At 1,750 square feet, Bernie’s new house will be 650 square feet smaller.
MARQUETTE -- You know the saying, "The bigger, the better." Well, not any more. In today's economy, people are looking for smaller homes.
Bernie Rosendahl and his wife are planning on making this their new home in Marquette. After their children graduated from college, they thought it was time to get rid of their large country home in West Branch Township.
"Our home in West Branch Township was large to accommodate our children," said Bernie. "And we felt that a smaller home would be easier to heat, more economical as far as the energy star rating and a lot easier for us to take care of."
At 1,750 square feet, Bernie’s new house will be 650 square feet smaller.
Nationally in the past two years, the average square footage of a home is down more than 100 square feet, and prices are down 16 percent.
Sunrise Builders in Marquette says over 75 percent of their business this past year has been on smaller homes.
"We're seeing the same here in Marquette that we're seeing across the nation; people are downsizing, or as we refer to it, right sizing," said Glenn Cousineau, Vice President of Sales for Sunrise Builders. "What they're utilizing today is more efficient space, more energy efficient space, more cost effective space and they're shedding rooms that they no longer use, like the formal dining rooms."
TV Station Profiles & Public Inspection Files forWLUC