I am young and fit and I did not want a two-story house because I have lived in them before and hated lugging buckets of water and vacuum cleaners up and down the stairs, plus vacuuming/sweeping stairs is a pain in the butt!!!
The house I bought in July is 1820 square feet and is one of the larger houses on this street. Houses in this neighborhood sell well (average 97% of asking price) and quickly if they meet the following conditions:
They have a 2-car garage, attached is preferable to detached.
They have 3+ bedrooms.
They have 2+ bathrooms.
At least one of the baths is a full bath with bathtub.
The layout has not been changed to the point where it is weird.
The house still has the original frontage (some don't)
Mechanics of the house are in good shape.
The price is right; right now this neighborhood is averaging about $110 per square foot.
If a house meets those criteria, it usually sells very quickly, i.e. less than a month. If it is deficient in one of those categories, it can take a long time to sell.
The house I bought did not have a garage when I closed on it. The house had one when it was originally built but it was converted into living space 40+ years ago. Since it had been originally built as a garage, converting it back into one was not expensive or time-consuming. A friend and I did about 50% of the work ourselves with the actual wall demolition and door installation left to professionals. We tore up the floor, re-did the electrical wiring, and installed the actual garage door opener. The cost overall with labor and materials was around $1700, I think.
This house sat on the market for six months prior to selling. The mistakes the sellers made were:
Pricing it too high to begin with.
Making unnecessary changes to market the house (covering original hardwoods with new carpet, replacing original light fixtures with new ones that don't match the current hardware).
Outdated kitchen appliances/countertops.
No garage (this was the major one).
The president of my neighborhood association is also a realtor and had a look at this house just before it went on the market. She and I spoke when I bought the house and she agreed with all four of the above points. She was kind of funny when she complained about one of the sellers refusing to listen to her...she said, "What do I know, I have only lived in this neighborhood my entire life and I only sell houses for a living." Hahaha! Priceless.
But I am getting off-topic. The point I am trying to make is that this neighborhood is full of older, smaller, mainly one-story traditional ranch style houses and it is very popular with a wide range of buyers.
If a one-story smaller house is what you want then by all means buy it. Some people want a square footage factory with granite countertops and stainless steel appliances in a treeless suburb where the HOA dictates everything they can and cannot do with their own property. Others are not looking for that.
Also, please keep in mind that if you buy a house that is bigger than what you want, you will still have to clean all that excess square footage. You will be taxed on that excess square footage. You will have to pay to heat and cool that excess square footage. It is your money and you are an adult; buy the house that you think will make you happy.
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A big thank you
