Why are new homes built mostly McMansions when people want smaller?

[focusondisney]

Private developers can provide and sell parking if they want to. Government should not provide free storage space for private property.

I’m addressing if government should require off street parking / driveways when issuing permits for new housing in their cities or towns. Not saying government should provide free storage space for anyone. But they certainly can say… before you build a new 4 bed/ 2 bath house on this city lot on a narrow, old street, you have to provide off street parking for 2 cars. Can be a driveway, garage, private lot, whatever.

Maybe it’s not needed where you live. But the number of city homes with no off street parking for cars can be a huge issue in northeast cities. Streets can’t get plowed after major snowstorms because of the number of vehicles that are parked on streets with nowhere else to park. The city here ends up needing to hire private companies to tow cars so old narrow streets can be plowed.

 

[ronandannette]

...I will agree that there seem to be fewer neighborhoods of starter homes available in today’s economy, which prevents people who want to get into home ownership from doing so. I don’t see that changing unless either the economy turns around or communities actively pursue that type of neighborhood development. The developers are going to go where the big money is unless forced to do otherwise.

Here in Canada, we've got critical housing shortages nationwide. Sales are robust in practically every location but the actual demand is "wonked" (for lack of a better word) due to serious affordability issues. We've got a convergence of a cool economy, the highest mortgage rates in 20 years, major trade-labour shortages and pressure on input costs to meet all levels of government mandates on what and how to build in compliance with environmental regulations.

At present, the only path to first-time ownership for most in any urban area is the multi-family market; an apartment condo or row house. It could take several "move-ups", cashing out gained equity each time, to achieve the ubiquitous 2,000 sq.ft. 3 bed, 3 bath single-family house in suburbia, with a base price tag in the $600,000 range. That's just the reality of it and expectations of what was attainable in former times simply have to shift.

 

[Christine]

Some Boomers are still YOLOing....but some are looking into the future, At least some realizing that the homes they have aren't going to work to "age in place", which is what everyone wants to do....until it's no longer feasible anyway.

I've read a couple of articles recently on the Boomers and their homes and each article put a different spin on their housing situations. The Wall Street Journal had a piece about Boomers being reluctant to part with the large houses that they owned. It sort of painted them as not giving up their "too large for them" suburban homes for the next generation. They're YOLOing...and none of these folks seemed to have issues with stairs yet.

The other one is from this weekend, and seems more similar to the OP's situation. Boomers looking to "downsize" in their existing towns/communities, either to get rid of stairs, to get rid of upkeep...or both. The latter is having a tough time finding the homes that they'd like saying that new builds that were "smaller" were three floor townhomes. That gets rid of the yard, but not the steps obviously. These more practical boomers are going to have to get lucky to stay in their towns in a single floor dwelling.

This boomer here is still working as are many of my boomer cohorts. I really don't feel like a boomer. I was born at the very end of that generation and a few years ago I wasn't a boomer but the next younger generation until someone changed it. I really have a hard time finding any identity in the boomer segment. But I digress...for many reasons, many of the younger boomers are still working and have years to go. We aren't selling our houses.

When the time comes for me, I will definitely be selling my house (no mortgage) and my next residence will be paid for in cash so I don't have the interest rate worries that might be plaguing some. My next home will be smaller and, hopefully, will be one level. But I have to balance that against whether I will have to live in some off-the-beaten path ex-burb to get that becuase it's important to me to be very close to things like Trader Joe's and plenty of places to get good dining/carry out options, shopping, etc. Don't want to be rural whatsoever. Need good medical, close by.

My parents are a little bit outside boomers. They are in a 3 level townhouse and still using the stairs. But if one thing goes wrong, they are in trouble.

 

[tvguy]

Private developers can provide and sell parking if they want to. Government should not provide free storage space for private property.

Zoning laws (made by the government) determine if private developers must provide parking and how much as part of the project. Government isn't providing the space, they are REQUIRING it. In my subdivision the zoning requires the builder provide 4 off street parking spots. That is done by the houses having a 2 car garage and a driveway big enough for two additional cars.
Certainly market conditions (or lawsuits) can force a developer to provide additional parking beyond what city zoning requires. About 5 years ago a rather large apartment complex near the state University that houses 700-800 people with only 330 parking spots. It has been a mess that is now mired in litigation. https://www.abc10.com/article/news/...king/103-5c5441c2-8aec-4d85-86d1-133d2d4e106a

 

[dvcgirl67]

This boomer here is still working as are many of my boomer cohorts. I really don't feel like a boomer. I was born at the very end of that generation and a few years ago I wasn't a boomer but the next younger generation until someone changed it. I really have a hard time finding any identity in the boomer segment. But I digress...for many reasons, many of the younger boomers are still working and have years to go. We aren't selling our houses.

When the time comes for me, I will definitely be selling my house (no mortgage) and my next residence will be paid for in cash so I don't have the interest rate worries that might be plaguing some. My next home will be smaller and, hopefully, will be one level. But I have to balance that against whether I will have to live in some off-the-beaten path ex-burb to get that becuase it's important to me to be very close to things like Trader Joe's and plenty of places to get good dining/carry out options, shopping, etc. Don't want to be rural whatsoever. Need good medical, close by.

My parents are a little bit outside boomers. They are in a 3 level townhouse and still using the stairs. But if one thing goes wrong, they are in trouble.

Yup...I know plenty of "boomers" who are at the tail end of that generation, like you....who identity much more as a "Gen X-er". That makes sense with all generations really. My parents are/were (one has passed) ten years younger than my husband's parents, both sets are "Silent Generation", but listen to completely different genres of music with respect to when they came out....they don't seem like the same generation at all.

We all live in a world where things can turn on a dime, but as we age, we obviously hear of more and more of our friends and peers having issues because that "trouble" you speak of presented itself. This week I heard one. Customers of mine who moved up from Virginia in 2019....to be near their adult daughter who then just had her second baby....now has three. They were mid-60s then, now approaching 70. They did everything right, even rented when they first arrived to get a feel for where they wanted to buy, settling on a 3 level townhouse community with a pool for the grandkids when they stopped over in the summer. They were about to take a month long trip to Australia....wife develops an unusual headache before they depart and so they postpone the trip. She's diagnosed with a benign, operable brain tumor. She had the surgery and lost the use of her legs. Now, lives flipped upside down....townhouse on the market and living in a new apartment complex in town because they needed elevator and completely ADA compliant overnight. Life can indeed turn on a dime.

It makes you think....do as much as you can, when you can....because you truly don't know what the future holds.

 

[MillauFr]

Zoning laws (made by the government) determine if private developers must provide parking and how much as part of the project. Government isn't providing the space, they are REQUIRING it. In my subdivision the zoning requires the builder provide 4 off street parking spots. That is done by the houses having a 2 car garage and a driveway big enough for two additional cars.
Certainly market conditions (or lawsuits) can force a developer to provide additional parking beyond what city zoning requires. About 5 years ago a rather large apartment complex near the state University that houses 700-800 people with only 330 parking spots. It has been a mess that is now mired in litigation. https://www.abc10.com/article/news/...king/103-5c5441c2-8aec-4d85-86d1-133d2d4e106a

A big part of the reason that housing is so expensive in California is too many government regulations.

 

[hertamaniac]

I didn't read any previous comments so I'm presuming it's already been stated. Multi-generational households. I have seen an explosion of sales of larger homes where it is become commonplace for extended families to live under the same residence. It allows a caretaker (in this model, a family member) to legally provide for a relative while claiming income from the source (i.e. trust).

 

[mjkacmom]

I’m addressing if government should require off street parking / driveways when issuing permits for new housing in their cities or towns. Not saying government should provide free storage space for anyone. But they certainly can say… before you build a new 4 bed/ 2 bath house on this city lot on a narrow, old street, you have to provide off street parking for 2 cars. Can be a driveway, garage, private lot, whatever.

Maybe it’s not needed where you live. But the number of city homes with no off street parking for cars can be a huge issue in northeast cities. Streets can’t get plowed after major snowstorms because of the number of vehicles that are parked on streets with nowhere else to park. The city here ends up needing to hire private companies to tow cars so old narrow streets can be plowed.

Our town doesn’t allow overnight street parking so it’s not an issue here, 2 am - 5 am. Unfortunately some apartment complexes don’t have parking, there are some municipal lots with monthly permits.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Some Boomers are still YOLOing....but some are looking into the future, At least some realizing that the homes they have aren't going to work to "age in place", which is what everyone wants to do....until it's no longer feasible anyway.

I've read a couple of articles recently on the Boomers and their homes and each article put a different spin on their housing situations. The Wall Street Journal had a piece about Boomers being reluctant to part with the large houses that they owned. It sort of painted them as not giving up their "too large for them" suburban homes for the next generation. They're YOLOing...and none of these folks seemed to have issues with stairs yet.

The other one is from this weekend, and seems more similar to the OP's situation. Boomers looking to "downsize" in their existing towns/communities, either to get rid of stairs, to get rid of upkeep...or both. The latter is having a tough time finding the homes that they'd like saying that new builds that were "smaller" were three floor townhomes. That gets rid of the yard, but not the steps obviously. These more practical boomers are going to have to get lucky to stay in their towns in a single floor dwelling.

It seems at least in newer neighborhoods at least (I say newer but I mean neighborhoods started 20-25 years ago to ones started now) here (and speaking about the 'burbs) if you're transitioning from home to home it's going from a 2 story if you started in that to a reverse 1 1/2 or a 1 1/2 after a certain point and aging in that to a certain point because the main bedroom is located on the first level. Or you may go to a maintenance provided neighborhood (also is more expensive).

However, you're not getting smaller and you're not spending less. You're usually getting bigger (especially a reverse 1 1/2 where the basement is almost always finished) and paying more. The house also takes up more footprint on a lot as well. Maintenance provided homes do tend to be smaller to an extent. Some are duplexes.

One of the issues I think people will eventually run into especially on older homes is the code updates. To retrofit an older home to work for someone may and can be more expensive than knocking the house down and starting new. That happened to my husband's grandmother's property built in the 1940s it's a small enough house hardly big but even years before the pandemic it was too expensive to do any adjusting to that house due to code updating requirement if they started opening walls. It would have been easier and less expensive to have knocked it down and put up a new house. They opted to leave it alone largely due to sentimental value as my mother-in-law's mom's first husband built that house himself.

While that home is only 1 story it has issues due to age and cannot have improvements on it without bringing it up to code. It also has a crawl space that houses the water heater and such and it's a pain to get into so servicing that is difficult. It's an older style lot of walls and room separation and honestly if you needed a walker, rollator or wheelchair it wouldn't work for that as all the doorways are too tight, all the maneuvering is too tight. Which brings up a point I hadn't really thought about before a small home does not mean a better house situation. My grandmother's maintenance provided duplex in a 55+ community (where she owned one side) was much better suited for that with the kitchen not tight and not as segmented.

 

[focusondisney]

Our town doesn’t allow overnight street parking so it’s not an issue here, 2 am - 5 am. Unfortunately some apartment complexes don’t have parking, there are some municipal lots with monthly permits.

The towns here have overnight restrictions in winter months too. But the 2 cities with the oldest streets & housing don’t have residential parking garages or lots. They can’t prohibit overnight parking because there is literally no where for cars to park except the street. There are rules to regulate alternate side parking. But when big storms hit, it’s always a huge issue.

 

[goofyernmost]

Some Boomers are still YOLOing....but some are looking into the future, At least some realizing that the homes they have aren't going to work to "age in place", which is what everyone wants to do....until it's no longer feasible anyway.

I've read a couple of articles recently on the Boomers and their homes and each article put a different spin on their housing situations. The Wall Street Journal had a piece about Boomers being reluctant to part with the large houses that they owned. It sort of painted them as not giving up their "too large for them" suburban homes for the next generation. They're YOLOing...and none of these folks seemed to have issues with stairs yet.

The other one is from this weekend, and seems more similar to the OP's situation. Boomers looking to "downsize" in their existing towns/communities, either to get rid of stairs, to get rid of upkeep...or both. The latter is having a tough time finding the homes that they'd like saying that new builds that were "smaller" were three floor townhomes. That gets rid of the yard, but not the steps obviously. These more practical boomers are going to have to get lucky to stay in their towns in a single floor dwelling.

I lucked out on the physical issues with aging. I rent a two bedroom apartment in a senior housing facility. The only one available at the time (complicated reasons for moving) was one with a walk in shower. I looked at it and very confidently said, I don't need that, but if nothing else is available I'll go for it.

Long story short within two years of moving in I not only needed a walk in, but I also needed to use the shower seat that was part of it. Moral of the story, don't base what you can do today on what you will be able to do tomorrow. Life is a sneaky *itch.

 

[dvcgirl67]

It seems at least in newer neighborhoods at least (I say newer but I mean neighborhoods started 20-25 years ago to ones started now) here (and speaking about the 'burbs) if you're transitioning from home to home it's going from a 2 story if you started in that to a reverse 1 1/2 or a 1 1/2 after a certain point and aging in that to a certain point because the main bedroom is located on the first level. Or you may go to a maintenance provided neighborhood (also is more expensive).

However, you're not getting smaller and you're not spending less. You're usually getting bigger (especially a reverse 1 1/2 where the basement is almost always finished) and paying more. The house also takes up more footprint on a lot as well. Maintenance provided homes do tend to be smaller to an extent. Some are duplexes.

One of the issues I think people will eventually run into especially on older homes is the code updates. To retrofit an older home to work for someone may and can be more expensive than knocking the house down and starting new. That happened to my husband's grandmother's property built in the 1940s it's a small enough house hardly big but even years before the pandemic it was too expensive to do any adjusting to that house due to code updating requirement if they started opening walls. It would have been easier and less expensive to have knocked it down and put up a new house. They opted to leave it alone largely due to sentimental value as my mother-in-law's mom's first husband built that house himself.

While that home is only 1 story it has issues due to age and cannot have improvements on it without bringing it up to code. It also has a crawl space that houses the water heater and such and it's a pain to get into so servicing that is difficult. It's an older style lot of walls and room separation and honestly if you needed a walker, rollator or wheelchair it wouldn't work for that as all the doorways are too tight, all the maneuvering is too tight. Which brings up a point I hadn't really thought about before a small home does not mean a better house situation. My grandmother's maintenance provided duplex in a 55+ community (where she owned one side) was much better suited for that with the kitchen not tight and not as segmented.

Oh, more expensive (or at least as expensive) for sure around here...especially if going from an old pre-war home like mine to a newer....say 55+ home, even a single story. This house of mine is old...built before 1915, and is as updated as it's going to get on my watch. But to do any major work beyond what previous owners did (they did the knocking down of walls...et), would be cost prohibitive. And the lot sizes....narrow/deep, don't work for "conventional" homes. The one thing that we do see done around here occasionally is when a builder gets approval from the town to knock down a bunch of homes like mine in a row....to build townhomes. But that has to work out just right....etc.

If we wanted a new 55+ home on one story that was around the selling price for this house, we'd be traveling an hour west of me by car and be legit...as in the "middle of nowhere" as one can be in NJ.

Thankfully my little town on the river still attracts a younger crowd who typically move down this way when they settle down....either married, married with kids...etc. They're escaping the higher rent and unaffordable homes/apartments in NYC and Northern NJ (think Hoboken and Jersey City). Many want a house, a yard, front porch and updated appliances....and that's what I'll be offering to them when we sell this place. I think this house may going through another couple of buying cycles before giving way to future townhouses....but, you never know.

 

[greeneyedchick]

Here homeowners support the town with their 5 figure property tax bills (and parents aren’t allowed to volunteer in schools, never mind seniors). Seniors do complain about how much they pay every year to support the schools, even though a good school system keeps home values higher. The only new construction are tear downs, and since the land is worth much more than the home, builders try to make homes as large as possible, since many original homes here built 70 - 100+ years ago tend to be smaller.

Do you live in NJ? We had an outrageous tax bill there and a 90 year old house.

 

[dvcgirl67]

I lucked out on the physical issues with aging. I rent a two bedroom apartment in a senior housing facility. The only one available at the time (complicated reasons for moving) was one with a walk in shower. I looked at it and very confidently said, I don't need that, but if nothing else is available I'll go for it.

Long story short within two years of moving in I not only needed a walk in, but I also needed to use the shower seat that was part of it. Moral of the story, don't base what you can do today on what you will be able to do tomorrow. Life is a sneaky *itch.

Oh, I totally know what a sneaky (blank) life can be. My husband and I are going to be taking a break from being homeowners. Once our two oldest dogs go to "the bridge", we're going to be nomads in early retirement. If we tire of that, or need to settle somewhere due to one or both of us needing or wanting to be more settled (possibly due to health reasons), we'll likely choose a place to live more permanently.

We're not exactly sure if we'll ever own again. It's been a long time since we've been renters, but we're also truly over the never ending repairs and costs of homeownership. We're planning to travel....and if we get tired of the nomadic existence we'll figure it out from there.

 

[tvguy]

A big part of the reason that housing is so expensive in California is too many government regulations.

You don't have zoning laws where you live?

 

[tvguy]

Our town doesn’t allow overnight street parking so it’s not an issue here, 2 am - 5 am. Unfortunately some apartment complexes don’t have parking, there are some municipal lots with monthly permits.

There are a couple of subdivisions here that prohibit on the street parking AND parking in your driveway from 8 pm to 6 am. Your cars have to be in your garage. That wasn't anything the government had a hand in, it is in the C.C&Rs the builder put together before building the houses and buyers know before they buy about that restriction. Apparently that is not an issue for residents because the houses don't stay up for sale for very long. This is a small parking lot outside the subdivision for overnight guest parking.

 

[Brian Noble]

Yeah, I've seen some neighborhoods like that. I've never been a fan, for a number of reasons.

I mentioned Ann Arbor upthread, and they also recently eliminated parking minimums city-wide in the Uniform Code. There are some pretty good arguments for why this can be a good idea---it allows significant increases in density which can matter a lot in more expensive pockets.
https://handbuiltcity.org/2022/08/1...nimums-in-michigan-thats-huge-parking-reform/

Strange though it may seem to some in this thread, elimination of parking minimums tends to be a thing happening in more progressive places, even though the underlying idea is "Let the market decide on the value of parking." That's partly because the "parking subsidy" of minimums tends to reward the more well-to-do, because those are the people with (multiple) cars.

 

[mjkacmom]

Do you live in NJ? We had an outrageous tax bill there and a 90 year old house.

Yes, Essex county, NJ, either #1 or #2 in the country for highest property taxes.

 

[mjkacmom]

There are a couple of subdivisions here that prohibit on the street parking AND parking in your driveway from 8 pm to 6 am. Your cars have to be in your garage. That wasn't anything the government had a hand in, it is in the C.C&Rs the builder put together before building the houses and buyers know before they buy about that restriction. Apparently that is not an issue for residents because the houses don't stay up for sale for very long. This is a small parking lot outside the subdivision for overnight guest parking.

The majority of homes here do not have garages.

 

[disneyseniors]

But I just read new home sales are not great, this does not support the idea there is demand
https://www.reuters.com/markets/us/us-new-home-sales-unexpectedly-fall-february-2024-03-25/

Seems many older people are staying in bigger homes simply because they can't find smaller in their safe familiar environments. Trouble with this is older people do not spend in the same town sustaining ways as younger families, they don't hire teens as babysitters or support schools as volunteers or spend as much on kids in sports and band etc. It's not great for local economies to have older people in homes where the tax revenues need the sort of spending feed that families provide.
https://www.cnn.com/2024/01/16/econ...ger-homes-than-millennial-families/index.html

There used to be moderate new options, this fed the boom in the 90s and early 2000s before the McMansion and swapping craze. I can't see how abandoned home build sites are better than a buzzing moderate home build site with hand over fist movement of homes. The cheaper things cost the more people can afford it the faster it moves, its just so basic.

Hi LuvOrlando:

I am an "older" person and have to respond to a few things you said about us in general.

Of course older people spend money in their towns. I dont' understand this statement? A lot of older people can't or don't want to leave their town to spend money on food, clothing, etc, etc.

We hire teens to help with the gardening and jobs around the grounds. We know they need extra money, especially now a days. As for sports, we supported 6 grandchildren in all their sports plus our own grown kids. We go to games and spend money.

It IS great for the local economy to have "older" people live there. We have more to spend and the time to do it. Our local favorite restaurant has a lot of older people who visit every day. They would lose a lot of money without the senior citizens. A lot of our seniors have the time and experience to volunteer in many situations in our community.
Our property taxes have risen over 50% since we bought our property. Our local taxes are high and we spend our money here on groceries and goods. It's not fun paying the high taxes but we support the town.

I know you didn't mean to insult us seniors, but these statements are Not true in all circumstances. In fact, without senior citizens a lot of jobs around our town would not be filled. The economy is missing the baby boomers who have left the work force with their experience and work ethics. Blanket statements such as these are really not true.

Just had to clear that up