So we have been house hunting for quite a while for a 4 bedroom house with some kind of logical office space since my wife works from home. Many of the houses we have looked at have been at the top of our price range and even at that they will need some updating. Yesterday we saw a larger 3 BR house (2900 square feet, one story) that is in a nice area. It is as large as or larger than many of the 4 bedroom ones we have looked at. The big thing is two of the bedrooms are huge. Master is 21X15 and one of the kids room is 19X12, the third is 12X12. The 19X12 one is set up for two kids . It has a huge closet, two built in desks, and door to bathroom. My big hang up is I really wanted a 4th bedroom so the kids will have their own room each. We have a boy and girl and another girl on the way. Also my parents are older so realistically one would live with me one day since my sister has her mother in law living with them already. They both seem to be doing fine but it was a topic of conversation the other day. So my son who is three is thrilled about the idea of sharing a room with his sister. Eventually he would have his own room and the girls would share. I think my wife is pretty smart and a good judge of things. She has made a point that if there was one more wall up making the house a 4 br I would be super excited about it. Sometimes we have looked at houses that we could practically live in forever (we are 32 now). This would have to be a house we live in for 7-10 years. I have never shared a room before except in college so this is pretty new to me. Since it is a 3 bedroom house the house is close to 100K less than others we have looked at. That is a huge selling point as well. I think I am just being foolish about this. The kids won't be doing too much in the bedrooms until they are older, right?
I don't fully agree with that. ^^^^ It's all relative, Mr. DaDakota, sir. If it's in a nice neighborhood with good schools and low crime rate, it will be worth more, but not if it's in the low-income areas. FYI, you can't say "normal" in regards to size that's what SHE said. If you can afford the bigger house, buy it, but don't buy it just because you can while you don't like it. Also, the advantage for buying a house with more rooms is that when the kids leave, you'll have lots more room to place stuff for yourself, but that's not always a good thing.
Percentage-wise, I disagree with this statement. I find that the more expensive houses drop at a higher percentage rate than those less expensive. Regardless, I would go with the bigger place as well.
Don't become house rich and money poor. Kids are fine sharing rooms until at least 10 or so and even after that it's not going to kill them. It's better for them to have parents that don't have to work 60+ hours a week to pay for the house. It's better for them to be able to have good stuff and go on vacations where they see the world. It's better you put some money away to help them with college or perhaps one day buying a house of their own then it is for you to be stretched just making the housing payments. Also, is there a den or some other room you could convert to a BR? If not, you can always go with a nice room divider... You and your kids are still young so you could always plan an addition or a remodel in a few years as well.
I am assuming the houses are in the same neighborhood/school district. Don't get fooled by % increases of smaller houses, if you can afford a bigger house and it goes up in value, the NET gain when you sell it will generally be more..... % is not as important as cash..... DD
My boys are now 15 and 9. They shared a room up until this year and had no problems with it (although it was a pretty big room). I like houses that are designed better, even if they are smaller. larger houses require more stuff to fill them up and take longer to clean. Smaller houses that flow well, have space saving built-ins, and nice yards are more important to me than square footage. I also think that the neighborhood is more important than the size of the house in terms of maintaining value. 100K is a big difference, especially financed over 15 or 30 years.
The sizes of the house are about the same. This 3br is close to close to 3000 square feet. We currently live in a 3br less than 1500. We have even seen a five bedroom that was 2600 sq ft, and most of the 4 br are from 2400 to 3200 but cost much more. This one has a large living room, large den/playroom, large bedrooms just less actual bedrooms. School are all good ones.
Seems to me like the 3BR is a no-brainer. I shared a large room with my older brother growing up and it was great. We had a floor to ceiling built-in shelving unit that split the space between his area and mine. I have a 4 bedroom place, and I make my girls share a room and the toddlers share another room even though I have a guest room that sits empty most of the time. But, if you really want a room for each kid, take the 19'x12' space and build a wall to cut it into two 9'x12' rooms. That's not hard to do.
100k is a big difference. What kind of finance term are you looking at? 100k over 15 years is about $700/month.
For me, a house with large rooms is way more important than the number of rooms. Large rooms give a house an open feel, but the same size house with more rooms can feel cramped. I also shared a room with my brother growing up and it was no big deal. I don't get people that want to ensure all their kids get their own room. What's wrong with teaching them how to share and compromise? Rimrocker is right... that extra money could go towards other, more fulfilling things.
This is the key. I'd go with the less expensive house and save money for your next home purchase in 7-10 years. If you're talking about the next 20 years, I'd go with the extra bedroom.
My opinion? Saving a hundred grand, all other things being equal (schools, neighborhood, etc.), trumps all, IMO. You can put the money you save to good use elsewhere. If, down the road, you find you must have the 4 bedroom pad, you could always sell this place and buy it, or take some of what you saved (if you invested it) and "create" that 4th bedroom out of the large one BR you mentioned.
