When looking at homes, one consideration to think about is how many floors you’d like in your personal living space. If you’re buying a home that you hope to live in with your spouse for the rest of your lives, the number of floors is an important consideration. It’s also a tricky one. Let’s take a look.

A multi-story home is ideal for a large family. Noisy kids can occupy rooms high on the upper floors where their playing, roughhousing, and general childish behavior won’t interfere with the adult dinner parties. That’s an important consideration when one is often host to important parties where high level business or political discussions are taking place. While it’s well done to include the kids in the meal if appropriate, when the discussions reach their full level following dinner, it’s best if kids aren’t interrupting frequently. That includes playtime noises, which can be far more distracting.

Besides the lofty concerns of quiet time and privacy inside of one’s home, another consideration raises its head for the long-term resident. That concern revolves around accessibility. It is infinitely more difficult to deal with stairs, particularly multiple flights of stairs, when one is aging. The situation is even worse when one has added a few years and finds themselves in a situation where they are recovering from injury. Stairs can add a challenge to one’s life that is insurmountable. In time, the upper levels of the home might be abandoned altogether. Rather than simply examining the utility of multiple rooms and several stories of home in the future, it’s important for a conscientious buyer to think of these considerations in advance.