Hi ranch - for what size family?

ShishKabob

Wed, Jun 08 2022, 11:07 am

amother [ Ruby ] wrote:

Interesting.. I find my living/dr very spacious! I fit a table that seats 12 and a huge sectional with room to spare

It really does depend on the size of the high ranch. The standard ones are pretty small

amother

Lily

Wed, Jun 08 2022, 11:13 am

I live on a block with only high ranch houses. Some are extended, most are not. Most people on my block live on the non extended with many kids and married off already. But most fixed up the entire house, including the garage. So they have 5 or 6 bedrooms but the kitchen & dining room are pretty small. I live in an extended high ranch with 3 kids. We live only upstairs, downstairs isn't fixed up. We have 4 nice size bedrooms and a nice size kitchen and dining room. The entire house is about 3,200 SF

amother

Mulberry

Wed, Jun 08 2022, 11:20 am

I live in a large hi ranch Monsey area. 2600ish including unfinished garage. Kitchen isn't too big but dining living room is huge. We have beautiful size bedrooms upstairs huge master bedroom. We only have 2 young kids that sleep together in one room and one upstairs bedrooms we up as a playroom. Were not using the bottom floor at all besides when we host guests. We are very comfortable now with a kids and can see ourselves living fairly comfortably with 4 maybe 5 kids. More than that I'd feel tight. Except if we fix up the garage. We also looked at other much smaller hi ranches where we felt would be tight even with just 2 3 kids. So it comes down to the actual size. Hi ranch is only the layout style. The actual size matters most.

amother

Ginger

Wed, Jun 08 2022, 12:25 pm

amother [ Ruby ] wrote:

Interesting.. I find my living/dr very spacious! I fit a table that seats 12 and a huge sectional with room to spare

Same. We knocked down most of the walls and the dining living/ kitchen area is quite large.
We have a small high ranch of 2100 sf.

amother

Wed, Jun 08 2022, 12:36 pm

mizle10 wrote:

10 kids in 3 bedrooms sounds very small to me. Obviously doable if you need to, but not ideal.

I think I said 7 kids and 4 bedrooms.
I hope to have more. 1,2, or tops 3, but likely may have some married.

amother

Wed, Jun 08 2022, 12:38 pm

amother [ Freesia ] wrote:

A bi level

In monsey (and maybe other places) they call it a high ranch. In Lakewood it’s called a bi level.
Go figure.

Or a raised ranch.

amother

Wed, Jun 08 2022, 12:45 pm

amother [ Hotpink ] wrote:

Same opinion in monsey. Most of my friends/ family outgrew that size with 4/5 kids and definitely didn’t host in it. It’s really small living quarters. The size of an apartment. Which is ofcourse doable but tight.

I know that sounds bratty with the way housing prices are now. But a few years back housing was much more affordable. Now it’s really hard to afford something spacious.

Thanks for your opinion.
I am certainly only considering it, due to the price we can afford. But I hear you.

amother

Scarlet

Wed, Jun 08 2022, 1:04 pm

There is no such thing as a high ranch, a ranch is one floor. If youre talking about a bilevel I own one that size (roughly 2000 sq ft) renting it out to a older couple without children. I cant see myself living there with my 5 kids. The bedrooms on these are generally very small and there isnt much living space either.

amother

DarkRed

Wed, Jun 08 2022, 1:08 pm

amother [ OP ] wrote:

I think I said 7 kids and 4 bedrooms.
I hope to have more. 1,2, or tops 3, but likely may have some married.

I'm assuming one bedroom is a master, yes? So your kids would be sharing 3 bedrooms. If you'll have married kids over where will they sleep?

wifenmother

Wed, Jun 08 2022, 1:12 pm

amother [ Jean ] wrote:

So is it essentially the equivalent of a 1000 Sq ft ranch with a basement?

Not exactly. The basement in a ranch is generally underground. With a hi ranch/bilvel/raised ranch the 'basement' is mostly above ground with full size windows and the garage is also on the ground level.

In Monsey they vary greatly in size. Some are just 1,800 SF and some are 3,000 SF. Most have only three bedrooms upstairs but many have more.

OP, the SF of the hi ranch you're considering will determine whether there's enough living space and if the bedrooms are spacious enough for your needs. Good luck!

amother

Thistle

Wed, Jun 08 2022, 1:13 pm

amother [ OP ] wrote:

Or a raised ranch.

I grew up in a 2 family raised ranch (3 bedrooms kitchen living room and dining room upstairs, den downstairs (as well as a 2 bedroom apartment that my parents eventually took over) It was 2200 square feet. To me that’s huge. I can’t imagine living in a larger home. But we also don’t have 7 + kids in our community. So I can’t weigh in at all regarding kah your large family

amother

Dustypink

Wed, Jun 08 2022, 1:32 pm

I live in a high ranch in Monsey with 6 kids KH. 3 bedrooms upstairs, 1 master bathroom and 1 regular bathroom. Really small kitchen smallish living room and dining room. Downstairs I have 1 bedroom, 1 bathroom and a big empty room with a fireplace thats used as a playroom. The house is TOO small, then again my neighbor lives in the exact same house with an additional bedroom in the garage with 10 kids.

amother

Wed, Jun 08 2022, 3:32 pm

amother [ Dustypink ] wrote:

Thanks for weighing in. Sounds like the one I'm considering. Do u know how many square footage yours has?
Btw the downstairs is level with ground, not a basement. And the bedroom downstairs is a nice size

amother

Stone

Wed, Jun 08 2022, 3:40 pm

I grew up in a high ranch. Three bedrooms, bathroom, kitchen with room to eat in, dining room, living room that was top level.
Bottom was two bedrooms, big laundry room, , huge playroom, garage.
I don’t think of it as a glorified apartment because there are no shared walls with other families and you have a driveway and a front back and side yard just for yourself.
I love it!

amother

Alyssum

Wed, Jun 08 2022, 3:59 pm

With a high ranch it will boils down to what size high ranch you have. I used to own a tiny 42 footer. It had one bathroom upstairs and one bathroom downstairs. I moved out when I had two kids since I already felt like I had to take over the basement which I had rented out. The people who bought my house made an addition on it right away. I heard they added on bedrooms but not living space. I grew up in a 52 ft higher inch until I was 10 years old and it was much bigger than my 42 footer. I now live in a 3000 ft² colonial and I would not want to go back to a high ranch ever.
However, I have family members who live in a 60 ft high wrench and it is really, really spacious

amother

Lily

Wed, Jun 08 2022, 4:27 pm

amother [ OP ] wrote:

Here in Monsey, walk in level is often referred to as basement.

amother

Peach

Wed, Jun 08 2022, 4:33 pm

I grew up in a bi level. Hated it and would never buy one. Most people I know who grew up in one feel the same. It’s completely different than a regular colonial with the same square footage because many colonials have basements which are not included in sq ft (if unfinished). Neither is the garage, for the poster who mentioned it. So my colonial that I live in now is about 2400 sq ft. Plus a semi finished basement and two car garage. Feels huge compared to the bi level I grew up in that was only a bit smaller in terms of sq footage.

amother

Peach

Wed, Jun 08 2022, 4:34 pm

Btw my parents did add bedrooms in the garage, but now that everyone is married, the accommodations seem really small and most of us don’t find it comfortable staying there.

amother

Cobalt

Wed, Jun 08 2022, 4:48 pm

Does a split level feel bigger? It is more spread out so people are not on top of one another, but does it really have more square footage?