CNN: As the American home shrinks, say goodbye to the McMansion

[Amerigo Vespucci]

Say goodbye to the McMansion



The end of the McMansion era is nigh as the American home shrinks.

http://money.cnn.com/2010/08/26/real_estate/the_typical_homeowner/index.htm?hpt=C1

By Les Christie, staff writerAugust 26, 2010: 12:33 PM ET

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- The American home is shrinking. Toll the bell for the McMansion.

After years of growth, the Census Bureau recently reported that median new home size fell to 2,135 square feet in 2009 after peaking at more than 2,300 earlier in the decade.

"Home buyers are asking for less, cutting back on options and reducing square footage," said Steven Pace of the North Carolina-based Pace Development Group, which builds both custom and tract houses ranging in price from below $250,000 to more than $2 million.

"They're saying, 'Maybe we don't need that 5,000 square footage;" he said. "'Maybe our bath doesn't need to be big enough for our whole family and all our neighbors to take a shower at the same time.'"

Kermit Baker, chief economist for the American Institute of Architects, pointed out that consumers don't ask for as much for spaces devoted to single purposes, such as media rooms for watching videos and game rooms for shooting pool. Instead, the requests are for rooms with shared uses.

"We continue to move away from the 'McMansion' chapter of residential design," he said.

[applegrove]

1. That is what happened after the depression. What a waste.

[liberal N proud]

2. There are a hundred of those things in the development across the street

We bought our little place 10 years ago. It sat surrounded by 20 acres of woods on a quiet road on the edge of the developed town.

In 6 years, the woods were clear cut and Mc Mansions thrown up as fast as can be with some "Estate Homes" (Mega Mc Mansions) sprinkled in. Many are now vacant yet the traffic through here is horrible.

[Amerigo Vespucci]

3. I did a Website a couple of years ago for a construction firm...

...and it was pretty shocking. I took photos of an "across the board" sampling of their developments, with some commercial properties, townhomes, and condos.

One condo development in particular was almost "sandwiched into" a back alley behind a gas station. i went into one of the models, and the view outside the "living room window" was the back of the gas station and the restroom doors.

The photo below is from one of the bedrooms:



It's a single bed, and the area to the right is less than a foot...you couldn't walk around it to make the bed. The area to the right, with the lamp, is less than 2 feet. Where you see the edge of the bathroom door, the wall is right at the edge of the door. At the foot of the bed, there is perhaps two feet of floor space between the bed and the bedroom door.

I couldn't imagine living in this place. The rest of the condo was similar...no room. They spent a ton of money on the fake marble counters and all-gas kitchen, but it was TINY. The 1-car garages looked IMPOSSIBLE to get in and out of unless you owned a very small compact car. There were cars parked in the driveway, and if one was parked in front of your garage door, you would have to find the owner and ask them to move it before you could pull into your own garage. You had to go all the way to the fence edge in order to make the turn and there would be no way to do that with a car sitting there. Going through that alone seven days a week would be enough to give me an ulcer.

[Skittles]

12. that's about how big my bedroom is

and I drive a tiny car - what's wrong with that?

P.S. My last electric bill was $42

[CoffeeCat]

4. Anyone else have half-developed subdivisions?

I live in a suburb, and we've got some areas with McMansions and starter castles. But we've got one
area in particular, that really stands out.

During the tail end of the housing boom, a local millionaire invested a ton in this "planned community"
in the center of our suburb. Land was cleared, streets and sewers were installed and a few McMansions
went up. This was supposed to be a community with 500k-$1.5 million homes--which are McMansions in
this part of the country.

Homes in this area were sold by telling homeowners that their beautiful neighborhood would be surrounded
by a "town square" and many retail shops, as well as walking trails, ponds, etc. A town within a town.

I'm assuming that the sale of many homes would have facilitated growth and provided money for all of these
promises. Well, the home sales just never happened.

Construction has been at a standstill for the past two years. There are about 20 houses out there--most
very large. No retail shops (who is going to open a store in this economy around a half-built subdivision?),
no walking trails. It's these big homes sitting around a big field. I can only imagine how ticked these
homeowners are. They paid top dollar to live in these homes, with the promise that a wonderland would
sprout up around them.

Anyone else have anything like this in their city or town?

There is development happening in my suburb. However, the new construction is small, modest homes. I have
a feeling that this planned community is a total bust. Everything is trending in the opposite direction
and the builders and investors who planned this--got in too late.

[SmileyRose]

7. There's 3 in my neck of the woods - but 1500 - 1800 sq ft houses

cheap shit houses, builder went belly up.

What a waste.

[TomCADem]

5. Personally, I Was Horified At These Huge Home, Small Lot, McMansions

...that popped up during the last decade. They consume a lot of energy, encourage residents to buy a lot of stuff to fill them, and were often poorly constructed. Also, with all the impervious surface, the increased pollutants in run-off. Worse, much of the space in such homes was largely wasted. Uggh...

I remember shopping for a home in the late 1990s as home size was really taking off, and I ended up settling for a home that was several decades old that actually had a decent yard, but smaller than most modern developments.

[Marr]

6. I've heard a lot of those "McMansions" were built from low quality materials.

Not good. Lots of square footage, and lots of square footage to fix. If that's true, I wouldn't be surprised if many or most of those things have been demolished in 10-20 years time.

I've got a bungalow built in the 30's, myself. It's not huge, but it's solidly built. There's lots of character in some of those older houses.

[girl gone mad]

8. I always thought many would end up turned into duplexes or quadruplexes..

or even assisted living/community living facilities.

[shimmergal]

9. Actually,

althoug there's no up side to cheap materials and huge houses on tiny lots, their size itself should suggest some good, anti-recession ways to utilize these houses.

A lot of those special-purpose spaces can be used in other ways. Mini-mansions can provide personal space for 2 or 3 times the number of people who can live comfortably in a typical 2000 sq ft. suburban house. For those who can work it out (and of course not everyone can), extended family living can be one of the best "security blankets" against the depredations of capitalism.

Mini-mansions don't have to be exploited by speculators who break them up into apartments or turn them into "assisted living facilities." Ordinary people can hang onto them and, perhaps, explore new ways of living. Why doesn't anyone bring this up in all those threads about "how to cope with REALLY hard times?"

And of course extended families don't have to mean "blood relatives." They can be based on friendship too.

[Desertrose]

10. Thank god. It's about time.

We have many "homes" of over 5000 sq ft here...(as well as many mobiles over 30 yr old).

No one needs a house that big...especially when they are often second and third homes. Sure are a lot of 'em for sale these days...prices down & still just sitting there.

[Skittles]

11. can we say goodbye to SUVs too?

[no_hypocrisy]

13. China buying our debt was financing the construction of McMansions and

furnishing them.