Bob Todd rattles around his Spanish-style home, with its 4,400 square feet of living space. Yet Todd is glad he made the move. Purchased at the bottom of his neighborhood's real estate market in 1995, Todd's property has soared in value. It's not only families who want plenty of elbow room. Couples and singles also yearn to stretch out and to create dedicated spaces for a variety of uses.
People seek more space to compensate for their increasingly pressurized lifestyles.
Due to the speed of our lives and time compression, we want larger domains. You may not have a personal yen for a spacious home, but you should recognize the increasing marketability of houses with extra square footage, especially to those who have children or elder relatives living with them. When Todd entered the field of real estate sales 40 years ago, he said, a two-bedroom home with a single bathroom was considered sufficiently large for an average household. That's no longer the case. Of course, there are exceptions.