Posted on 08/21/2004 12:27:52 PM PDT by lowbridge
For many Americans, bigger is better when it comes to their homes. The facts speak for themselves: According to the Census Bureau, the average home size has swelled 40 percent since the early 70's.
According to National Association of Homebuilders, 19 percent of homes built in 2003 were 3,000 square feet or more. But the appetite for larger and larger homes has run afoul of some. Namely those who've watched super-sized structures crop up next door.
How can you fight "McMansion" expansion where you live? Here are today's 5 Tips.
(Excerpt) Read more at money.cnn.com ...
Man, I love Capitalists!
My tractors are both Kubotas. We have a 20 foot fish' ski (Javelin) with a 200 hp Evinrude engine. Sold the motorhome a couple of years ago, and the airplane.
Hubby is in the midst of building a new house for the new tractor (pix to follow, stay posted for a month or so.)
Brag away!
If you like your house, bully for you. If you don't, tear it down and build one more to your liking. That's the American way.
I don't care if it's three hundred years old, it's your own damn property and you should build what you damn well please.
You're free to live in a community where people think like you.
Please.
Price of oil goes up, people scream.
Price of insurance goes up, people scream.
Price of electricity goes up. people scream.
Price of coffee goes up, people scream.
Price of medical care goes up, people scream.
Taxes go up, people scream.
Price of almost anything goes up, and people scream.
Yet real estate skyrockets, and people just shrug.
Houses cost so much because mortgages cost so little.
And also because in the most expensive regions, because both spouses usually work.
Nonetheless, I know plenty of young working couples, both with master's degrees, who today can barely afford to buy a home like the one my high-school drop out factory laborer cousin with the stay at home wife, bought in 1963 at the age of 24.
Yeah, but what does this over valuation mean? There is going to be a lot of cheap used cars and a whole bunch of foreclosures... I bet smart investors are licking their chops waiting for the party to end.
There have been naysayers in the real estate market as long as there has been a real estate market, and 99.999% of the time, the naysayers are wrong.
I remember people looking at houses in my neighborhood eight years ago, scratching their head saying there's no way these houses were worth $300K, they were selling for $200K a couple of years ago. Guess what? They've only continued to go up, some up to almost $700K now. Guess what? They're NEVER going to be $200K again. What do you think the real worth is?
You're hoping for 1990's prices. Keep twidling your thumbs and waiting for the housing prices to come back to what you think is normal and you might be waiting for a good long while.
No, they stand up and cheer, because the largest investment of their lives just paid off big-time.
That's a big part of it. What it means is that more expensive houses are as affordable as cheaper houses used to be. A $100,000 house at 15% has the same monthly payment as a $235,000 house at 5%.
But that's not the reason houses are bigger: the example I gave I supposed be the same house (except it's more dramatic than I painted it, because today's dollar is worth considerably less in real terms than it was when mortgages were last at 15%, so multiply the $235,000 by that factor). The long-term trend is that, in real terms, people are getting richer and richer all the time, even young working couples. Because their home is the biggest investment they will ever make, the size of that investment (in real terms) will scale proportionally with the average person's wealth. That has grown dramatically, and will continue to do so.
One of the most charming of American towns is Eureka Springs, Arkansas. I have spent a lot of time there and never tire of it. It is set in the Ozark hills and has a Victorian flavor. Even the McDonald's is done in Victorian style. There are no stop lights anywhere in town, but the traffic still flows pretty well, even when there is a lot of it. About a year ago, they allowed a Dollar General within city limits. I'm not sure how that happened, but it is a terrible eyesore. Fortunately, it's kind of on the outskirts of town, but still. They should have put it over in Berryville near the Walmart or something.
I agree with you about the building codes. Generally I think people should have the right to do what they want to with their own property, but sometimes, especially when the attraction to a community is a certain historical or architectural flavor, that flavor should be preserved. Of course, anyone wishing to live in that community should know and agree, up front, to maintain the historical/architectural integrity of that community. The rules shouldn't always be changing and there should be some common sense room for flexibility within those guidelines.
And illegals have SO much respect for the law.
ROTFL! Yep. Same here (only coffee).
The party always ends. There are always boom & bust cycles. The builders over build, the buildings sit there, the price falls & somebody gets a good deal. Somebody else goes broke. California is not the only place this happens. It happens right here in Houston ever decade.
LOL! That would have given me a chuckle yesterday as I was vacuuming. It seems it takes forever in my new place. I have so much more floor space than what I've been accustomed to. Still, it's nothing like some of you are talking. I'm of the opinion that if I had a place much bigger, I'd want to hire someone to do the vacuuming.
There's a lot of sweet property deals in the Ozarks, too. For example, there is a pice of land up for sale not too far from here....50 acres and a cave, for $80,000.
When my daughter was visiting in May, we took a cruise on Beaver Lake. The lady who was doing the cruise was telling us how it used to be so cheap to buy and/or build a nice home on the lake and complained that now you can't do it for under $75,000. Of course, many of the homes on the lake run more than that, but still inexpensive by most standards.
Read this, this is a well written piece that explains what I fail to articulate
As I understand it there have been large corrections in the markets especially at the end of the 70's. The current market is played out; I'm just trying to decide to sell now or later; If I sell high now I could by some piece of land once in foreclosure or 25% off- As things stand I hear that in some areas they are selling houses over 70,000 market value (compared to other similar houses in the same community) it is a mad rush-
I'm uncomfortable because it feels like this is an abnormal market, not just some cyclical boom.
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