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Honored Contributor
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Registered: ‎03-10-2010

Re: How small of a home could you live in?

DH and I live in a split level 1800 square foot house we bought in 1991. I could not imagine anything smaller!  Our yard is huge, might like a smaller yard.....but not less space inside. Maybe bigger....bigger bath, bigger kitchen bigger bed rooms.  Two. People and Two big dogs....seems small to me as it is!

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Registered: ‎06-25-2018

Re: How small of a home could you live in?

my home is 850 sq ft and it fine for me.  it has two bedroms and one bath. i am fine with it that size

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Re: How small of a home could you live in?

[ Edited ]

@Mominohio  Our foyer was 6' x 4' which is much larger than my foyer here. The stair case was open and there was no wall in the living room where it over looked the stairs. Just a very pretty railing. So it wasn't at all closed in.

Half of the basement level was basement and half was garage.There was a very large coat closet under the double staircase, right by the door to the garage.

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Re: How small of a home could you live in?

I live in an apt.  Living/dining combo with a deck off the living room.  One bedroom and a separate kitchen and bath.  I like it because I have separate rooms.  It could be 800 sq. feet maybe less but it is fine for me and my cat.  I face south so my cat loves the sun and sunbathes almost daily.  I could not live in a Studio because the only separate room is the bath.  Cat Happy

kindness is strength
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Re: How small of a home could you live in?

400 sqft.

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Re: How small of a home could you live in?


@missy1 wrote:

400 sqft.


When we used to snowbird north to our camper for the summer - it was 400 sq ft. Believe me - it was claustrophobic if the weather was bad and we were both stuck inside all day. Plus we didn't have all our worldly possessions in there.DH had a shed outside for his tools etc. and , since that wasn't our home - we only had things we needed while we were there.If we'd had to store everything we own - it would never have worked.

I know a lot of people who sell their house to live full time in a camper - travelling around the country. Almost all of them say they have to pay storage every month for the boxes and boxes of stuff they didn't want to part with but can't fit into their campers.

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Registered: ‎07-02-2015

Re: How small of a home could you live in?

[ Edited ]

@BirkiLady

 

You said......

<< Unfinished basements or garages are not counted as liveable square footage. You were living in a 900 sq. ft. house in PA (on the upper level of the split-foyer type). Ask any Realtor, banker or county assessor for verification!>>

 

Not sure --at all--that this statement is  a fair statement or fact about how local  property assessors or the other parties you mentioned  measure  square footage  of homes in all jurisdictions in the U.S.    

Honored Contributor
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Registered: ‎03-14-2010

Re: How small of a home could you live in?

The "split entry" home that 151949 refers to is also known as a "raised ranch."  

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Re: How small of a home could you live in?


@shortbreadlover wrote:

my home is 850 sq ft and it fine for me.  it has two bedroms and one bath. i am fine with it that size


When a good friend of ours was widowed she sold her house and moved into a 900 sq ft condo. She certainly seems comfortable and the space seems spacious.

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Re: How small of a home could you live in?

[ Edited ]

@faeriemoon

 

We had some "raised ranches" where I used to sell real estate,but they are not exactly the same thing as what we called a "split foyer".

 

A split foyer in my former metro area  doesn't always require going up steps to enter the front door, like a raised ranch does. 

 

(Also, East Coasters have a different name for one-level ranch-stye homes which might or might not have a lower level.........we call them "ramblers".)

 

Different architectural styes and the labels assigned to them vary from one region to another.  That's why it's  not realistic to say that someone whom you don't know... living in a home you've never seen... is living in XXXX-number of square feet, and that  the unfinished parts of the house are not counted in square footage by Realtors, lenders and tax assessors.

 

The tax assessors that I'm familiar with measure the outside footprint of a home, and may not and probably don't know how much of that space is "finished" for living space.  And what is "living space", anyway?

 

Realtors, if they've had any training, know not to discuss square footage at all in reference to a specific house, other than what might appear in public records.  Too many definitions of that phrase exist.  Those who want to go out on a limb and represent a home as having XX square feet do so at their own risk.