Quora: Is it worth buying a 3-5 bedroom house if you live alone?

https://www.quora.com/Is-it-worth-buying-a-3-5-bedroom-house-if-you-live-alone

A very good friend of mine, an affluent single man, just bought a new 3,600 square foot home with five (or maybe six?) bedrooms. I won’t mention the price, except to say that it’s in the San Francisco Bay Area. ‘Nuff said.

My friend has a business that he runs from a home office. There’s one bedroom. He is an avid fitness enthusiast, so his Peloton and other equipment occupy another.

When my wife and I were waiting to close escrow on our new home, he kindly offered a place for us to stay for as long as we needed—it turned out to be three weeks that we enjoyed his hospitality and generosity.

He loves entertaining. When people come from more than a half-hour away, he insists that they stay over.

None of this requires such a large home with so many bedrooms. But my friend is very happy with the amount of space and the ability to host people overnight or longer.

There is a brisk market for homes with three bedrooms or more. If he had any inclination to sell (he doesn’t), he would find many families eager to buy it.

My wife and I are empty nesters and recently bought a three-bedroom home in the Sierra Foothills. One bedroom is my office, while another is home to our fancy new treadmill and available for overnight guests.

The only downside to having a somewhat large house is that it takes more effort to maintain it. My friend pays a cleaning crew to clean his large home every week. For him, it is worth it. We have someone go through our home twice a month. It’s part of the planned expense of living in the homes we have chosen for both of us.

Bottom line for me: it’s worth buying a home where you feel comfortable and happy regardless of its size.

Who care whether it is worth it or not. So long you can afford it, do it. I personally prefer very big built-in and very large lot size, can’t afford… so compromise.

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That’s great for the man, but a lot of single people don’t want to do the upkeep.

What I think is worse – and I’ve known multiple people who did – is buy a house that’s larger than you want “in case” you have kids later. And then they don’t and regret it. One woman was pushed into it by her mom and ended up having to work so much to pay off the house, she didn’t have time to meet people.

That’s awful.
I only have 1600 sq ft at the main house but it’s plenty and it’s on a half acre. The house had crazy high interest when it went on the market and this area is full of 2500-4000 sq ft homes that sit (or used to - no inventory now). 1600 sq ft is just enough to maintain and keep neat and still house all my stuff. The roughly 300 sq ft basement area (included in the total measurement) is my “man cave” - or rather “man menagerie” - and amply houses my 33 snakes (not counting what’s in the incubator at present), 6 lizards, two Sonora desert toads and two hedgehogs. The remaining 1300 sq ft is an open floor plan with a loft master bedroom and wrap around deck on the main floor, which has doors on both sides opening onto the deck. Works just fine for entertaining. Guest bedroom on main floor for the weary or over-indulgent.



Send hedgehog pictures. We’re jealous.

You play with them at night because they’re nocturnal. A good working person pet. I woke one up just for you. She wasn’t happy about it.

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Here is my kitty. Gets free range and a wide berth on my farm. The deer are not happy about him.

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I showed my older one this photo. He asks if you’ve named her Sonic?

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That’s hilarious. I got her from a family who’s daughter was allergic to them (didn’t know such a thing was possible). The daughter had named her Sonic.

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Subtle bragging?

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Thankssss!!! Since they’re illegal in CA, they’ve become our favorite “wish-we-had-one” pet.

omg hedgehogs :flushed::flushed::flushed: what do they eat :flushed::flushed: do they eat mice :flushed::flushed::flushed::flushed: BIG house for hedgehog!

They eat cat food and worms (King mealworks or Superworms).
You can’t legally own one in CA though that didn’t stop me when I lived there; I owned all manner of illegal stuff. I suppose you could assuage your yearnings by “representing” as one. If you come here to buy one you won’t be asked to show ID.

New problem: how do you get the python out?

:thinking:

It’s a boa, not a python.

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Insects. Don’t know that they’d eat flying ones though. Don’t think they’d go after mice. They’re pretty small.

WOW! That’s pretty cool.

I think the snake will follow the mice into the trash can. Unless of course it already ate one in which case the hole in the wall seems a biiiiit too small to get it back out :slight_smile: