Author Topic: Keep the McMansion, tis the smarter choice.  (Read 12120 times)

tooqk4u22

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Erica/NWEdible

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Angelfishtitan

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Re: Keep the McMansion, tis the smarter choice.
« Reply #2 on: December 11, 2012, 10:30:24 AM »
Nothing says downsizing to me quite like the one couple going from a $400K to a $300K (after improvements) house and buying a $280K (after storage) RV. The poor dears.

ShavenLlama

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Re: Keep the McMansion, tis the smarter choice.
« Reply #3 on: December 11, 2012, 10:34:51 AM »
"Then there's the emotional pain of scaling back. Many baby boomers are finding they lack the stomach or stamina to dismantle their lives. They can't bear to sort through or part with all those boxes in the basement, or argue with the adult children who want to keep the house where they grew up."

How about the adult children get lives of their own and make their own memories? Or buy the house from their parents if it's that important to them?


Another Reader

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Re: Keep the McMansion, tis the smarter choice.
« Reply #4 on: December 11, 2012, 10:41:56 AM »
Thus the premium on the large one story house, at least here in California.  Tract builders like the economy of large two story houses on small lots.  Not so great for folks hoping to age in place.

Angelfishtitan

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Re: Keep the McMansion, tis the smarter choice.
« Reply #5 on: December 11, 2012, 11:19:02 AM »
Interesting chart too, especially the average (why do people use average for these kinds of statistics!) new house size. With how much the median income in the US is, I would have never guessed the average house would be that large. My 1400 sq ft ranch is small even for 70's standards, and I feel it has more than enough space for me and my wife.

I like that it is starting to go down, hopefully because people realize you don't need a huge house (or one at all) to live the real American Dream.


ruthiegirl

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Re: Keep the McMansion, tis the smarter choice.
« Reply #7 on: December 11, 2012, 11:46:34 AM »
Shoot, we are living this right.  Our house is on the market (1800 sq feet plus a full attic and basement).  It is a big house by local standards on a quarter acre lot with large rooms and a nice flow. 

We have had 6 couples come look at it.  They are all retired and they all (!) say the same thing...."it is too small". 

grantmeaname

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Re: Keep the McMansion, tis the smarter choice.
« Reply #8 on: December 11, 2012, 02:24:17 PM »
Seconded. We're college students, so my frame of reference is probably distorted, but I suspect that even when we move from being a three person to a four person household, our 1216 square feet will still seem too roomy, if anything.

tooqk4u22

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Re: Keep the McMansion, tis the smarter choice.
« Reply #9 on: December 11, 2012, 02:41:55 PM »
Shoot, we are living this right.  Our house is on the market (1800 sq feet plus a full attic and basement).  It is a big house by local standards on a quarter acre lot with large rooms and a nice flow. 

We have had 6 couples come look at it.  They are all retired and they all (!) say the same thing...."it is too small".

That's funny - we have maybe 1800 sf and NO basement or attic - oh yeah and three kids. 

dragoncar

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Re: Keep the McMansion, tis the smarter choice.
« Reply #10 on: December 11, 2012, 03:45:32 PM »
I somewhat agree, that now is a bad time to downsize.  At least in my area, the "starter" homes are being sold at a premium, while the traditional "move up" homes are languishing on the market.  My retiring parents were lucky enough to downsize in 2006.  Unfortunately, the only way to take advantage of this situation is to go back in time.

ruthiegirl

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Re: Keep the McMansion, tis the smarter choice.
« Reply #11 on: December 11, 2012, 05:47:00 PM »
Shoot, we are living this right.  Our house is on the market (1800 sq feet plus a full attic and basement).  It is a big house by local standards on a quarter acre lot with large rooms and a nice flow. 

We have had 6 couples come look at it.  They are all retired and they all (!) say the same thing...."it is too small".

That's funny - we have maybe 1800 sf and NO basement or attic - oh yeah and three kids.

Yeah, I think they are nuts.  We have 4 kids and my mom lives with us 6 months a year and the house feels just fine.  We like it cozy.

When the house sells and we make our big move, we will be living in a small apartment for at least a year in order to make some mustachian changes in our life.  Small living quarters sound just fine. 

ketchup

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Re: Keep the McMansion, tis the smarter choice.
« Reply #12 on: December 12, 2012, 08:37:58 AM »
We have four people in my 500 square foot house, no basement or attic (beyond the space for the furnace).  Cozy but it works. 1800 would be insanely large.  And my portion of the house payment is only $130 a month (and we'll have it paid off five years after when we bought it).

And people thought I was crazy buying a house at 20.

Angelfishtitan

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Re: Keep the McMansion, tis the smarter choice.
« Reply #13 on: December 12, 2012, 09:43:09 AM »
I think people don't understand how little they really use extra rooms in a home. Even my home has two rooms that will most likely rarely be used unless company is over. When you start saying things like "This would be a great den/library/exercise room/play room..." you are really just saying "This is where I am going to store my crap".

Still, it meets my important qualification of being able to hear my wife yell something to me from anywhere in the house.

tooqk4u22

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Re: Keep the McMansion, tis the smarter choice.
« Reply #14 on: December 12, 2012, 09:48:43 AM »
I think people don't understand how little they really use extra rooms in a home. Even my home has two rooms that will most likely rarely be used unless company is over. When you start saying things like "This would be a great den/library/exercise room/play room..." you are really just saying "This is where I am going to store my crap".

Definitely true, we moved over a year ago into this house from one that had 4 beds, about 2400 sf plus a basement and an extra garage. In addition to losing a bedroom, a garage, and a basement, all of the rooms are a bit smaller and even now the living room hardly gets used.

Having more space absolutely results in having more crap. 

The Taminator

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Re: Keep the McMansion, tis the smarter choice.
« Reply #15 on: December 12, 2012, 09:56:49 AM »
My favourite is when I watch those house hunter shows on tv. The newly married couple, or even the singles, walk around what I feel is a HUGE space, typically a single family, 3 bedroom and at least as many bathrooms plus a full basement and a yard that my condo could fit in about four times, and complain that it's too small. Good lord people! And I don't know where they film these shows (ok, they do say in the show but I can't remember) but the prices for all that are insanely low!  I live in a 500 sq. ft. 1 bedroom, 1 bathroom condo and any more space for me, my cat and my 5 lb dog just doesn't make sense to me.

tooqk4u22

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Re: Keep the McMansion, tis the smarter choice.
« Reply #16 on: December 12, 2012, 10:19:23 AM »
My favourite is when I watch those house hunter shows on tv. The newly married couple, or even the singles, walk around what I feel is a HUGE space, typically a single family, 3 bedroom and at least as many bathrooms plus a full basement and a yard that my condo could fit in about four times, and complain that it's too small. Good lord people! And I don't know where they film these shows (ok, they do say in the show but I can't remember) but the prices for all that are insanely low!  I live in a 500 sq. ft. 1 bedroom, 1 bathroom condo and any more space for me, my cat and my 5 lb dog just doesn't make sense to me.

The funnier thing is about those shows is that in almost every case they are justify the need for more space and bigger yard because it will make their dog happy. 

ketchup

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Re: Keep the McMansion, tis the smarter choice.
« Reply #17 on: December 12, 2012, 10:51:05 AM »
My favourite is when I watch those house hunter shows on tv. The newly married couple, or even the singles, walk around what I feel is a HUGE space, typically a single family, 3 bedroom and at least as many bathrooms plus a full basement and a yard that my condo could fit in about four times, and complain that it's too small. Good lord people! And I don't know where they film these shows (ok, they do say in the show but I can't remember) but the prices for all that are insanely low!  I live in a 500 sq. ft. 1 bedroom, 1 bathroom condo and any more space for me, my cat and my 5 lb dog just doesn't make sense to me.
I think the best part of those is "Bill and Mary are on a modest budget." And then "$250,000" pops up on the screen. What?

makincaid

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Re: Keep the McMansion, tis the smarter choice.
« Reply #18 on: December 12, 2012, 12:43:29 PM »
Did anyone see this in the comments? :

"One of the most important things to consider, when downsizing, is where the TV will go. I've found that, as I age, I keep needing to upscale the TV. Just this year I've been mentioning to my wife that some of the detail I used to notice in the 60 inch is no longer apparent, and it's time we made the 70 inch jump. Sadly, I suspect this trend will continue. The TV makers are doing their best to address this issue, as I see wall mount 80 inchers are readily available this year. A rule of thumb: The TV (measured diagonally in inches) should about equal your age + 5."

Oh the horror!


jrhampt

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Re: Keep the McMansion, tis the smarter choice.
« Reply #19 on: December 12, 2012, 01:03:26 PM »
Did anyone see this in the comments? :

"One of the most important things to consider, when downsizing, is where the TV will go. I've found that, as I age, I keep needing to upscale the TV. Just this year I've been mentioning to my wife that some of the detail I used to notice in the 60 inch is no longer apparent, and it's time we made the 70 inch jump. Sadly, I suspect this trend will continue. The TV makers are doing their best to address this issue, as I see wall mount 80 inchers are readily available this year. A rule of thumb: The TV (measured diagonally in inches) should about equal your age + 5."

Oh the horror!

hahahahaha!!!! Great quote.  All this time I was more concerned about age in bonds when I should have been worrying about age in tv.

sideways8

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Re: Keep the McMansion, tis the smarter choice.
« Reply #20 on: December 14, 2012, 07:48:40 AM »
Do they also have to buy a new surround sound system with the new tv for their dimishing hearing?

The Taminator

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Re: Keep the McMansion, tis the smarter choice.
« Reply #21 on: December 14, 2012, 07:52:53 AM »
Do they also have to buy a new surround sound system with the new tv for their dimishing hearing?

Awesome!

starbuck

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Re: Keep the McMansion, tis the smarter choice.
« Reply #22 on: December 14, 2012, 08:03:50 AM »
Do they also have to buy a new surround sound system with the new tv for their dimishing hearing?

Yes, yes they do. At least, my father-in-law did. To watch the food network. Their living room TV is now so large it blocks part of the beautiful bay window. It's maybe 50+ inches? Who knows. The biggest downer is that it completely dominates any quality family time/conversations you try and have there. Whenever we visit, I immediately try to turn off the 'background' noise. (No one is ever in the room watching it anyways...)

Jamesqf

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Re: Keep the McMansion, tis the smarter choice.
« Reply #23 on: December 14, 2012, 12:03:48 PM »
The biggest downer is that it completely dominates any quality family time/conversations you try and have there.

Yeah, that is one of my pet peeves.  I've never owned a TV, but sometimes visit friends & neighbors, and hate the way they try to hold a conversation while the TV is talking.

Woolie

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Re: Keep the McMansion, tis the smarter choice.
« Reply #24 on: December 17, 2012, 10:41:25 AM »
I lived in a 2500 sq foot house with my ex. It was too huge for us even after we had our son. It was so easy to acquire more stuff in such a cavernous space.

I now live in a 1400 st foot 1950s house with my son and two cats. The main floor is about 950 sq feet and where we spend most of our time. The attic is finished and so is the basement. I could easily cut everything off except the main floor, but then I couldn't get to the washer and dryer.

I love the smaller closets and the smaller space as a whole because it really helped me get rid of a lot of stuff I no longer needed or wanted. It also helps keep my son's toys to a minimum.