is heavily used then it seems fine. I would hate to live in a gigantic home where it’s easy to lose track of your kids… those seem like wasteful space to me.
I guess it depends somewhat on the layout of the house though because sometimes if the layout of a smaller home is done right it can feel bigger than a larger home and fit a large family more easily.
as my father once told me: "son, it doesnt matter how big your house is, you can only enjoy one room at a time....also, it doesnt matter how many cars you own. you can only drive one at a time."
The car thing is not usable in your quote, Car's unlike a house or a room in a house have vastly different use cases. I can't take a pirus and hook it to my 40' foot gooseneck trailer and pull 35k lbs of stuff. And on the flip side the truck needed to pull that trailer and weight is not going to be a good city car and MPG queen. I have 3 vehicles, one is the towing truck, the second is good MPG city car for going into town for shopping and what not. And the third is an old truck that is used around the property as a work truck, it is smaller in size to the tow rig and is easier to maneuver around the property.
I agree that massive houses are stupid for most. I worked in the housing world for a decade building very large smart homes and doing their low voltage work (cameras, large home theaters, and so on). I have been in 24k+ sq ft homes and watched as a family of 6 only ever used about 1800 sq ft of that house. Hell I have been working in rooms and had one of the owners (wife in this case) hear something come find me and then say they didn't even know this room was there.
When I medically retired I built me a small 900sq ft house out in the middle of nowhere. Best thing I ever did!
Wouldn't it be even more environmentally friendly to just live under a tarp by a river. That way you don't need to inhabit a environmentally unfriendly apartment anymore.
My father said it's not the house size that matter, it's how you use it. 🤣
@@TdrSld Truck works out for you better than a tractor? I don't use many different cars, but thats because I use my tractor for stuff around the house.
@@TdrSld the fact that you're thoughtful about what possessions of yours are actually useful for you puts you ahead of most other people.
I bought a property in Mexico that was 12 meters by 20 meters, and at the time I thought it was small. By American standards it is small but as we started building I realized I have more than enough room for a two bedroom house, car park king, and green space. When the design is well put together, space can be used efficiently.
I'm highly skeptical of that 100-400 sq ft number. I feel like my space needs aren't particularly high, and I find myself wanting around 800-1000 as a single person. Just under 700 has most of my needs covered, but I'd like to have a personal workshop and room for a dining table and couch (my living room/dining room is serving quadruple duty housing my computer desk, painting desk, soldering desk, and 3d Printing station). Space to display the minis I print and paint is also a plus.
They are literally insane to think 100 square feet for a person would be adequate!!! That's a bathroom!! to live in!! That's the size of the bedroom in a mid size camper. To do EVERYTHING!!
if I had more space, I'd like to have a sewing room/ guest room.
@@michah321 i am living ( im 13 btw ) in a 370sq ft or 34sq m and with my mom and i its not cramped at all , this is thanks to communism that built massive amounts of block of flats , most of the flats in 1970s had like 3 children and parents in 30sq m
@@poxekk well I'm glad it's not crowded and you like it. I live by myself in a 2400 square foot house that was built in 1915. I love it. I guess every body being different makes the world go around. 😊
He doesn't source it, and only mentions it in passing.
This entire video is a joke.
If the room I'm in isn't like 200 sqft, if it isn't a functional room (bathroom, kitchen) it feels cramped to me... and that's alone. More than two people in a 200 sqft room is busy for me.
One of the oddest things I've noticed about a lot of newer homes in my area is that they have next to no yard space. I don't know why you'd want to build a big home if it came at the cost of not having any place to enjoy outside.
The lots qare too expensive to not build
Less mowing (but more vacuuming:-)
If you like being outside, then why do you live that close to other people?
True. I live in a small house but I have a big yard. I have seen houses that are built literally close enough to their neighbors that you could jump from Roof to Roof without an issue. I would hate being that close to my neighbors.
A lot of it is cultural. For example in L.A. a rich person from the Midwest wants lawns and gardens the neighbors see, with the house set back from the street - like a mini English manor house or castle, while a rich person from Iran wants their own wall right at the edge of the lot line so the courtyard has that private space for their own famly - like a Persian palace.
As someone with a passion for multiple creative endeavors, like music making with multiple acoustic instruments, photography and DIY projects, all of which occupies quite a lot of space, I feel like I could never live in a small city apartment like the ones you showed at the beginning of the video. For someone who only stays close to a pc screen or feels comfortable having to do everything outside the house that might work very well indeed and the extra space might even be useless. I think it’s all about knowing yourself and what you need to avoid spending extra money on floor space you almost never uses
I agree! Personally, one day I would love to have a library room, since I collect books and enjoy reading. But most people would have no use for that space. I wish there were more unique kinds of homes to choose from.
Do you need those endeavors in the living space with you, or could they be in a separate studio? Depending on the type of endeavor, many people are fine with the spaces being separate (as long as they are close enough to be useful). This also has the benefit of not paying for more space than needed at any given time; activities can be picked up or dropped, without moving or having empty space in the interim.
There are a lot of people with the exact same passion and interests that you have. You're not that special.
@@miltonwelch4177 He wasn't claiming to be.
OP didn't touch on this. But this is actually the reason behind the creation of studio apartments. Studio apartments we're built in old warehouses (where manufacturing used to exist) and it was used for creatives such as yourself. These warehouses had cement floors and lots of open space and some even had galleries! Reality is, this time has long gone and every apartment in warehouse districts are fucking expensive now.
My dad was one of the GCs got a previous Orlando Magic owner. He took me out to the house because it was an opportunity to see the true 0.1%, I had friends that were for sure part of the 1%. The house was ridiculous. The size of a small shopping mall. 5 usable stories, 1 rotunda story, 2 stories below ground. We went into the ballroom and I said "this is huge" and he said "by Sq ft this is twice the size of our house" and I thought my house was big.
This reminds me of that tour of the Kardashian house where the bathroom was so big just walking from one part of it to another would feel like a hassle.
It's certainly a queer condition when people's houses get so ludicrous they actually become less functional.
We live in a half-timbered farmhouse (Germany) from 1861, still well preserved and historical looking. Because these types of farmhouses had their barns, stables, cowsheds, coops etc all together in one building, the house is 280+ qm (~ 3013 sqft) . As a family of eight more than two decades ago, the house fitted more then well for all kids and us adults (requiered much housework, garden, etc). I still love my house, it has a history and a soul :) Getting older - in my 60 now, I look forward to live in a much tinier space, but still in this beloved place. I think I would be happy living in 50 qm (~ 530 sqft) max. :)
Being in the middle of a move across country and into a smaller house. That comment on the accumulation of things is so true. We had so much unnecessary stuff for a family of 4 that we just got rid of.
I mean 4 fewer people will definitely make a smaller house more doable
If you want to get rid of something you own, that's your choice. You have no right to tell other people how to live, or what is useful for THEM. Why shouldn't an artist be able to keep art supplies or a gymnast keep gym equipment? This forced regimentation of everything is monstrous and disgusting.
@@robinlillian9471hey there, no one here is trying to bring the “stuff police” into people’s home to count the number of things they have. The fact of the matter is, people in western countries buy and accumulate things without giving it any real thought. It’s pretty simple. Just give it a little more thought and you’ll realize how much of what you buy doesn’t fulfill a need, it fulfills a desire.
Carlin's voice is in my head right now....
Too Much Stuff!
@@robinlillian9471 is anyone suggesting to get rid of important hobby stuff? Just look at the storage industry in US. People pay to hold on to things for years that they never touch.
Well done video. I have lived in smaller places most of my life. But living in suburbia I have often felt somewhat isolated from my neighbors. There are some really good comments about this issue that follow. A favorite solution that I have seen is the Ross Chapman pocket neighborhoods. He set these up in Washington State quite a few years ago because housing costs were going through the roof, every pun intended. 800-1000 square foot homes. The main floor had a pleasing kitchen and dining area, a living room, a bathroom and a bedroom. The second floor had a second bedroom. The cottages all had front porches. There was a central space for the kids to play. There were flowers and bushes and people could and did talk with each other. A lot of how we live and interact with our community changed once we got air conditioning!
I live with my wife in a 47m2 apartment in Rio and it’s pretty comfortable with all amenities we could have. The apartment has two bedrooms, having space for a child or two. And that’s the way most middle-class people live here in Brazil. I just can’t understand how people need so much space in a house, specially when they work all day.
In america people don't realize how rich we are compared to everyone, a lot of Americans have hobbies often decating entire rooms to it. One home I know has 3 bedrooms 1 living room 1 kitchen/dining room 2 upstairs bathrooms 1 basement bath room a family hang out room with a pool table 1 office space 1 laundry/dryer 1 garage space dedicated to RC cars and rooms that has a huge saltwater fish tank the rooms aren't huge some are actually really tiny however nevertheless explains why some people have huge homes. I always thought I don't want a huge till I realize the things I need its own rooms for
I would rent a one bedroom if I didn't work from home, but there's no way that I want to spend all day and all night in just two rooms. It's somehow psychologically beneficial to have that third room that is only for working.
So that's your sweet spot
My husband did it during Covid. He had to use our one bedroom as his office. He hated it.
I do it and it’s fine
I grew up in a McMansion, largest house in the neighborhood around 5k sqft, it was great.
now I live in a 120 year old 900sqft 2 story stone Farmhouse, it's great too. (w/wife & 2 kids, also great)
both were/are great experiences for me. I really hope everyone is satisfied with where they live and with what they've become, if not both can be changed!
yes McMansions are mostly enjoyable as long as they are built well and who cares about cheesy and pretentious stylings people get over that. 5k home is perfect for family of four or five in my opinion especially once the kids hit puberty.
@@u235u235u235 And it also has room for in-laws and guests to come and stay.
I'm polish, living in germany, and I already think 90m² is quite a lot. Me and my boyfriend live in a 80m² flat with two cats. We have living room, bedroom, office, separate kitchen and pantry. And honestly we'd not mind if it was actually smaller than it is. Living room and office are two times bigger than what we need.
I live in Spain in a 80 meter square apartment too. We are 3 adults and a 3 year old plus a dog and this is enough. I wouldn't want to live in more than 150 square meters... When it's too big it becomes wasteful. You have to spend more on property taxes, electricity,... And it is way more work to keep clean.
I live in Italy and same. 85m² is enough, and I'm not even someone that enjoys spending much time outside.
@@perthfanny3017 thats seems small.... to each their own but ideal house size for me and my family if I have three kids as planned is 2200 - 2500 sqft ( 204 - 232 sqmeters)
Yea your life sucks. In America we get huge nice houses for cheap, and we get everything we want. Guns, cars, motorcycles, huge property, everything! Damn it’s great to be an American!
@@rgtskits6949 aren't you guys still in the middle of a housing crisis?
I live in a 60 sq meter apartment, alone, but I feel cramped here because I work from home and I like to cook. Rooms are too small and I bump on things all the time if I am in a rush or not paying enough attention. I am unable to make the place look nice or feel airy and comfortable like a 200 sq meter house would. I have much less "stuff" than I'd like to have because I don't want to make the situation worse, but if I am ever able to afford something larger I will love to move so I can have a large kitchen, a proper living room with a fireplace and a view, a private garage so I don't have to drive around my block to find a spot (and walk under the rain) and I can go on with a long list of inconveniences of "living small". It's not about showing off. I would actually not want people around me thinking I am rich. A friend of mine had that problem in Canada, solicitors would come multiple times every week trying to sell things or ask for donations, you're targeted for petty crimes and so on. It's about functionality and well being. I'd also not care about having a McMansion, I'd love one. As long as it has enough amenities and space and is easy enough to maintain, I am happy. I'd rather have a brutalist house that's easy to clean with a pressure washer and without delicate details that can only get old and worn out. Good things aren't necessary good because they're ostentatious. They can also be useful. I'd like to be able to afford a house between 200 and 400 sq meters (and larger / fewer rooms, not 10 tiny ones). Sorry. 😬
Thank you for the informative video and helpful visual references! One hiccup: the visuals at 8:32 and 9:39 are different, but both display the same name & square footage.
This is a really timely post, just a few weeks ago I began searching for homes to move out of my parents for the first time, and I'm finding it extremely difficult to find homes that I would utilize entirely in areas that I would like to live. Even the urban areas have houses that I would consider over-the-top in terms of size and number of rooms.
Right now homes are going for a premium. If you have enough money, probably wait for the next cycle. We're going into money = worthless, save now. When money goes back up in value (government intervention) get one with the money you saved.
I feel that pain too. I expect to be single and childless for the rest of my life, barring some very weird developments -- but I do not want to live in Japan or Italy, or in the Antilia tower in Mumbai. Fortunately I'm not too far from Chicago where forward-thinking people like Stewart are pushing for modestly-sized homes.
@@tylerhorn3712 Just what we need, more government intervention. They're the reason for the ridiculous inflation in the first place, due to printing out absolutely staggering amounts of money. Completely f'ing ridiculous.
@@clamum9648 The debt US has owed has been growing from when they changed from the gold standard till today. Honestly, we need a president that will increase taxes and lower government spending on assistance programs. Nobody is gonna get elected on that so your best bet is to put it into commodities. The price of oil or gold will stay the same regardless of how many dollars it costs.
I think there's one missing aspect here. With work from home becoming more common, having a dedicated office room will probably become a much more common part of housing.
A versatile "free space" that xan be isolated from the rest of the house is the first thing designers got rid of in industrial homes, presuming all work is done off-site in dedicated buildings. I hope for that to see a comeback of those now that the world experienced how bad of an idea "making-do" is for productivity and comfort.
That's what a space like an attic is for. Having extra rooms just for the space is still wasteful.
When I was a little kid, our family of four lived in a reasonably sized apartment.
It had a master bedroom, a secondary bedroom for us kids, a rather narrow kitchen and a shower cell.
Also a living room with the diner room part of it (owners had the option of having a small living room and small dining room or without the wall in between, a larger space that doubled as living room and dining room.
There was even a small study!
I think the overall size was about 75 square meters or a bit over 800 square feet.
@@lisasdfwhightechworld9946 Wait for attic with air conditioning :D
@@lisasdfwhightechworld9946
So you can't install air conditioning in the attic?
Fun fact from the U.K. My house has three bedrooms, two bathrooms and is in total about 76 sq m (originally 70 sq m, but it has an extra space attached in the form of a small conservatory). So I laughed when you jumped from 46sq m to 100 sq m. The house is a small three bedroom house, but it’s also a pretty common size of three bedroom built since the 60’s. In fact that 46sq m figure is what was reported to be the average size apartment in the U.K. ten years ago, so I really don’t see it being any different, if not lower now.
It’s interesting to me how he skips probably the most common house size for Americans which is around 1250-2500 square feet and 3-5 bedrooms. I guess he thought the discussion about the 1,000 square foot house was close enough. But for a lot of people there is a big difference between about 1,000 square feet and 1,500. And there is a also a big gap between 1250-2500 and around 5,000 square feet.
Huge difference!! We went from a 900 sq ft apartment (2bd 1ba) to being homeless (hotels, rental cars, and then a less than 10x10 room), to renting a house that's probably 1200-1500 sq ft. It's still not big enough/designed well enough to really suit our needs but it's way better than what we had before!
Great channel. You might find the Japanese "mat" system interesting. Rooms are measured according to the number of tatami mats that cover the floor. These are the same dimensions as your standard straw beach mat. Two mats is considered the smallest habitable room, and a "two-mat novel" is euphemism for a pornographic novel. There are all sorts of uses and number of mats that they've figured out. It seems like a more intuitive, human-scale to measure area than feet or meters, too.
one mat is the sleeping length of of a person, give or take, so that kinda makes sense for a bedroom. not sure how good it would do for outright living fully, though...
EDIT: wait, I think that might actually be 2 mat wide by 2 mat long, which is basically 4x the space of just 2 mats. I've seen some apartments that were around that in videos before. Not great, but workable, just like a tiny home.
@InfernosReaper even for just the 2 mats wide (one mat for a bed, one mat for extra space), wouldn't be too awful for a dedicated bedroom where you really only sleep/rest and dress.
and going off of the 2x2 grid part that would be better and a bit more suited to a general personal living area. (i.e. standard bedroom that you use to do homework and game and stuff. i.e. a place where you can relax and do hobbies without bothering other people.
I gotta be honest as a student I absolutely loved my 20 m² (200 sq. ft) room. Here in Belgium it's common to not live in a large dorm, but in privately owned student housing, usually an older large house, where every student gets their own room.
Mine at 20 m² was on the larger side because it was in a more affordable city, and had enough room for my bed, a couch, a large desk, a small kitchen unit, small table and a little wardrobe. Context: a normal student room here is between 12 and 20 m².
I had it set up in an efficient layout so the middle of the room was nice and open, which resulted in the room never feeling like it was too small. Now I live in a 160 m² house with my girlfriend and 2 other people, and I kind of miss my little student room and how cosy and at home I felt there.
When me and my gf look for a house to buy we're definitely looking for something with a living area of 40-80 m² plus a garage or ground floor that can be used as garage for bicycles and DIY projects. Anything bigger for the two of us would just feel empty and lonely.
Thanks for this episode! I grew up with my parents flipping houses so I lived in houses of all different sizes. When I was in high-school we were remodeling a mcmansion and I still remeber spending all weekend cleaning that house. I think 1000-1500 share feet is perfect. The house I bought is 1200 square feet and I can clean the whole thing top to bottom in half a day.
We live in a small ( 1500 sq.ft. ) home in the rural midwest ( US ) . When my husband & I ( no children , we are dog parents however ) considered buying , we tho't about our needs vs. wants & a large factor was the future - size of property to maintain , inevitable rising costs of heating / cooling , etc. We observed friends downsizing as they retired / aged & my mother downsizing dramatically after my father passed . Lifestyle also factored in - our interests are outdoor activities & some casual entertaining . So , our home is for who we are - not who we think we are or the " image " we try to project . Empty unused rooms ? Multiple car garage or basement filled w/ " stuff" ? Home office , man cave , she shack ? Thanks , but no thanks ... To each their own ! 💟
@@cynthiajohnston424 1500 Sq ft is considered to be small? I thought 11/12 Sq ft is small..
I had a friend that lived for years in a huge house 250 square meters maybe more plus basement and a huge room with a big terrace upstairs. He used the garden most of the day except during winters, apart from that he used only his bedroom, bathroom and kitchen where he sat all day long during winters as he had his favorite spot there. He went to the basement only to do the laundry once a week or less. He cleaned often the spots he used except for Christmas when he invited his family and some friends over and then he did his unwilling, begrudged self imposed compulsory once a year cleaning of all the rooms bitching the whole time. But all depends on the needs and preferences of each individual living alone. For some 40 sq meters are enough as they go to work every day and stay outdoors most of the day while others need 80 or 90 sq meters because they stay at home most days. The problem with big houses is the cleaning and maintenance, it's hard work on top of everything else. But tiny homes are not for everyone.
i think climate can be a driver as well. i live in Canada and during our 12-month-long winer season, having a larger house with more room for my family (6) to spread out would be great as well as having a office/workspace to use for hobbies when it is too cold to go outside.
I lived in a tiny 124sqft home with my husband for about five years. It was a little tight for us with our hobbies, but ultimately I liked it a lot. When we went looking to buy a house, I really wanted something on the smaller side (1800 or less) but I also wanted land for farming. It was so hard to find larger plots of land with more reasonably sized houses.
Our house now is about 2000sqft and I kind of hate it. It's so much space to keep up with and keep clean. I really wish we had been able to get a house in the 15-1800 range....
When I purchased my first home the city had an ordinance that all new construction had to be 1800 sq Ft minimum and I’ve been told this is a common ordinance in many localities.
I wonder if Stewart would be interested in doing a follow up video featuring cohousing? It's the solution we found, and we're really happy with it, and I really want to see awareness built about it! Basically the units on a property are built around the basic household spaces he was mentioning (bedrooms, bathrooms, kitchen, living room), so you just have to manage your household's basic needs. Then all the extra stuff we want big houses for (garden, home office, rec room, etc) is shared in common spaces. The biggest benefit is that there's a built-in opportunity to have good relationships with our neighbors :)
What do you do if you have bad neighbours? Hide in your room?
That would not work for me at all. That is very much like an apartment complex. Having shared a wall, floor or ceiling with someone else for over 20 years, I never want to hear coming through the shared barrier a fight, party, loud movie or someone else's plumbing. I never want to hear the outside door slam at 3am as people come in from partying all night or from 2nd shift again. I never again want to be woken up as they shout and carry on while in the parking lot and hallways. And the absolute joy I felt when I got up at midnight to rearrange my bedroom after moving to a house and knowing I didn't have to worry about disturbing anyone else was incredible.
Each housing style has it's perks and drawbacks. You just pick what works for you at the moment. 😀
@@2070paradigmshift We tend to attract people that are committed to finding ways to make things work out. Some of the neighbours take courses on conflict resolution, we use consensus voting, plus little things like regular dinners which give people a low stakes chance talk about stuff. Also the fact that there is so much opportunity for people to interact means that nobody is merely 'that crazy neighbour'; they're Joe who always gives you the extra tomatoes he grows and kicks your butt at Catan. There is always that risk that it could go south but that's true of all relationships and so far so good! Also investing good soundproofing during the build :)
@@izuna77 this is so far removed from the realm of possibility. It's only possible in your dreams.
@@2070paradigmshift cohousing is a thing that already exists though, and has for quite a while. I looked at a cohousing unit when I was potentially moving to California, and even my grandmother lived in one out of college. A lot's possible when you've got a small group eager to cooperate.
The livability of a home has as a lot to do with the size of the lot in relation to the size of the house. It's easy to live comfortably in a smaller house when you have a yard that offers usable private space. In the U.S. Southwest, outdoor areas typically get almost as much use as indoor spaces because of the comfortable climate year-round.
Well-designed fences (or walls) and covered patios add tons of usable square footage to a small single-family home; we also love our outdoor kitchens, which save on air-conditioning costs. Outdoor ceiling fans and misting systems keep our patios and yards from getting too hot in the summer, and outdoor fireplaces add enough warmth to spend time outside in the fall and winter. To me, the best part of having a big yard is the separation between adjacent homes, reducing noise and providing a feeling of privacy and seclusion even in suburban areas. The size of the yard is as important as the size of the home in temperate climates. It's true that good fences make good neighbors!
I've never, ever, lived in an apartment and always had a nice-sized yard and patio, even in rental units as a young adult. I can't imagine feeling comfortable sharing walls, stairs, hallways, even laundry rooms and parking areas with strangers; it must have some advantages but I can't think of any considering single-family rentals cost the same as an apartment in every place I've ever lived. There must be people who prefer apartments or condos to detached homes, I've just never met any.
"single-family rentals cost the same as an apartment in every place I've ever lived" I guess you've not lived in southern California. I'd much prefer a house but if there was a small house available, it would cost many, many times as much as the apartment.
@@editingsecrets I was born and raised in SoCal. When housing went sky-high I moved to Arizona, where housing prices are rising but comparatively still affordable. It's impossible to afford a 2-bedroom apartment, forget about a house, anywhere in SoCal on less than a 6-figure income. It's no surprise the state is experiencing a mass exodus, wages in even "good" jobs aren't enough to afford housing and gas prices are the highest in the nation. It's a nice place to visit, but I wouldn't want to live there 🙂
For years I lived in 25m² quite happily. I then inherited my parents' 112m² house and moved in. I look back and wonder how I managed all those years. I use every room, have now got my large collection of books properly displayed, have a kitchen that allows me to be more adventurous with my cooking, and love the feeling of space. When I think back to my former home I get an overwhelming feeling of claustrophobia.
The recent culture of social isolation (and telecommuting) has certainly influenced choices relating the size of a house. As mom & dad both started working from home, or kiddies were homeschooled, people suddenly "needed" much more space. Thank for making this video - you are my new favorite binge chanel!
The crucial thing many modern small house designs got rid of is a dedicated office space or study room, this is what caused all the issues brought by the shift to working and studying from home because everyone now did it in their living room, kitchen or bedroom which are not ergonomic and rife with distractions. The "modern home" presumes all work is done off-site and thus will give you a garage at best, or you buy a home meant for a bigger family so you have an extra room to convert into an office, but then you're left with extra amenities you don't need and go to waste.
I live alone in an apartment that's ~850 ft^2, and it's honestly a little big for me. Under 700 I struggle especially if the living room is undersized because I work from home and have a big desk setup. But I don't want anything bigger until I have kids because I already hate cleaning everything I have, wouldn't want to clean and furnish and decorate even more.
I think there are too many variables to just flippantly say as an example: A 2200 sq. ft. house is too big. It depends on the family, the location, how much furniture they have etc etc. One thing I have learned is the open concept of living is not that great. We built our house and initially we were going to have one big room with the kitchen in one corner and the living room, dining room, and foyer as open concept. It also has stairs with a loft area at the top overlooking the living room. I ended up changing it and walling off the kitchen and wow we dodged a bullet on that decision. The rest of the big giant room is literally like a cave. It echoes. It's hard to hear the television without turning the volume up so loud that everyone else is yelling over it. Conversations can be heard all over the house. There are times when 2 or 3 people are talking and someone else is trying to watch a game or something on TV and we don't necessarily want to hear all of their conversation. At least they can go in the kitchen and most of the noise doesn't come out into the big room. Because of that lesson I would not do the open concept again.
Acoustic treatment can help dramatically in this situation and is vastly under-utilized in residential settings - see GIKacoustics for one supplier
@@TXTractorLife Thanks! I will check it out as we have a problem with that big giant room and high ceiling.
very much this a family of 4 that rarely has guest doenst need 6 bedroom house
where as if its family of 6 with guests staying overnight regularly those that same 6 bedroom house makes sense
My Uncle and his family bought a house with a room like this, with the living room, dining room and kitchen as one tall room that ate up half of the house's second story. It was impossible to have any kind of gathering that wasn't open to the whole house. The top half of that room could have easily just been a rumpus room or literally anything but a giant pile of empty air.
@@EmperorSigismund Ya I get what you are saying. At least our floor plan had a room upstairs. Its a living room area with a railing that over-looks the living room. If someone is watching TV there you can't hear it downstairs so much. Anyway it's too late now. We built the house and we own it. I'm not selling and going and spending even more on the next house.
how big your house needs to be or can be is different for everyone
I'm not so sure a family of four or five necessarily needs the amount of space provided by a mcmansion. But maybe I'm misunderstanding what you're getting at.
@@dudebros6122 As far as I'm aware when it comes to zoning laws in the US it's actually much more difficult to build anything but a single family house on most of the land designated for housing. I agree with you then but basically from the perspective that it would be better if it were easier to build multi-family or something more livable than a commieblock in US neighborhoods. But yeah generally speaking regulation = bad especially when it inhibitions the well being of the population.
@@dudebros6122 That was easily the most civil exchange I've had on this website. Thanks, happy new year.
@@coltonc7832 Well, people have hobbies that require it's own space I know a guy with a room to houses his fish aquariums, others have a gaming room, and reality is it best to keep somethings separate as it prevent distraction and some people are insecure about their hobbies aswell so they like to keep it hidden away
The houses on the street where I grew up were about 950 sq. feet. 3 bedrooms, 1 bath, living room, dining room, and kitchen.
'Houses are becoming mansions' is my first thought. Both in size and price.
As well as in finishing. Today a marble kitchen top is seen as a rather normal "extra", while only two decades ago it would have been seen as opulence. And this is every single material. And if we can't use the real stuff - just fake it..
My house used to be the largest house on the block back in the 1920's. Its the perfect amount of space, but now it's surrounded by "Normal" sized houses that absolutely dwarf it.
Hardly dude, not in cities. Only the prices are approaching small mansions. The sizes are approaching micro units in the other direction
Live in a capsule house Eat bugs Dont own a car take the bus Anthropogenic climate change is YOUR fault
@@honkhonk1715 Oh shut up. Why do you guys always bring this up at such random times?
I think having a larger home in my opinion is for things like an office, a "crafts" room (for my wifes mess), play area for kids, a guest room and reading room or "quiet" room. Sounds like a lot, but this house I looked at was 330k, had an entire upstairs with its own living room, 3 bedrooms, small kitchen, and downstairs had master bedroom, 1 extra bedroom, two living rooms, kitchen, and laundry area. I think it was the perfect home. I wanted to get it but I didn't. It is now worth 600k due to the housing market in Florida. I wish I had jumped on buying it back then.
Having a larger home with extra rooms is perfect if you've got hobbies that require space. I don't plan on marrying or having kids, so my permanent home doesn't need to be big, but a studio with a big sink and lots of space is something I really really want. I also plan on getting a cockatoo, macaw, or african gray (looking to adopt so not 100% sure yet, just have to wait and see which bird I'll click with) as a permanent companion and I'd need a room for him/her as well.
It'd be a fairly large home for a single person, but it'd be absolutely perfect for me. Just a shame that housing prices are absolutely fucking through the roof at the moment, and as a 20 y/o working minimum wage without substantial savings I'm not even looking into it at the moment. Not worth the time or effort.
I used to do cable install in an area with 6-7,000sq. ft. "multi-generational" houses, sometimes THREE stories. Most of them were half empty. Usually 4-5 people living there. The A/C was blowing constantly. Imagine the electric/gas bill to constantly cool a 7,000sq. ft. dwelling in an area that's regularly over 100 degrees in summer and then heat it when its regularly in the low 40s at night in winter.
I know that with many people working from home now. People may feel like they need a bigger house so that they have room for a home office, etc. But most of these houses have plenty of room for a home office, it just might take a little bit of reconfiguring. Or giving up an extra bedroom that probably doesn't get used for much anyway. A friend of mine actually built a little she shed in her backyard complete with electricity and running water. So she has about a 15 second commute :-) but she feels like it is enough separated from her house that she can mentally separate home and work.
sounds neat!
Yes, many people have bought a study/work shed for their backyard to work from home now! You got plenty of options these days with those sheds/ work pod. Super cool to see
I think that's a great idea. If I had a job where I worked from home, I would have to do something like that too. Completely separate environments.
I thought I was crazy for thinking this these days!
I used to *dream* about owning a mcmansion as a 2000’s kid, having a massive basement theater and throwing my toys off of the indoor balcony sounded so awesome to me, lol. Knowing what I know now about a lot of these kind of homes and their effects, though, I kinda cringe at little me.
As much as people (perhaps rightfully) bitch about a lot of post-war 50’s-60’s era suburbs, at least those mostly had smaller homes (and in some cases, even multi-families) that in my eyes tend to be just the right size: small enough to not eat up too much energy, money and space, yet still big enough for a decent sized family (and more than enough for single people).
I live not far from some largely post-war suburbs (Parma and Parma Heights, Ohio), and while I wouldn’t call them super walkable, I’d say they’re still a lot better designed than what we’ve built since the 70’s, as portions of them have clusters of mixed use/multi family streets and districts. Even some of the storefronts have 50’s ranch homes *attached* to them. A lot of the residential areas also have parks and schools scattered in them, making it easy for kids to walk to.
I’m not suggesting that we should re-create the post-war ‘burbs again (there’s many great criticisms against them), but when it comes to single family homes, I’d say we should consider more of the homes of the 50’s-60’s (especially the ranches) for building consideration again.
I live in a suburb from the 1920's (I'm right next to the Mississippi so there was big demand for houses because of all the nearby flower mills), but my house is one of the few still standing from the era. Now it's surrounded by "normal sized" modern houses that absolutely dwarf mine, despite it having enough space to comfortably house up to 5 people.
With me it really is smaller is better. The larger the space the more it takes to maintain. My mental health struggles when there is too much to do and clean and keep tidy. I also have a love-hate relationship with clutter and it's easier for me to declutter when I simply don't have the space to keep everything. Honestly getting rid of stuff that isn't necessary nor practical has been very liberating and it just shows that we really don't need much to live comfortably.
The ideal home shouldn't be too small or too big. Too small not only brings the necessity of all sorts of compromise, but it also affects mental health (there were studies that for example if a ceiling is too low it affects how you feel being in that apartment). If the house is too big, it not only will cost you more to build and to keep, but at some point it will become less comfortable to live, because you'll spend more time walking, climbing and so on. It may not sound "very bad", but it is annoying especially if your house is really big. Not even talking about finding some lost stuff.
And in larger homes, having a bedroom on the ground floor is essential for older people, especially if they live alone. And I've seen plenty of two story houses that only have bedrooms on the second floor, meaning they're pretty inaccessible for older people to live in whether they're living alone or not.
Yes. Besides excessively big open spaces (unless its outdoors in nature) actually feel somewhat uncomfortable. But small cramped spaces feel uncomfortable as well. A big house takes more electricity to heat up too, which is both expensive and less Eco friendly. But I think the smallest homes dont have enough space to give quality of life for many people, maybe for a really few.
Interesting to watch and transpose to myself. We bought recently our apartment and needless to say, we bought a bigger space with our life planning spreadsheet in mind. I lived as a kid in big and small houses due to some money issues on my family side for few years and I can definitely say that the way you are raised is one of the biggest factor at least for me. I see a lot of minimalist people living in small spaces, I can definitely not and this by experience. It doesn't matter how you organise the space, it's just that I have hobbies, tools, etc... And I definitely hate to have to tidy up every time I want to do something. I respect people who can but that's not my thing.
What I can't seem to wrap my head around is how if you walk into two houses the same size, one 60 years old, and one new construction, the new one almost ALWAYS feels smaller on the inside.
The older one is more likely to have a variety of angles, finishes, built-ins, insets, molding, etc. Far more variety to interest the eye then the least expensive blank wall boxes of rooms.
@@editingsecrets
Yea, that makes sense.
With the invasion of the open floor plan, you lose a lot of space. In dedicated rooms, there is a place and reason for everything. In one giant room, you end up with a ton of dead space.
I don’t really care about the size but can’t stand clutter, storage is a must.
Since the pandemic, there is a movement that may change how we use our home spaces: working from home. With more work-from-home or hybrid jobs becoming common place, "home offices" are going to become more in demand. I used to live in an apartment building that had one-and-a-half or two-and-a half bedrooms. The half bedroom was about half the size of the master bedroom and had no closet. It was just large enough for a couple of desks and a small storage cabinet. Basically, a home office space. Even small houses are going to need spaces like this to separate work space from living space. I worked from home during the pandemic and had to set up my desk in the living room. It was so depressing to walk into my living room on a Saturday morning and see my desk on my day off. The ability to close a door on Friday evening so you don't have to see your desk until Monday would be worth it's weight in gold.
I had this same thought. Not all homes have closed off studies, and not everybody will have the space or privacy they need if the house/apartment is too small. And if you have kids and such, you'd probably need a room where you can shut the door in case you have to take calls or something while the kids are at home. And if your house is an open floor plan, trying to work in the living room could be next to impossible.
Same here! I find tiny houses an impossible concept for me personally, as I work from home. Having a dedicated office space (even if it's not a fully set up office) that you can physically separate yourself from is SO important.
I'm an introvert and not at all sociable. When people have enough guest bedrooms to qualify as a small hotel and their entire home is built around 'entertaining' it just gives me the shakes.
Even as an extrovert (well, more omnivert) big mansions scare me. I'd rather live modestly and enough space to chill with some friends, and close enough to public spaces and bars/theaters/etc. where I can meet people.
I have lived in both large and smaller homes, and the large ones are often a pain….more cleaning, more blinds to close everyday, more heating, more air-conditioning, more having to yell to family members, harder to do most tasks with the extra “travel” through the house, etc. Once you have your comfortable minimum, more square footage is a hassle.
My three bedroom house is a bit under 1600 square feet. When I was a kid some friends from school came over and all exclaimed over how small and cute it was. I always felt like it was more than enough space. We have an entire dining room that's functionally unnecessary.
I don’t see why people need more than 1600 sq ft. My house is just under 1500. I don’t need any bigger.
My dream home would have a garage to drive into opening into a mud room and then kitchen. 2,000sq feet max (including garage). 2 toilets are a must.
That's probably an american thing. I have grew up in 3 bedroom house of 860square feet(that calculated excluding basement). And that felt as enough space for family of 4.
@@rafap1719 you got the nail on the head when you said it's an "American thing". American things would be more accurate. You have no idea how much stuff we buy. The American dream is to completely fill your house with crap so you can convince yourself you need a bigger house to store all your stuff in. My parents recently downsized to a 3 bedroom home now that they only have one child at home and the oldest 4 have moved out. They needed 7 storage units to put all of their stuff that wouldn't fit in their new house. This is pretty bad but also consider that their garage is also used as a storage unit. It is definitely an American thing.
@@taylorsessions4143 I don’t do that, however, I live with someone who currently does, and it drives me nuts! Half the crap could go and I wouldn’t miss it. I have no desire to fill a house.
I grew up in trailers and recently moved in with family into a small house. Anything I learned from this experience is that it isn't just the house but the proximity to services and accommodations that count too plus basements tend to stay a constant cool year round.
Pandemic and consequent lockdowns have shown some limit of small apartment houses which don't have a separate space to work and/or not enough or zero space outside, being that a garden or even a balcony. Now these features are pretty required as the way we're living our housing is slowly changing.
On the other hand there are even new attempts to rethink housing and the space we really need. More specifically the actual private space is reduced and a number of activity such as cooking or watching tv and the like could be shared with the 'community'.
This is a concept that was born in the Netherlands a while ago and is now spreading to other countries.
That's too much togetherness.
Wife and I like our first house being a "grow into" size, we don't need more than 1 bedroom, but we have three. Right now that means we have an office/hobby room for me and a guest bedroom that doubles as my wife's office.
The thing we don't love about it is that it's not an overly efficient use of the 1800sqft. Our master bedroom is kind of needlessly large, while our master bath has a pointlessly long double sink but a tiny shower tub unit. We have a "nook" in our upstairs that just doesn't have a practical use, and our house lacks a LOT of storage that could have been built into the stairs or by reconfiguring the room layouts. I also would gladly trade 300sqft for a small workshop on the property.
Either way, the biggest appeal was resell or rent potential beyond its actual size. I don't know if I'm going to have to move for medical school or not, and that means the ability to easily market our house to another young or small family is really important.
But overall, I just think bedrooms are too large for the most part, and with 2 kids, I think my wife and I could be very comfortable in 1200-1400 of well designed space.
We have a very similar house. It had a large master bedroom until we broke our bathroom into two, taking space from the master bedroom. It is so nice to have a 2-bath now, even though the one is tiny.
I figure that a house needs to be one room more than you need, allowing for an extra indoor space for you to change purpose over the years as you change hobbies. This means that if you have no hobbies and no ambition, you will always have one extra empty room in your house just in case you get one, and will never desire more above that. "Am I really happy, or am I just limited by the space of my home?" You will know that it is you being satisfied with what you have, because you will always have that one extra space.
I think this fits the issue I have with my current home. It's not too small for daily living, but I would really like space for a workshop so I can pursue some hobbies, space I have currently is too small and too dark.
A good multipurpose room should have a good storage and either a murphy bed, loft bed, or futon with the elusive actually good mattress, depending on your space and budget. That way you have room that can accommodate either a guest or a hobby, as needed, which is great.
Worst case, somehow ya end up with one more kid than planned on or someone who needs to crash for an extended period, but at least ya actually have a room for it.
I like your "rooms + 1" rule!
Hobbies can be combines with already existing rooms. I have a hobby of painting, and paint in my bedroom. I keep an aquarium and pet birds in my living room. It just cannot be so overall tiny there is no space for hobbies outside your computer
@@zakosist It depends. Hobbies that take up a lot of space, or are messy, really should have a dedicated room. You can't really do something like carpentry without a workshop space, which works well in the suburbs which often have unused garage or basement space with hard concrete floors.
I lived in a 950 sq foot house with three bedrooms and two baths on my own. One bedroom was where I slept, another one was converted into a walk in closet to store all of my costumes, and the last one was mostly a storage space. I spent most of my time using half of the living-room/dining-room as I had before moving in a dinning-room table that was way to big for the house and it took up the majority of the dinning-room area.
If you’ve spent time in American suburbia the last few years, you’ve definitely seen it - the proliferation of these massive self storage facilities. They typically pop up in wealthy areas where homes are already massive by global standards. And, as the video said, homes are just getting bigger despite fewer people living in them. And yet, we need more storage. To me, the rise of these places is the perfect representation of American excess.
Twice in my life I tried to buy a piece of land and build a house on it but the deed restrictions dictated that I could build a house no smaller than 6000sq ft. Which was more than I could afford so I never moved ahead.
That seems crazy.
What kind of place is that? 6,000 sq ft is a freaking mansion.
I don't understand how if you own land you can't build your house whatever size you want.What is this nutty law called and is it nationwide or only in your area?
I wrote a long rant about how tyrranical zoning laws are, how they scam people into buying land for homesteading only to be tricked into HAVING to build a literal mansion, how my state of Colorado abuses zoning to gain realestate tax revenue by only zoning all buyable land as the most valuable land per unit area (upper middle class, or upper class single family residential), then heavily restricting how you can even build or live out of it.... The comment was deleted automatically by youtube the second I hit post because it was too long. Which is a shame, I think the info could have saved people from your fate. This is the main reason why I DIDNT buy any desert land in Costilla county despite how cheap it is, because the Colorado zoning comission does lines of coke every day and thinks people are going to be willing to build 3,000 square foot mcmansions in the middle of the desert with no roads or utilities, while also being banned from camping on sight long term during any building construction. They literally live in a fantasy land where supply and demand doesnt matter.
Anyway, to you guys asking how this is possible, PLEASE do some research on zoning laws in general, the zoning laws of your state in particular, and NEVER buy land without knowing EXACTLY what the zoning laws will or wont permit you to do with the land. Some states are better than others. Colorado SUCKS for zoning. Nebraska, by comparison, I found a 40 acre plot for 40k that was zoned as multiuse... Which is literal gold, it basically means theres few to no restrictions on what you do, all that matters is any buildings you stand up are up to code. You could build a 500 square foot house, a standalone garage and workshop, a greenhouse, and fill in the rest of the space with outdoor subsistence farming, in any order you want, and not fear having it taken away from you because of some stupid zoning law. It even had 2 wells already plummed on the property, electrical grid access, and was flanked by county roads... I almost regret not buying it, because that type of land is practically nonexistant in Colorado anymore.
Wow that’s worse than my experience. I was trying to build for 2500 and they said the smallest they could do was 3500 “to match with the neighborhood”. I ended up just buying a house from the 1970s, about 2600 sq ft, not including the basement
Whether you work at home is a big factor in determining how much space is necessary to be comfortable- especially if you live with roommates or family members working from home.
yeah.. I've worked from home for the past ~6 years, and my wife has done the same for the past two, and the space requirements are really something. Especially as she is a therapist and can't share an office with me any more.
I've worked from home for the past decade. I only need ~300 sq. ft. If you don't fill up your space with junk, and live in a walkable area, you really don't need much space
@@mikea5745 maybe other people have other needs and other desires? Crafting, confidentiality preserving separate offices for multiple people working from home, kitchen spaces that are larger than a thimble, the list goes on and on. I am glad that your setup works for you, but people find fulfillment in different types of lives.
@@polerin Yeah that's definitely an aspect that would require more space. Cause she'd need an office that can be closed off completely, and she can't share with anyone.
I grew up in a huge 5 bedroom house in the country on 4 acres of land and it was THE life. Urban housing may have more public amenities but it cannot compare to that kind of space and relative safety. It was a great way to just be a kid which IMO you can't get in suburban or urban areas.
I have no objection, on either a personal or a political level, to large houses in rural areas. But suburbs are hell: worst of both the rural and urban worlds, with little to compensate for the disadvantages.
@@neckenwilerWhy?
@@BriBear He's convinced himself that being close to starbucks is a great trade off for having to deal with bums, drunks, sex pests and people vomiting off their balconies onto yours.
I would also like to know the opinion of the person or persons who were in charge of the house chores. As you say, it was a great way to be just a kid. What about the others?
@@BriBear (1) suburbs are blandly designed; denser places have far better architecture than strip malls and cul de sacs. (2) homes in the suburbs are far - usually many miles - from museums, restaurants, parks, concert venues, gyms, grocery stores, other stores, art galleries, pet groomers, barber shops, etc. etc. I am much, much happier walking two blocks to the barber shop, or half a block to the grocery store, than I would be if I had to drive 15 minutes to do those and every other little thing that makes my life interesting. (3) related to #2, I hate sitting in traffic, I hate sitting in my car, sealed off from the world, and I am much happier walking, taking the subway, and, especially, biking. (Seriously, it is a huge treat to be able to bike to the gym and back every day. Five minutes, super easy in the city, absolutely impossible in suburbia.) (4) I like having many neighbors who I can get to know. When I take my dog for walks, I run into about 10 or 20 people pretty reliably - not on every walk, but every ten or so walks I'll run through the whole list. When I visited my suburban cousins as a child, we went for walks extremely rarely, and when we did, we saw virtually no one else walking, and they knew about two families in their neighborhood. (5) suburbia is a drain on the taxpayer. Denser neighborhoods generate more tax revenue than they cost to maintain, but because suburbia takes up enormous amounts of space for relatively few homes and businesses, and infrastructure (roads, pipes, the grid) and services (fire, garbage, etc.) cost more money the more space they take up, tax receipts in suburban areas typically do not cover the costs to maintain those areas. The organization Strong Towns has done a lot of interesting research on this phenomenon if you're interested.
Contrary to what John Martinez says, cities, in my experience, are safe, vibrant places. I understand many people, like John, are scared of them, and I understand why, but the narrative that has scared these people is quite overblown. Consider that the highest rates of child sexual abuse occur in the rural South, whereas they are relatively low in New York City. There are disadvantages to being in close proximity to other people, but the advantages are far greater, for the most part, and insofar as people want solitude, they should move to rural areas, not the suburbs.