Bigger isn’t always better when it comes to real estate in the United States. 

The wise move these days is to look to purchase quality houses over the extra-large homes that were so popular in the 1990s and early 2000s in the U.S. The more compact homes have become popular with both millennials and empty nesters looking for houses that require less maintenance. And if you’re looking to purchase a home that will resell well in a few years, it’s a good idea to bet on a smaller house offering real value for the space, as this trend will likely remain for a while. 

“There was such a boom of speculative homes and homes got so large, and I think there’s a bit of a reaction to that,” said Paul Masi, a principal at Bates Masi + Architects, a firm based in East Hampton, N.Y. “People are saying, ‘you know, we don’t need that much.’…Also you kind of lose the experience of the place if it’s just gigantic.” 

“What we’re advising our clients to look for is functionality, purpose and convenience,” said Rick Palacios Jr., director of research at John Burns Real Estate Consulting in Irvine, California. “Those are always going to be top of mind for the consumer, regardless of the design trends that ebb and flow.” 

Architects today are looking to create efficient homes that don’t feel cramped and make the most of every square foot. That means flexible, open layouts, multi-functional rooms and using outdoor space to extend a home’s entertaining areas. 

“The McMansion wave was one of quantity over quality,” said Jason McCree Gentry, a managing broker at Premier Sotheby’s International Realty near Charlotte, North Carolina. “For the most part, they are a hodge-podge of architectural styles and features. Now there seems to be more appreciation for better quality design.” 

As a result, oversized homes are sitting on the market longer. And when they do sell, it’s often for less than the asking price. Mr. Gentry recently closed on a six-bedroom, 5,500-square-foot home in Elkin, North Carolina. The owner invested more than $1.5 million in the property, adding a downstairs master suite in order to get the home to sell, but the final price was $700,000. 

These homes had a smaller potential buyer pool to start with because they are more expensive, but that pool has shrunk even further now that styles have shifted to more efficient residences. 

In the first quarter of this year, homes over 5,000 square feet took an average of 213 days to sell, according to data provided by Zillow, the online real estate database company. But homes between 1,000 and 4,999 square feet stayed on the market an average of 90 days. 

But with a quality design, a home is more likely to keep its value, experts said. And the owners may opt to hold on to it longer because it will continue to serve their changing needs. 

Less Can Be More 

To ensure a healthy resale of homes, buyers should make sure from the get-go to figure out how best to optimize the space. 

When Mr. Masi and his team take on a new residential project, the first thing they do is sit down with the client and talk to them about how they use space and what activities take place there. 

“We try to strategize in terms of what’s truly essential to the house,” he said. “How do you design it to make it a meaningful house? And a lot of that is really being thoughtful in the preliminary stages.” 

Often clients start out with a large square footage in mind, but when they really examine what they need, the home becomes smaller, Mr. Masi explained. 

Some of the so-called standard features—like a large foyer—may not be useful for a modern family, he suggested. Other specialized spaces might be combined to create a more streamlined layout. 

“We’ve done projects where the library is actually the dining room,” he said. “So it serves like a dual purpose, but it’s also created a different feel, almost like a new type of room.” 

Many homeowners are opting out of the dining room all together, Mr. Gentry said. 

An extension of that idea is the open-floor concept, which continues to be popular. 

“My clients are less interested in formal living rooms and formal dining rooms,” he said. 

New homes incorporate open layouts for the public areas, with the private living space upstairs or in the back. Homes with separate spaces seem dated to buyers looking for more light and more common areas. And many don’t want to fuss with renovations to open up the space. 

Striking a Balance 

Buyers should also be thinking about incorporating the ideas of wellness and balance in homes. 

Examples of that, Mr. Palacios said, include better air quality, lighting that adjusts throughout the day and less toxic materials for insulation. 

Making spaces more adaptable is another good idea for the long term. That way, Mr. Palacios, explained, a room that serves as an office now could be easily converted to another use down the line. 

“You’ve got to make the home design more flexible and adaptable so you’re not stuck with anything,” according to Mr. Palacios. “We’re seeing, believe it or not, movable walls, so the space can change.” 

Making good use of the outdoors is another efficient way to add living space, according to Mr. Masi. He and his team create entertaining spaces that utilize different levels of the outdoor space, such as covered decks, patios and indoor-outdoor space with “large sliding doors and windows that open up the space entirely to the air and the light.” 

These different areas can create a lot more livability without adding more house. 

“If it’s a 2,000-square-foot house with another 1,000 square feet of deck, people have more options,” Mr. Masi said. “And it begins to draw the activities outside.” 

Balancing the structure and the land is another design element to pay attention to. 

“The most crucial thing is to find the balance for the house in terms of property size and the house size,” he said. “Most of our clients come out here because of the beautiful natural environment. If you have an acre property and you put a big house on it and a pool and a pool house and garage, all these things, you sort of lose that quality you love so much.” 

Source: V.L. HENDRICKSON, Mansion Global