Buying a house without a Basement-thoughts?.

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Maybe

Tue, Aug 28 2018, 11:20 pm

More square ft for your $

Maybe even rental income

High on my priority list

cozyblanket

Wed, Aug 29 2018, 12:26 am

Does the house have storage space otherwise?

amother

Aqua

Wed, Aug 29 2018, 12:51 am

mommy3b2c wrote:

Well it depends how big the house is. My sister just bought a house without a basement but the two floors she has is bigger then my two floors plus a basement. You have to buy a house that is large enough for you. The basement has nothing to do with it.

I agree. I have a big house with no basement. I don't like basement rooms and don't miss having a basement. The basement counts as FAR and isn't nice living space.

amother

Jade

Wed, Aug 29 2018, 1:40 am

Ttly disagree with all posters saying a big enough house doesn't need a basement.

A basement is completely different than the other two floors. It's a rec room for teens. A play room for kids. Storage. Very private guest rooms. A quiet home office. An exercise room. You just can't do all this as well on the main living floors of the house, no matter how big they are!

We are actively looking now too and an at least partially finished basement is an absolute must for us.

amother

Aqua

Wed, Aug 29 2018, 4:04 am

amother wrote:

You are completely wrong.

Basements smell like basements even when you install French drains and sump pumps. They don't get all enough natural light. When you have a big house you need to worry about FAR. Why waste it underground?

We have a lovely large room for the teens to hang out in on the second floor right next to the gym which is probably the size of 3 exercise rooms and has its own bathroom. The playroom is off the kitchen. We have two private guest rooms with ensuite bathrooms. We have a home office. We have 2000 sq ft of storage. Everything is above ground. Nothing has the basement smell which never smells fresh.

Ruchel

Wed, Aug 29 2018, 4:55 am

Basement is not needed. Most houses don't have.

amother

Saddlebrown

Wed, Aug 29 2018, 5:52 am

amother wrote:

Hardly anyone has basements here in England, and we all manage to survive pretty well without it.

Almost every single one of my UK relatives have basements (in 4 different cities) We just call them cellars.

I don't have a basement (none of the houses in my area do) and I definitely miss having storage space, guest rooms, playrooms, laundry etc. Right now I use under eave closets in the attic for storage and my garage has never seen our car. It is used for storage, freezers, laundry etc.

Having said that I agree basements are not nice places to be necessarily. If you could have 3 floors above ground with enough space for everything you need, I think that is also fine.

Aylat

Wed, Aug 29 2018, 7:15 am

amother wrote:

You have a huge house!

nylon

Wed, Aug 29 2018, 7:47 am

Where I live, it's hilly, so a lot of basements are walk-outs. They are bright, have full ceiling height, and don't smell. I love mine, and I also don't have to worry about where my furnace and hot water tank go.

That said, I could live without it as long as I had storage space. My sister has a 1948 Cape on a slab foundation. The attic has been dormered for living space, so there is neither basement nor attic storage, and the garage is actually needed for parking (and it isn't very large). That I couldn't handle.

Ruchel

Wed, Aug 29 2018, 8:03 am

It's a discovery that you are not able to do all those rooms outside a basement. Only on ima

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