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 ...
I believe they should. However I recall a situation when I was a kid that drove neighbors crazy. I lived in an old neighborhood, it was a commuter neighborhood from the turn of the century where wealthy Philadelphia busnessmen lived and commuted into the city. So it was full of old large homes. Then one burned down and a new owner bought the land and build an ultra-modern house that looked like a pyramid. It was a nice home I guess (I thought it was ugly but that's a matter of taste) but it looked totally out of place in the neighborhood it was in. I always wondered why if they liked modern architecture so much, they chose to live in (and change) such a traditional neighborhood.
It is tough to watch the median price of housing balloon so out of proportion that the only way to afford it is to become a rocket engineer or liberal lawyer.
The way to control things such as that is to have zoning and covenants to not allow such a building that is so radically out of place with everything else.
However, having covenants and zoning stomps all over the property rights of the individual. I oppose covenants and zoning in almost all cases. Having lived in a neighborhood with a practicing "community association" board, I would never do so again.
In Michigan small cottages on Lake Michigan are torn down (except for one foundation brick) and "remodeled." (Easier to get a permit to remodel a house than to build new)
The "remodeled" house is a million dollar mansion.
And the house that was torn down wasn't worth a dollar to the new owners.
And guess what? The neighbors' property values shoot up every time that happens.
Large houses are somethig new?
I don't think so.
I have a Victorian (built in 1883) that's 3900 sq. ft.
NEXT WEEK- Tips On Fighting Your Neighbor When He Buys A Bigger Car Than Yours
My next door neighbors doubled the size of their house but only got a permit to put on a porch.
I dithered quite a bit about it, but decided not to do anything, I don't like it but don't feel like dealing with the revenge that would surely come my way.
Built with a concrete 'ceiling' covered with 3-4 feet of good topsoil, it features a really green roof! I have a south facing view, with a 2 acre pond I biolt in front, to reflect light and provide solar heating...
It has active hot water solar panels, and they provide all of our hot water, plus most of our heat. My utility bills are more for cooking LP (we have commercial appliances, and entertain a lot), as about $100-150 a monthy for Electric. I will be glad when they can make enough juice with sand (silica), cheaply enough, to make Photovoltaics worthwhile... of course then you have a massive need for batteries... 5-7 year life expectancy...
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!!!
LOL What was I thinking? ; )
But if homes aren't affordable, then why are new home construction and home ownership at all-time highs? Why is there no demand for small, "affordable" houses, but a huge demand for McMansions?
That's fine if the lot is big enough to accommodate it. However, if they're going to build a mansion that completely intrudes on the house next door, then there are two property owners whose rights must be considered, not one. Externalities matter. Freedom from big government is not freedom in stomp all over other people.
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!!
And I don't like the slur on that fine American eating establishment either.
New home construction is at an all-time high so people can get away from...
...the neighborhoods with small, "affordable" houses where homeownership is at an all-time high mainly because 20 people can move in and split the mortgage payment 20 times.
Might want to start with the closest mental-health organization in my neighborhood.
The McCmansions are relatively cheap to build compared to the value of the soil in which they are being built. A 6,000 square foot lot where I live is selling for 300,000 grand- Do you know many professions including medicine that can afford a mortgage of 600,000 dollars if they have to purchase the investment without the help of mommy and daddy- which I suspect is how many of the flamers on this board "earned" the houses that they live.
So what we have is a large mass of the population that managed to trade up before the bubble or who have lived here for many years. The new flux of professionals can not afford to buy- without some creativity and will.
I'm about as libertarian and pro-property rights as they come, however I do concede that I see some wisdom in zoning laws when it comes to historical neighborhoods.
There is a lot of character and neighborhood cohesiveness that can be completely undermined by one ugly, out of place home built in a historical neighborhood.
That's a cheap and unnecessary shot. Who the hell do you think you are, drawing unwarranted conclusions about how people here earned their living? I'd venture most of the successful posters here did it on their own; guilt ridden liberals are usually the ones who haven't earned their money.
A big new house next door means big bucks for you. Right now on paper and cash when you sell. This is not a bad problem to have.
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