Let's say you have a family of 4, including yourself. Would you rather live in a 2/2 with a 15 year mortgage, or a 4/3 with a 30 year mortgage and why?
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hm. I think it depends. I wouldn't base my decision just on mortgage length and # of bedrooms.
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I would do smaller- less utilities, less time paying the man, still two bathrooms!
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@locavore_mama: curious, what would you base it on? let's say the two homes are across the street from either other. good neighborhood, schools, location.
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@matador84: I would base it on layout! I'd take the smaller house, I think, provided the layout was great and it wouldn't be a huge PITA to live there. I like cozy
Also, what's the yard like? Or, if there isn't a yard, is it close to a nice park? I'd still do a small house if there was somewhere convenient to be outside.
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For me, it would depend on the overall effect on our finances. If we could afford the 4/3 without any problems, I'd like the extra space. However, if money was an issue, I'd make do with the 2/2.
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@matador84: size of backyard, total SF, price/SF, updates needed vs purchase price etc. Layout of the house, etc. Assuming this is my forever home.
And I guess everyone is assuming the 2/2 is a smaller house. I wouldn't necessarily assume that. LOL
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Definitely the larger home. I know I would have major space issues if we were a family of 4 in a 2 bedroom.
Can you picture yourselves in the 2bd with 2 teenagers? Or is this not your forever home?
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4/3
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Would the 2/2 be your forever home? If so I'd go for the 4/3. I wouldn't want my kids to have to share a room forever. I think it's important to have your own space.
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4/3. I wouldn't want my kids to share a room.
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I agree with PPs who mention the forever home issue. If I wasn't planning on staying there forever (say, until the kids are 10-12ish or younger), I'd go with the smaller home and they can share a bedroom. I think if this was going to be my forever home I'd probably go with the larger one because I think that teenagers need their space. This is coming from someone who had 3 younger siblings... sharing rooms when younger was great, but as a teen, I was so grateful to have my own room to escape to.
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@lawbee11: The only way the 2/2 could be a forever is by building an addition in the attic. Which would cost more money...the 4/3 is move-in ready. EVENTUALLY, we'll have to move or build.
@sunny: I picture nightmares.
Plus, we have a boy and girl, not same gender.@locavore_mama: Okay, interesting. 3,443 sq feet for the 4/3 on .29 acre lot, move-in ready, corner lot, nice size front and backyard. The 2/2 I was interested in your opinion because I had a feeling most would choose 2/2, 1961 sq feet, move-in ready, but needs some updates in kitchen/bath. corner lot also.
Either could potentially be a forever home. 2/2 could have an attic addition, would just cost more $. -
@matador84: I would consider the price of the larger house vs price of smaller house + update costs. Also is the attic, even when updated, able to be considered a habitable space? ie is the ceiling high enough? Are there windows with enough of a opening for safe egress? Is there another space/room that can be converted to a bedroom if need be? ie a den?
Our forever home criteria was preferred 4 bedroom because we knew we would have at least 2 kids and we wanted 1 guest for my family to visit. If it was a 3 bedroom house and we loved it if there was an extra room/space that can be used as a bedroom such as a den then that would be fine.
Obviously every family's priority is different!
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2/2, 15 year mortgage for sure, assuming it was also the smaller house. Less maintenance, less utility costs and the house would be paid off by the time the kids went to college. We thought of downsizing to a smaller house after we had our last baby but we bought our house at a good time and have updated a lot and everything we've looked at so far is less space for more money.
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Definitely the 4/3. You spend SO much time at home, it should be comfortable! I think raising 2 kids in a 2 bedroom house is certainly possible but really squished.
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Also my DH was a stickler about price/SF! LOL he refused to look at houses that were above a certain price/SF. If it was and I really wanted to look at it it better be perfect in move in ready condition for us that we would not want to change in any way.
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@matador84: I'd go with the 4/3 then!
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I would go for 4/3, I hate feeling cramped for space, and having a guest room was a priority for us because we have lots of OOT visitors.
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I wouldn't do the 2/2 just because I'm not a fan of room sharing _ insisted on moving out of our 2 bedroom as soon as we started talking about TTC in the near future! We compromised though and have a 3 bedroom.
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I feel like in a 2/2 I would always be looking for the next thing so I lean toward the bigger place. If the 2/2 could be 3/2 for less and everything else was comparable I'd probably do that.
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I hope to be a family of four someday and we are currently looking to buy a 2/2. We found one that we can possibly get for a REALLY good price in our ideal neighborhood so our hope is to sell it in a few years and then move into our forever home. It took a lot of convincing from DH, because I always lean towards bigger space, but DH is looking at it in an investment point of view. But in your case, if the 4/3 is your forever home in your ideal neighborhood, I would go with that!
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4/3. At some point the kids will want their own rooms and it would be nice to also have a guest room.
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4/3, no doubt. We did 2/2 with our family of 4 and we would have been miserable there for 15 years!
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Bigger for me, for sure. We only have 1 and I already want more space.
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4/3 for me. Both my parents and DH's parents live out of state and visit for extended periods frequently. I need a place to put them besides the living room. I think a 2/2 would get cramped quickly if you had guests on a regular basis.
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There is a situation just like this on a street near me. The 4/3 is about $509k and the 3/2 is around 429k.
We'd go with the extra bedroom, because we have family that visits from overseas.
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Hmm layout and general size of the home would be key. Also are the kiddos the same sex and could share a room even after puberty?
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If the mortgage payments were similar, I'd go for the bigger one.
My mother lives far enough away that she stays the night when she visits. I'd hate the idea of losing a guest room.
(and we're in the process of looking for something bigger than our 2 bedroom house)
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4/3
I think kids need their own space.
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It would depend on a lot of things, like location. I would probably rather choose to live in a larger house a little farther away than a smaller house closer, for example. The two houses would likely be similar in price.
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Bigger home for sure.
Our first home (that we're in now) is a 4/2.5. We'll probably move before we have 3 kids, but we wanted the space. Plus, it's easier to sell!
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I would absolutely pick the bigger house. More room for play, storage, privacy, etc.
I honestly don't get the obsession with lower term mortgages - I get that lots of people would rather be debt-free, but to my mind a mortgage right now is *good* debt as long as you live in a place with a stable housing market - interest rates are super low and paying your mortgage bill every month is fantastic for your credit score. I would much rather have a 30-year mortgage and put the extra money towards a second investment property.
(But full disclosure - I don't mind being house poor and live in an area that housing is a solid investment.)
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4/3, but we spend a lot of time at home and our current 2/2 apartment is tight with only 3 of us. If we were all or mostly all somewhere else during the day on weekdays, I'd opt for the smaller space, assuming the 2/2 actually has a smaller footprint and a workable layout.
My chief thought on this is that 3400 sq ft is a lot of house. Even though we're there all the time, I personally don't want anywhere near 3400 sq ft to clean and maintain, and the extra work involved would really sting if the bigger house came with a bigger mortgage, because it's also going to be more expensive to heat/cool. Other less frequent expenses would also likely be higher on a bigger house. For example, if it has a bigger roof, replacing it will be more expensive; if you need new flooring, that will be pricier; it probably has more windows, and those eventually need to be replaced...you get the idea.
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If I was not planning to move for a long while and I can afford the utilities without having to struggle then the 4/3 home so there is more room to move around and the kids can have their own room/guest room for when people stay over.
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4/3, for sure. We're feeling the squeeze with just one in a 3/1.5 (sq. footage is 1100).
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Hands down, bigger home. I want space for 2 kids to have their own rooms and for a guest room. My family lives out of town so I'd like to have space for them to visit. Paying off a mortgage in 15 years is not a high priority for me. I'd rather invest in a better lifestyle (which to me you get with more space) than have the house paid off sooner.
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I would go with the bigger home. I think it would be hard to feel like the smaller home was our forever home and if I had a choice I would go with a potentially forever home as opposed to a place I might feel like we will outgrow. If you wind up moving from the smaller place sooner you might not come out as far ahead as you would think.
On the other hand there are circumstances that I could see us in where we would prefer the smaller home.
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4/3, I can't imagine tweens/teens having to share a room. This momma would go insane!
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4/3 based on all the info you posted.
Also, what's the yard like? Or, if there isn't a yard, is it close to a nice park? I'd still do a small house if there was somewhere convenient to be outside.
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