How big is too big?

When I got pregnant with my first daughter, my husband and I decided that it was time to start saving for a house of our own. Neither of us felt/feel comfortable taking out a large mortgage, so we really wanted to put as much of a down payment as possible.

I am from a VERY expensive area of California. I grew up in a house that was 3000 square feet, just me, my parents and a brother. My husband is from the south of Israel, and grew up in 1000 square feet with his parents and four siblings. Now that we have been looking at places (both to rent and to buy) it amazes me still how much culture plays a role in housing.

Here in Israel, land is at a premium and salaries are generally small. Because of that, it is very common to own a condo, and not a private house. In my city, the average condo size is around 1000 square feet, and the average house size between 1500-2000 square feet. Where I come from, no one owns a condo unless they live in San Francisco, and the average house size is much larger.

Even forgetting the actual house size, the layout of houses always amazes me. In Los Angeles we rented a 1 bedroom nearly 700 square foot apartment. Here we rent a nearly 600 square foot 2 bedroom. Israelis seem to like to squish as many rooms as possible into their spaces.... and as few bathrooms. It all seems rather counter intuitive to me. When we were discussing building our own house, I told my Mother in Law that I would like 2000 or more square feet... her first reaction? "But how will you clean it???" I guess the sand does make it harder...

So I am still debating. How big is too big? How small is too small? And can a family really live with only one bathroom? (I'm going to say NO on that last one...)

house hunting

Even though we arent exactly sure where we want to settle down, the husband and I have been looking at some apartments and houses for sale, just to get an idea of what we like and dont like... and maybe more importantly what this city (and others) has to offer. It has already been a very interesting experience. Last night we went to see a "penthouse" apartment, on the 11th floor of a building. it was a nice apartment, but very Israeli in its layout. The kitchen was tiny, the rooms were narrow, but it had an amazing 80 square meter balcony looking out over the city. Too bad the rest of the apartment just seemed too small and crowded.

i am very american. I want a large kitchen, a separate (or partially separate) dining area, at least two (preferably two and a half) bathrooms and a "master" bedroom big enough for our American queen size bed. This seems a lot easier said than done.... and its not very israeli apparently

We also checked out a two story apartment... which was a pleasant surprise. the owner, a Russian woman, redid the whole inside herself. the outside was a typical 15 year old dirty building, but the inside was nice. there was even a separate dinning room! It wasnt perfect, but it was the first place we had seen that felt homey. we arent nearly ready to buy yet, but it really gave us some ideas as to the kind of place we want.