Downsizing your house!

Posted by Ahmed Al-Salem
A recent Time article has an interesting point, "During the real estate boom, new home construction became a game of ever increasing square footage. That had a certain logic to it: If you saw your house as an investment to make you rich, bigger could only mean better, right? Now that the economy has unfurled and people are realizing that prices don't always go up, houses are getting smaller and more practical. Instead of feeding the desire for flash, architects and homebuilders are responding to how families actually spend time and use space, as well as to new buyers entering the market. "A house is back to being a house," says Stephen Moore, a senior partner of the architecture and planning firm BSB Design in Des Moines, Iowa." This is a good trend to see in society. Bigger is not always better. Why live in a house that is three or four times your capacity to use it and pay more if it won't help you financially or economically. You can still build an awesome house but make it small and fit your needs in the most cost effective way. The article continues: "What does the new American home look like? The shift is obvious as soon as you step through the front door. The grand entryway — the two-story foyer with a sweeping, often multipronged staircase — is quickly giving way to a more modest entrance. Stairs are less about architectural flourish and more about getting upstairs (if you can imagine). That means they're either moving back up against the wall or turning into more-compact switchbacks. The two-story foyer is becoming less and less popular too — in an era of tighter purse strings, who wants to heat and cool all that empty space? "Would you rather have the extra volume or a game room upstairs?" asks Ken Gancarczyk, a senior vice president at KB Home who runs the Los Angeles–based builder's architecture group. Buyers, KB is finding, want the room."

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