[quote author="T!m" date=1233121473]
As you wish. We sold a 1600 sq. ft. detached condo in Aliso Viejo and, for less money, bought a 3400 sq. ft. (4600 sq. ft. if you include the finished walk-out basement) house in a top suburb of St. Louis with about a half acre of land. It was too much to clean and too expensive to heat, cool, and maintain. The lack of harsh weather in SoCal is much easier on houses. There we had rain, sleet, snow, and ice. These are hard on the house, but also hard on a yard. The yard also had to deal with grubs and moles. I don't like doing house work and yard work. Having more of both meant I spent more time and money on both. The big yard was more for me to mow. The landscaping was more mulch to buy. The 3-car wide driveway was more snow to shovel. The trees dropped a lot of leaves. Etc.
Oh, and don't forget the cost to decorate and furnish the house. Carpeting a 1600 sq. ft. place with 1 staircase is one thing. Carpeting 4600 sq. ft. with 2 staircases is another. Window treatments -- same thing. We had 2 bedrooms and a formal living room that we never furnished. If we'd had 5 kids, we might have wanted the space, but we don't have 5 kids. We learned we like warm & cozy over cold & grand.
This was experientially learning the lesson that bigger is not the same as better.
As for the geography, we really missed being able to be comfortable outside almost any time. We had a big deck on the back of our house that looked over our yard and some open space. But we rarely wanted to sit out there due to heat, cold, or bugs. Not being able to take walks, eat outside, or whatever really affected our daily mood. Much more than we expected.
I could go on, but you get the point. I think I've even posted more info in a post a year or so ago.</blockquote>
Thank you for this, Tim --- excellent post. Having lived the first 18 years of my life in the Midwest (and unfortunately having to travel back there and other places often), I cannot agree more. I really do not think most of the native So Cal'ers I encounter on a day to day basis can appreciate how much the weather and other oddities you experience *out there* impact your day to day life. Invariably every day someone here in OC says "Ohhh, look at what a big house I can get in _____". But until they experience the usually drastic change in lifestyle, they don't get why stuff is so much cheaper *out there*. I'm sure there are some people who enjoy spending their Saturday mornings from Nov - March shoveling snow rather than taking a bike ride --- but it sure ain't me. I'll take that 1600 sq ft place over a mcmansion in Texas, Arizona, Georgia, or anyplace else for that matter.