We have bigger homes, but we're still unsatisfied

Warning: A bigger home won't necessarily make you happier, unless you get a cartoonishly large house. And even then, you might be unhappy after your neighbor does an addition.

You already know that, but science backs it up.

I'm a baby boomer. I was raised in a ranch-style from the 1960s, spent most of my adult life in a tract home from the 1970s and now live in a condo from the 1960s (back to the future!)

You could say I'm old and cheap. I prefer the term "old-school."

But information in a recent report lets me know I'm on the right track. The McMansions of the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s held a hidden danger: They had the potential to make the homeowners unhappy.

That finding is from a paper by a guy named Clement Bellet. It also back up what you've heard from your grandmother, who told you that comparison is a thief of joy.

Grandma was right.

Bellet's paper reports that what he calls "house satisfaction" remains steady in America, despite the fact that the median size of newly built homes grew from 1,500 square feet in 1973 to 2,500 square feet in 2015. That's not shocking because another report says that the amount of space per resident has nearly doubled in the past 40 years. Homes are bigger now.

What's mildly surprising is that we aren't any happier with our homes. A four-bedroom, three-bathroom house with a large kitchen and a family room should bring more satisfaction than a 1,000-square-foot three-bedroom, one-bathroom tract house, right?

Not necessarily.

Bellet said the reason for the plateauing of satisfaction is simple. It's all about comparison.

He said (and brace yourself, there's some math coming) that if the largest 10 percent of homes in neighborhoods become 10 percent bigger,  neighbors become less happy with their homes unless their also grew 10 percent. In non-math terms, when the biggest house in the neighborhood gets bigger, neighbors become less satisfied unless their house, too, gets bigger.

Bellet points out that the people whose satisfaction is harmed the most are those with the second-largest homes. So if you see yourself as the No. 2-ranked home in your neighborhood, you are miserable if the gap between you and No. 1 grows. People who own large homes become unhappy when larger homes are built.

The result? Large houses are growing faster than small houses in an arms race to be the biggest, happiest homeowner in the neighborhood, even though it's a race you can't win.

All I know is that this report – and a lifetime of experience – shows that your house doesn't make you happy. And that people who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones. And that there's no place like (a slightly larger) home.

To recap, here's what we learned

• McMansions don't make us happy, unless they're the only one in the neighborhood.
• When it comes to home size, the old saying is true: Second place is the first loser.
• Comparison is a thief of joy.

Reach Brad Stanhope at bradstanhope@hotmail.com.