The monster house next door. 5 Tips: Preventing a "McMansion" next to your bungalow.

CNN ^ | 8/20/04 | Gerri Willis

[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.

[spectre]

"And anyway Thoreau and his one-room cabin surrounded mostly by vacant nature, was richest of all, because he was freest of all."

Exactly. A one-room ocean front shack would be fine with me.

sw

[ccmay]

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.

My grandfather came to Phoenix in the 1920's, when it was a town of ten thousand people or so. He told me once of meeting a man selling undeveloped desert land ten miles out of town, no roads or utilities, for $50 per acre. My grandfather earned $40 per month at the time, and laughed in the man's face, saying nobody would ever possibly live out in that howling wilderness.

That place was Paradise Valley, where land can now sell for a million dollars an acre or more.

-ccm

[spectre]

It was a loaded question. Just wanted to find out what you did..:~)

Glad to hear you earned your money the honest way!

sw

[Porterville]

I'm mistaken it is 14.5% this month

COUNTY RANK LABOR FORCE EMPLOYMENT UNEMPLOYMENT RATE
STATE TOTAL 17,829,800 16,677,500 1,152,300 6.5%
ALAMEDA 23 757,900 710,700 47,100 6.2%
ALPINE 51 360 310 40 12.4%
AMADOR 7 16,120 15,410 710 4.4%
BUTTE 37 92,300 84,900 7,500 8.1%
CALAVERAS 33 17,170 15,900 1,270 7.4%
COLUSA 56 8,800 7,580 1,220 13.8%
CONTRA COSTA 14 524,900 497,000 27,800 5.3%
DEL NORTE 40 9,980 9,140 840 8.4%
EL DORADO 13 84,200 80,000 4,200 5.0%
FRESNO 49 413,300 363,500 49,800 12.0%
GLENN 53 10,170 8,860 1,320 12.9%
HUMBOLDT 24 59,700 55,900 3,800 6.3%
IMPERIAL 58 61,800 45,300 16,500 26.7%
INYO 18 7,520 7,080 440 5.8%
KERN 47 316,600 280,000 36,600 11.6%
KINGS 52 51,540 45,020 6,520 12.7%
LAKE 41 25,670 23,310 2,360 9.2%
LASSEN 14 11,550 10,940 610 5.3%
LOS ANGELES 30 4,867,900 4,530,700 337,200 6.9%
MADERA 47 59,900 53,000 6,900 11.6%
MARIN 1 130,900 126,100 4,800 3.6%
MARIPOSA 14 8,330 7,890 440 5.3%
MENDOCINO 24 43,440 40,680 2,760 6.3%
MERCED 54 92,700 80,100 12,700 13.7%
MODOC 32 4,490 4,180 320 7.0%
MONO 21 7,520 7,060 450 6.0%
MONTEREY 33 203,100 188,000 15,100 7.4%
NAPA 8 72,700 69,500 3,300 4.5%
NEVADA 9 48,410 46,200 2,210 4.6%
ORANGE 3 1,611,600 1,552,300 59,300 3.7%
PLACER 12 145,100 138,100 7,000 4.8%
PLUMAS 38 11,410 10,470 940 8.2%
RIVERSIDE 30 854,200 795,700 58,600 6.9%
SACRAMENTO 19 667,700 628,100 39,600 5.9%
SAN BENITO 39 30,800 28,230 2,570 8.3%
SAN BERNARDINO 19 903,700 850,000 53,800 5.9%
SAN DIEGO 6 1,532,200 1,467,200 65,000 4.2%
SAN FRANCISCO 24 405,200 379,900 25,300 6.3%
SAN JOAQUIN 44 283,700 254,700 29,000 10.2%
SAN LUIS OBISPO 3 123,300 118,800 4,600 3.7%
SAN MATEO 5 371,000 355,800 15,300 4.1%
SANTA BARBARA 1 218,700 210,900 7,800 3.6%
SANTA CLARA 24 883,100 827,600 55,500 6.3%
SANTA CRUZ 24 144,900 135,700 9,200 6.3%
SHASTA 36 83,200 76,600 6,600 8.0%
SIERRA 41 1,570 1,430 140 9.2%
SISKIYOU 43 18,010 16,320 1,680 9.4%
SOLANO 22 219,300 206,000 13,300 6.1%
SONOMA 10 256,000 243,900 12,100 4.7%
STANISLAUS 45 225,300 201,400 24,000 10.6%
SUTTER 50 36,800 32,300 4,500 12.2%
TEHAMA 33 26,930 24,940 1,990 7.4%
TRINITY 46 5,210 4,640 570 10.9%
TULARE 57 177,900 152,100 25,800 14.5%
TUOLUMNE 29 23,460 21,910 1,560 6.6%
VENTURA 17 438,200 414,000 24,300 5.5%
YOLO 10 100,400 95,700 4,700 4.7%
YUBA 54 21,700 18,700 3,000 13.7%

[dakine]

"young working couples, both with master's degrees"

Not sure how that translates into income/saving/investing strategy...but it sure sounds good...

[pageonetoo]

...A one-room ocean front shack would be fine with me. I had one (4 rooms actually, but a good 'shack'). We now own on the White Oak River, inland by four miles. Hurricanes are NOT your friends! High bluffs ARE!!!

[Porterville]

Check out this article

(snip)

One of these spells flared up during the last week in February, when Greenspan recommended that the home-owning public take a good hard look at switching from fixed-rate mortgages, under whose terms payments stay the same no matter what interest rates do, to adjustable rate mortgages (ARMs), where payments fluctuate along with interest rates--which, right now, makes close to zero sense. Interest rates are lower than they've been in 30 years, and, with all economists predicting a general economic upturn, and Bush's budget deficit and the weak dollar sucking up capital, little doubt exists that interest rates must rise, in which case, switching from a fixed-rate to adjustable-rate mortgage would be pretty costly for any family naïve enough to take Greenspan at his word. The episode did not pass completely without critical notice. It was "the strangest bit of advice ever to be proffered by an American central banker," Jim Grant, publisher of Grant's Interest Rate Observer, told the San Francisco Chronicle. Then the press moved on: "Oh, it's just Greenspan." But sometimes wacko ideas can betray deeper truths. It is tempting to ask what stake the chairman might have in trying to convince millions of people to do something so contrary to their own interest. One theory floated by Fed-watchers is that the chairman is trying to help out his classic institutional constituency, the big banks, which hold trillions of dollars in fixed-rate mortgage paper. There may be something to that theory, but there is almost certainly a deeper and more important motive behind this curious advice. Quite simply, Greenspan is trying to keep a wobbly and fragile recovery alive--and using mortgage refinancing to do it.

[Age of Reason]

Interesting thoughts.

[Age of Reason]

Hurricanes are NOT your friends! High bluffs ARE!!!

But you miss the point: if every hundred years or so, a hurricane blows away your one room shack, it's a simple matter to build a new one.

No problem.

No headaches.

Don't worry. Be happy.

Ah, the good life.

[Irish Eyes]

Capital Gains??

[hispanarepublicana]

Paraphrasing the lines here in an exchange between Dr Yuri Zhivago and his half-brother, Yevgrav, who is a bolshevik police commissar. Yuri has just returned to Moscow to find his house has been requisitioned and divided among something like 12 families:

Yevgrav: There was room for 12 families here in this house alone!

Yuri (feigning agreement): Yes, it's much more fair this way.

Yevgrav: We have cut out the tumors of injustice!

Yuri (looking at the once glorious house and city now a slum in shambles): You cut out the tumors of injustice, but you failed to preserve the vital organs!

Funny, isn't it? That CNN would publish an article largely in agreement with the bolsheviks of Russia?

[pageonetoo]

But you miss the point: if every hundred years or so, a hurricane blows away your one room shack, it's a simple matter to build a new one.

A one room shack on the beach will be replaced about every 20-25 years, on the coast of NC! If it is built far enough away to withstand the high winds and water, it can only survive if it was built above the fray, on pilings. Then, you may come back and find that you can't get to it, since there is a new inlet next to it, and you wnt to the other side before the storm...

Of course, you can't build those now, either. Zoning and other requirements get in the way. Then you must get permission from the Corps of Engineers, EPA, and the State Environmental twerps, the County Environmental twerps, and anybody else that seems ready to stick their nose into your business!!! It is only after you kiss all those a$$es that you may get a permit to rebuild!!!!!!!

[spectre]

Amen, and the joy is worth the risk, IMO.

Besides, I seldom hear of ocean front property values DROPPING after a direct hurricane hit. I wish....sigh.

sw

[cinFLA]

My mother's best friend has a one story house located on the water but it convers only about 1/8 of the large area and neighbors and those walking / driving by have about 300 feet of landscaped viw of the water. Next door a three story mansion (very ugly) was built on a much small lot - extends to within 10 feet of the adjoining lots on each side.

My mother's friend has a small shed built on the property line but it is grandfathered and they can't do anything about it. It is the total view from their big bay window on the side of the house. We love the shed more than ever now.

[pageonetoo]

We love the shed more than ever now.

That is typical of your whiny "I don't like what you do" attitude! You don't even have an interest in her house. It is your MOM's friend...thrice removed.

I think I'll go fire one up!

[cinFLA]

That is typical of your whiny "I don't like what you do" attitude! You don't even have an interest in her house. It is your MOM's friend...thrice removed. I think I'll go fire one up!

It seems like you have 'fired up' one too many.

[cinFLA]

I just wish I was in a part of WV where the gas pipeline runs. Then I could get all the gas I want, for free!!!

Typical socialist attitute. I deserve to get it free because I can.

[brianl703]

They might not have any respect for the law, but the language of a $100-per-day fine for remaining in violation is something that rings loud and clear even in Spanish.

[cinFLA]

You own your property to where it meets the neighbor. The only restriction can be "how close to the edge can you build", which is referred to as "setback"? Some places don't have them. Build on the line, if you wish!!

You would sing a different tune if your neighbors house blocked your solar system ...

[cinFLA]

That is typical of your whiny "I don't like what you do" attitude! You don't even have an interest in her house. It is your MOM's friend...thrice removed.

One. You live to slander. I did not whine and you can't point to where I did. Do it or shut up.

Two. I have an interest. Her house affects the property value of my mother's house which consists of part of her trust which I am the trustee and also beneficiary.