As a guy who lives in a 7x5m studio somewhere in Eastern Europ, in a building like this one http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3152/3082829290_9653703b1e_b.j..., I try and try again to find out why would you need three bathrooms and five bedrooms, but I really cannot think of any reasons.

You may have wife and kids, for one thing. Or wife, kids, and parents you take care of.

My parents have 5 children, and while now their house is way too big for their needs, it was not the case when me and all my siblings lived with them.

You can get a 5/3 for 1/10 of that price (literally just saw one listed for 65k) in Pittsburgh.

And Pittsburgh was one of the few places not hit that hard by the real estate downturn.

In the same 'quality' of neighborhood? You can get a 5/3 for $39k in Charleston, SC in the middle of the ghetto.

Not the ghetto, just a normal neighborhood. A bit dicier than your typical picket-fenced suburb but that really just comes with living in the midst of the great recession.

Jesus, they don't even build houses that big in a lot of neighborhoods.