Small house, big family????

[ckmommyof3]

We are looking at purchasing a smaller house while we save for our dream house.

We have 4 girls ages 17, 13, 8, and 8 months). The house we are looking at has under 1000 square ft, 3 beds, 2 baths. The price & location are perfect and it is a newer home. No basement or garage. :(

One bedroom is VERY small, but would work for the baby's crib/ baby items. The master bedroom is the room we are considering for our older 3 girls to share with a bunk bed for 3.

 

Are we crazy for even considering this? Our oldest will be leaving for college in 2 years. We are looking at being in the house for about 4-5 years.

 

Any advice or suggestions?

[Catwoman]

I think it's too small.

[mytwomonkeys]

personally, i'd go for it! i love tiny living & our dream home is less than 800 square feet. we used to live in a 2300 sq foot home. we currently live in 1200 sq ft. we hope to downsize again in a year or 2, building it ourselves to create maximum use of every nook and cranny. small doesn't mean cramped necessarily. be creative. look at ikea small living ideas for inspiration & follow small living blogs. i think you can totally do it!:)

[SonshineLearner]

Because you have all girls, it looks as though it would work. I would think of breaking up the rooms differently. Depends on how your 17 year old is. Mine would freak at sharing with with 2 other siblings. Might be better to cram the 8 year old and baby together. (Or, the crib in your room...) Then you could give the 17 year old the little bitty room... but she could have her own space..

[Anne in CA]

I think it depends on how much privacy the people in your family need. If your dh needs a lot of privacy from all you ladies, this will not work. If you could carve out part of something for a man cave, maybe.

 

Our family lives in a small home with only one bathroom, but we have done a lot of missions travel and know how the rest of the world lives so this is not a sacrifice to us like it would seem to many people.

 

My SIL and her dh lived in their garage for six years to save for their dream home. They built the garage first and lived in it while they saved money. Their whole family of six shared one very small bathroom and she cooked for everyone in a galley sized kitchen and they heated the whole thing with a wood stove. They probably had about 800 square feet on the floor, but it was tall and they put bunk beds up for the kids in a small bedroom and had a tall pantry to store lots of food. Most people considered it to be camping, but they had the temperament to make it fun.

 

If you and your dh are the sort who can make anything fun, and your kids play along, I say go for it.

[BlsdMama]

The bedrooms aren't relevant. You just sleep in them. ;) BUT, what's the rest of the house like? Superfunctional? Good relationship spaces? Yard? Area to have interests as you have teens? For example, I think I could live in a 500sq. foot house, but give me a small yard and I'm sure we'd all die. ;)

[Melinda in VT]

We spent six years as a family of 5 and then 6 in about 950 square feet. I dreamed (literally) of opening a door and finding new rooms in the house. I ached for more space. The size of the house kept us from having people over. It made us all cranky.

 

If you live somewhere where you can comfortably use outdoor space year-round, I'd consider it. Otherwise, I'd advise you to keep looking.

 

Also, are you done having kids? Are you sure? :D Because adding another baby into the mix would make it even tougher.

[maddykate]

There are six of us living in a 1150 square foot townhome. I love it and would not trade back into a larger home. I love the simple living.

 

I say go for it.

[welovetoread]

We have 6 children. Four girls ages 14, 10, 8 and 5 and 2 boys 2 and 8 months. we have 3 bedrooms. One of those rooms is my husbands office. The upstairs or 3rd bedroom was actually part of the attic that was remodeled. It houses 4 girls. Each girl has their own "corner" with their belongings. we have 3 full size dressers and a bunkbed where 2 sleep on top and the oldest on the bottom and a twin bed for another girl. they still have room to do cartwheels. Our room is small and sleeps myself, my husband and the 2 boys still sleep with us. We have a living room, dining room and a kitchen and bathroom. All of those rooms aren't small but not huge either. Our laundry room is very small and it also has a door to the pantry which is a bit small too. we converted one of the "mud" rooms into a toy room.

However, we also have almost 3 acres of yard and 40 acres of woods to be explored. We felt that we had alot of room outside and our kids love the outdoors. we are in the middle of nowhere and LOVE LOVE LOVE it.

 

So, that very long winded response just to say,we have found that we have ample room outside, the room inside isn't a big deal.

 

Chandi

[Slartibartfast]

How many bathrooms? :lol:

[Carrie12345]

Well, I'd say it's too small long-term, but fine short-term.

(We're 7 in +\-1,100sf, and have been here 6 years. I hate it!!!)

[Tap]

Depends on the people.

 

If it were dh,ds17,dd13 and I....we could do it.

 

 

add in dd5 and we need another 1000 sqft. She is loud, abrasive and aggressive. We all need a buffer zone from her.

 

The family across the street have 3 girls who fight constantly, I can not imagine them being forced into bedrooms together.

[Crimson Wife]

Is there a reason why you are not considering renting? I would not purchase a house only to turn around and sell it in 4-5 years. Maybe that made sense when the market was on an upward trajectory, but you run the serious risk of having the market remain flat (or worse, continue to fall) and then not be able to cover the seller's commission plus what you owe on the mortgage when you want to sell. Whereas if you're renting, you just give your 30 days' notice and you're free to move into your dream house.

[Wheres Toto]

We spent six years as a family of 5 and then 6 in about 950 square feet. I dreamed (literally) of opening a door and finding new rooms in the house. I ached for more space. The size of the house kept us from having people over. It made us all cranky.

 

 

I had to laugh at this because I too literally dream about discovering a basement or attic or extra room in my house.

 

We have 5 in 750 square feet. It doesn't work well although I think a 2nd bathroom could help a lot. The little guys are in the "big" bedroom which is 12 x 9. They have low bunkbeds and dh and I keep our dressers in their room because our room only fits our king bed and a set of plastic drawers. My oldest has her own room (she was 11 when her brother was born and never could have adapted to sharing with a baby) but it's only 9 x 9 1/2.

 

I hate that it's impossible to have anyone but very close family over. I hate that we have shelves stuck everywhere possible which gives it a cluttered look and means standing on a step stool to put anything away. I hate that it's impossible to find a place for everything. I hate that it always looks messy no matter how often it's cleaned. I hate the lack of room to do projects or leave things set up.

 

We do have a big yard but that's still not enough to counteract the smallness of the house.

[Danestress]

Kids do what they have to do. And some girls love sharing a room with a sister. But I would consider what your girls are like and how they will perceive the experience. Any introverts? Once my kids leave the house, I don't NEED a dream house. I don't really care as much about where I live after my kids aren't living there. A small apartment will be fine.

 

From your older daughters' perspective, it might seem sad that you pile everyone into tiny quarters during the last years they enjoy at home with you so that later, you can buy a better house. Maybe they won't see it this way at all. But I want my kids to love their years growing up, and if they wouldn't love sharing a room with an 8 year old, I would only do it if I had to. I wouldn't do it so that I could save up for a better house later when they are gone.

[Stayseeliz]

We are a family of six in a 2br 1ba 1000 sqf. Our kids are younger now so the only issue is when two people need to go to the bathroom at the same time and that's a rare issue. If we had one more bedroom I would stay here forever but I have one boy so that issue will come up eventually. We've thought about splitting the bedroom since it's big or something. I LOOOOOOVE having a smaller house. Less to clean, less to get messy, less to worry about. I love it!

[mazakaal]

We spent six years as a family of 5 and then 6 in about 950 square feet. I dreamed (literally) of opening a door and finding new rooms in the house. I ached for more space. The size of the house kept us from having people over. It made us all cranky.

 

If you live somewhere where you can comfortably use outdoor space year-round, I'd consider it. Otherwise, I'd advise you to keep looking.

 

:iagree:

 

We spent 3.5 yrs as a family of 5 and then 6 in about 750sq ft, and I too literally dreamed about having more space. Maybe it wouldn't be as bad with girls (I had young rambunctious boys at the time), but I wouldn't advise trying it.

 

Right now we're in about 1700 sq ft and, though I don't like the room configuration in our house, I think it's about right square footage-wise. Under 1000 sq ft with two teenagers... no thanks.

[Scuff]

Since you only plan on staying a short time, you need to consider resale value, also. You will have a more limited market than if you had an actual 3br

[Scuff]

Aand, since we're in our 12th year living in. A house that we planned to stay in less than 5, I would not buy a house that I could not bear long term.

[Catwoman]

Is there a reason why you are not considering renting? I would not purchase a house only to turn around and sell it in 4-5 years. Maybe that made sense when the market was on an upward trajectory, but you run the serious risk of having the market remain flat (or worse, continue to fall) and then not be able to cover the seller's commission plus what you owe on the mortgage when you want to sell. Whereas if you're renting, you just give your 30 days' notice and you're free to move into your dream house.

 

:iagree:

 

I was thinking the same thing.

[MrsBasil]

Things I would consider. How much space are your kids used to having? Are they already sharing a room or have the temperament to make it work?

[TGHEALTHYMOM]

I think it does take alot of consideration:

 

First of all, in this world, we don't know what is going to happen.

I would never have moved here if I had known the basement was going to start

flooding 3 years after we moved. Or that a tornado was going to rip off half the roof, or a squirrel was going to make a nest in the new central air unit... or 2 trampolines would be tossed 1 over the house and mangled in a tree, one beat the 3 side windows out of our mini van. Or that an ice storm would leave us powerless for over 3 weeks, or straight line winds would take the power for 1 week in the summer... life happens and we used to have an emergency fund, now we have a home equity loan!!! We are going to start another fund hopefully, but moving is out right now... and I could add to the list... but we did think we would finish the basement and now we are thinking of switching us to the smallest of 3 bedrooms, baby 8 is on the way, our 1 bathroom needs a new floor and tub, so we can't afford the kitchen cabinets I need. I am trying to be content and thankful for our big yard, big kitchen, and mudroom with freezers and a 2nd fridge.

 

My biggest motivation: besides space is that we live surrounded by gentetically modified corn fields with tons of pesticides being sprayed every year. I want to get out of here very badly.

 

If we did not have a basement we wouldn't pile up so many clothes.... I have always been the one to clean out and go through it all, but have not been able to so it is a mess. We filled up a huge truck to take a load to the dump a few months ago. Even some of my maternity clothes in plastic totes with lids were ruined.

Careful what you wish for~~ you just might get it. If we had a chance to rent our house out, and move now we would... the market is not moving well right now here either.

[tricia]

I know I could pull it off. When our twins were born we were a family of 11 and we lived in a house not much bigger that what you are talking about. One bedroom was very small and no closet in it. One bedroom was kind of big and one was normal. No basement either. We lived there for 3 years. We simply had to keep "things" to a minimum. Once we put it up for sale we had several people tell our realtor that they would never have know 9 kids under 14 lived in that house. I was that good!:lol: But really, it's possible. Just get rid of stuff. It's good that all your kids are girls. That helps for bedroom purposes. At the time we lived in that small house we had 3 boys and 6 girls.

 

You can do it. I say go for it.

[ckmommyof3]

Is there a reason why you are not considering renting? I would not purchase a house only to turn around and sell it in 4-5 years. Maybe that made sense when the market was on an upward trajectory, but you run the serious risk of having the market remain flat (or worse, continue to fall) and then not be able to cover the seller's commission plus what you owe on the mortgage when you want to sell. Whereas if you're renting, you just give your 30 days' notice and you're free to move into your dream house.

 

We would be able to pay the mortgage off completely in 4-5 years. We would be paying 1/2 as much as we would to rent.

 

Thanks to everyone for the advice! We have a lot to think/pray about!

[Crimson Wife]

We would be paying 1/2 as much as we would to rent.

 

It's twice as expensive to rent the home than purchase it? :confused: That seems strange to me as it is usually cheaper to rent than buy. I just checked Craig's List for 3BR 1000 sq. ft. houses for rent near me. The rentals are running about $1700/mo. To buy a house like that would cost about $2000/mo. for a 20% down mortgage plus around $4k/yr. in property taxes.

[ckmommyof3]

It's twice as expensive to rent the home than purchase it? :confused: That seems strange to me as it is usually cheaper to rent than buy. I just checked Craig's List for 3BR 1000 sq. ft. houses for rent near me. The rentals are running about $1700/mo. To buy a house like that would cost about $2000/mo. for a 20% down mortgage plus around $4k/yr. in property taxes.

 

The home is listed at a really low price (under $50000). Most homes in the area rent for over $1000 per month. Mortgage payments would be about 1/2 that price.

[momma2three]

I would put the 17 year old in the little bedroom alone, and have the 3 younger girls share. When the 17 year old goes off to college, bump the next oldest to the smaller bedroom.

 

The downside to this is that the 17yo will be feeling kicked out of the nest, and she'll be on the couch when she comes home to visit. For some families, that's fine, and others its not. That's up to you.

 

Personally, I would keep looking.

[Tarreymere]

It depends on the space, if it is well-designed and functional. It also depends on your furniture and your clutter. We fit eight people into a three bedroom single wide mobile home with no problems, mainly because it is well-designed and (yay) I just got new furniture for the living room that is smaller and a better fit. We are pretty ruthless about clutter and tend to be conscious about how many things like clothes and toys we have. We don't feel at all crowded.

 

AND Dh and I have NOT given up the master bedroom. Mainly because it has a bathroom of it's own. :001_smile:

[TranquilMind]

I dreamed (literally) of opening a door and finding new rooms in the house. I ached for more space. The size of the house kept us from having people over. It made us all cranky.

 

 

This!!!!!!

[clarkacademy]

No I would not.

[Crimson Wife]

The home is listed at a really low price (under $50000). Most homes in the area rent for over $1000 per month. Mortgage payments would be about 1/2 that price.

 

If it's half the cost of similar homes, my gut reaction would be there is something seriously wrong with it, and I'd keep looking. Just my $0.02...:)

[lewelma]

We have 4 in 700sq ft apartment in the city backing up to a public park and have lived here for 8 years. 2 bathrooms for you is key. Here are a couple of tips: You need to use the bedrooms for more than just sleeping (play room and office should be in bedrooms), and you need to remember to close doors and respect them when they are closed. My boys share a room that is about 6 by 8 feet and they still play in it with the door closed.

 

Definitely doable. Small houses take a lot less time to clean and encourage you to buy less stuff!!!!

 

Ruth in NZ

Edited March 31, 2012 by lewelma

[tori@thehomefront]

I'd go for it as long as you realize what you're getting into. :tongue_smilie: We have 4 boys, ages 15 to 5, in a similarly sized house (not sure on the exact footage, but pretty close). It was a shock moving here from a MUCH larger apartment, but I have come to really like it. It forces us (mainly, ME) to pare down belongings to the useful and well-loved things instead of junk. It also fosters better relationships and "getting-along-edness" between the brothers, because what other choice is there? Good luck!

[lmrich]

Get a home inspection and spend a lot of time looking at it yourself.

 

Personally, I couldn't do it. It would be the missing garage that would kill me. Can you add a storage shed? I just can't think what to do with all that stuff we keep in the garage - bikes, skates, lawn stuff, camping stuff, books, extra pots and pans etc....

[BlsdMama]

Depends on the people.

 

If it were dh,ds17,dd13 and I....we could do it.

 

 

add in dd5 and we need another 1000 sqft. She is loud, abrasive and aggressive. We all need a buffer zone from her.

 

The family across the street have 3 girls who fight constantly, I can not imagine them being forced into bedrooms together.

 

You know this is interesting... :) We have friends who have children who really, truly get along. I think my children get along better than average and I THOUGHT they got along well 'til I met these two. They are just the picture of harmonious sibling development.

 

Do you know Mom says it's because they live in such close quarters? They've made a very conscious choice to live in a house that is about 600 square feet. They are constantly on top of one another with small, defined areas within the home. (An amazing family.) But, here's the kicker, they love their space. Because they live in close quarters Mom can stop/train any quibbling. They spend a good deal of their time working outside on activities but the close quarters made them a stronger family.

 

We lived in a house that was 1100 sq-feetish when we had Daniella. It was perfect. Tiny, tiny bedrooms but GREAT kitchen and on an acreage. It functioned well and the kids got along well because I could hear/see everything that went on. :) Large houses have their own inconveniences of allowing everyone to spread out and do their own thing and that's great from our Americanized mindset that everyone must be individuals and have alone time... But frankly, sometimes I think as a society we'd do better with some close living!

 

Beyond that, what kind of a homekeeper are you? If you love stuff, knick-knacks, and clutter, don't do it. You will have to part with STUFF to make it work.