I'd pass on that.. but I am the shortest in my family @ 5'11".

If you need to re-sell it in the future, a buyer could have the same concerns as you today. However, if it is priced accordingly, why not take a chance? Being over 6ft tall myself, I'd be looking for a 25% - 33% price adjustment.

Is this really the first floor of living space or is it more like a basement? I would never be interested in buying it. I like tall ceilings even more in a small house. To me they would feel claustrophobic even if I was just a visitor.

Is there any chance you'd ever have visitors that were 6' then I'm sure they wouldn't feel comfortable in your home.

I'd expect the ceiling height to dramatically affect the resale value. If you want it, be sure you get it for the right price so you can either either keep your resale price in line with the condition or afford raise the ceiling. I might consider it in right location and neighborhood for the right price (I'm also 5'4").

I'd pass.

How old is the house? Many colonial-era farmhouses were built with very low ceilings such as you describe. Buyers may be willing to overlook the low ceilings as the price you pay to live in a 200 year old authentic farmhouse. But if the house is a generic 1950s or newer tract house, no way.

My last house had low ceilings - I could just touch it with my outstretched fingers. While at first I thought it would not bother me, it did. And kept bothering me until I sold. Later, visitors would tell me that they always felt a little crowded by that ceiling. I'd pass.

I would pass. I am now used to 9ft ceilings and even 8ft seems too closed in.

I had the same question as lkplatow. I remember fondly an old coaching inn in Rhode Island that had very low ceilings (to conserve heat). It's charming, an historic place that is now a private home.

If that's not the case here -- and I sense it isn't -- I would not buy the property unless I could "steal" it. Might this be a potential teardown? What is the land alone worth?

I'm also wondering if it's an old house. Old as in a century or more. If you ever watch any of the British house hunting tv shows you will see many low ceilings in their old houses, and people just expect it and duck their heads through doorways etc. It's considered part of the charm.

I'm only 5'3" but the low ceiling would probably bother me. It would annoy my son who is 5'11" and definitely my daughter's boyfriend who is 6'8".

Do you have any other houses in mind or is this the only one?

Since you're a first time homebuyer, I presume you don't plan to stay in the house forever. If it were to be your "forever home", I might say to buy it if you can live with the low ceilings. However, you really need to think of resale value here if you plan to sell it in the future.

Personally, I would find such low ceilings clausterphobic and I'm short.

I'd pass. A deal is only as good as the resale opportunity you have in the future.

As I posted in the other thread

* Posted by xamsx (My Page) on
Thu, Mar 1, 07 at 21:35

inky_2007 I wouldn't consider a house that had ceilings that were 6'4" tall - for one, my son is 6'5" tall and could not stand up straight (not that he does now, but someday). Resale might be extremely tough.

no...

i'm about 5'4" and husband is about 6'3". i don't even like it if the basement has a low ceiling while the rest of the house is standard height...

It would be interested to see what happens in an appraisal. In my city any room in a rented apartment has to have an average ht of 7' or it isn't considered livable space. So, the appraiser is supposed to deduct the square footage of those rooms under 7'.
The last time I saw house where all the ceilings were that low were in a small place that had years ago been a chicken coop. It had a shed style roof with the highest point about 6'6" and tapered down to about 5'. A family lived in that for years and years and then was rented for another 25 years.
i agree, it would be a pretty tough sell in the future. It would be interesting to know if it can be financed.

Our ceilings are somewhere around 7ft, it doesn't bother me one bit. A 6'4" ceiling might, but I'm taller than you.

You really need to weigh everything, especially how long you plan to stay. My husband has owned this house long before I cam along, over 20 years, I've been here 6.

6'4" ceilings aren't just low - that's a hobbit hole!

My husband is 6'5 and I am 6'0. When we decided on a house we looked strictly those with tall ceilings. Most new construction we noticed was a bit on the short side. It was disappointing when I liked a house from the outside and come to find out it was built for short people. :)

He is financially distressed because he can't sell his house. Im willing to bet its an older home with alot of charming characteristics. However, the first thing people ask when looking for a home with old world charm is, are there low ceilings? Its a sale killer, find another house.

No way. You'll have a hard time selling it and you will eventually have remorse since it is wierd.

And I thought our 7'6" ceilings were low! I'm a shrimp, and I think I would be claustrophobic with 6'4" ceilings. If this is a historic home with most of it's features intact, there are people who look for that sort of thing, but they're very rare. Otherwise I think you'll have a very hard time reselling. (Of course, this is just my opinion which really carries no weight whatsoever!)

Then again maybe some extremely vertically challenged individuals, such as the ones they film documentaries about on the learning channel, would find that to be of great benefit.

definitely pass on it, not worth the future hassle.