Living Large In The 21st Century

Published: Oct. 26, 2016, 5:26 p.m.

b"With Terry Story, 27-year veteran Real Estate Agent with Coldwell Banker in Boca Raton, FL
We Americans were all a bit closer back 100 years ago, at least in the physical sense. In 1910, the average household of 4.5 people occupied approximately 1300 square feet. Today, those averages are 2.5 people sharing 2400 square feet.
Averages aside, home sizes are heading in opposite directions depending on the part of the country. Orlando, San Antonio, and Nashville top the charts for the most square feet per house, whereas the smallest average homes are being built in Boston, San Francisco, and Miami. The obvious correlation here is the high density of population to smaller dwellings, perhaps most evident with New York City where the average home being built today is 11% smaller than in 1910.
But the rising popularity of the micro-home, perhaps best characterized by IKEA\\u2019s 200 square feet version, can be attributed not only to a dearth of land in certain areas but to cost. Terry tells us she recently went inside one of these tiny houses in Maine, \\u201ca tiny house on a property, and the shower was actually outdoors, but it was teeny, and two people were living in it.\\xa0 It was like, the bed was above the kitchen.\\xa0 The place was immaculate, and this person told me he feels very comfortable living in there.\\u201d
Terry also reports a return to the trend of flipping houses made popular back before the recession of 2008. But this time around, partly because banks are lending money a bit more freely, this practice is doable for the smaller operator who can buy an investment home of $200,000 or under, perhaps fix it up, and then flip it for a profit.
Terry\\u2019s cautionary note for anyone considering a foray into flipping is to remember \\u201cyou always have to have an end user.\\xa0 When you're in the flipping business, you're taking a house, making it nice, and then reselling it. So as long as you have an end user still buying these properties, and the people buying, the end users, are people that want to live there.\\u201d\\xa0
To return to an old theme\\u2014but one of interest if you\\u2019re buying or selling a home\\u2014home prices climbed in July an average of 5%, according to the Case-Shiller report and, again, it\\u2019s because of limited inventory. But, as always, there are geographic differences with some places in the double digits and others only from 1 to 5%."