yeah, I bought too much house back when things were going better. I love it but I wish I hadn’t bought it. I think you’re going to see a lot of people becoming increasingly hesitant to buy a house from here on out. What used to be an asset/investment has turned into a big liability. With the economy going the way it is, everybody has their hand out too and the dumba%% voters seem all to willing to give them the property tax increases they want. I’m beginning to feel like an ATM and it looks like it isn’t going to be cheap or easy to escape that servitude. I don’t think I’ll ever buy another house.
We have 4 kids and have chosen to live in a smaller-than-average house (even though we have a larger-than-average family!) on a bigger-than-average lot.
Since in CA everything is price-per-sq-ft, we thought: why buy a single sq ft more than necessary? It’s just more to clean and walk through, and adds so much $$$. Our kids do each have their own rooms though—but we got rid of the dining room (built a wall) to provide the 5th bedroom. Every single sq ft of our house is used every day.
It’s nice to not see any neighboring houses. . .(well, I do see a glimpse of one). Big yards (or better yet, land) is the way to go.