Posted on 02/14/2009 10:38:05 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
The McMansion is dying, and Mandy Multerer is helping to kill it.
"People say times are changing," said Multerer, a marketing director for K. Hovnanian Homes, which is doing a brisk business selling smaller un-mansions.
"It's just like people don't need that giant SUV, but instead buy a smaller car," she said. "It is the same with houses."
With that, she as much as delivered a eulogy for the McMansion — the 1990s-style monument to suburban excess.
The median size of a new Twin Cities home will drop 11 percent to 2,300 square feet in 2009, according to the Builders Association of the Twin Cities — a plunge after decades of steady increases. Nationally, the average size of a new home fell by 9 percent in 2008's third quarter alone.
"McMansions were a fad," said Bob McAdam, owner of Landmark Custom Homes of Lake Elmo, who has built many of them.
The immediate cause of the drop in home sizes is the recession — homebuyers don't have the money for large homes and can't borrow it. But other causes will be much longer-lasting, say experts:
* Households are increasingly older, smaller and childless. Aging baby boomers favor one-story ramblers or town homes.
* Housing's reputation as a fail-safe investment has been destroyed. Buyers are less likely to snap up oversized homes as good investments and are more likely to buy only what they need.
* Environmental awareness is growing, and McMansions are notoriously wasteful of energy and building materials.
Tastes are changing. Homebuyers see large houses — and especially two-story great rooms — as excessive and showy. Instead, many builders say customers want "cozy" and smaller homes.
To be sure, thousands of Minnesotans are living happily in their super-sized suburban homes. They like the vast yards for their children, the dramatic two-story great rooms and the showy I-have-arrived exteriors.
But that kind of housing is in retreat.
ECONOMY AND MODESTY
The drop in house sizes startled experts, who have watched the size of homes ratchet upward since records have been kept.
In 1950, the average American family was bigger yet lived in a house of about 1,100 square feet. Today's average is more than twice that — even though families are smaller.
The recession has reversed the growth of homes not only because buyers have less money, but also because the wealthy feel guilty about any display of wealth.
"Homebuyers today do not want splashy. They do not want to walk into a big two-story living room," said Amy Zuccone, a 15-year Realtor in the Twin Cities.
"They do not want to say: 'Look at my house! Look at me!'"
Several builders equated the change of mood with the change of presidents — pairing McMansions with the Texas-style bravado of George W. Bush and the smaller houses with the caution of Barack Obama.
After the recession ends, McMansions will keep fading away, said Steve Melman, spokesman for the National Association of Home Builders.
That's because of a trend toward older and smaller households — which means more one-story ramblers and town homes.
"It just gets harder for people to go up and down stairs," Melman said.
Another sign the McDownfall is permanent is the fact that the flight to smaller homes is not driven by cost. Many of the smaller homes are often just as expensive.
Homebuilder McAdam created a house in Stillwater selling for $549,000. The main floor has just 1,600 square feet. But with a modern floor plan, it is packed with luxurious touches and exotic wood trim.
"There are lots of goodies, but it is just scaled down," McAdam said, walking past the pillars to the kitchen computer nook. "You can have the things you want without having all that space to heat."
THE 'GREEN' EFFECT
One year ago, homebuilder K. Hovnanian specialized in impressive homes of more than 5,000 square feet. Today the company is winning in a losing market because it has slashed the size of its homes.
The company will soon unveil a 1,200-square-foot home — which is like a parking lot for eight cars. It is 14 percent smaller than the company's previous smallest home.
At $300,000, it won't undercut its foreclosure-sale competition, but Multerer predicted it would sell well because of a lean, practical floor plan.
"Now is the time to be economical," she said.
Finally, McMansions might come in a variety of colors — but they are never "green." Indeed, they are the most environmentally harmful form of housing ever created.
"They really are the worst," said Joshua Houdek of the North Star Chapter of the Sierra Club.
They consume more material to build, more energy to heat and cool, and more water and chemicals for their yards. The oversized lots spread people out, consume more land, gobble up natural areas and make mass transit impossible — and long gas-guzzling commutes mandatory.
What helps the environment, Houdek said, is encouraging people to live near one another and their workplaces.
"I think the death of the McMansion is a step toward a more sustainable community for us all," he said.
The net effect of the downsizing will be seen in the Parade of Homes, beginning Feb. 28. The annual builders' showcase will include many smaller and redesigned homes, said Joan Knight, who has handled Parade publicity for 10 years.
Knight recalled the 1998 publication of the seminal book "The Not So Big House," by Sarah Susanka. It was supposed to herald the era of smaller, better-designed homes — yet until recently it seemed like just another utopian dream.
"Finally, right now," said Knight, "it is happening."
I believe the Gipper’s ranch house was pretty tiny.
Ha! Exactly what I said. Should have read the whole thread first and saved the bandwidth.
Understand now? There is nothing wrong with living in a small house. However, there is nothing wrong with living in a big house either.
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