Single / Is 160m2 house too big?

Zack9

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119974352#Comment_119974352

Townhouses definitely not, because of risk of being near council houses.

I did look at some smaller cottages just always found them poor value.

herbalplants

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119974352#Comment_119974352

He is working from home so no travel involved

2smiggy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119974441#Comment_119974441

is this more an after hours thread ?

AndrewJRenko

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119974441#Comment_119974441

It's your dollar, but that seems like a VERY broad brush dismissal of townhouses.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119974560#Comment_119974560

No travel at all? Does he EVER go to a workplace? Or for a work related event - training or social or client meeting or whatever?

herbalplants

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119975020#Comment_119975020

Andrew for example I go to the office once a month. Maybe same for him. Means you do not need to live beside your office or easy reach.

pinksoir

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119974250#Comment_119974250

I think the same. Similar to OP I have large savings and could get a very high mortgage. However, I've never met a house I'd willingly tether my yoke to for that kind of money and would rather have lower debt and retire early, work less, etc.

But everyone is different and I get the other view of it as well.

ted1

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119974352#Comment_119974352

The house is buiot, there’s no extra emissions. A bigger house allows for my Solar panels. He’ll be grand.

For me it’s location location location.

we are currently looking around the area for a 4 bed 125m+ for a family of 5. Our budget is about 800k. There’s very little, what is there needs updating and another 100k at least.

so Be sure to include the additional costs in your search.

AndrewJRenko

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119975259#Comment_119975259

You don't get to evade responsibility for emissions for any new product, a house, a car, a plastic Coke bottle, by saying 'it's already built, or made'. If you buy it, you're responsible for the emissions that caused it to be built. In this example, if OP leaves the large 4 bed house for the large family of 5 or 6 people, and chooses a smaller property for himself, that is a more sustainable option.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119975037#Comment_119975037

Or maybe he goes once a week. Or maybe twice a week. Who knows. You can't assume someone doesn't travel because they do some degree of WFH.

Gusser09

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119973023#Comment_119973023

not. My house is a 5 bed 140sqm and there are four of us in it. Huge really. 160sqm is way to big for one person in my opinion. It'll ne a nightmare to heat and just pointless having 3 or 4 spares bedrooms unless you are going to rent them out.

CrookedJack

Last year i did exactly what you're suggesting - I bought a 4bed 170m2 house. Absolutely everyone was saying "You're crazy, it's too big". I even had the furniture delivery guy suggest I was crazy buying a three-storey house as "What if you have a leak on the third floor". As if that made any sense.

After I moved in and everyone came round to visit - they all talked about my lovely big house. I'm the one who has space for entertaining, I'm the one who people come visit because I have room. I've never once looked around and said "It's nice but I wish I was more cramped".

Go with what you like, and ignore everyone else's opinions, they're valueless because they've no skin in the game so

Hooked

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119975973#Comment_119975973

Same here... Wife and I (me 44 her 37, no kids, and no plans to have any) moved to a 3100sq ft (approx 290 sq M) gaff last year. Location was perfect. I got my huge garage. Nice and manageable garden/rear. Was listed as a 5 bed dormer... but in reality has 3 bedrooms upstairs...

We didn't want a HUGE house but it came with everything else that we did want.

So, bedroom 5 (downstairs) is now a home gym. Bedroom 4 (downstairs) is my wife's home office. We've a living room, an old fashioned bar in the other 'living room' and another room for movies, separate TV, in case one of us wants to watch sports/netflix or give the other space when friends/family call.

We had, and still have LOADS of people making comments that it's TOO BIG. Which it is! But 13 months later... we are happy as pigs in sh1t. You're only here for a good time, not a long time!

IWW2900

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119975784#Comment_119975784

I personally wouldnt really care about my "responsibility for emissions" enough to sway my decision.

Ill grow some veg in the garden.

IWW2900

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119976064#Comment_119976064

That does sound crazily big for two people though 😂

BattleCorp

OP, do you intend to have a family some day? If so, if you buy a small house that suits one or two people, it will possibly be too small for a family.

Buy once and buy right. If you plan on expanding your family, go for the bigger house. If you intend to be single for the rest of your life, you can get something smaller. The bigger house might cost a bit more to heat but having to extend or buy a new house will hurt your pocket even more. It's better to have the space and not need it than to need the space and not have it.

magicbastarder

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119975973#Comment_119975973

what people say who come to visit about how nice it is to visit is not the primary criterion on which to buy a house.

and "I'm the one who people come visit because I have room" - what a weird thing for them to say to you? if someone said that to me my reaction would be 'uh, thanks... i think?'

Hooked

oh it is… no arguments here. but fook it.

we are deliriously happy. Mortgage is very manageable so apart from the cost of heating the monster at the min… it’s just pure bliss living here.

best part? the next door neighbours turned into GREAT friends. So we have the house, garden, garage, (over)size, location and neighbours that we always wanted.

And, it’s only 15 min to work/town/family

fits

I don’t think 160 m2 is enormous. The bedrooms would be small enough if there are four.

Tork

I've seen it suggested from time to time that single people have no business buying a house at all. As if they might not want a garden or have hobbies or people who might want to stay with them...

If you're in your 40s and haven't yet met someone or had a family, I'm not sure buying something too big for you is the way to go. If that part of your life changes, wouldn't it make more sense to buy again with your partner rather than to rattle around a house too big for you in the meantime. You'd be better off buying in a good location and not over-stretching yourself financially. Buying the house and paying the mortgage is the cheap bit. It's the furnishing, maintaining, heating and lighting it that cost the money.

walterking

It's not too big.

I had a detached house in blessington when I was in my mid 20's.

I made one superb master bedroom from the original master and another room and it had a walk in wardrobe.

A downstairs room was a home office. Great kitchen space and separate lounge.

I never thought it as too big.

I'm now in a much larger rural house - just two of us and couple of cats and dogs. Pure Bliss.

At the same time, I have lived "under a stairs" literally! This was in London in the 80's. Nice and cheap. Single bed under a stairs with shelves - but did have access to other parts of the house. £200 a month in 1985.

micar

Gave you thought about buying a smaller house for yourself and an apartment as an investment property.....if your €660k is able to stretch that far

CrookedJack

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119976709#Comment_119976709

This is a bizarre misreading of my comment.

1. The OP specifically pointed out that people were making negative comments about a big house and that it was a factor in them rethinking their purchase, so obviously that's what I was referring to. The point I was making was that before I bought the house I received those same comments, after I bought it comments were positive - so the comments should be ignored.
2. Of course that's not what they say, it's just the reality. I've plenty of friends and family living all over. I enjoy that they can come to visit because I have room to accommodate them without it being an inconvenience to me. For example. When my niece was born she and her parents stayed with me when visiting Dublin, rather than my sister, as I had space for them. Thus I got a week of bonding with my god-daughter, as opposed to the couple of visits I would have if they stayed somewhere else. This would not have been possible in a small apartment.

byrne249

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119977511#Comment_119977511

I don't think those you are referring to should be moralising in a world where multi millionaires are buying utterly ridiculous Monstrosities. Nobody buying a 160m2 house should feel any remorse guilt or anything else. It's an indictment of Irish society that this is even a worry to the OP. Do whatever the hell you want I say and let the begrudgers eat ......

Ush1

It would be too big for me but you may want to let out rooms or have a family eventually. My house is 120m and its plenty of space for a family of 4.

Extra space just ends up filled with shite to be honest. Have a spare bedroom/office in converted attic and home gym in cabin out the back.

AndrewJRenko

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119976132#Comment_119976132

You'd want to be switching to an entirely plant-based diet for hundreds of people to make up for the emissions involved in building a house.

Zack9

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119979598#Comment_119979598

Can't tell if this is serious, what size house do you live in....to do your bit for humanity.

magicbastarder

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119979502#Comment_119979502

this is a universal truth, you end up filling whatever space is available to you.

Tork

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119979502#Comment_119979502

Agreed. I bought my first home when I was single and that was a 3-bedroom house. There were families living in similar houses on the estate yet I didn't feel I was rattling around mine. One of the spare bedrooms became a home office but there were times when the other spare bedroom was on the verge of becoming a junk room. From the OP's description of what he'd do with the spare rooms, the house sounds too big for his needs. But if it's right in every other way then why not? Very few of us get to buy a perfect home. There are nearly always compromises to be made.

Also, if you don't buy a house because you don't think it's right for a single person to own such a property, there's no guarantee the "right" people will buy it instead. It could end up in the hands of somebody else who's single or a landlord or someone who divides it up into 8 tiny flats and charges people 2 grand a month to live in a shoebox.

AyeGer

Buy what you like where you like, you don’t have to conform to what strangers expect. If the house feels right and the location is good and you can afford it. Buy away.

cnocbui

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058275124/single-is-160m2-house-too-big

Not too big. I think a problem with the whole downsize thing is that you just don't get houses with roomy living areas, and just one or two large bedrooms; smaller houses have everything shrunk. In other words, to get a good sized Kitchen, living and bedroom, you basically have to buy a good sized 4 bedroom house, as I have never seen a single bedroom house with those features.

AndrewJRenko

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119980064#Comment_119980064

The ratio of people to space in my house is about 1/4 of what the OP is proposing.