Getting a new home is a big deal. It’s likely to be one of the biggest financial expenses you ever make as an adult, and choosing your home and location can be a laborious process. Where your next home is will go a long way in determining how well it works out for you, but you also need to keep within your budget. To top it all off, however, you need a home that’s big enough. Knowing tips for determining how much space you need in your new home help you accomplish this.
How Many People Are in Your Family?
If you have a family of four, then you are probably going to need 2,400 square feet total in your home. If it’s just you and a partner without kids, then you might get by on half that much space. The overall square footage of a new home is the first thing you should check. As a general rule of thumb, every person in your family needs between 200 and 400 square feet of living space to be healthy and comfortable. You can multiply this minimum and maximum by the number of people in your household to find a good range of homes to look at.
How Many Bedrooms Do You Need?
Most homes for sale are going to advertise their total of bedrooms first and foremost. You might think a two-bedroom home would be fine if you only have one child or your kids can share a bedroom. However, you’d have no guest room and possibly no dedicated office. Three to four bedrooms is the sweet spot for most families. If you want a five-bedroom home, they’re on the market, but they also cost considerably more.
How Many Bathrooms Should Your New Home Have?
The usual ratio for bathrooms to bedrooms is two bathrooms for every three bedrooms. For many families, this often breaks down to one bathroom for the adults and one for the kids. Take note of the fact that one full bathroom plus a half-bath or powder room does not really equate to two bathrooms. When everyone is trying to get ready in the morning, having only one bathtub or shower is going to create a bottleneck when everyone is on a tight schedule already as it is.
You can accomplish some of this before you even visit or tour a home. So think hard about how many are in your family, and how many you want in your family. Once you know how many there will be, you can make a better decision on the size of your new home.
