Every family, and person, is unique and therefore so will your home be unique. Your family might be growing or each member of the family might have equipment-heavy hobbies.
Or, your children might have flown the coop so you’re changing from a house with 4 bedrooms with a room for the kids’ toys and hobbies plus a home office to simply a house with 4 bedrooms, no extras.
The “extra” 3 bedrooms can be for your visiting children and grandchildren, friends, hobbies and a place to retreat to when one of you is snoring too much. You will be surprised how often we hear of this need!
A House With 4 Bedrooms Or Not?
You might be currently living in your original two-bedroom starter home with your first child. This is proving to now be a tight fit as your child is a toddler and has a stream of toys scattered all over and there is no hobby room. And a second child is on the cards.
In this case, a house with 4 Bedrooms is a relevant choice to have on your list.
Calculating Room Requirements
Using the above example, you will need a room for the adults, a shared room for the children (they can share for at least another 10 years), a playroom shared as a hobby room for adults and a home office (which is a common requirement).
In ten years’ time, you can add on a room and convert your office into a bedroom.
In this example, we have shown how the current needs are addressed as well as looking into the future and planning what we think will happen.
Calculating Square Metres
A large house might seem attractive as there is loads of “breathing space” and each member of the family can be apart and private for some alone time or huge bedrooms sufficient enough to have little lounges in each room. But at what cost?
Remember that the larger the rooms of your house with 4 bedrooms are, or the larger the overall house is, the greater your energy bill will be. Your heating bill, especially, will climb as the hot air rises and leaves your family chilly at ground level. Cooling will also cost significant amounts as a home is not a sealed entity and lots of heat will radiate inwards and cool air will escape. Your property taxes, maintenance costs, lighting bill, renovation costs etc will also increase so maybe the seven-bedroom house is not immediately necessary?
Storage Space
Whilst a too-large house can be wasteful, a too-small house can increase stress so it is important to find a balance.
In addition to holding humans, the house needs to hold ‘stuff’ and that needs to be stored. Find out if your shortlisted houses offer an attic or ceiling storage space or under the stairs or in a basement. This means you don’t need a fifth bedroom for storage and, overall, less square meterage.
Land Footprint
Do you have kids and dogs that need running around space? Then you will need enough space for them to spread out and not kill patches of grass from overuse. If you only have kids but live in the inner city and visit parks daily, then a garden may not be essential.
But what about in 5 or 10 years’ time?
We hope the above examples and questions have inspired diverse thoughts to help you choose between a house with 4 bedrooms or which size is ideal for you! Call us for more advice.