Thursday 26 September 2013

Younger Home Buyers Happier In Smaller House!

Younger Home Buyers, Smaller Houses

The average size of new homes has been dropping in recent years. If you peruse the "recently sold" listings in your own neighborhood, you might be surprised to see that most sales are of smaller homes.
Many of the younger home buyers I work with are looking for smaller houses. 

Should you consider buying a home yourself? Living in a small home has many benefits.

8 reasons why you’ll actually be happier in a smaller house:

1. Easier to maintain and clean. Anyone who has owned a house knows the amount of time, energy, and effort to maintain it. All things being equal, a smaller home requires less of your time, energy, and effort to accomplish that task.

2. Less expensive. Smaller homes are less expensive to purchase and less expensive to keep (insurance, taxes, heating, cooling, electricity, etc.). A smaller house can mean a smaller house payment and lower energy and maintenance costs. It costs less to furnish a small house because you don't have two living rooms you just have the one that gets used.

3. Less debt and less risk. Dozens of on-line calculators will help you determine “how much house you can afford.” These formulas are based on net income, savings, current debt, and monthly mortgage payments. They are also based on the premise that we should spend ”28% of our net income on our monthly mortgage payments.” But if we can be more financially stable and happier by only spending 15%… then why would we ever choose to spend 28?

4. Easier to live simply. You will be less tempted to accumulate and to buy it in the first place. Moving into smaller home forces you to intentionally pare down your belongings.

5. More time. Many of the benefits above (less cleaning, less maintaining, live simply...) result in the freeing up of our schedule to pursue the things in life that really matter – you can use the extra time to read, play with your kids, cook healthful dinners or enjoy your hobbies.

6. Easier to sell/ Wider market to sell. By its very definition, a smaller, more affordable house is affordable to a larger percentage of the population than a more expensive, less affordable one. Also, energy costs continue to rise. That means energy-efficient homes, especially small energy-efficient homes, will be in high demand in the future.

7. Quality indulge. It costs a small fortune to upgrade a big apartment. You have to buy so much more that you may have to make sacrifices in terms of quality. Living in a small house means you can splurge on quality upgrades because you have less to buy.

8. Less environmental impact. A smaller home requires less resources to build and less resources to maintain. And that benefits all of us, especially young generations.


There's no doubt that small homes are seeing a resurgence as people realize how cozy, comfortable and inexpensive they can be. Smaller homes just feel good, and living in one makes it easier to be close with your family. Plus, the cost savings of smaller homes can really add up over the long term.

Your home is a very personal decision that weighs in a large number of factors. Only you know all the variables that come into play when making your decision.
I just think you could be happy in smaller house with quality… rather than the other way around.