Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2019/03/28/crown-moldings-of-death.html
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Since when was a McMansion considered a starter home anyway? Me thinks there’s something else killing McMansions.
They go for upwards in the $1 -2 million dollar range in my neck of the woods. Add that to the republican tax scam messing with taxes and mortgage interest deductions and they are even more expensive.
Oh, and property taxes keep going up.
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As a Gen X’er myself, I say good riddance. Ugly, energy-wasting relics of the previous decades of unbridled real estate excess deserve to be left to rot.
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I’m from a family of construction workers, and my dad was a contractor briefly in the 70s. I worked as a real estate photographer in the 80s, and I had to shop for homes a few years ago. I know enough to say, with conviction, that these houses are shoddy. I live in a proto-McMansion built in 1980 (aka suburban split-level). These things are garbage. They’re a collection of drafts held together with wasted space and grade C materials.
Those uggo 60s ranch houses are primo in comparison, with actual copper wiring, good wood, good insulation, and practical designs.
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Points of reference:
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I’ve made a huge mistake…
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These McMansions are built to code which means they are built to the lowest legal standard. Pre-war is where you’ll find real craftsmanship.
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Which war?
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May I interest you in the former home of a racist icon that “empty nesters” can’t sell?
(The structure itself is beautifully made. But, you know, ghosts.)
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I know…that’s a premium up-sell feature right there.
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Someone should buy those sprawling things and turn them into low income housing. Even just a bunch of 20-somethings could pool their money and turn one into an artist’s co-op or something.
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Somebody summon the “Good” cat immediately.
Also, if someone would like to see to it that millennials are paid enough that killing McMansions becomes a matter of taste rather than simple economic necessity that would be cool too; but I’m guessing that (as in so many areas of contemporary life) I’ll have to settle for the cat meme and economic insecurity.
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It would be interesting to see how the HOA would react: they very likely didn’t move to the 'burbs to put up with a bunch of damn kids these days playing hippie commune; but decaying vacant homes are bad for property values, and HOAs have a practically religious commitment to property values.
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It’s a lovely home but – the politics aside – Alexandria is already insane about historical preservation and I image that a house that has that much history (not just as a neighborhood aesthetic buttress to the actually important properties in town like this one) is probably under a whole lot of scrutiny all the time. The ability to do anything to that house to tune it up would be a serious PITA.
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I’m more of a bungalow man myself.
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If what millennials want is the experience rather than the possession of crown molding and fake Corinthian columns I could see where even the suburban neighborhoods where these monstrous homes are located would quickly become overwhelmingly boring.
No surprise they are passing by.
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The Cola Wars.
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I hate the republican tax bill as much as the next person, but regardless, the mortgage interest deduction is a ridiculous, regressive tax policy that really needs to go away. Its benefits disproportionately go to wealthy, white homeowners and creates an incentive for buyers to take out a larger mortgage than they otherwise would. Most of the people who take advantage of it almost certainly would have bought homes anyway, so it doesn’t even drive higher homeownership rates, which was its supposed purpose.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.theatlantic.com/amp/article/544847/
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Also built Robert E. Lee’s homes.
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