Got to love developments in rural areas

[tradosaurus]

3 story, 3,500 sq feet.

My dad lives in the furnished basement. The rest of us sleep on the 3rd floor.

My wife is so done with a story house and my wife is 150% positive we will sell it in due time

Yeah, I can see that. Our forever home I promised to never buy another two story house.

 

[deezler]

Ranches ftw. 2 story houses are fine though, you just gotta make sure the laundry and master suite are on the ground floor. Kids and guests can walk up and down the stairs, haha.

 

[TheMan419]

Ranches ftw. 2 story houses are fine though, you just gotta make sure the laundry and master suite are on the ground floor. Kids and guests can walk up and down the stairs, haha.

Yep. Our house is 2 story. Master and laundry on first floor so we rarely go up to 2nd floor. 2nd floor is two bedrooms and a full bath. So guests have a nice place to stay.

 

[newbury]

That's the way to go, make it so in a multistory house one can do all the "essentials" of living on one floor. I view the other floors similar to my sheds, may go days without getting there.
My 97 re old MIL has a split level, 3 level house, with walkout on lowest and next level. About the only time she gets to the bottom level is for tornado shelter.

 

[Sigarms]

My 97 re old MIL has a split level, 3 level house, with walkout on lowest and next level.

You're 97 year old MIL is doing better than my father

We should all be so lucky to die in our own home in our sleep.

 

[JethroB]

Ranches ftw. 2 story houses are fine though, you just gotta make sure the laundry and master suite are on the ground floor. Kids and guests can walk up and down the stairs, haha.

Sort of like the small pickups with tiny or rear jump seats. For small children or people you don’t like much.

 

[DieselBound]

Sounds like you might as well sell your tractor. Never lived in town. The best neighbors are no neighbors.

The BEST is to have great neighbors: make them that way if you have to! I've got great neighbors (sadly, I've seen some of them go- die or move away). BUT, I'm also fortunate in that I ample buffer zones such that there's no property contention issues (and no animal issues).

 

[DieselBound]

Ranches ftw. 2 story houses are fine though, you just gotta make sure the laundry and master suite are on the ground floor. Kids and guests can walk up and down the stairs, haha.

Totally agree (IF one has the site for it). I managed to come up with a single-story design that had master, laundry, kitchen, living and dining all on one floor. Also a second bedroom (at one point I had three, but scaled back and got a small computer/study area and better bathroom layouts), guest bath, mud room AND mechanical room. About 1,850 sq-ft total. Project scrapped just as I was ready to hire an architect to draft it all up: too much uncertainty int the "markets" AND the wife wants to spend retirement time with grand kids (she broke down and said she'd be fine with our current house); new construction would have also brought a big bump in property taxes (not good when on fixed income).

If adding an additional floor you lose sq-ft for stairwell and access. It's amazing how much so, how much one floor's layout can be impacted. There's also maintenance issues to consider (I don't like climbing up higher than a first floor level!). Mechanical/HVAC stuff also adds into the mix.

A second story would offer a great commanding view on our property, but I once had view property (two-story looking out toward/over Puget Sound) and was too busy working to enjoy it. Now I'm just too busy outside to have inside views be the priority. Also understood that I'm more about function. And, even with a single story we have really nice views of our own property: enough to see the work that needs to be done outside!

 

[buckeyefarmer]

God only knows when the best time will to build a home in the future. Hopefully by that time, pricing will have come down.

Yea, I keep wondering that.

 

[buckeyefarmer]

I never consider the basement a story..I have 2 story house, basement, main level, 2nd story bedrooms.

We are considering adding a master bedroom & bath, probably in garage space. Can always add a detached pole building garage.