Smaller Home…Larger Rewards

Diminutive Bungie

In the real estate section of the Saturday, March 26th edition of the National Post, the city’s smallest home (not sure how or who designated it as such) was featured again as it was up for sale again. It reminded me that I had planned to write a post about the benefits that a smaller home (perhaps not one as small as this) can provide for their owners, some obvious but others I’m sure most would overlook.

About two weeks ago I was walking home from visiting a restaurant on the Danforth and along the way met a neighbour from the street I live on. It was good to catch up on latest news from her end of the street and to hear that her husband and kids were all doing fine and that they were really happy that they just stayed in their home rather than “move-up” to a larger home.

She told me quite proudly and justly so that their mortgage was paid off and how good it felt to not have that kind of debt to deal with and the accompanying freedom of choice to do other things or increase their savings. As we continued walking and talking I asked about her children and was surpised at their age, time apparently does fly! They were now both teenagers.

As well we talked about the bouyant real estate market and it’s continued strong health in Riverdale and Toronto despite the blip in the fall of 2008 and she said they had considered moving from their 3 bedroom semi to a larger detached home but the street and neighbourhood were a major factor in staying put and their was a huge upside to the smaller home.

Smaller spaces can lead to unseen rewards.

What she realized as her children advanced in age, especially their teen years was that the intimacy of smaller spaces forces a family to be more aware of each other. It may be a little tough trying to have privacy but then again for some kids too much privacy can sometimes lead to too much trouble. Clearly it’s easier for parents to be a little more aware of what’s going on with their kids when they are not separated by three or four floors or ten rooms. For my neighbour this has been the unseen reward, a connected family with open dialogue, comfortable being close. All this from a smaller house? No doubt it works best with some great parenting skills!