Large houses

People like large houses. Ask anyone if they'd like an extra room or two added onto their house and they'd say yes. (Of course, most want it for free.)

The extra rooms are not free, even if the initial construction costs were. Large houses cost more money to:

• Build in the first place.
• A higher mortgage often means that people take a longer term loan (30 years instead of 25) to reduce their monthly payments to something affordable. Consequently, greater portions of their payments go towards interest.
• More money is spent to heat and cool the house.
• Large houses need more cleaning.
• They have higher insurance and property taxes.
• More time and money spent repairing broken bits.
• And the extra space needs furnishings - after all, an empty room must be filled.

Basically, it costs a lot more for a large house than just the extra cost to build. Most people realize this and are still prepared to pay the price. If it's so expensive to own a larger house, why do people want one? My theories:

• A larger house is a status symbol.
  
• Nicer (as in less crime and better schools) neighborhoods tend to have larger houses.
  
• Larger houses tend to be better constructed than smaller ones, since small houses are typically designed for families on a budget. Quality short cuts are taken to get the price-point low enough for "first time buyers."
  
• Larger houses can hold more stuff - after all, with all the toys people buy we need lots of storage. Those humans with the desire to collect find it more difficult since it's much easier for them to acquire than to throw out.
  
• In a large house, if you're bored of one room you can wander to another. And another. And another.
  
• If you lock the noisy kids at one of the house and you retreat to the other end, you might not be able to hear them.
  
• Larger houses have more rooms, providing more space for privacy.

I've made some other interesting (and non-scientific) observations about house size:

• I've noticed that houses in tropical climates tend to be smaller than houses in cold climates. The size difference could be due to economic reasons, but I think it's because of the weather. When it's cold and raining (or snowing) people spend all their time indoors. Consequently, they need a larger "habitat". When it's nice most of the year people spend more time outside so a small house is not so onerous. Additionally, because insects thrive in warm climates, large tropical houses are much more work to clean than large snow-bound houses.
  
• Houses in rural areas tend to be smaller than houses in cities. This too could be economic, but I think it has more to do with personal space. In the city, when people desire privacy they find an empty room and close the blinds. In rural areas, they find privacy outside the house.
  
• In the rural area, and especially in the tropics, the noisy kids (one of the reasons for a larger house) tend to be outside.
  
• When people have an acre or more of land they often divide the house into several isolated structures. They build a shed for storage, or a workshop, or even a gazebo (which is basically a detached verandah). I think this is an issue of personal space - people wanting their own space. The closer a personal space is to the house (which is a communal space), the less private it is for them.

And a lesson from all this banter... I don't really know.