The end of the McMansion?

I read an interesting story today that said in many parts of the country "McMansions", those 3,000-5,000+/- square foot homes that have been all the rage for the past several decades, are losing their appeal.

The report went on to say that many buyers in their prime home-buying years are opting for new, smaller homes or older homes with "character".  It said that today McMansions are often looked at as large-but-poorly-built examples of excess consumption, paid for with debt that owners can't afford.  (This in contrast to those families of actual means who can afford nice quality large homes.)  They say in many locations (but not here in Dallas) McMansion prices are stagnant or even falling vs year ago values, while less expensive homes are seeing nice appreciation.

What they're finding is that many of those large, relatively inexpensive homes (based on the price-per-square-foot) will begin falling apart long before they should.  Yes, eventually all homes need maintenance, but it shouldn't be as soon as the warranty expires.  Does anyone ever stop and wonder how they can sell those large homes for that cheap of a price?  Do people actually think they're getting a Bentley for the price of a Chevy? 

Here's a dirty little homebuilder secret for you:   Building codes generally aren't that tough.  In fact, the purpose of building codes is to set a baseline "minimum property standard", key word there being MINIMUM. 

At the exact opposite end of the housing spectrum from McMansions are these "tiny houses".  They're becoming so popular they now even have their own tiny house show on HGTV.  They're usually about 150 square feet and built on a trailer "foundation", which explains the wheels.  

They're meant to be somewhat mobile, which I guess has appeal to some people, and because of their mobility they are not subject to even the minimum building codes mentioned above.  There is usually only one door, and the windows don't meet the minimum size required for exit in case of fire.  The bed is usually in a low loft over the kitchen and requires a vertical ladder to get up to it.  

If you have a habit of getting up in the night to visit the loo, you'd better make damn sure you're awake before you try and navigate that ladder!  The bathroom usually consists of a toilet seat on top of a glorified bucket, and to shower you stand in a slightly bigger bucket with a shower spray overhead.  The kitchen can accommodate a microwave and a plate, glass, knife, fork, and spoon (one each) and not much else, and the closet is usually about the size of a gym locker.  While I was an early proponent of downsizing, this is even too extreme for me.

Not too big...not too small...but juuuust right!  And the view isn't too shabby, either. 

My personal preference would be to live in a small house....not too much to keep up or clean, just perfect for my lazy side.  But unfortunately most towns (around here anyway) have zoned out building small houses.   They only want those big 'ol McMansions.  Why?  Tax revenue for them, screw what we want.  Yet another example of the tail wagging the dog.

Maybe in another few years when some of those early McMansions have completely disintegrated they'll let me bulldoze one and build what I want.  I just wish they'd hurry up and see things my way.  I'm not getting any younger, you know.  :)

S

My take on small homes

I like small homes.  I've been a disciple of architect Sarah Susanka since I first read her book, The Not So Big House, years ago.  Bigger is NOT better.  (Hey, I'm talkin' housing here, OK?)  Huge rooms with 20-foot ceilings are not cozy.  They're cold and echo-y.  I should know....I've built enough of them.

I build BIG houses because that's what people pay me to do.  As Willie said, "If they've got the dime, I've got the time."    Most are well over 5,000 sq ft.  But for myself, I want the comfortable, cozy, affordable lifestyle a small home offers.  Here's an example:

This is a 2012 small house award winner by Seattle architect Matt Hutchins and featured in Fine Homebuilding Magazine.  It's about 900 sq ft and is actually in the back yard of their 1926-vintage primary residence.  They no longer needed 3,000 sq ft as their family is now grown, so they built this in order to stay close to their friends and their long-time neighborhood and then leased out their big house.

Most of my clients request I install in their kitchens $35,000 ultra-high-end appliance packages when truth be told, they rarely use anything but the microwave.  Something like this (again the Seattle award winner) would work just fine for 99% of us....me for sure.

The trick is to learn to put every single nook and cranny to use, like this entertainment space (TV, old vinyl records, CD's, etc) tucked under the stairs.  I have a thousand ideas such as this that can make 1,000 square feet live like twice that much.

Something like this is what I want to some day build for K and I.  Fortunately she and I think alike, at least on this.   ;)  

The objection will come from the cities who don't want small houses.  Their rationale is they'll have to provide police and fire protection, water and sewer service, trash collection, parks, streets, etc, and small homes won't generate enough tax revenue to pay for those services, while a 4,000 square footer will provide way more than enough.  It's all just a numbers ($$$) game to them.  Today small homes are usually "zoned out".

One option would be to go out in the country and build....cities have no jurisdiction there....but I refuse to live out in the sticks.  I have no idea if I can pull this off, but I'm gonna try.  It may take years for all the stars to line up, but it'll be worth the effort if it works.  Wish me luck.

S

My downsizing saga, Pt. 1

I've been a custom home builder for nearly 40 years.  Inflation, zoning laws, and buyer's tastes being what they are, most of the homes I build today are very large and cost well over $1M (just the kitchen appliances cost more than my first home) and look something like this:

(Sorry for the small photos.  Any larger and they lost sharpness.)

Maybe that's why big swanky houses hold no special allure for me....I see them every day.  *yawn*  For myself I built a more modest-sized home....3,147 sq feet, two-story, corner lot, study, 24' x 36' Great Room, etc.  (I know...what was I thinking?)  When I met K and first brought her to my home her jaw hit the floor when she walked in.  To me it was just run-of-the-mill, but to her it was "a mansion".  She loved it at the same time I was tiring of it.  That was in 2006.  By 2007 the economic outlook was getting scary.  By 2008 it was obvious to me it would be "man-the-lifeboat" time very soon.  I could see a little pro-active strategic planning was in order.

In retrospect I'm the last person who should own a home.  I HATE yard work, but with a next-door neighbor who was Mr. Yard-of-the-Month I had to put forth at least some effort.  To me a yard is just a place for the dog to crap.  I don't entertain much at home, and never have any overnight company. 

I DETEST doing maintenance of any kind, but of course I do it (grudgingly)....I want things to look good and work right.  I flip the switch and expect things to come on.  Unfortunately things don't always work like that and my home was by then at the age where maintenance / repair was becoming a regular occurrence.

My kids were long since grown, educated, married, and on someone else's payroll.  I had bedrooms....an entire upstairs even, unused.  When is a 24 x 36 foot Great Room too big?  When you have to wave your arms and yell to get your mate's attention.  And besides, when you're in bed asleep you can't tell if your bedroom is 13 x 13 or 23 x 23.  The thought of paying for all that unused space, and paying taxes on it, and insurance, and utilities, etc, was really bugging me.

I knew it was going to break my new bride's heart to give up her "mansion", but she deferred to me (thank you Sweetie!) and let me put it on the market.  My timing was fortunate....values were still up there and financing hadn't yet seized up.  We sold it before the economy "hit the fan" and did well.

Since K had been driving 50 miles round trip in heavy traffic daily to work I told her we'd rent a 2 bed, 2 bath apartment somewhere closer to her work for a while and we could address another, smaller home later.  My plan was moving forward.  

That's where I'll leave the story for now.  Part 2 tomorrow.

S

Am I ahead of my time or just "out there"?

Did you hear about the two snails that mugged a turtle?  During the police investigation when they asked the turtle what happened he said, "Gee officers, I dunno.  It all happened so fast...."

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This must be a slow news day.  Every news network in the world I think has rushed at least one reporter to London to give us a puke-by-puke account of how Kate Middleton's pregnancy is going.  This is just the classic definition of Too Much Information.   I actually feel kinda guilty for not caring.   Maybe I'll send her one of those big, shiny helium balloons in a few months, how's that?

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I recently read an article in the paper about a couple in North Carolina who decided their big 3,000+ sq ft home was more trouble than it was worth.  They downsized "to one that is half that size, cutting their property taxes in half and their aggravation even more."  Been there, done that.

I think I'm more appreciative of not having all the responsibilities a big house comes with than K is.  When we met / married K called my house "a mansion".  Hardly, but comparatively speaking to her it may have been.  All I saw was a lawn that needed maintaining, never ending painting, fixing, updating, etc.  Every storm brought with it a fear of having to possibly deal with insurance adjusters and tree trimmers.  (I damn sure wasn't climbing up there!)

After renting for four years now the idea of building a small house, very small, is slowing creeping back into my mind.  But instead of thinking up all the "things" I could build in, I think about how bullet-proof I could make it, up to and including using those lifetime light bulbs. 

This would work

Or maybe even something more whimsical

The big problem is finding a city that would allow me to build such a small house.  Around here they're all still hung up on zoning for BIG houses.  That leaves building out in the country where they have no zoning restrictions, which has NO appeal to me at all.  I like being a 5-minute-drive away from everything I could possibly want.  I'd actually prefer to be a 5-minute walk away.  I wish the rest of my area would catch up with me and those folks in North Carolina.

S