Square footage per person in a residential home?

   / Square footage per person in a residential home? #1  

Sigarms

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Feb 15, 2005
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Mid north west in the state of N.C
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Had 3 realtors come over to give me impressions on our home and what in their professional opinion had to be done with the home.

The question I have is if you were going to either build or buy an older home that

1 - Was a single story home
2 - Minimum room enough for you and your wife, with the potential of having a single parent live with you
3 - Perhaps another bedroom so parent can live with you and have a guest stay as well
4 - Minimum 2 full baths, including a master bath and a bath for the 1 or 2 additional bedrooms

Currently our home is about 3,000 sq ft, 2 story home which includes a furnished basement (in my mind that's 3 a story house LOL). For four years, my father lived in our furnished basement. Had his own bed, full bath with a wet bar and refrigerator (which comes out to around 1,000 square ft for the basement and actually close to every level in the home).

The only other home I lived in for a long time was my parents home. Dad bought a small house in the late 70's after he got out of the service where I lived for a couple years in middle school and high school. Home was 1,500 sq ft, had a really rough looking unfinished basement, and a small attic which he finished up himself to place a couple of beds for guests (main floor had two small bedrooms and small full bath along with living room and kitchen). See below. I'm guessing the first floor was right at around 1k square ft and the other 500 sq ft was due to the smaller attic (with the pitch of the roof and height in the attic, you could only stand up in the middle).

Screenshot at Oct 11 06-24-23.png


Here is the question... what would be the minimum square footage house you would look for in either 2 or 3 bedroom home with 2 full baths single story home?

Assuming mother in law comes live with us, I love her like my own mom. Unlike my father who had his own space in the basement, my mother in law would be living on the same floor with us. She's (MIL) also a great cook who taught my wife to cook, and no qualms sharing the kitchen if that makes sense.

The reason why I'm asking is because one realtor who I do trust and like told me that he thought for our situation a 2,000 square ft home would work best to give us and my MIL "room" from each other, but in my mind something that size is way to big.

2K sq ft for 3 people is 666 sq ft per person (per suggestion from realtor)
3k sq ft for 5 people is 600 sq ft per person (current home)
3K sq ft for 2 people is 1,500 sq ft per person (current home and why wife and I have 5 year plan to downsize)
1.5K sq ft for 3 people is 500 sq ft per person (parents home)

The wild card variable I'm guessing is we want a single story home. Although my parents home was 1,500 sq ft, the majority of living in the home was on the first floor which is about 333 sq ft per person. The washer and dryer, along with the boiler for heat were in the unfinished basement as well as much of my parents "stuff" that I had to deal with when my dad came to live with us and I helped him sell his home). The small attic (in parents house) was fine for sleeping guests with two beds up there. Reality is if we didn't have that unfinished basement for my moms hobbies and washer and dryer, as well as dad's tools, as well as things my parents collected while my dad was in the service, that house would have been small for the 3 of us IMO.

Needless to say, until we actually go out looking at homes (which I'm dreading) we won't get a good feel for what will and will not work, but again, looking for feedback and opinions.

The other question is what are decent homes being built for per square footage? In my area, one guy told me figure $350 per square foot, which comes out to $525,000 for a 1,500 square foot home. Just seems kind of high to me.
 
   / Square footage per person in a residential home? #2  
A "basic" home these days in my area is running CDN$400/sq.ft.

The "minimum" sq.ft./person is a cultural phenomenon. I read an interesting article in McClean's magazine a while ago that compared 1970's to today.

In 1970 the typical middle class family had one income i.e. welder, stay at home mom, two kids, 1,100sq.ft. home with car port and one car in the driveway, and savings in the bank.

Today the average home is 2,400 sq.ft., two car garage, 2 cars in the driveway, both parents have full time jobs, no savings in the bank and a couple of paycheques away from foreclosure.
 
   / Square footage per person in a residential home? #3  
I don't think a 2000sf one level home is too big for 2 bedrooms / baths and 3 people. I kinda glanced around here at home and I would put the minimum at 2400sf for what you describe.

We are all different in what amount of space we like...
 
   / Square footage per person in a residential home? #4  
My current home is slightly over 1,500 sq ft ranch with 1 1/2 baths 2 - 3 bedroom. I believe 3 people could live here easily since it is an L shape so kind of provides two separate areas for wife and I when we want to watch different shows, have friends over, etc..
 
   / Square footage per person in a residential home? #5  
A lot depends on layout and Floorplan. As example, a formal dining room may not be a desired or needed space depending on your lifestyle.

An open Floorplan allows some efficient flex use of space, but may not provide a 'hiding space' to get in some alone time such as reading while others watch TV.

We finished designing and building our "forever" home a year ago at ~$220/sf. It's a rural, inexpensive area and though we were not frugal, including wood floors, tile and granite and lots of windows, we balanced that with spending wisely and picking materials and finishes for value.

Plus I invested more than 3000 hours into the build along side the builder, which might make the actual cost at $221/sf!
 
   / Square footage per person in a residential home? #6  
My son just bought a 3 bedroom 2 bath and it’s around 1300 sq ft. I think it’s plenty big for 3 people. He’s single so it’s more than big enough for him. Bigger is always better but you pay for it, have to keep it clean and maintain it.
 
   / Square footage per person in a residential home? #7  
I agree that much depends on how well laid out the space is and how it suits your particular situation. IMO, steps are the enemy of older people. An extra 1,000 SF on the 2nd floor or the basement isn't much use if you can't climb the stairs to use it.
 
   / Square footage per person in a residential home? #8  
My mom lived in a studio apartment that was a part of the house. It had a sliding-glass-door, 65" tv, dining table & kitchenette. She had her own entry way and parking. She or her friends could come/go as they pleased. She loved it.

She also had a door into the house that was kept either open or closed - her option.

It was somewhere between 700 & 900 sf.

There was always someone in the house side, that was only a shout-out away if she needed help.
 
   / Square footage per person in a residential home? #9  
We live in a 1700+ sqft home. This was for two adults, two kids, two full baths.

A lot depends on layout. When my wife designed the floorplan, every space had a purpose. Our previous home was 3000sq feet and we didn't even walk into 1000 square feet of it 😂

We love this home, because it's functional. It's not wasted space to clean, heat, cool, maintain...

Anyhow. If you want to entertain a lot, I'd add another 500+ square feet for guests to mingle.
 
   / Square footage per person in a residential home? #10  
A couple of important things...there's an effectively fixed amount of space that any modern home needs. So, the more people you add, the few feet per person you would need.

We just downsized from just over 3000 sqft to just under 2000 sqft. Similar to what you are thinking. 3 BR 2 BA, all one floor. At the time, we thought MIL might need to move in. Unfortunately, she passed about a year ago. Now that my dad passed, we may need to house my mom for a few months at a time. Have 4 kids. 3 of them have significant others. House can get full on occasion.

We could have shaved off a few feet, but the law of diminishing returns meant we wouldn't save much.

Sure, we could probably get by on 900 sq ft, but I worked too hard to spend retirement feeling cramped.
 
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