McMansions

[PurpleChicken]

If someone puts up a poorly built, 3000 square foot home, on a street
with 1400 sq ft ranches then I consider it a Mcmansion. If you put a whole
subdivision in with those houses on 1/4 acre lots then they are Mcmansions.

The bottom line here is PROFIT. Builders build those because 1-They make a
ton of money, 2-People buy them (not sure why), 3-Many towns have minimum
square footage ordinances.

Like most people here I'd take a trailer on 20 acres before I took a Mcmansion
on 1/4 acre.

Anyone wanna talk about the environmental aspects of these oversized houses?
Why is Al Gore so concerned with SUVs when these houses are consuming
SO much extra energy???

 

[chickbea]

Quote:
Me too!
That's a beastly monstrosity, as they all are. We have a weird penchant in this country to tear down the old and constantly build new, even if the newer isn't better. Beautiful old houses get knocked down to make way for these pre-fab things.
The funniest thing to me is how they will totally log the lots, build the house, then replant one pathetic nursery tree out front thinking that is enough to blend the house into the scenery.
"The last crop a field ever grows is a house." - I don't know who said this, but it always makes me sad...

 

[Wolfpacker]

This was torn down:

and replaced by this:

It has 13,000 square feet and has been under construction for nearly two years. Owned by a local neurosurgeon.

 

[PurpleChicken]

idiot
We have lots of them up here. Land is at a premium...

 

[gypsygirl1421]

We have lots in NY also, I live right where NY meets up with CT and MA lines. I am thrilled to be practically next door to Purplechicken, who seems to be quite the celebrity on this forum! The worst thing about them is that these people move up to the country for the rural setting and the pretty fields, then complain about the smell, farm equipement on roads and now in outr area they are even getting voted into our town politics and telling us farmers when we can spread manure or harvest crops. On lady demanded we wait on the corn because she was having a party for friends from manhatten and didn't want them to look over a barren field the weekend they arrived!!

 

[hencackle]

nccountrygirl--I totally agree with you. What do these people do for a living? Can they sleep at night, or do they worry about their next payment?

Cades Cove is not far from my in-laws in the Sevierville/Pigeon Forge area. If those 600 families wanted to sell the land, that would be different.

To clarify the "cookie cutter" term, I'm implying that these monstrosities (good one, nccountrygirl) all look the same, cut out of the same dough. I'm showing my age here, but I call my little ranch house a crackerbox,

Its a basic, little rectangular box of a house, but affordable.

chickbea--what you said is so sad...(wiping away a tear)...I love the solidness of old homes, the craftsmanship, etc. Why is it that homes in Europe last for generations? We have such a throw-away society here. It costs more to fix something, so just throw it away.

 

[poppycat]

Tear-downs are rampant in my town. There was a little log cabin in the woods that I used to drive by everyday. Then one day -poof- it was gone! Now there's a big ol' new house on the lot, listed at $950,000.

Unfortunately land is so expensive that builders have to build homes for $1million-ish to make any money off of their project. I don't begrudge anyone who's trying to make a living, but it makes me wonder what's important to people?

 

[Scrambled Egg]

I really liked the "before" better than the "after".....

 

[nccountrygirl]

I do to. Give me an old house and I'm a happy camper. I love old historic homes, that's probably because my daddy was from Charleston SC and they have some beauties there.

 

[Scrambled Egg]

Rainbow Row in Charleston, SC, BEAUTIFUL & historic!!!...hopefully NEVER to be replaced by McMansions!