how small a house is unreasonable for a family of 5 (or more)? - Page 3

[wombatclay]

Since there is a wider audience, I will throw my standard "Ithaca disclaimer" into the mix.

Please move to Ithaca/Ithaca area! It's an amazing region socially and geographically. BUT... please take a hard look at the job market first. The big employers are colleges/universities (with plenty of over qualified grads being churned out each year), there isn't the sort of "temp market" you'd get in a bigger city, and 10-12 months is a pretty normal span between "looking for a job" and "getting a job" here. This is not a good region to move into without a realistic financial plan.

I don't want to discourage people, but please do take the job market into consideration. If you can tele-commute, or if you have academic connections, or if you WAH or have a private business, or if you have the financial room to fund the small farm of your dreams, or even just enough savings to last a year or so.... huzzah! (and feel my envy ) But if you're in a specific field don't just hope to find something similar or assume the skills will transfer to Ithaca.

OK... soap box away! Please do come visit Ithaca even if you can't move now. It's a great summer destination!

[Juvysen]

That's true, Wombatclay... beyond that, we found that the pay range isn't as good as even the binghamton area... or at least not in Dh's field (which is why he'll be telecommuting part time, real commuting the rest down to endicott). It was part of the reason we backed off from the Ecovillage move, for a while... we weren't ready to commit to that kind of commute or a drop in pay.

[Amila]

Our house is 940 sq ft and we are going to be a family of 5 in October. I always complain about wanting a bigger house, but we don't need it really. Its a cape cod, and the entire upstairs is our bedroom, which we really don't use. The 2 and 4 year old share a room, and the baby will be upstairs obviously. I wish I had a bigger kitchen and bathroom and nice furniture, but all in good time We have a nice big yard, and a lot of storage so that nice.

[MJB]

We have a family of 4 in 800 sq. ft. and are fine-- but we're moving this month and having a new baby so we are looking for more like 1200 sq. ft. Our current house has a living room, eat in kitchen, small office, 2 bedrooms, and a bathroom (which is very small and has only a shower). We'd like to have a little more space for our soon-to-be 5. Also, my husband works from home so an office is a must.
We used to live in cohousing and you could get by with a lot less space since you could just watch TV there, use the playroom for playing (and even put your toys there as long as you don't care if they get ruined/lost), use the kitchen for large cooking projects. And the kids did play outside most of the time so they didn't need a large room. I don't have teens yet but the common house is a good place for teens to hang out together.