Here at Re-Nest we've written about thoughtfully remodeled older homes, impossibly tiny (but amazing!) apartments and innovative new houses that hit homeruns in the sustainability department. But what if those aren't an option for you? I recently read an article about a family who bought a too-big home during the housing boom and are now in the difficult position of being upside down in their mortgage and unable to sell. While the reasons aren’t always financial, many people are stuck in these less-than-ideal (and less-than-green) living situations. So how do you make the most of it?
While the family featured in the article admitted they had too much space and wanted to downsize, they decided to instead focus on the things they liked about the house. While looking on the bright side can certainly ease the stress of the current economy, I began to wonder about other ways to reduce the impact of a too-big house.
Bigger homes use more energy, so maybe certain rooms or areas of the house could be closed off to reduce heating and cooling bills? Or perhaps a parent or relative could move in to reduce the financial burden? If available, could the homeowner take advantage of local or federal incentives that would increase the efficiency (and value) of the home without incurring a huge cost to the owner?
Do you know someone who is trying to make the most of a too-big home?
(Image: Flickr member rwcox123, licensed for use under Creative Commons)
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My M-I-L is in a situation of being in an expensive and too large of a house. They purchased the 6000sq feet when they have 5 kids at home and very well paying jobs. Fast forward several years, a couple of unfortunate job changes, a divorce and 3 kids leaving the house and she's left with a monster of house with expensive utilities and a huge list of fixes and improvements that have been left undone for years. They have two a/c units and only use one of them, shutting down a/c to half the house. They do the same thing in the winter. She's trying to save some money to do some improvements to the house so that she can sell the house in a couple of years and hopefully walk away with some money. My husband is pretty handy and tries to help with some of fixes around the house, saving her the cost of handymen.
I'm upside down in a too small home.
But for those in a too big home why not rent out a room?
Friends of ours are upside down on their 3 bedroom house. With baby #5 coming I suggested they rent out a bigger house for themselves and rent their house to another family.
To me there is no such thing as a too big house, LOL. And great creative solutions for energy use. What is sad is some otherwise great magazines like Natural Home make it seem as though building brand new homes is more green than retrofitting (or even simply using as is) older already existing homes. Nothing is further from the truth! Especially in light of deforestation for new lumber. We have a duplex with an empty downstairs, we turned it into a cage-free stray cat rescue. I'd think that you could also rent rooms out to someone who wants a writing or art studio if you don't want a tenant!
I'm not in need of financial help with my house but I bought a house that was too big for my family. We liked the style, location, and lot size of the house. The only problem was that it was bigger than what we needed for our family of four.
Anyway, we rent out the attic bedroom space (which is the size of some NY apartments haha). From talking with previous owners of the house, it seems like the house has had a long line of college kids renting out that space.
I love it. We have help with fixing up the 90 yo house etc and my friend has a beautifully furnished house to live in without having tons of broke roommates (which seems to be the case in college towns). I think it's a fantastic arrangement even if (like us) you can afford the house on your own.
I live in town close to two colleges and rent my extra bedrooms to students and young adults who work downtown. Helps me tremendously with my mortgage and utility bills, especially good since being laid off from my job. ;o)