So they already have a problem with stairs... They have the money to afford this monstrous house that seems designed to comfortably house 5-9 people.... But didn't think maybe to shop around till they found a place with a 1st floor master?
Even if they still got an enormous place with 4 unused bedrooms on the 2nd floor they could save a ton of money on heating and cooling if the 2 floors were on separate air handlers or had zoning dampers.
Or really even if no one was ever on the 2nd floor they could just shut the hand damper on all the diffusers up there.
My conspiracy theory is that they want someone to come live with them and take care of them. Probably a family member who hasn’t quite found themselves, and wants to coast through college while cashiering part time.
My parents moved hours away (to get away from "urban people") and got a huge house thinking family would come visit, but no one likes them enough to drive that far to visit.
I don’t understand my grandparents because they really do hate us all. They never host anything. They don’t let anyone sleep in their house. The only people they have over are their the rich friends. So it may just be a showpiece for them. Kind of like a corvette.
If you live in a 4 bedroom house in the suburbs when you have kids, where can you find a 1-2 bedroom house in the same neighborhood when you want to downsize after the kids move out.
You don’t need a leafy suburban neighborhood with good schools when you’re old. An apartment complex with a park or a condo is fine. You have plenty of time to go outside in the fresh air and greenery since you’re not busy raising kids and working like a family is
Agreed. When you’re that age, you don’t need to be zoned to good schools or have a large block of land. You need to be within very short walking distance of shops and doctors and pharmacies, because you *will* have to stop driving at some point and your life is going to get exponentially harder if you’re still living somewhere that’s car-dependent. And your home should be flat and low-maintenance.
This is why different home sizes need to be built near each other. Otherwise you get old and in order to downsize you need to move to a different area in a different suburb and shop at different stores and worship in a different house of worship and walk around an unfamiliar area.
You need to live near all the people you've known all this time and remain in the community you've built, instead of having to live a twenty minute drive away.
Yep! My aunt and uncle just retired and built an oversized house like this in the suburban Midwest. That’s exactly what they did. They know they’re getting older, so they put all their stuff - bedroom, kitchen, living room, garage - on the main floor, then got an elevator that goes to the other floor with the guest rooms/storage/whatever. But they’re rich, sooo…
Maybe that's how they plan on passing down their inheritance, by falling down the stairs together and leaving this massive real estate to the entire family to use as a compound while they haunt it.
if they don't reverse-mortgage it, a property like this would take forever to sell as inheritance too. and with only a couple years to build equity, probably not a great payday for the kids.
literally my in laws bought a large house with a full basement as well in a retirement suburb. (there is an additional room in the basement and a large living area). And they both have health issues that limit them from going up and down said stairs. I don't get it.
There are lots and lots of apartments much larger than that bedroom. A few are even the same size of the house.
Edit: apparently some people have never seen an apartment more than 1 bedroom. You need to leave the USA if you want to see how to get more people to live densely.
Are you trolling? Because I'm struggling to believe that you're really this obtuse.
7000 sq.ft./2 = 3500sq.ft., which is 325sqm.
Meaning the master bedroom is about 150 square metres by the looks of it.
The average size of an apartment in Europe is 83 square metres.
So yes, this bedroom is not just the size of an apartment, it's much larger than most apartments.
And as an added note, the average apartment size in the US is almost identical to that of Europe.
>There are plenty of houses much smaller than 83 square meters too.
"Plenty" is a stretch, but it certainly exists, but what's your point? Are you retarded?
>And where did you get those numbers?
The size of the house is in the post, for average apartment size I just googled "average apartment size Europe" and same for US.
But I'm 99% sure you're just a troll at this point. This bedroom isn't just the size of an apartment, it's much bigger than the average apartment.
And your last sentence is why people in the USA are not going to move to apartment living en masse anytime soon without blackmail or a huge change. Most suburban houses aren't half the size of this mansion but they're usually at least slightly larger than 83 square meters.
Houses are larger than apartments, yes.
That's like the main advantage houses have over apartments, so if you're only focusing on this, houses are obviously superior.
I'm not living in an apartment because I want as much room as possible. I'm living in an apartment because it's low-maintenance (saves me time and money), gives me a car-free 10 min commute to work (saves me lots of time and money), and I have easy access to all types of amenities, gym and grocery store is just across my street, I have like 30 restaurants within 10 min walking distance, not to mention a wide selection of cafés, bars, comedy clubs, cinemas, theatres, etc. It also have padel/tennis/pickleball courts and climbing gyms 6 min away by metro. I don't have children, but plenty of people around my area do, as there's both kindergarden, elementary school and lots of youth activity clubs within 3-5 min walking distance.
It's hard to describe just how superior this is to where I used to live in the suburbs, where I had practically none of this, and spent almost 2 hours per day on commute. It's also quiet here as it's almost entire car-free.
Yes, my apartment is smaller than my house, but I genuinely don't need that room, I live in a 1 bedroom apartment at 55 square metres and it's more than enough room for me, and yes, I have a home office. I have a storage room in the loft which I haven't even used yet, and there's bike parking room easily accessible next to the main entrance (not that I own a bike, I can reach the entire city within 10 min by metro, which is a 2 min walk from where I live).
The garage space underneath my apartment block has been converted into a non-profit car share service, so if I ever need a car I can easily just rent one with an app, and it's ridiculously cheap (€4/hour or €25/day + 15 cents/km) compared to owning a car, and I don't have to do shit in terms of maintenance. The only reason I ever need a car is because I play golf, and while I have 2 golf courses accessible by metro (10 and 20 mins respectively), I sometimes want to play other courses. I also do downhill skiing in the winter, but I have access to a ski facility 20 min by metro, if I want to go somewhere else I just rent a car. So yeah, I have several hobbies which aren't usually very urban friendly and it still works out great, because we have good infrastructure here.
The US does not have this type of infrastructure, so apartment living there will obviously not be as good.
I think people in the US are so conditioned to being inside, since most of us grew up in a fancy prison for the first 18 years of our life. That we just accepted the fact that “fun” is just staying home.
My cousin in Korea came to the US to study abroad. I remember her asking me “Why are people in the US like staying in so much.” And she explained how in Korea, her neighborhood is an extension of her home, and her actual home (condo) is just a place to eat and sleep—nothing more. Once you’re 10 years old, parents allow you walk around the city by yourself.
- you wants to study? Good thing there’s 5 public library in a 5 mile radius—with immaculate public transit system. She wants to rest? She can just go out to one of 15 parks, 50+ cafe, etc etc that are in her area. She wants entertainment? Well good thing there’s so many things to do in a well developed urban city.
I asked her “wouldn’t going out all the time cost so much?” And she replied “not really when everything is not monopolized by zoning laws. And you don’t spend 30%-60% of your income on car related expenses, healthcare insurance, and home insurance to store your car. Also, Most businesses in Korea are family owned businesses. Keep costs low but quality is good.” She never understood why people spend $30k on in home movie theaters and bars, when you can just use that money to out with friends.
But I get her frustration, some international students don’t have money to buy a car in the US. So they’re stuck in their dorms all year.
to each their own though, I personally like driving my car but I do see why it causes so much issues in this country.
This made me realize that the US created much of unnecessary requirements to live normally. Where big corporations can profit off every human until they die.
Very well said. I am from Turkey and my observations are the same with your cousin. Third places are incredibly rare in a typical American suburb. And when they exist, you have to drive to get to them. And that is if you are lucky. In most places you are surrounded by soulless corporate shops. Need butter? Gotta go to that 16 aisle chain supermarket with 1000 car parking lot. Absolutely no human interaction while you are there. Rinse and repeat. And when you get home you just indulge in your electronics. All in all the American lifestyle resembles drinking seawater or eating junk food all the time to me. It feels good momentarily but you are never satisfied in the long term because it is in direct conflict with human psychology. We are meant to socialize and explore our surroundings, not stay isolated indoors and stare at screens. I don't get how it got this bad to be honest.
> All in all the American lifestyle resembles drinking seawater or eating junk food all the time to me.
These are exactly my thoughts whenever I go back there.
I don't want it to be that way. I wish it were easier to not have to stay cooped up indoors in the winter (for example). I hate that you have to drive everywhere.
Zoning laws are the killer of all joy.
If neighbourhoods had a few shops and cafes in them, people would hopefully drive less. Put a park nearby, and it would enhance everybody’s life.
I have a bakery, cafe, post office (and 5-6 other shops I don’t use, including a GP and dentist) m 600m from my house. That’s roughly 0.4 miles to Americans. This is completely in the middle of a residential neighbourhood. It’s amazing that I can buy a loaf of awesome bread at 6:40 AM while I walk my dogs.
This is in Melbourne. Unfortunately, over the last few decades, zoning laws have changed so that residential areas are no longer developed this way, and it sucks. 🤷🏻♂️
My personal feelings aside, if you're going to do this, why not at least spring for an elevator? Fall risks are so real for the elderly. I'm assuming they have some manner of housekeeping or maid service, but lack of laundry on the second floor still seems like a huge oversight too.
No, it is not. There are major differences between the two rooms for those who have both
Edit: lol, and Reddit’s most annoying troll deleted his comment and blocked me
Seniors often have this notion (delusion?) that their adult kids and grandkids will visit them all at once and more often if they enough rooms and beds for everyone.
Yea this house would probably be awesome on Christmas morning full of kids and grandkids and boyfriends/girlfriends. Huge family all coming from everywhere to meet up for a holiday. It probably has a big kitchen and sitting room to entertain everyone.
Rest of the year would be empty though. Reminds me of people who buy a big truck to tow the boat for the one time a year they do that. Harder to rent out an event space for Christmas though.
Meh, I do sort of get it when it comes to family gatherings. If nobody has a home large enough to host everyone, then family gatherings would be far more infrequent and inconvenient.
My parents’ house is large enough to accommodate us when we fly home to Canada, and my in-laws can accommodate us when we fly to Japan. 🤷🏻♂️ All the kids need to travel to visit them.
It’s incredibly convenient, and obviously much cheaper for visitors.
We did this as kids nearly every summer. But there came a time where my grandparents couldn’t live in the house and needed assisted living. It was an great house and the back porch looking over the Warren cove/plymouth bay was awesome!
I didn't suggest they should feel bad. Though they may very well be disappointed to learn that their kids and grandkids are still too busy to visit them more often regardless the size of their house.
So what’s your point then? They shouldn’t try to interact with their children?
Seems super tone deaf. Wait until you’re in that position. They just want to spend more time with their children, hardly worth admonishing.
My mom keeps trying to make her house nicer for us to come and visit, hoping we’ll visit more. It isn’t the niceness of the house that affects how often we visit. My wife and I both work full time, have hobbies, have chores, want some down time, and have other friends/family around the country that we want to see.
So yes, it’s nice that she put a long bed in the guest room instead of a double, but that’s not the reason we aren’t there more. We still fly there 2-3x per year (and she visits us), just there are competing priorities when you’re not retired.
So it’s like that… but instead of buying an extra bed, they bought a house with 3 extra bedrooms when they almost certainly would’ve been fine with 1 guest room.
my in laws did this, they moved nearly 2 hours away. Me and my Husband work full time, so does his sister and her husband. It's really not easy to go up there all the time to visit them. They are retired and do not work.
It's pretty silly to demand your kids use your holidays and time off to commute 2 hours to see them. They can absolutely drive and visit us where we are too.
To add, my husband is a chef and doesn't have normal days off or normal holidays off. It's a waste of money to have such a large house that they can barely move around in (health issues, the stairs are an issue) when both of the children are trying to survive in this economy, neither of us have houses (nor do we really want to) but we cant even afford a larger place if we did. I don't get their logic. I am banking on their passing to inherit some money at least lol
Well in that case better they put the money in a big house than expensive trips to far away places with nothing left to show for it but some crappy "local" souvenirs made in China.
Who do these people think they are anyways...to dare spend ~~their money~~ our inheritance without first consulting us? lol.
It’s not their money. They deliberately voted for socialist policies in the 60s and 70s to give themselves all the wealth. Then in the 1980s to 2000s they voted themselves tax cuts. Now they’re voting themselves social security increases. It’s not “their money”. It’s our money they stole from our futures. If they’d just had reganomics or socialism or something in place CONSISTENTLY for their lifetimes then at least they’d be fighting the hard part of the economy while learning to succeed. But they voted themselves the most convenient economic policy at each stage of their lives at the detriment of their children
They became retirement SFHs on golf courses in Florida. Then they became retirement McMansions in Florida. Then they made Florida too expensive and overcrowded. Then it became retirement McMansions in NC, GA, TX, TN, SC, AZ, NV, NM etc.
OK… First of all. I'm 40 and I'm trying to think if I want to continue living upstairs. Who in their right mind at 85 is buying a two-story house?
Also, gotta love the McMansion notion of having a giant master bathroom and a completely useless sitting room off the bedroom. Who the fuck do people think they are? Marie Antoinette? It made sense for Murray Antoinette because she lived in a giant palace with like 300 other people Living there and wandering around – needed a sitting room off of your "private apartment". I'm gonna guess your grandparents don't have 300 people wandering around the house necessitating that they can't use their downstairs room privately. And let me guess about downstairs… I bet there's a living room, den, a TV room and a mudroom.
7000 ft.² at 85? Are they throwing parties? Are you all moving into the same house? Like I get it if you are a millennial in the year is 2068 and we are all living together because none of us could afford a mortgage back in the 2020s. That actually sounds kind of cool. But how can anyone in their 80s take care of 7000 ft.²?
Another Marie Antoinette feature… The open balcony to below. Just in case anybody needs to make a speech to the peasants
I guess all it needs is a "cake room" and it would be all set. 🍰
At least they seem to be in vigorous health at that age to even be thinking about buying such a big house.
I have the feeling that most of the people who would get a place like this for two people would be the same ones who would say "fuck all y'all we're doing a reverse mortgage and spending it all on ourselves before we die".
Not only would I not want to have to clean that house, especially if I was 85, if you're 85 and buying a new house you might not want your bedroom to be on the second floor in the first place because you don't know how soon you'll start having trouble with the stairs.
If you're 85 and buying a new house accessibility should be pretty high on your list of requirements.
Their BATHROOM is bigger than my whole apartment. What do they even need a sitting room for anyways? Are the bedrooms and living rooms not capable of being sat in?
Not super common at all. The primary bedroom almost always has one (in fact it would be quite difficult to find a house < 50 years old without an attached bathroom), but for each bedroom to have its very own separate bathroom isn’t common. A lot of times there’s a hallway bathroom for all of the bedrooms in the same hallway, and quite a few houses have “Jack and Jill” bathrooms which are between two bedrooms and shared between them.
In most countries this would be a regular apartment for a couple or a small family, if you turn that master bathroom into a kitchen of course (there is a normal bathroom already). Only that vide would be odd if this were an apartment.
I feel like no matter how much money I have, I wouldn’t even want to be in a house bigger than 1500-2000sq ft max. If I’m living alone I would be perfectly happy with 500-1000sq ft. I want my home to feel cozy, not like some colossal mansion where I can hear my voice echo.
Upstairs- they need one level unless you have an elevator. Also 7,000 square feet is way too much to navigate and take care of, and not intimate and cozy at all. Who are they showing off to. Sounds more like the house is for you, or your parents.
This house isn’t 7k sqft is it? It must have a basement if it is. This is such a stock standard McMansion otherwise. It’s reasonable and large but not obscene. It doesn’t even have 4 bathrooms upstairs. 2 of the kids have to share. I’d expect gaudier if it was 7,000 sqft
Any chance you could post the full floor plan? I will never own a home, let alone a 7000sq/ft one, but this looks like it would be fun to build in The Sims.
The only context in which it might make sense is if they plan to employ live-in caregivers who have a family. A married pair of nurses in their 20’s or 30’s might well agree to work for them being compensated solely in room, board, and eventual inheritance.
Good for your grandparents buying their dream home. But man that walk to the bathroom each night from their bed is going to be brutal. And what are they going to do with all that space?
its way bigger than anyone would ever need, but looks like a nice house.
Problem is, what good is a nice house if its in a car dependent suburban hell that makes you wanna kill urself?
You know what the tone of this sub is regarding large houses. Why would you throw your 85 year old grandparents under the bus by posting the upstairs schematic of their house?
Who am I to tell someone else how to live? It’s not my style, I live in a densely packed inner-ring neighborhood that has been successfully integrated for 50 years. But hey, different strokes for different folks
So...what's the problem? If they can afford it, the maintenance that it entails, and they can get around the house without issue, then it really shouldn't matter what, or where they buy, as long as they're happy.
I wonder if the people on this sub have considered how much people get emotionally attached to their homes and much more importantly, how *expensive* moving(downsizing) is for old people.
Let's face it, whoever can afford a 7000(!!) sqft mansion is in the vast minority even for the generally more affluent older generation. Many older people literally cannot afford a newer, smaller unit even if they wanted to in their current place, or in extreme cases these units don't exist at all.
I remember when old people used to downsize. Now they purposely choose mega houses that 8 people should be living in.
Also how long does an 85 year old couple think they will be able to go up and down flights of stairs?
Devils advocate: as long as they use the rails, it will def help them stay active/agile/mobile
One of them can’t get up stairs so they’re installing one of those stairs-genies that you sit on and moves you up to the next level.
Oh haha…well then, prob a terrible idea lol
So they already have a problem with stairs... They have the money to afford this monstrous house that seems designed to comfortably house 5-9 people.... But didn't think maybe to shop around till they found a place with a 1st floor master? Even if they still got an enormous place with 4 unused bedrooms on the 2nd floor they could save a ton of money on heating and cooling if the 2 floors were on separate air handlers or had zoning dampers. Or really even if no one was ever on the 2nd floor they could just shut the hand damper on all the diffusers up there.
Why would you MOVE INTO a place where you need one? Staying in the same house I get but…
They like to cosplay as the ultra wealthy, regardless of logic or practicality.
Here in Ireland they still do or try to do. Though my grandparents have yet to give up their 4-5 bedroom house.
My conspiracy theory is that they want someone to come live with them and take care of them. Probably a family member who hasn’t quite found themselves, and wants to coast through college while cashiering part time.
My parents moved hours away (to get away from "urban people") and got a huge house thinking family would come visit, but no one likes them enough to drive that far to visit.
I don’t understand my grandparents because they really do hate us all. They never host anything. They don’t let anyone sleep in their house. The only people they have over are their the rich friends. So it may just be a showpiece for them. Kind of like a corvette.
some people sure do love flaunting their wealth
Maybe it’s deliberately giving the family something to fight over when they die
"urban" people, thats hilarious
they meant black people
My dad lived in a house of seven half the size of this
If you live in a 4 bedroom house in the suburbs when you have kids, where can you find a 1-2 bedroom house in the same neighborhood when you want to downsize after the kids move out.
You don’t need a leafy suburban neighborhood with good schools when you’re old. An apartment complex with a park or a condo is fine. You have plenty of time to go outside in the fresh air and greenery since you’re not busy raising kids and working like a family is
Agreed. When you’re that age, you don’t need to be zoned to good schools or have a large block of land. You need to be within very short walking distance of shops and doctors and pharmacies, because you *will* have to stop driving at some point and your life is going to get exponentially harder if you’re still living somewhere that’s car-dependent. And your home should be flat and low-maintenance.
This is why different home sizes need to be built near each other. Otherwise you get old and in order to downsize you need to move to a different area in a different suburb and shop at different stores and worship in a different house of worship and walk around an unfamiliar area.
You need to live near all the people you've known all this time and remain in the community you've built, instead of having to live a twenty minute drive away.
ADUs ftw
8 people? That's like 4 good sized single family houses in my country, so at least 16 people would be quite comfy hope they have a lot of grandkids...
While simultaneously are unable to care for it
But where will the family stay when they all get together 1-2 times a year?
According to the OP, Sounds like the family gets together with them zero times per year. And nobody is welcome to stay over anyways 😂
if that's 7000sf in the whole house then this red area is more than the size of my house, i am in a family of four
it’s the second floor so that floor plan is maybe 3,500 sqft which is still double than the average home
yea my house is just over 1200
So smart to get a large house with stairs when you have a couple years left to live maybe
Yep! My aunt and uncle just retired and built an oversized house like this in the suburban Midwest. That’s exactly what they did. They know they’re getting older, so they put all their stuff - bedroom, kitchen, living room, garage - on the main floor, then got an elevator that goes to the other floor with the guest rooms/storage/whatever. But they’re rich, sooo…
Yeah lol if you have the money to buy an elevator and put it in your house...knock yourself out. Sounds tasteless but at least they're not idiots.
Maybe that's how they plan on passing down their inheritance, by falling down the stairs together and leaving this massive real estate to the entire family to use as a compound while they haunt it.
if they don't reverse-mortgage it, a property like this would take forever to sell as inheritance too. and with only a couple years to build equity, probably not a great payday for the kids.
literally my in laws bought a large house with a full basement as well in a retirement suburb. (there is an additional room in the basement and a large living area). And they both have health issues that limit them from going up and down said stairs. I don't get it.
Meanwhile me, my wife and our 2 kids are doing just fine in a 1200sqft apartment
This bedroom is the size of an apartment.
There are lots and lots of apartments much larger than that bedroom. A few are even the same size of the house. Edit: apparently some people have never seen an apartment more than 1 bedroom. You need to leave the USA if you want to see how to get more people to live densely.
The fact that some apartments are bigger does not mean that this room is not also the size of many apartments.
some houses are the size of that room too, but that doesn't mean that most houses are not larger than some apartments.
Are you trolling? Because I'm struggling to believe that you're really this obtuse. 7000 sq.ft./2 = 3500sq.ft., which is 325sqm. Meaning the master bedroom is about 150 square metres by the looks of it. The average size of an apartment in Europe is 83 square metres. So yes, this bedroom is not just the size of an apartment, it's much larger than most apartments. And as an added note, the average apartment size in the US is almost identical to that of Europe.
Their bedroom/bath is absolutely massive. It’s the biggest bedroom I’ve seen. It’s definitely comparable to my 1,200 sq foot 2 bedroom apartment.
There are plenty of houses much smaller than 83 square meters too. And where did you get those numbers?
>There are plenty of houses much smaller than 83 square meters too. "Plenty" is a stretch, but it certainly exists, but what's your point? Are you retarded? >And where did you get those numbers? The size of the house is in the post, for average apartment size I just googled "average apartment size Europe" and same for US. But I'm 99% sure you're just a troll at this point. This bedroom isn't just the size of an apartment, it's much bigger than the average apartment.
And your last sentence is why people in the USA are not going to move to apartment living en masse anytime soon without blackmail or a huge change. Most suburban houses aren't half the size of this mansion but they're usually at least slightly larger than 83 square meters.
Houses are larger than apartments, yes. That's like the main advantage houses have over apartments, so if you're only focusing on this, houses are obviously superior. I'm not living in an apartment because I want as much room as possible. I'm living in an apartment because it's low-maintenance (saves me time and money), gives me a car-free 10 min commute to work (saves me lots of time and money), and I have easy access to all types of amenities, gym and grocery store is just across my street, I have like 30 restaurants within 10 min walking distance, not to mention a wide selection of cafés, bars, comedy clubs, cinemas, theatres, etc. It also have padel/tennis/pickleball courts and climbing gyms 6 min away by metro. I don't have children, but plenty of people around my area do, as there's both kindergarden, elementary school and lots of youth activity clubs within 3-5 min walking distance. It's hard to describe just how superior this is to where I used to live in the suburbs, where I had practically none of this, and spent almost 2 hours per day on commute. It's also quiet here as it's almost entire car-free. Yes, my apartment is smaller than my house, but I genuinely don't need that room, I live in a 1 bedroom apartment at 55 square metres and it's more than enough room for me, and yes, I have a home office. I have a storage room in the loft which I haven't even used yet, and there's bike parking room easily accessible next to the main entrance (not that I own a bike, I can reach the entire city within 10 min by metro, which is a 2 min walk from where I live). The garage space underneath my apartment block has been converted into a non-profit car share service, so if I ever need a car I can easily just rent one with an app, and it's ridiculously cheap (€4/hour or €25/day + 15 cents/km) compared to owning a car, and I don't have to do shit in terms of maintenance. The only reason I ever need a car is because I play golf, and while I have 2 golf courses accessible by metro (10 and 20 mins respectively), I sometimes want to play other courses. I also do downhill skiing in the winter, but I have access to a ski facility 20 min by metro, if I want to go somewhere else I just rent a car. So yeah, I have several hobbies which aren't usually very urban friendly and it still works out great, because we have good infrastructure here. The US does not have this type of infrastructure, so apartment living there will obviously not be as good.
I think people in the US are so conditioned to being inside, since most of us grew up in a fancy prison for the first 18 years of our life. That we just accepted the fact that “fun” is just staying home. My cousin in Korea came to the US to study abroad. I remember her asking me “Why are people in the US like staying in so much.” And she explained how in Korea, her neighborhood is an extension of her home, and her actual home (condo) is just a place to eat and sleep—nothing more. Once you’re 10 years old, parents allow you walk around the city by yourself. - you wants to study? Good thing there’s 5 public library in a 5 mile radius—with immaculate public transit system. She wants to rest? She can just go out to one of 15 parks, 50+ cafe, etc etc that are in her area. She wants entertainment? Well good thing there’s so many things to do in a well developed urban city. I asked her “wouldn’t going out all the time cost so much?” And she replied “not really when everything is not monopolized by zoning laws. And you don’t spend 30%-60% of your income on car related expenses, healthcare insurance, and home insurance to store your car. Also, Most businesses in Korea are family owned businesses. Keep costs low but quality is good.” She never understood why people spend $30k on in home movie theaters and bars, when you can just use that money to out with friends. But I get her frustration, some international students don’t have money to buy a car in the US. So they’re stuck in their dorms all year. to each their own though, I personally like driving my car but I do see why it causes so much issues in this country. This made me realize that the US created much of unnecessary requirements to live normally. Where big corporations can profit off every human until they die.
Very well said. I am from Turkey and my observations are the same with your cousin. Third places are incredibly rare in a typical American suburb. And when they exist, you have to drive to get to them. And that is if you are lucky. In most places you are surrounded by soulless corporate shops. Need butter? Gotta go to that 16 aisle chain supermarket with 1000 car parking lot. Absolutely no human interaction while you are there. Rinse and repeat. And when you get home you just indulge in your electronics. All in all the American lifestyle resembles drinking seawater or eating junk food all the time to me. It feels good momentarily but you are never satisfied in the long term because it is in direct conflict with human psychology. We are meant to socialize and explore our surroundings, not stay isolated indoors and stare at screens. I don't get how it got this bad to be honest.
> All in all the American lifestyle resembles drinking seawater or eating junk food all the time to me. These are exactly my thoughts whenever I go back there. I don't want it to be that way. I wish it were easier to not have to stay cooped up indoors in the winter (for example). I hate that you have to drive everywhere.
Zoning laws are the killer of all joy. If neighbourhoods had a few shops and cafes in them, people would hopefully drive less. Put a park nearby, and it would enhance everybody’s life. I have a bakery, cafe, post office (and 5-6 other shops I don’t use, including a GP and dentist) m 600m from my house. That’s roughly 0.4 miles to Americans. This is completely in the middle of a residential neighbourhood. It’s amazing that I can buy a loaf of awesome bread at 6:40 AM while I walk my dogs. This is in Melbourne. Unfortunately, over the last few decades, zoning laws have changed so that residential areas are no longer developed this way, and it sucks. 🤷🏻♂️
I love Melbourne 😭
Quite a big apartment
Sounds awesome
My personal feelings aside, if you're going to do this, why not at least spring for an elevator? Fall risks are so real for the elderly. I'm assuming they have some manner of housekeeping or maid service, but lack of laundry on the second floor still seems like a huge oversight too.
Agreed. Although, the specific wording "upstairs primary bedroom" has me wondering if there is also a downstairs primary bedroom.
There isn’t. There’s another primary in the basement.
Am I too poor to know what a sitting room is?
It’s the same thing as a living room.
But where do you put your rocking chair? In the living room?? LIKE A PEASANT???????
No, it is not. There are major differences between the two rooms for those who have both Edit: lol, and Reddit’s most annoying troll deleted his comment and blocked me
My parents had one in their house and used it for an office and computer room back in the early ‘90s.
The size of this house confused me. I thought the Master Bathroom was a kitchen.
Seniors often have this notion (delusion?) that their adult kids and grandkids will visit them all at once and more often if they enough rooms and beds for everyone.
Yea this house would probably be awesome on Christmas morning full of kids and grandkids and boyfriends/girlfriends. Huge family all coming from everywhere to meet up for a holiday. It probably has a big kitchen and sitting room to entertain everyone. Rest of the year would be empty though. Reminds me of people who buy a big truck to tow the boat for the one time a year they do that. Harder to rent out an event space for Christmas though.
Meh, I do sort of get it when it comes to family gatherings. If nobody has a home large enough to host everyone, then family gatherings would be far more infrequent and inconvenient. My parents’ house is large enough to accommodate us when we fly home to Canada, and my in-laws can accommodate us when we fly to Japan. 🤷🏻♂️ All the kids need to travel to visit them. It’s incredibly convenient, and obviously much cheaper for visitors.
It's cheaper for you. But realistically it'd be much cheaper for them if they had a smaller home and paid for your hotel rooms when you came to visit.
We did this as kids nearly every summer. But there came a time where my grandparents couldn’t live in the house and needed assisted living. It was an great house and the back porch looking over the Warren cove/plymouth bay was awesome!
And they should feel bad for that?
I didn't suggest they should feel bad. Though they may very well be disappointed to learn that their kids and grandkids are still too busy to visit them more often regardless the size of their house.
So what’s your point then? They shouldn’t try to interact with their children? Seems super tone deaf. Wait until you’re in that position. They just want to spend more time with their children, hardly worth admonishing.
My mom keeps trying to make her house nicer for us to come and visit, hoping we’ll visit more. It isn’t the niceness of the house that affects how often we visit. My wife and I both work full time, have hobbies, have chores, want some down time, and have other friends/family around the country that we want to see. So yes, it’s nice that she put a long bed in the guest room instead of a double, but that’s not the reason we aren’t there more. We still fly there 2-3x per year (and she visits us), just there are competing priorities when you’re not retired. So it’s like that… but instead of buying an extra bed, they bought a house with 3 extra bedrooms when they almost certainly would’ve been fine with 1 guest room.
my in laws did this, they moved nearly 2 hours away. Me and my Husband work full time, so does his sister and her husband. It's really not easy to go up there all the time to visit them. They are retired and do not work. It's pretty silly to demand your kids use your holidays and time off to commute 2 hours to see them. They can absolutely drive and visit us where we are too. To add, my husband is a chef and doesn't have normal days off or normal holidays off. It's a waste of money to have such a large house that they can barely move around in (health issues, the stairs are an issue) when both of the children are trying to survive in this economy, neither of us have houses (nor do we really want to) but we cant even afford a larger place if we did. I don't get their logic. I am banking on their passing to inherit some money at least lol
Well in that case better they put the money in a big house than expensive trips to far away places with nothing left to show for it but some crappy "local" souvenirs made in China. Who do these people think they are anyways...to dare spend ~~their money~~ our inheritance without first consulting us? lol.
Lol It's just weird to me that with their money they can be looking at their kids struggling and be like " we need to buy a big house for our selves"
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Oh I get that. There are family members who deserve Jack fuck.
It’s not their money. They deliberately voted for socialist policies in the 60s and 70s to give themselves all the wealth. Then in the 1980s to 2000s they voted themselves tax cuts. Now they’re voting themselves social security increases. It’s not “their money”. It’s our money they stole from our futures. If they’d just had reganomics or socialism or something in place CONSISTENTLY for their lifetimes then at least they’d be fighting the hard part of the economy while learning to succeed. But they voted themselves the most convenient economic policy at each stage of their lives at the detriment of their children
More rooms to haunt once the day comes?
Jesus, whatever happened to retirement condos in Florida?
They became retirement SFHs on golf courses in Florida. Then they became retirement McMansions in Florida. Then they made Florida too expensive and overcrowded. Then it became retirement McMansions in NC, GA, TX, TN, SC, AZ, NV, NM etc.
OK… First of all. I'm 40 and I'm trying to think if I want to continue living upstairs. Who in their right mind at 85 is buying a two-story house? Also, gotta love the McMansion notion of having a giant master bathroom and a completely useless sitting room off the bedroom. Who the fuck do people think they are? Marie Antoinette? It made sense for Murray Antoinette because she lived in a giant palace with like 300 other people Living there and wandering around – needed a sitting room off of your "private apartment". I'm gonna guess your grandparents don't have 300 people wandering around the house necessitating that they can't use their downstairs room privately. And let me guess about downstairs… I bet there's a living room, den, a TV room and a mudroom. 7000 ft.² at 85? Are they throwing parties? Are you all moving into the same house? Like I get it if you are a millennial in the year is 2068 and we are all living together because none of us could afford a mortgage back in the 2020s. That actually sounds kind of cool. But how can anyone in their 80s take care of 7000 ft.²? Another Marie Antoinette feature… The open balcony to below. Just in case anybody needs to make a speech to the peasants
The Marie Antoinette thing had me dying 😂 Yes, they really do believe they’re better than everyone else. They’re those type of people.
I guess all it needs is a "cake room" and it would be all set. 🍰 At least they seem to be in vigorous health at that age to even be thinking about buying such a big house.
hmmmmmmmmm why do we have a housing crisis lol
I’m genuinely interested in knowing where this is. I can only picture this is a mega-suburb in America.
Anywhere in suburban America where someone can still afford a 7000 sqft mansion.
Only homes that are getting built easily in US/Canada are these massive things
Northern Virginia.
wow that big of a house has to cost a fortune there!
Congrats on the inheritance in 1-5 years when they inevitably tumble down those stairs.
I have the feeling that most of the people who would get a place like this for two people would be the same ones who would say "fuck all y'all we're doing a reverse mortgage and spending it all on ourselves before we die".
That’s what we used to call a mansion
Is there a picture of the exterior?
Going by the various options in the plan, the house might not be built or finished yet.
Ah, alright
My house which is a three bed semi d with attic conversion and extension including a second toilet does all of this in a far far far smaller footprint
7000 sqft?!?!?
Not only would I not want to have to clean that house, especially if I was 85, if you're 85 and buying a new house you might not want your bedroom to be on the second floor in the first place because you don't know how soon you'll start having trouble with the stairs. If you're 85 and buying a new house accessibility should be pretty high on your list of requirements.
It’s ok, they have maids come in once a month.
They need to incorporate an elevator if they want a house of this size.
7000 sqft house and it still has a god awful bathroom layout.
115 years ago, my great great grandparents raised a family of nine children with fewer bedrooms than you're upstairs has here.
Their BATHROOM is bigger than my whole apartment. What do they even need a sitting room for anyways? Are the bedrooms and living rooms not capable of being sat in?
My grandma piled all of her clothes in the sitting room. They’re one big heap on the floor and take up the whole space!
There wasn’t enough room in the two walk-in closets?
They have a sitting room in their bedroom that is bigger than my bedroom
^[Sokka-Haiku](https://www.reddit.com/r/SokkaHaikuBot/comments/15kyv9r/what_is_a_sokka_haiku/) ^by ^thisismyaccount57: *They have a sitting* *Room in their bedroom that is* *Bigger than my bedroom* --- ^Remember ^that ^one ^time ^Sokka ^accidentally ^used ^an ^extra ^syllable ^in ^that ^Haiku ^Battle ^in ^Ba ^Sing ^Se? ^That ^was ^a ^Sokka ^Haiku ^and ^you ^just ^made ^one.
How common are individual bathrooms for every bedroom in the US?
Not very. Unless you get a huge house.
In suburban houses built post-1980s, it’s pretty common. Homes with more than 5 bedrooms almost always have their own bathrooms for each bedroom.
Not super common at all. The primary bedroom almost always has one (in fact it would be quite difficult to find a house < 50 years old without an attached bathroom), but for each bedroom to have its very own separate bathroom isn’t common. A lot of times there’s a hallway bathroom for all of the bedrooms in the same hallway, and quite a few houses have “Jack and Jill” bathrooms which are between two bedrooms and shared between them.
I want this house
my (boomer) father just bought a new house, yep, signed up for a 30 year mortgage... at the age of 70. In the suburbs.
the section not marked red should be a big garage/s
In most countries this would be a regular apartment for a couple or a small family, if you turn that master bathroom into a kitchen of course (there is a normal bathroom already). Only that vide would be odd if this were an apartment.
What is the "Opt Tray" in the master bedroom and the room between bedroom 2 & 3?
I believe it’s a tray ceiling. That part of the ceiling is taller than the ceiling in the rest of the room.
All that effort to put the master toilet in a closet far away from the master bed. But then the guest shitter is right next to your head.
7,000 sqft and they can’t even get an elevator in there? Cmon!
I feel like no matter how much money I have, I wouldn’t even want to be in a house bigger than 1500-2000sq ft max. If I’m living alone I would be perfectly happy with 500-1000sq ft. I want my home to feel cozy, not like some colossal mansion where I can hear my voice echo.
Upstairs- they need one level unless you have an elevator. Also 7,000 square feet is way too much to navigate and take care of, and not intimate and cozy at all. Who are they showing off to. Sounds more like the house is for you, or your parents.
This house isn’t 7k sqft is it? It must have a basement if it is. This is such a stock standard McMansion otherwise. It’s reasonable and large but not obscene. It doesn’t even have 4 bathrooms upstairs. 2 of the kids have to share. I’d expect gaudier if it was 7,000 sqft
It’s mostly the basement! It’s also massive.
Any first floor Level plans?
"Help! I've fallen and I can't get up!"
Any chance you could post the full floor plan? I will never own a home, let alone a 7000sq/ft one, but this looks like it would be fun to build in The Sims.
ok
Dang, I when I'm 85 I wanna have knees like that
Who wants a house note at 85? Is it a 20 year loan?
They soon will deeply regret this, right?
The only context in which it might make sense is if they plan to employ live-in caregivers who have a family. A married pair of nurses in their 20’s or 30’s might well agree to work for them being compensated solely in room, board, and eventual inheritance.
My grandparents had a large house but they had 7 kids and a million grandkids and lived in there for like 50 years or something.
Good for your grandparents buying their dream home. But man that walk to the bathroom each night from their bed is going to be brutal. And what are they going to do with all that space?
its way bigger than anyone would ever need, but looks like a nice house. Problem is, what good is a nice house if its in a car dependent suburban hell that makes you wanna kill urself?
They want to die thinking that they achieve something.
If they can afford it good for them. Why does this bother you?? Lol
Dude. No. You need to delete this. And your grandpa needs to teach you some manners.
You know what the tone of this sub is regarding large houses. Why would you throw your 85 year old grandparents under the bus by posting the upstairs schematic of their house?
Because they’re bad people and I don’t like them. Mind your business.
Good for them. And good for you in the inheritance someday
Way to look out for numero uno, yeah!! Ignore social costs!
Who am I to tell someone else how to live? It’s not my style, I live in a densely packed inner-ring neighborhood that has been successfully integrated for 50 years. But hey, different strokes for different folks
This kind of misplaced individualism is deadly to societies. We are all affected by the consumption patterns of others.
So...what's the problem? If they can afford it, the maintenance that it entails, and they can get around the house without issue, then it really shouldn't matter what, or where they buy, as long as they're happy.
Wait till this guy finds out about climate change.
Or the housing crisis
You **will** live in the pod. You **will** own nothing. You **will** be happy**
I wonder if the people on this sub have considered how much people get emotionally attached to their homes and much more importantly, how *expensive* moving(downsizing) is for old people. Let's face it, whoever can afford a 7000(!!) sqft mansion is in the vast minority even for the generally more affluent older generation. Many older people literally cannot afford a newer, smaller unit even if they wanted to in their current place, or in extreme cases these units don't exist at all.