How much house is enough?

I opined recently about cheap being relative when it comes to homes and talked about showing houses in the $10-20K range lately. Admittedly those were foreclosed houses in pretty poor shape, but most had a few things in common that got me to thinking about how much house is enough. Most of those homes were built in the era from 1930-1950 and most had about 900-1000 Sq Ft of living space, with most having 2 or 3 bedrooms, a living room a kitchen with eat-in area and a bathroom. Some have basements and some are on crawls or slabs.

I grew up in a house like that. I think we had about 1,000 Sq1 Ft. It was a three bedroom ranch with 1 bath a living room and a kitchen/dining area. My sister and I were perfectly happy growing up in that house, which my dad bought new (it had been the model home for a sub, so he got a deal in it) in the mid-1950’s. Our house was on a slab and had those vaulted ceilings that were popular back then. Of course, being on a slab meant that the mechanicals for the house shared the living space, which they did, right next to the laundry area.

Many of the houses built in the 20’s, 30’s 40’s and 50’s were built with hardwood floors, coved ceilings (most with plaster walls), arched doorways between rooms and other cute features. Most bedrooms were very small by today’s standards with 10’ X 10’ or 10’ X 8’ being fairly standard. Of course, closets were small back then too. And, no one could imagine any family needing more than one automobile; so, single-car garages were the order of the day. Many of these homes were built in platted little subs or on city streets with 50’-60’ wide lots that were about twice as deep as wide; so. There was a small front yard and maybe a fenced in back yard.

I though back to whether or not I felt somehow deprived because I didn’t live in a bigger house and can’t recall ever feeling that way. I remember that we occasionally visited someone who lived in a bigger house and thinking that it must be nice to have a little more room or a basement to store stuff in (our stuff went out into the garage, once my dad built one – we just had a car port originally). With smaller bedrooms, my sister and I were restricted to each having a chest of drawers and a desk. In her case that was a dressing table that she also used as a desk. And we both had single beds, which was about all one could have in those small bedrooms.

The recent housing bust has put a lot of the older, smaller homes on the market and they are starting to be re-discovered by the Millenials – the grandsons and granddaughters of the Baby Boomers. The youngest buyer set is also the most practical when it comes to a first-time home buy. Many of them have come to grips with the current economy and its impact on their earning and buying power. So they are buying the small houses and adding their own Crate and Barrel decorating touches to turn them into nice homes. Since many of these homes are located in the closer-in suburbs or even within the boundaries of larger cities, they are fueling the trend towards reversing urban sprawl. Maybe this is a back to the future trend in housing. What’s happening with small homes in your areas? Do you see the same trends, especially with the Millenials?