American Opulence?

[eclectics]

It's Mini Mansion Mania in my neighborhood. Amazing to see these ugly blobs surrounded by only 10 feet of yard all around. They tore down my neighbors very nice 50 year old house and squeezed three of these monstrosities on the property. I have room for two and I know when I sell that's exactly what will happen. And nobody simply "remodels" anymore. They gut the existing house into something unrecognizable from the original dwelling. A turret on a cape cod saltbox? Come on, give me a break!

 

[va32h]

When we moved from a 1000sf house to a 1600sf house, we thought we were in heaven! But my house is still smaller than many other families I know, and I have more kids than they do.

I do like looking at those big houses, but I don't think they would be a good fit for me.

 

[tiggersmom2]

I think it's all a question fo priorities. Why do some people need a Suburban, if they are only going to drive it themselves (no passengers) and don't need it for work (to transport stuff)?

Why do people need suites in hotels, when all you need is a bed and a bath?
Why do some people buy very expensive clothes, shoes, ... when you can as well buy them at Walmart?
It's all about priorities

Also, whether family X has a huge house or a small one, will not change anything for the homeless ones. When I was younger, at school, they said: oh, you have to eat everything your mom gave you for lunch, because the children in Africa are starving. Well, whether I would have eaten that apple or not, wouldn't have changed one thing to their situation.

Excellent points and I agree. I don't care how people choose to spend their money.....if they want a Mcmansion.....more power to them.

 

[NCDisneyMom]

Can you imagine living in one of those nice, older neighborhoods, and having someone come in, and then want to bulldoze their house in order to build something huge right next door to you? I can only imagine what it must be like to live in the same nice older home for 40 years and then have to look out your bedroom window at some huge mcmansion....right there, in your face.

This is the perspective that I have on this issue, because it happened where I grew up. I grew up in a lake community. Our house was around 1300 sq. ft, with decent yard space around it. Some houses were bigger, some were smaller. I would say that everyone who lived there was lower-upper middle class. It was a very woodsy area, and the houses reflected that. In fact, I grew up in a real log cabin.

When I reached High School/College age, the McMansions began. It started on the lakefront, right across the street from us. Someone bought one of the properties, knocked down the "slightly larger than average for that area" home, and built a monster. But, to fit it on the property, they had to cut down all of the trees. Bye, bye, trees! We lived across the street from the lake, meaning the people across the street were lakefront. But, we still had a small view of the lake between houses, out our upstairs window, etc. Bye, bye, view!!

Not only were they cutting down all of the trees to fit these monsters, they did not fit the "style" of the neighborhood. There was one that we nicknamed the mosoleum (sp?), because that's what it reminded us of.

Growing up, we had such a sense of community. We knew everyone around us. These new people didn't want anything to do with us "peons" who lived in smaller houses. It was very sad to see things go the way they did.
My parents always knew they'd retire and move, but that all solidified it for them. It was no longer the neighborhood we had lived in for so long.