PS members....what is the sq footage of your home?

[pinkflamingo]

DH and I are both teachers and we have a 1500 sqft house in Tampa. We bought it last year and are so happy... it has a beautiful conservation lot in back, really nice space.

Definitely not in the 2 carat category, but I am trying to shift careers to something more lucrative. if not, well, hopefully I will inheirit one, right?

 

[firebirdgold]

Ok, I''m biting too.
2000 sqft not counting basement or the two casitas in the garden. (aka converted adobe garages). Bf has about 1300 sqft. Um, 1 fireplace and 3 bedrooms for me, and 2 bedrooms and a fireplace for him.

Hmm, it makes me wonder if most PSer''s are home owners?

 

[Dancing Fire]

Date: 2/28/2006 10:29:38 PM
Author: Mara
hahaha don''t encourage me Tacori! i love looking at all the new houses online over in NC...so tempting but no one i know is out there and my family is all here. Greg would like to move back East but I just think I''d die being away from everyone else that I love. Tough call!

Oh and ursula, trust me you fill up square footage fast!! we moved from a 1200 sq ft place to here (1850) and that was 2 years ago, the other day Greg told me our storage under the house (the whole house space underneath!!) was almost full.

And it''s just the two of us and our rat (Portia)...but I love to collect home decor stuff for seasons and this and that and he has all his car hobby stuff, yikes!

but,you''ll be closer to the crazy "east coast gang"

 

[Jensia]

I live in Arizona. We only rent our home, will be buying one in a couple years. Did own a nice one in New Mexico, but sold it and moved here. More expensive here after that housing boom, so have to save now. We are a one income family, as I suffer health problems, so our income is only 50k yr . But we rent a 1360 sq foot home in a very nice neighborhood. Even better we got it before the housing rush and only pay 750 a month. You cant even get an apartment for that here now.

So I can handle living here for a couple years until we buy again Nice home, nice neighbors ,.. close to everything

I just hate that I cant fix the place up as Im renting,lol

Jensia

 

[teebee]

We are in Oklahoma. We bought this house in August 2005 for $184,000 - about 2,100 square feet w/ another 500 available if we finish out the rest of the attic, and another 300 or so if we finished out the partial basement. Also 3 car garage w/ workshop. It is part of a historic preservation district so lots of restrictions on what we can do to the exterior, but not interior, and the price was pretty low for this neighborhood. FI is dentist & income is around $90,000.

Before I went back to school & moved in w/ FI, I had a 1400 square foot home, purchased for $85,000 in 2002. My salary as an admin. asst. was about $26,500. Living in OK is cheap... but the summers are HOT...

 

[jetmal]

living on about $50k a year in WI, we have a 3,000 sq ft house, including the finished basement.
4 bdrms, 3.5 baths, 2 fireplaces.....built the house last year. we were able to do so, becuz this is our 3rd house....the first two we totally remodeled and made excellent profits from it, which enabled us to build a nice new one

 

[Dancing Fire]

Date: 2/28/2006 9:28:15 PM
Author: lili
So what is the square footage of YOUR home DF?

2350 sq ft. single story, 4 bedrooms,2.5 bath.

 

[portoar]

Over $100K, 2200 sf home, 3/2, double fireplace, in San Diego County, worth --- $750-775K. I just sold my mother''s home in Palo Alto, CA last year for $950K, it was 1600 sf, in original, 45 year old condition, with a $22K termite report . . .

 

[Selkie]

Date: 2/28/2006 11:06:42 PM
Author: Wren
Ok, I''m biting too.

2000 sqft not counting basement or the two casitas in the garden. (aka converted adobe garages). Bf has about 1300 sqft. Um, 1 fireplace and 3 bedrooms for me, and 2 bedrooms and a fireplace for him.

Hmm, it makes me wonder if most PSer''s are home owners?

Or maybe those of us who aren''t are too depressed to answer! Just waitin'' for that bubble to burst baby.

 

[jaysonsmom]

We''re in South Orange County California, and we have a 1764 sq ft. townhome worth over 650K!!!!!! we have 3 bedrooms and 1 fireplace that we don''t even need "sigh". My bro sold a similar size single family detached home for only 150k in Austin, CA. We are definitely going to retire to a different state one day, and ive off our CA real estate profits.

 

[pearcrazy]

Date: 2/28/2006 8:58:39 PM
Author: Mara
It''s so tempting thinking about moving to a place like NC where $350k or similar buys you a 3000 sq ft home. We could pay cash for it. Oh well CA has great weather.

Our townhouse is 1850 sq ft, 3/3 and 1 fireplace...hehehee.

Uggggggh!! Too many people coming here to NC from CA and NY is driving up prices everywhere! Here in Wake county alone 7000 new students are being added every school year. It''s driving up prices, taxes, crowding schools, depleting the education budget. My children have trailer classrooms to deal with the overload of new kids coming from higher taxed, higher priced places. Their parents love it here. We have fabulous weather here too Mara, especially for those coming from the Northeast but it''s frankly ruining our little piece of the American Pie. Incomes aren''t nearly keeping up with rising housing prices. BTW-- good luck finding 3000 sq. feet for $350k around here anymore. That may have been the case 5 years ago but it''ll cost you more like $450k now. Those coming from your neck of the woods can afford 3000 sq. feet those of us who have lived here for 30 years can''t.

 

[pearcrazy]

Date: 2/28/2006 10:15:49 PM
Author: MINE!!

Date: 2/28/2006 8:58:39 PM
Author: Mara
It's so tempting thinking about moving to a place like NC where $350k or similar buys you a 3000 sq ft home. We could pay cash for it. Oh well CA has great weather.

Our townhouse is 1850 sq ft, 3/3 and 1 fireplace...hehehee.

LOL.... Mara.. 300K for 3000SQ FT>.. In my area of NC, it is more like 4000+ You can get 2300 Sqft. for 149K here right now.

Where in NC do you live, Mine? Raleigh area has gotten completely out of hand. They are predicting Wake county to be the largest county in NC within 10 years.

 

[autumngems]

Looks like lots of NC folks here. I live down near the beach in Newport NC (10 min from beach). My house is 1800 Sqft. Prices are really good here for houses I think. It's our first home and I am planning our next one which will be approx 2600 sqft. It was originally 113,000 now appraised at 140,000. 3 Br, 2 bath, huge yard, 2 car garage, in a quiet neighborhood.

 

[butterfly 17]

Okay, my turn!
Our home is 1925 sq. feet(not incl. the garage), 3 bedrooms, 3 baths, garage, no fireplace and it''s a duplex. We live in Staten Island, NY, one of the 5 boroughs of NYC, but definitely not as expensive as Manhattan!
It''s actually one of the few areas where one can purchase a brand new or newer home and still be close to the city, although we do have to pay tolls on the Verrazano Bridge to get back and forth to the other boroughs and to NJ.
We have two kids (none in college), two cars (both paid for already), and our annual combined income is in the mid to upper $100k range.
I have a two carat diamond, but I also had to wait until my 10th year anniversary to get it.
He makes more than me, but I take home more because he gets a lot of other stuff deducted from his take home pay than I do.

 

[ammayernyc]

We live in Manhattan but we don't own, just rent. It's a 2 bedroom/2 bathroom with a dining room. I think it's around 1200 square feet. If it were possible to buy it (which it isn't), it would probably be between $1.5 - 2 million. Prices are so crazy here!

 

[fire&ice]

Yeah, Wake County/Research Triangle area has gone crazy. You still can find the 3000 s.f. homes for 350.00 in the areas closer to Garner or out in Wake Forest (which I understand is going up as well). BUT - the traffic is HORRIBLE! The schools not so good - and they keep redistricting so you never know what neighborhood to buy in. Nope, wouldn''t move back to Raleigh for love or money. I think MINE lives due east where home prices are less expensive. Where I live in NC, the price of homes are no where near as high as Raleigh & we don''t have as bad of traffic congestion. Not gonna say where to give anyone any ideas!

NC still is relatively inexpensive compared to other areas of the country though.

Our home in NC is around 1500 s.f. It''s a bungalow so it''s quite an efficient use of space. It''s the perfect size for us. Our home in VA is about 2700 s.f. I rattle around in it. I can''t really comment on pricing p.s.f as we built in 1988 - a different market. And, the home in NC in 2001 with a bit of bubble burst.

Personally, neither one of us needs a lot of space. Probably different story if we had children.

 

[firebirdgold]

Yeah, speaking of prices varying wildly from different regions...
A bit of background, the university in Eugene (bf's alma mater) has a professorship open in more or less bf's field. They have been strongly encouraging him to apply for the job, and I would like it as well. So of course I've been checking out the housing market, and it is very reasonable compared to the town we live in. Heck, even the town he works in now is reasonable comparatively and it has the highest per capita income in the state!

My bf got back from a conference last weekend where he met up with some friends from Eugene, or. So bf comes home and says 'wow, home prices in Eugene have gotten really expensive, what-his-name just bought a 4 bedroom for 350k!" And I just look at him like he's suddenly sprouted horns.
Being a wise lady I kept my mouth shut; but I'm thinking 'uh hello? our local median selling price just went past 400k!' I sometimes think bf has blinders on when it comes to money.

But you know, housing prices shouldn't get so inflated that 350k seems like a really good deal to me.

 

[pearcrazy]

F&I

That''s why all the growth is a sore subject for us. We bought our home in a quiet neighborhood in western Wake county. Back in ''97 it was a great buy. Super little town. Lots of neighborhood kids, my kids districted to the second highest ranked elementary school in Wake county, low city taxes, not too much traffic. Overall a wonderful place to be. Now 8 years later my children are in danger of being re-districted to another school farther away from our house, shopping centers and new neighborhoods are being thrown up everywhere. Our property taxes are getting ready to nearly double. I can barely get out of our neighborhood some mornings because of heavy traffic Our next door neighbors who moved from N. New Jersey last summer like it here so much that they''ve convinced her sister''s family with 3 kids to come on down to the area from Newark. They''ve bought a house on the other side of town. Three more kids to add to our overcrowded schools. They''re delighted with our relatively low housing prices and good schools for the tax dollars. Well get ready-- all the transplants are quickly changing all of that. My NJ neighbor actually told me that she was delighted with the 3 million sq. foot shopping center going up on the west side of our neighborhood. She refused to sign the neighborhood petition to keep the developer from having the zoning changed. It doesn''t bother her in the least that we will need a traffic light to get out of our neighborhood onto the now country road that borders it. Just like Jersey she says and she loves it,

Ugh, please STOP coming here!!

 

[fire&ice]

I hear your pain & second it - but I think much of the problem lies squarely on the city planners. Raleigh has nearly failed to control growth in a responsible way.

 

[InLuvWithMrH]

My home is just under 3,000 sq ft with a 1500 sq ft unfinished basement, almost 4.5 acres. I live in San Diego and was able to build before the market skyrocketed. My boyfriend moved in with me last summer and our plans are to make the basement a Tiki Hideaway/wine cellar in time for our wedding next summer! I could never afford to buy my home now...even with 2 incomes! I would love to eventually sell, downsize and move out of state, but it''s tough to do when you''re a California gal!

 

[tawn]

We own a 2600sq ft home in WA, with 4 br and a fireplace. More importantly (to my husband) is that is has a big gargage and separate workshop! Unfortunately, we have to rent it out...and we live in a 1200sq ft 2 story townhouse in San Diego. We''re right on the beach, so we can''t really complain...

However, we pay twice as much in rent in CA, as we do for our mortgage on the house in WA. We couldn''t begin to afford our WA house if it was here in San Diego. It''s all about the location!

 

[Mara]

PC that''s sad about the growth being uncontrolled, it definitely is the fault of the city planners, typically they don''t want to turn away growth that will bring extra tax dollars for them, but it usually is at the expense of the homeowners there before, unfortunately!!

I would pay 450k for 3000 sq ft...that still is a great deal. I have looked around here in Willow Glen, a cute small area that borders our more transitional one, and for a same square footage house (aka 1850), actual standalone with a little land in front and back, fairly remodeled home, 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, 2 car garage etc on a very cute large tree-lined street runs about $950k right now. So if we sold our place we''d probably still pay another $150k after we sold this (could sell our for $750-800k) to get into a an actual house that is basically the same as our townhouse now but just a little older. Doesn''t seem like much of a trade-up eh?

I actually did some research on the Raleigh area of NC and was pretty happy with the weather stats and the job options for people like us and I can do my job anywhere actually, and Greg wants to get more into bio BUT I just think I would die being away from everyone and everything I knew growing up. Greg says well I already have done it for 6 years. I said well you are used to it at least! I mean I don''t know if I could do it. He obviously is a stronger person in that respect. And he''s happy here, he just misses his family, which I can totally understand. But I don''t know if moving out there makes sense.

I wonder if some areas of NC would make a good long term investment property, hmmmm!! Those cute new houses are just SO tempting!!! I love new houses, I''m such a sucker. I''d want some land though. But seriously I don''t know if I''m meant to move from CA to a seemingly very southern environment. This may be a silly question but the demographics that I saw online were something like 60% white and 35% black and 5% other. What is the other made of in your areas? It would also be VERY hard for me to move from this culturally diverse CA area to a place where people like me (aka brown skinned) weren''t around at all. That would probably bother me more than not having family. I would feel like I stuck out like a sore thumb.

 

[pearcrazy]

Other would be Hispanic, Asian and Indian. We have lots of Asian and Indian neighbors who have jobs in the Research Triangle Park. You most defiantely would not stick out like a sore thumb. Both men who live either behind us or next door to us were born in Egypt.

 

[decodelighted]

I keep hearing about this NC boom. So interesting as I grew up a few miles from the VA/NC border & would have never predicted NY/CA folks streaming there in droves. Philly is kinda like that too recently ... Brooklynites, priced out of buying, picking up & moving to Philly or Jersey City or Seattle or Austin.

Just found out this weekend one of my sisters is building a vacation home/investment property on some NC waterfront property her husband bought with his parents a few years ago. They''re gonna rent it out until they can afford to have a 2nd home (if ever!).

The other one is considering a 1.3 million dollar house in No. VA.

Wow. Partner in law firm = nice lifestyle.

Me?? One of my proudest accomplishments was buying a home (by myself). I bought less than I qualified for because of my varying income. 1700 sq. feet approx. About an hour & 20 minutes north of manhattan. It''s an old home & I''m always fixing something. Sometimes I fantasize about new construction. The great part is that in the three years since I bought it it''s doubled in value - so if I have anything REALLY serious to fix - or - we need to add on ... I could get a nice home equity loan.

 

[bar01]

Well some us like to be nosey ! and it all depends on were you live. Home prices vs size really varies.

Household income is well over 100K. House under 1500 SF (not including finished basement).

So where have we been and were are going in home trends? Click here to see


Basically the average home size was under 1500 SF in the 70's and is now around 2300SF.

 

[Tacori E-ring]

Mara, I am not sure about Raleigh but here in Charlotte you can still get large/new house for $300,000. I do think Charlotte is growing fast but perhaps it is better planned than Raleigh. We don''t have any family here and sometimes that does get hard but we both wanted to get out of the midwest so that''s the decision we made. I said in another thread that FI deals with investment properties and he has been very sucessful here. We have family friends who live in Oakland that own several investment homes right outside of Charlotte to supplement their retirement. They are shocked by the prices down here.

 

[Matata]

2800 sq. ft; 3/3; custom built for the original owner from whom we just purchased it for $541,500.

 

[jaysonsmom]

Date: 3/1/2006 2:27:30 AM
Author: jaysonsmom
We''re in South Orange County California, and we have a 1764 sq ft. townhome worth over 650K!!!!!! we have 3 bedrooms and 1 fireplace that we don''t even need ''sigh''. My bro sold a similar size single family detached home for only 150k in Austin, CA. We are definitely going to retire to a different state one day, and ive off our CA real estate profits.

I got curious about what my townhome would sell for, so I went on line to look for similar places in my area. 2 of my neighbors in the same tract sold their smaller models (only 1645 sq. feet )for $625K.....

I saw this one listed, and it''s features were closest to mine, except mine is a smidge bigger, with more upgrades (shutters, pergo floors etc.), and mine was built in 1991. I guess that means I can sell mine for over $700K!!!! yikes.

 

[jaysonsmom]

Oops, I forgot the link CA Townhome

 

[eks6426]

Northern Indiana--land of cheap housing...I bought my 1400 square foot 1940s house on only my salary 4 years ago. Paid $116K with a salary much less than $100K. When I got married last July, husband and his 16 year old moved in with my son and I. We actively chose to stay in my house rather than getting a new larger one. Sure, it's cozy, but it forces us to a. spend time together b. stay super organized--no room for stuff to accumulate. But the main reason we chose to stay in the small house is that we want to spend our money enjoying life--traveling, doing activities with our kids, eating out etc. We wouldn't be able to do as much if we we paying for a larger abode. And as Monarch said it's much easier cleaning a small house 3 bedrooms 1 1/2 baths, 1 fireplace

It's all a matter of priorities.