One older couple we know is living in the same small ranch house they bought shortly after they married. While it was pretty crowded when their children were growing up they never got around to buying up to a larger home. Now the kids are grown and gone and their little house is perfect for the two of them. It’s all on one level, it’s easy to keep clean and they have the money to do anything they need to make it up to date and livable. Another advantage is that it is all theirs, paid for free and clear.
The lure of the McMansion is there if one wants to pay for it, but maybe it’s WAY too much house. Couples with no children are building 12,000 square foot houses. Even with children families rattle around in that much room, rarely crossing paths, much less sharing a meal together. The financial strain of paying for that big old house means that the homeowners are working to pay for it and don’t get much time to enjoy being residents of their palatial boondoggle.
But what if oil really does go to $200 a barrel? Would you want to pay to heat and cool 12,000 square feet of empty space? The power bills could easily be more than the payment, which isn’t small either. A house currently costing $600 a month in power bills would more than triple to somewhere between $1800 and $2000 in costs and no limit in sight. If you needed to sell potential buyers will insist on seeing power bills before considering making an offer to purchase your boondoggle. The larger a home is, the more it costs to heat and cool no matter whether it has been designed to be energy efficient. Conventional construction in America still sucks up power like frat boys drink liquor on the weekend.
So how much is really enough, 12,000, 6,000, 3,000, 1,500 sf.? No one really needs 12,000 square feet unless you want to run a hotel. I can only surmise that they bought that behemoth to impress people. Don’t do it. Trying to keep up with the ‘Jones’ is a very slippery slope. Many slide down it right into the poor house unfortunately often when they are in their later years. Did you know that the majority of bankruptcies are for the elderly? Did you also know that if you bought a smaller more energy efficient home saving just $600 per month (through lower house payments, utilities, insurance and taxes) and put that money in a 401K at 6% over a typical mortgage life of 30 years, it would grow to over $600,000. Wouldn’t that come in handy in your retirement?
Houses that are a third the size of the 12,000 square foot boondoggle have enough room for formal dining few of us ever use, separate living rooms and dens, and multiple baths and bedrooms. That’s nice but think, who really needs a formal dining room and a separate formal living room? It’s not like most of us have either the time or the energy for formal entertaining. There are no little worker bees in the dungeons ready to serve when we ring the bell, anyway. Besides smaller homes are usually cuter and cute always resells better.
Additionally homes could be much more energy efficient through old fashioned and cheap strategies, like earth sheltering (aka basements), wider roof overhangs for cooling shade when the sun is high in summer and heat gain for cool winter days when the angle of the sun is lower. Hardwood trees can help with this too, with cool shade in summer and free heat gain in winter when the leaves fall. Porch overhangs could serve the same purpose in climates too hot and dry for hardwoods. Large evergreens make good winter windbreaks, saving on heating bills. Homes could capture gray water and rainwater in a cistern for the landscape, saving on water bills. All of these possibilities are doable without studying science and going “off the grid”.
Your carbon footprint would be smaller with no pain or inconvenience. Best of all the money you save could be generously funding your children’s education and your comfortable retirement.
Tags: Home Improvement
