Moses2013

You are probably right with the garden and we always want more than we have, but sometimes you need to be sensible. I couldn't live in an apartment anymore and I get that people want more space, a 400-600 m2 house is extreme though. Maybe larger steel sheds would solve the problem with the junk?

FenTiger

I wouldn't mind a large steel shed like that but only if I had an extra 100m2 garden. Compulsory would be a toilet and shower, small kitchen with a separate fridge for beers!
I cannot imagine a house of 400-600m2. Would be handy to have a travelator to get to each end.

Moses2013

This house is around 10 km's from where I live and has been in construction since 2007. I've always passed and just looked up planning file and the house apparently has 1538 m2. This is street view from last year and the wall must have taken a year to build alone.

duztee

Being really really old I don't know what a m2 looks like!
But I know what 5 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms is like, yes it would be a lot to clean if I made it dirty, but being old, slow and male I don't create much dust in my wake, and in the summer months I have an army of tiny house ants to clear up for me.
Why is a big house good? well a 20x15 foot model railway takes up one room, a large collection of DIY and mechanical tools take a fair amount of space, especially if you enjoy the convenience of having them well ordered and easy to hand without having to shift piles of stuff to get the one you need. 3 toilets means one is always nearby, another thing really old people will understand.
And if I include convertible sofas then I can offer sleeping for 14 people, IF I still knew 14 people, another problem with old age, friends keep dying. and if any friends do visit I have a fairly soundproof room set aside for video games, film streaming or just loud '60 music. another old age fault, poor hearing.
A separate play room for visiting kids is also a godsend for a grumpy old single male who still believes they are better seen but not heard!
One other very useful room for the elderly is a dedicated office, which ever important paperwork or document you can't find can only be in one room!
America, Mexico and Brazil are all cheap, but I feel there is more chance of getting shot in any of these than living next to the present war zone.
Much has been made of 1 euro houses in Italy, but they come with a very large list of spec's which must be legally met or face stiff penalties.

So here I am and here I think I will stay.

duztee

Is there a flock of sheep hiding round the back to deal with all that grass!

FenTiger

1,538 m2 .... jeez ...

Moses2013

And those 1 euro houses in Italy often don't have any garden and are in the middle of an old town, so not much different to an apartment. https://www.case1euro.it/properties/serradifalco-9/
Then you also have the earthquake risk.

FenTiger

Definitely a ride on lawn mower is needed.
My dogs 🐕 🦮 would absolutely love that huge garden but I'd hate the job of finding where they'd pooed when I wasn't looking! A quad bike or electric golf cart would be handy to whiz around.

xavierx

I don't think 400m2 is as big as you think.

Imagine if you had a square house of 400m2, On a single floor that's only 20m long and 20m wide. The average person can walk 1.4m/s so if would take you 14 seconds to walk from one side of the house to the other.

What about a long thin house? So that would be 40m x 10m - still only 28 seconds walk from one side to the other.

That's not crazy big is it?

In reality the Hungarian estate agent when they say 400m, they include the house, the basement, the attic, the garage, so in reality one floor of the house is only 150-200m2

xavierx

Funny story, I was looking at getting a large one of those a while back, so I joined a forum in the UK specifically for people building their own garden workshops, and several people were absolutely furious at me, saying that I would be ruining my neighbours house prices and if I lived near them they would be complaining to the council etc.

This is exactly why I need to live somewhere with both space in the buildings and space between the houses, so I don't have miserable nosey neighbours getting upset because they don't like the colour of my shed

Moses2013

Yeah, sheep and a ride on required:-). The other problem with such a huge garden is that it takes ages to establish if just a field from scratch. Sure, if you have so much money to buy larger trees and employ landscape gardeners it will be quicker job to make it nice. For those who aren't as wealthy and buy an old large house with established garden, you'll probably spend so much time working on the house that you can't enjoy the garden.

FenTiger

When we were looking for a house we looked at one which was 100m2 .... no way did it look like 100m2 .... ah ah ... the 20m2 terrace was included!!!
If a terrace is included in living space once our new terrace is completed we'll have 140m2 living space in estate agent speak!

xavierx

A large garden is an excuse to buy a tractor. Every man wants to own a tractor right?

I'm sure the novelty wears off after a few weeks, but that's tomorrows problem

Also as any tractor I can afford would be like 50 years old, that's something to play with in the workshop every weekend when it breaks!