When shopping for a home, what's on your wish-list? If you're looking in the suburbs, due to the current state of the real estate market some of the giant homes are being sold for uber affordable prices. Does that mean you should swoop in and grab them? Not necessarily. If you're looking in the city, the prices per square foot are still so high, that sometimes it's important to ask yourself: is bigger really better? What could purchasing a small home save you? In time, money and headaches? A lot.
Here are somethings about small homes that make them extremely attractive:
1. Small homes cost less: not only upfront, but over the years. Heating and cooling a small house is so much less expensive than a big house. Furnishing and decorating all the extra rooms adds up, and renovating extra restrooms, or a giant kitchen, comes with a giant price tag. And don't forget that you'll be saving money on the property taxes because of the smaller square footage.
2. Tons of time saved: not having to clean 6 rooms, or 3600 square feet, will save you SO much time.
3. Easier to live simply: with less space, you have less stuff. Quick anecdote: when I moved into my first ever apartment in Boston, my dad was helping me move. My apartment was the typical tiny Beacon Hill unit, and I had a black bookshelf that didn't fit into my room. I didn't want to throw it away because it was perfectly good and almost brand new so my thought is that we would just put it in our living room. My dad warned my roommate and I against it saying, "Don't. Give it away, if you put it out here, you'll just find random stuff to fill it with." We laughed and kept it. A year and a half later it was full of everything from old DVDs to owner's manuals to an iron and we couldn't seem to get rid of any of the stuff. I will never again own more than I need. Ok, so long story short... If you have extra space you will find a way to fill it, and that's not a good thing.
4. Quality investments: when you have less space to fill, you can spend more money on quality pieces that will stand out in the limited space. You can also afford granite or marble slab for counters in a smaller kitchen, or nicer cabinets. You can update 2 bathrooms nicely and not have to worry about the downstairs ones... Basically, it takes less to make a smaller house really nice.
All in all, a small home also makes for a homier home. I think that if you're attracted by the glitz and glam of the large McMansion, just take a moment to consider what a smaller home could save you. Is it worth it in the end?
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