mclaurie

This is sort of travel related. A friend is thinking of building a new home in the southwest US. He's talking about a 2,000 sf 2 bedroom/2.5 bath. It would be on a very large piece of property.

Here in the east with McMansions going up everywhere, this sounds like a relatively small home to me (from a resale standpoint, esp. to build new). So, what would you consider a good sized home for your retirement, assuming no major budget constraints?

gail

Small enough to clean, large enough to find my own personal space from husband (and him from me)

nytraveler

It's true that houses in family-oriented areas are getting bigger and bigger (I think it's so funny when people try to recreate Tara on an 80 X 100 plot).

But in areas with a significant number of retired folks the same is not necessarily true. In those areas houses that are too big can be hard to resell.

sylvia3

Expensive to heat, cool, lots of work to clean (and in the southwest, dust)and maintain, and who, other than a family of 10, needs 5,000 sq ft?
I think people are also realizing that megarestaurant-sized kitchens aren't needed these days.

cd

We have recently downsized to a very nice condo in a great area. I love the soaring ceilings and many windows that take you right outside. My insight, since we've been here a year and have the same sq ft as your friend will have, is that my kitchen is not large enough. I do not have enough cupboard space, and the cupboard space that I have is not deep enough. You know, for those large stir frys, electric skillets, etc., Just an observation that I would change if building.

obxgirl

>But in areas with a significant number of retired folks the same is not necessarily true. In those areas houses that are too big can be hard to resell.<

Nope. I live in a southeastern Virginia community that is chock a block full of upscale DC/NY/NJ/PA retirees (with a seemingly endless stream on the way) and you'd be hard pressed to find one of them in a home under 3500 sq ft. And the housing market (new and resale) is booming.

wliwl

We have a 2800 sq ft, 4 bedroom (+ den), 3 bathroom home with 4 people and 2 dogs in it. It is way bigger than I would want for retirement. Too much cleaning, yardwork, and maintenance if you want to travel and do other fun stuff. But I'd prefer to buy something in a fun urban area for retirement as I am just fed up with driving everywhere.

Tandoori_Girl

My one-story is 2300 sf. Neighbors on either side of me are building, one a 2-story 3900 SF for a family of 4, the other a one-story and it looks to be about 2600. Our lots are 85x135.

Jocelyn_P

Do they want to build the house that best suits them, or what will be best for resale? We recently finished building a house and we decided to just do what we wanted to do and not worry about resale. Who can predict what will be hot on the market when we sell years down the road, anyway?

Plus, I don't think there's one standard "good size" for a retirement house, as so much depends on your lifestyle. Will the kids and grandkids be coming to stay with you often? Will you want the freedom to travel? Housework is a biggie, too. And, I can say from experience, building a house can become a monster, and you will probably end up spending more money than you ever imagined. From that perspective, starting small is good.

Seamus

Much depends on where the lot is situated. Here in San Antonio some older homes tend to be smaller - it is not uncommon to see a 3/2 with 1200 sf! We are in an "older" neighborhood where the typically single story homes from the late 50's and 60's range from as small as 1200 to well over 2000 sf. It's a popular area for renovation (best school district) and lots of folks are adding on to bump up the living area (we did, and are at about 2500 sf heated and cooled with a lot of open space in living areas, plus garage and covered terrace) but they tend to be younger families, not retireees. Zoning is minimum 8,000-10,000 sf lots with single family residential structures only, set that way to keep out the developers. In the burbs the McMansions are cloning themselves, but developers pack them in tightly to maximize profitability. I personally don't want to look out my bathrom window into the neighbor's kitchen. In addition, the infrastructure such as access to highways is usually overtaxed by such burgeoning development.
In terms of retirement planning, in addition to the sf it is important to think about accommodating age related physical changes as they present themselves - wider doorways and walkways, electrical outlets at counter level, height of counters, accessible/adaptable bathrooms, and low maintenance construction materials and landscaping.
As for resale, with the growing size of the senior population, I would expect only increasing demand for a well designed 2/2.5 that is easy to live in and requires little maintenance.

MikePinTucson

In 1998, we built what will (we hope) be the home we live in for the rest of our lives (we are now in our late 50's).

It is in Tucson, on 3.3 acres. Single story, 2400 sf living area 3 br / 3 ba (2 master suites)/ computer room / 3 car garage. It is self-designed, with an open floor plan that is great for entertaining. If I could have done things differently, I would have made the bedrooms and closets a bit bigger. But it works well for us. My MIL was with us until she passed away in April, but we regularly have visitors.

It works very well for us, and is not too big to clean.

OO

I don't have a problem with his 2,000 sq feet, but I do with 2 bedrooms, simply from the resale perspective.

We had an eye to retirement with this last move and I sure wanted more than 2 bedrooms, although it's just the two of us now. We need space for an office as well as bedrooms for family visits. We ended up with 3400 sq feet...too big, too time consuming cleaning, but in the range we were looking, this was one of the smaller houses so I was glad to get that! It also has 3.5 baths and I'd be very very happy with 2.5. I'm thinking of devising one of those old sanitation strips that used to go around motel toilet seats so I'll know if a bathroom has been used or if I can skip it in this week's cleaning. Attractive, no? LOL It's a lot of upkeep and the yard, an acre, even more so.

As a "do over", or starting from scratch, I'd have less land, maybe .5 acres, 2.5 baths, 3 BRs, no formal living room but a formal DR (our arrangement in this house), about 2400 sq feet. The space would be primarily in kitchen and great room. I'd have to pare "stuff" down too much if we got much smaller than that, but that should be easy weekly maintenance, yet still be attractive to someone looking to buy down the road. I'd FAR rather have small but top of the line everything, than big but cheap.

vegasnative

My parents have a 2283 sq. ft. two story that they plan on selling next spring and moving into a single story because the stairs are getting to be too much for them. My mom just asked me the other day if 1900 sq. ft. would be too small? Personally, if I was a "retired" person I would not be looking so much at the actual number. If I wanted a nice sized kitchen and family room, then that would be my criteria, and if that came by way of 1463 sq. ft., then sold! Who wants to be getting into their golden years trying to clean a house that is big enough for a family of 5? And its not just the housework, but the cost to cool a large home (especially in the SW) will be expensive, watering that large yard will be expensive, then there is the maintenance of both the yard and the house. As far as resale..the value will maintain itself as long as it is in a good area and if they are getting a large piece of property like mclaurie said then the land will also keep the value increasing. Not everyone wants huge houses, so if and when they decide to sell this house I'm sure they won't have a problem.

Scarlett

I agree with OO. I would rather have really good small than just big.
We just went from 3,000 sf on a large property to something like 1100 sf ..an apt in a bldg in a city.
All an adjustment but one we wanted to try.
We have done very well with resale on 3 bedrooms plus..2 bedrooms are difficult unless they are apts in great buildings in good locations.
I am still daydreaming about a location in England or Italy for our retirement

I do think aside from the size of the house and resale value, one should think about the cost of upkeep on property. We got so sick of landscapers and gardeners and lawn people in Florida. So if a large property is attractive to you, think about how it will be maintained. That is where my daydream of the house in the countryside in England comes in- small house, walled garden but in the middle of a forest or wooded acres

OO

PS...It should be near an outstanding grocery store. ( Seamus)

Scarlett

OO,
Yes.

jorr

mclaurie, my parents recently built a retirement home of about 2000 sf. It is only a two bedroom, 2 bath which my mother designed. For them it works out perfectly. However, if they were to put it up for sale the lack of a third bedroom would be a deal-breaker. Potential buyers would be confused that it didn't have three bedrooms.

My home is a three bedroom, ONE bath. Its beautiful but almost nobody would buy a one bath home today.

Scarlett

jorr
Our last house was 4 bedrooms 2 1/2 baths and a couple of houselookers said that they wanted 3 full baths..sigh.
But I do agree with wanting at least 1 1/2 baths.
It takes longer but there is still always someone out there who will buy your house.

aileen679

We have retired into a 1800sq ft, 3 br, 1 and 1/2 baths. with den, formal living/dining room with eat-in kitchen. It is a dandy size. The way it is designed allows us space to get off by ourselves. It's easy to clean and small enough that we don't feel as if we need to fill it up with "stuff"

There is only one problem as far as resale. The house was built before king size beds became common. while the two larger bedrooms are fine for double beds, the window arrangement, doors etc, don't make putting in a king easy.

I would love to have a walk-in shower with room for a bath chair. I think any retirement home should plan to have one.

rubytwo

I have a two bedroom one bath house..separate garage. Lot is 62 x125. House has 800 sq feet. It is easy to take care of by myself. Most houses in the section of our city range this size.most were built in the late 40s early 50s. It amazes me to see how the houses are being gobbled up.. There are "real" rooms..a dining room, a living room and a kitchen that you can't see from the whole house. Love it.