paddy234

What would you consider a good house size for a family providing plenty of room and solitude?

KOH2

A double bedroom for EACH family member, at least 2 bathrooms, lounge and a study or two.

jmh

Some newer builds have a separate theatre area for videos and gaming. Also common to see a family room and separate lounge. I'd really like a scullery off the kitchen - not related to privacy though.

Pom_Chch

I think house layout is important to look at rather than just floor space. A smaller house without any wasted space with a good layout can be better than a larger house with wasted space. Best thing to do is to go to lots of open homes and establish what kind of layout you prefer.

Justcol

I had a 160 sqm new build when I first arrived
3 bed + study, family bathroom and en-suit to master, walk in robe for the wife (i didnt get a look in)
kitchen/dinner/family and separate formal lounge

It was plenty big enough for us ( 2 adults + 2 very tall teenage boys) In fact when the eldest boy moved out, the place felt too big

MrsFychan

depends on how big you want the rooms?
you also need to be aware that if the garage is attached it is included in the size of property.

Charismatic

I couldn't possibly live in the same house as my family for any extended duration.

bourbon-biscuit

I think a good size = 1 bedroom for each teen, no more than 2/3 littlies sharing, an ensuite for the grown up(s) in the home, a kitchen/diner, a separate living area, and a study room set up for homework etc. and as another space. In a very ideal world, seeing as we all live half a world away from family, a visitors' room.

I've had larger than that and I've had smaller than that and neither are ideal. The extra housework and bills that come with a larger house, plus the subtle reduction in time together as a family, as well as the tendency to end up with too much stuff, means I prefer slightly smaller homes than most seem to aspire toward. I'm currently in a house that is technically large enough but stupidly laid out (bedrooms off the lounge - total bugbear of mine as I like houses laid out to separate busy from rest areas), whereas the house we built was smaller but had an excellent lay out so felt much more practical.

LittleGreyCat

Prompted me to check the size of our current house in the UK, because all the details in NZ show the size in square metres but this doesn't really relate to much in my head.

So - 3 bedroom semi with a ground floor extension is roughly 110 square metres. Comfortable for us as a couple, lots of families with 2 kids live in houses around this size, more than 2 kids gets to be a bit of a squeeze.

Next thing to do is measure the plot size, again for comparison.

O.K. - roughly 330 square metres.

This is a bit of a surprise, because when we were house browsing we were getting the impression that 1,000 square metres was a reasonable sized plot and going much below 750 square metres was going to be cramped.
O.K. our house is two storey not a bungalow and so takes up less of the plot, but even so it shows how perceptions differ when looking in a different country.

jmh

750 m2 is a big plot in Auckland, but not in the rest of the country. As well as size, consider how much mowing you want to do and how close you want to be to neighbours.

LittleGreyCat

Close enough to borrow the lawnmower?

KOH2

As we near our departure date for NZ I'm getting increasingly frustrated when viewing properties on trade me and there are no accompanying floor plans.

How am I meant to judge whether a house is suitable if there's nothing to indicate the layout / size of rooms?

And even once we hit the ground and start viewing properties a simple floorplan would be great to jig our memory / let us compare the different properties at our leisure.

Surely it's not rocket science?

maquis

Yes, very annoying!!! I'm not sure why there are no floor plans, especially for houses for sale.

LittleGreyCat

20 years behind the UK?

KOH2

I'd say job opportunity