McMansions

[gerntz]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Options +1 The older I get, the less I want to be encumbered by things, stuff. My big simplification project last year increased my level of contentment and life satisfaction enormously. A side effect of early retirement has been finding externals not only fail to add to life satisfaction, but in fact detract from it. I can't imagine being enslaved to the burden of upkeep associated with owning big box real estate.

I'm not against large homes, just against them for me. Some folks can enjoy such & think they're worth the cost & effort. Fine. I even enjoy visiting them & saying how cool but thinking not for me. For others still, a big expensive home can still be a small portion of their assets.

[athena53]

Quote:

Originally Posted by RobbieB I like having a house with no stairs to climb.

That was a big deal for us when we bought last year and the McMansions didn't qualify. DH already had health issues including a balance problem. When he couldn't sleep, he went upstairs to the spare bedroom. We knew we had to have at least 2 bedrooms on the main floor and that cut out a lot of prospects. Now he doesn't do long flights of stairs, period. The downstairs has 2 more bedrooms and a man cave/family room so it's wonderful when DS and DDIL visit, but it's rarely used other than that anymore. I'm glad we moved when we did,and I suspect more baby boomers will want something similar.

I looked up my childhood home just out of curiosity. Here's a recent real estate listing, which shows it to be about 1,600 square feet. The area at the back is an addition. When the 7 of us lived there it was 3 BR, 1 bath. Now there's a master bath with a Jacuzzi. I just sent the listing to Dad; my great-uncle was the contractor and Dad did a lot of work on it himself.

425 Hamilton Ave Northeast, Massillon - MLS 3662070

[meierlde]

Quote:

Originally Posted by RobbieB I like having a house with no stairs to climb.

Of course if your stairs are straight you can get a stair lift. Or if building a new house do like someone I know who actually built an elevator into the house. (Might be appropriate for a McMansion)

[athena53]

Quote:

Originally Posted by meierlde Of course if your stairs are straight you can get a stair lift. Or if building a new house do like someone I know who actually built an elevator into the house. (Might be appropriate for a McMansion)

Meh. Just another source of expensive repair bills.

[Big_Hitter]

is a 5250 sq ft house a mcmansion?

[exnavynuke]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Big_Hitter is a 5250 sq ft house a mcmansion?

To me it probably is.

[Big_Hitter]

to me a mcmansion is a huge place but with several stories - the 5250 house has 3750 ft on one floor with a 1500 sq foot finished, walkout basement. Plus it is a 35 year old custom brick build.

[aja8888]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Big_Hitter is a 5250 sq ft house a mcmansion?

I could add the square footage in our last two homes and not reach 5250 sq ft. And we raised two daughters in those houses, with separate bedrooms for each. So, yes, that's a Mc Mansion.

[Bestwifeever]

The article in the OP discusses values of tract-built homes (I call them subdivisions) that are big and were called mcmansions when built. I can see why home values in subdivisions (whether a mcmansion-style subdivision or a starter-home subdivision) might not keep up when new buyers can often go a little farther out and get more for their money. That is something to consider when buying a house.

We have a lot of big houses in my area, not in subdivisions, that were built after a smaller house was torn down. It is hard to tell many of them from some of the big old houses that were built a century or so ago, as the exteriors are not very different in design or materials. The new big houses cost a ton of money and are still being built, and seem to have held their value. The old big houses are valuable both in themselves and as a potential teardown. It's really fun to see inside both of them although I can't imagine having enough money to live in them (taxes in some of the new big houses are $1,000 a week and it is tiring just to walk back and forth in them, never mind the housework) and I love my little house (not a teardown candidate by any means, valuable only to me!).

[bclover]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Big_Hitter is a 5250 sq ft house a mcmansion?

Nope, not around here it's not.

These are the new development they are building 6 blocks from me. they START at 5000 sq foot and they are city townhomes. absolutely gorgeous.

all have elevators, but we don't consider them Mcmansions? they are Philly row homes.

Green St Estates - Green Street Properties

My neighbor at the end of my block is selling his house, he started at over a mil and price drop is now at 898K but I definitely never considered this house big.

1613 Brandywine St, Philadelphia, PA 19130 | MLS #6817919 | Zillow

I don't follow the market so not sure if others consider it big. My brother is moving from Raleigh NC to Vegas. He said the market in Vegas was much better than in NC. got a much bigger house for same amount of money.

I do love my townhome but because of the bad knees I'll probably sell in the next few years and get some thing without stairs. My main problem is that I have to have a garage and those are hard to find in city dwelling

[Options]

Quote:

Originally Posted by gerntz I'm not against large homes, just against them for me. Some folks can enjoy such & think they're worth the cost & effort. Fine. I even enjoy visiting them & saying how cool but thinking not for me. For others still, a big expensive home can still be a small portion of their assets.

For most Americans, 7 out of 10 in fact, a McMansion is anything but a wise choice.

Nearly 7 in 10 Americans have less than $1,000 in savings

It's been said that your money (and what you spend it on) is your time is your life. You can have stuff, or it can have you. It's a choice.

[Big_Hitter]

"a large modern house that is considered ostentatious and lacking in architectural integrity."

so my house isn't a mcmansion

[MooreBonds]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Options For most Americans, 7 out of 10 in fact, a McMansion is anything but a wise choice. Nearly 7 in 10 Americans have less than $1,000 in savings It's been said that your money (and what you spend it on) is your time is your life. You can have stuff, or it can have you. It's a choice.

While I know that many Americans live paycheck to paycheck, I find that survey of dubious value:

Quote:

Methodology: This GOBankingRates.com survey posed the question, “How much money do you have saved in your savings account?”

Quote:

to 7,052 people among all 50 states and Washington, DC. Responses were collected through a Google Consumer Survey conducted from Aug. 1, 2016, to Aug. 9, 2016, and responses are representative of the U.S. online population. The survey has a 2.6 percent margin of error.

To start with, I don't know how Google Consumer Survey works - if they proactively contact people, or if they pop up some window that says "Hey, want to take a survey?" when you go to GoBankRate.com website or something. But the bigger question is that many people don't even have a savings account - including me. I haven't had a savings account since I was 18, and just transferred my cash into my checking account (since I put excess cash into my investment account). I don't know that people specifically need a savings account, especially considering that they pay nothing.

So count me among those that have "$0", despite planning to FIRE at 50, with 7/8 of my portfolio (at 50) in taxable accounts.

[exnavynuke]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MooreBonds While I know that many Americans live paycheck to paycheck, I find that survey of dubious value: [I][I] To start with, I don't know how Google Consumer Survey works - if they proactively contact people, or if they pop up some window that says "Hey, want to take a survey?" when you go to GoBankRate.com website or something. But the bigger question is that many people don't even have a savings account - including me. I haven't had a savings account since I was 18, and just transferred my cash into my checking account (since I put excess cash into my investment account). I don't know that people specifically need a savings account, especially considering that they pay nothing. So count me among those that have "$0", despite planning to FIRE at 50, with 7/8 of my portfolio (at 50) in taxable accounts.

Nearly half of American's would struggle to come up with $2,000 in 30 days.

If you want a truly dismal look at the "normal" people's financial savvy, scroll down to #5 here and look at retirement savigns by age......
spoiler: the median retirement savings across all working age groups is about $5k with only $17k as the median for the oldest group shown (those between 56-61 years old).

[W2R]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Big_Hitter is a 5250 sq ft house a mcmansion?

No - - it can be just a plain ol' mansion. This one was built in 1891 so it is 125 years old. It is gorgeous although it is way, way too much house for me.

3924 St Charles Ave, New Orleans, LA 70115 - Home For Sale & Real Estate - realtor.com®

[Nemo2]

Do rolled-up newspapers in the middle of the road count?

(C'mon, somebody had to say it.)

[Big_Hitter]

Quote:

Originally Posted by W2R No - - it can be just a plain ol' mansion. This one was built in 1891 so it is 125 years old. It is gorgeous although it is way, way too much house for me. 3924 St Charles Ave, New Orleans, LA 70115 - Home For Sale & Real Estate - realtor.com®

geez plus it's 2.7M

[aja8888]

Quote:

Originally Posted by W2R No - - it can be just a plain ol' mansion. This one was built in 1891 so it is 125 years old. It is gorgeous although it is way, way too much house for me. 3924 St Charles Ave, New Orleans, LA 70115 - Home For Sale & Real Estate - realtor.com®

Taxes are $1,877 per month!

[W2R]

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Originally Posted by Big_Hitter geez plus it's 2.7M

Quote:

Originally Posted by aja8888 Taxes are $1,877 per month!

Well, it's way over my head. Even if it was free, with no taxes, my guess is that maintenance on it is sky high and more than someone like me could handle, financially speaking.

But WOW - - I love looking through the photos of these old historic New Orleans homes, even if I wouldn't want to live in one. Many, like this one, seem like a mini-Versailles. A cat may look at a king, as the saying goes.

Anyway, my point of view is that for a house to be a McMansion, it needs more than just square footage. It needs to be relatively new, for one thing, and not an ultra cool, nifty, and amazing historical house like this.

[Meadbh]

Quote:

Originally Posted by rodi LOL - this is a $500k listing about 2 miles from where I live. 60 year tract home with less than wonderful maintenance. But the location is central, even if the neighborhood is less than optimal. https://www.redfin.com/CA/San-Diego/...7/home/4929642

In Vancouver, you would be lucky to get a house like that for $1.3 million. Of course, those are Canadian dollars.