Thoughts on this place in MLT?

[BillE]

I could easily live in a 2bed 1bath. Compared to many 3bed homes the square footage difference can be nothing or close to it. I've looked at a couple of 2bd homes between 900 and 1000sf and the biggest 3bd home I've looked at was 1400sf. The problem is that most 2beds I see are on tiny lots with small garages and limited options for gardens, RV parking, dog kennels, etc. They have the negetive attributes of a condo (less privacy, no garden space, no room for stuff) plus all the negetive attributes of a house (losing heat through all 4 walls, lawn care).

[Angie]

My family of four lives in about 800 sf, 2 BR, 1 bath.

In fact the basement is 600 more feet of finished space, with an additional bedroom and 3/4 bath down there...but since we're doing totally fine up here with the space we've got we rent it out and it takes another big chunk out of our already low housing costs.

(We also have offstreet parking and a huge backyard with flowers, herbs, a veggie garden, lovely mature fruit trees, and lots of lawn for the kids.)

I love how the culture of this blog decries exorbitant housing prices, but then people assert that it's reasonable for one single person to live in a 3 bedroom house on an 8,000 square foot lot. Ooookay.

[Angie]

With the line about ten Guatamalans in a hut echoing in my head, I remembered a profile I saw this weekend, of a 431 SF living space for a family of 4 (and check out that big dog!):

http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/dc/look ... son-083273

Granted, it's in Paris...

The discussion that followed was pretty interesting too, for different perspectives on how much space people need to live.

[rose-colored-coolaid]

[S-Crow]

Angie,

What immediately comes to my mind about families and single people living in either too small or too large a home are my experiences where I grew up on Capitol Hill. Some of the homes near the St. Joes and Holy Names Academy schools bordered by Highland Drive, Aloha to 23rd ave E. are enormous---something like 6000 Sq ft + in many cases. When I was growing up on the Hill in early-mid 70's, we had large Catholic families with 6,7, 11 siblings living in these large homes. When I left for college the dynamic changed dramatically.

[Civil Servant]

Thanks RCC, that was well put.

In my mild defensiveness about being a space hog, I want to add that the equation is often different for apartments vs. houses. We live in an apartment and have a storage locker in the basement that's about 20 sf. This means that some proportion of the "floor space" in the apartment is effectively storage space -- a lot of stuff that was in the non-sf-counted basement of our rental house back east is now out of necessity on shelving in the office/computer cave or crammed into clothes closets. If we had the same square footage and a basement (or attic or garage), two bedrooms would feel downright roomy.

[perfectfire]

[The Tim]

[Lake Hills Renter]

You were lucky. We lived for three months in a paper bag in a septic tank. We used to have to get up at six in the morning, clean the paper bag, eat a crust of stale bread, go to work down t' mill, fourteen hours a day, week-in week-out, for sixpence a week, and when we got home our Dad would thrash us to sleep wi' his belt.

[ira s]

But the septic tank is in the Medina area, and is now listed for sale at 800,000 dollars, described in it's listing as " cozy", "rustic", and "cute".

[Angie]

S-Crow, no doubt! Not too many folks in Seattle in in the 6+ kids demographic these days.

When I was growing up, two of my best friends were from very large families. My very first best friend was the youngest of six; one of my best friends in high school was the oldest girl in a family of 9 kids.

During my teen years my mother was hospitalized frequently and I ended up living with each of those families for a few months.

The first family (6 kids) lived in a house with an identical floorplan to my grandparents, probably a 700 sf footprint with basement (although the basements in those neighborhoods all flooded every year, no one had a bedroom in the basement). The big family's house had maybe a 400 sf addition on the back. So, 8 people (9 with me, for a while!) in probably 1100 sf of actual living space.

The second family, 9 kids...hard to say how big their house was, I didn't know it as well, but I doubt it was much more than 2000 sf, if that. I remember when I stayed there that there were more beds per room in this house than the previous, three or four per room, whereas the previous family typically had two beds per room.

Although I was an only child this must have had an impression on me...since I'm the kind of mean mama who makes her young children share a room! With a bunk bed! I'm sure my daughters will be hashing this out with a therapist for years, somewhere down the road.

[EconE]

1100 sf 3/1 for a single guy?

Sounds about right.

One bedroom to sleep in, one bedroom to raise baby harp seals and one to club them to death in.

So what's everybody's problem?

[rose-colored-coolaid]

[dls]

Hi All,

Thanks for (most) of your responses/thoughts. It's been interesting and educational to see your thoughts on rent/buy, 'appropriate' living space, etc. To clarify, I'm single, no kids or pets, no plans to get married (at least not unless I meet a Lady from outside the Seattle metro area). The house I posted the link to doesn't seem all that 'large' (subjective) to me. It is somewhat to the smaller end of house sizes in South Snohomish county. Perhaps a bit more than I absolutely need, but not really 'oversize', either the house or the lot, for a single person. There are few two bed/1 bath places in South SnoCo. There are many nice looking two bed/1 bath places in areas of Seattle (Greenwood, Ballard, Maple Leaf, etc) but I'm not interested in Seattle, or King County (too high a level of taxes and political correctness).

Running rent-vs-buy scenarios shows that, financially, buying isn't much of a gain over renting unless house prices stop falling right now, and appreciation is ~3%+/year for the next several (10+) years, in which it would take several years to break even considering the buy/sell costs.

I think house prices have not yet bottomed out. I don't know how much farther they may decline, 10%, 5%, 20%, more, less, but I'm starting to think I may be better off renting for another year, even if I pay another $150 - $200/month (move to a better place and pay a bit more for quality of life). Renting for another year or so may also buy some time to see if we are entering an inflationary or deflationary period.

Lastly, I'm still debating if I want to be 'lock' into a house. I'm (almost) 48. At 55, 7 years, I can take early retirement from my employer (full medical coverage) and go do something else. I'm somewhat getting tired of the Seattle area. The crowds, the taxes, the political correctness (as a straight white male I'm tired of being told I'm what is wrong with the world). Might be nice to go to Spokane, or the Tri-Cities, or even Yakima. The money I don't spend on a place in the Seattle Metro area will go a long way in those areas.

[davidlosh@davidlosh.com]

I'll agree that at 48 you have a limited time for price appreciation. The location you picked is a so so place with very limited upside potential.

You would be better off renting.

Here's the deal though, you could find a place where the numbers work. A cracker box in MLT is for a young family and that would be your target market.

What I know right now is that there are large dividable lots out there that builders need to dump. You have the enviable position of being a good buyer in a bad market.

In August and the middle of September, when the bloom is off the market you will find a better deal. Find something with potential. There are plenty of places like that out there.

I mentioned large lot because you mentioned Eastern Washington. Just as an aside I know of a place a builder tied up in about 2007. it's a nice house on about 2 acres off the 220th street exit. It's across from a park, very private.

Last I heard the builder buyer was on an extended vacation.

I'm just saying, looking at the internet for a box to sit in for seven years could lead to adventure or a box.