Good Bones

“Good bones” is buyer shorthand for something important: the feeling that a house still has enough underlying quality to make renovation worthwhile.

Usually, that means some mix of layout, proportion, light, structure, materials and overall presence. A house with good bones often feels more promising than its current finish suggests.

The phrase matters because many buyers are not looking for easy. They are looking for a reason.

Good bones do not mean the house is perfect. They mean it has enough built-in value that the work may still make sense.

• Does good bones mean structurally sound?

  Not always. Buyers often use it more broadly to describe layout, light and overall potential too.

• Can a small house have good bones?

  Absolutely. Size is not the point — coherence and usefulness are.