Great reaction, and two amusing invitations today in response to a column about the above 817-square-foot house in Natomas, and how millions of Americans lived in homes that size as recently as the 1940s.
A reader in Land Park touted her 526-square-foot house, saying her PG&E bill is about $8 monthly and her SMUD bill about $20 a month. Come and see it, she said.
Another in Auburn offered an invitation to visit a house he built "just under 500 square feet." It's a two-story with a 288-square-foot garage that can be used for living space. I loved this writer's line: "This little place has gotten a lot of attention over the last few years; it used to be a novelty, but now it's starting to make sense."
Another reader wrote about how most people live in one part of their house day in and out - and don't need so much space. She says: "If the recession brings the industry back to home sizes that reflect how people really live, I'll be very happy."
A fourth, a former home building company executive, wrote about his company's struggles to design a smaller house that would make a profit: "Small houses still need heating/air conditioning systems, bathrooms and a kitchen - the expensive parts of a house - so the builder's cost per square foot goes through the roof and he simply can't charge buyers a price point high enough to make money. Sad, but true."
Photo by Sacramento Bee, Randall Benton - K. Hovnanian Homes Production Manager Dave Cook exits the company's 817-square-foot house at Westshore in Natomas.
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