Smaller Homes are a Bigger Deal Now

While the Beverly Hillbillies were able to move into there dream mansion on the hill, here in the real world the rest of us are starting to downsize our interpretation of a dream home according to some reports. An article by James Wentling was published this month in Nation's Building News, a weekly online newspaper of the National Association of Homebuilders. In it Wentling stated that the median size of a new single-family home increased 42% over the last thirty years from 1,650 square feet to 2,335 square feet. However, during four different cycles since 1981, there were actually time spans of home size decrease and we have currently been in one since 2007.

I've also come across other references in the past several months stating similar types of statistics. So what does this mean for you and me and every other consumer in America? Probably not much in the big picture. I know when I watch the Home and Garden Channel on television, you know the programs were there is some sort of scenario of a first time home buyer, I'm constantly amazed how these young couple in their early to mid twenties are looking to instantly replace the home their parents have accumulated over the past twenty or so years without having earned it. They want the four bedroom, two and a half bath with bonus room. The gourmet kitchen is expected, even though no one has time to cook and a swimming pool would be nice. Some could certainly argue that it was precisely that kind of thinking that got many home owners in the pickle that we've been watching play out over the past year or so.

Now don't get me wrong. I encourage people to dream big, after all, I want my mansion on the hill too. But isn't the best part about getting your dreams the journey? How sweet success finally is when you've planned and worked your plan. I don't believe this fundamental element on the path to owning a big new house should be taken out of the equation, it is part of the richness of it all.

So, while we are currently seeing a down turn in small houses this is America after all and I do believe we will make a shift sometime in the hopefully not to far off distant future back towards our bigger homes, and that's okay with me. Somehow it all works out and we move forward anyway.

"Because Integrity Does Matter!"
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