How the other half lives . . .

[zoom-zoom]

I just have an issue with beautiful old houses that are demolished to make room for mcmansions. A lot of people are raised to think that "new" means "maintenance-free" - and while maintenance on an old home can get tricky and downright expensive, the home I grew up in was fairly new when we bought it and had just as many issues b/c of poor construction and material quality. Not to mention all of the useless construction waste that fills up landfills on a regular basis because of the demolition of perfectly useful buildings. We certainly live in a disposable society.

My brother lives in an area about an hour NW of Chicago where miles and miles and miles of farmland now grow miles and miles and miles of look-alike mc mansions that were erected in a breathtakingly short span of time. His house was done in about 3 months from start to finish...and has had problem after problem. Now about a quarter of the houses in his 'hood are for sale...many in foreclosure (here is a BIG problem I have with a lot of these places, since they exist as a result of folks who felt the need to buy/build the biggest home they could, whether or not they could afford it. We can't just blame the banks for the bailout disaster, which we are ALL still paying for. It took two to tango with that mess). His is for sale because he wanted to live closer to the city with his girlfriend. He's SO not a suburbanite kind of guy. But he can't sell his home. So now he pays rent and a mortgage.

[indysteel]

I'd note that there has been some movement in certain communities to regulate and limit home size. Consider this article on the "swelling McMansion backlash." Honesty, as judgmental as you may think it is, I'm not alone in my concern over rising home sizes. Nor am I alone in thinking that our seemingly personal decisions about how and where to live do impact our communities as a whole. From an NPR story on the average size of American homes, I found this quote from a Cornell professor of management and economics to be point: "We know there are all sorts of situations where individual choices that are perfectly rational add up to a total outcome that none of us likes very much. [Large homes] is one of those."

[zoom-zoom]

This scenario really gets me. This house wasn't enough:
Main house: 12,000 square feet
Number of bedrooms: 5
Bathrooms: 8 1/2
Garage: 3-car
Guest house: 1,100 square feet
Value: $4.5 million

So it was demolished for this:
Main house: 22,000 square feet
Number of bedrooms: 3
Bathrooms: 5 full and 5 half-baths
Garage: 3 buildings
Guest house: 6,000 square feet
Value: Still being assessed; building permits over $3 million (total finished value was guesstimated to be ~$10 mil.)

Seriously? A 22 thousand square foot home with only 3 bedrooms and a guest home almost 3x larger than the average American home.

No one can ever tell me that this isn't purely for show. And the sad part is that the house they razed was really kind of cool looking. It was low and subtle and blended into the property. The new place is a monstrosity whether viewed from the street or from the lake. Gargantuan and gaudy.

[limewave]

This scenario really gets me. This house wasn't enough:
Main house: 12,000 square feet
Number of bedrooms: 5
Bathrooms: 8 1/2
Garage: 3-car
Guest house: 1,100 square feet
Value: $4.5 million

So it was demolished for this:
Main house: 22,000 square feet
Number of bedrooms: 3
Bathrooms: 5 full and 5 half-baths
Garage: 3 buildings
Guest house: 6,000 square feet
Value: Still being assessed; building permits over $3 million (total finished value was guesstimated to be ~$10 mil.)

Where was this at?

I got a full tour yesterday. There are many secret passageways and hidden rooms. There's even a panic room. It's pretty cool. The reason they have so many bedrooms (and 4 kitchens!) is that they have guests that will stay with them for several months at a time. The mother-in-law is currently visiting them for 3 months and will eventually live with them full-time I imagine.

These people have more money than I can even dream of. As DH said, the interest on their savings alone could probably build that house every year. And in a time when no one has been building, they employed quite a few people over the last year. I'm thankful they reinvested the money locally.

[zoom-zoom]

Where was this at?

South Shore Dr., in Holland...about halfway down towards Lake MI.

Ha, now I notice that the URL was messed-up because it contains the word d*ck. It's the DeVos house. Let me fix that with Tinyurl...
Here's a functioning link.

[Bike Writer]

I was just in Holland this week, sure wish I could have seen this from the water. WOW, what a house!

[salsabike]

I'm not alone in my concern over rising home sizes. Nor am I alone in thinking that our seemingly personal decisions about how and where to live do impact our communities as a whole.

Indy, of course you're not alone. I share those concerns too. I think a lot of people do. What I say below is NOT in response to your particular comments at all.

Most people on this forum live much more comfortably than most of the world does. Even if your houses are small and you only have one bathroom. I'm not a big fan of putting small groups of "other" people down for being wealthy, in that context.

[Bike Writer]

One poster suggested home baked goods. This gets my vote for a housewarming gift, provided you enjoy baking and want to do that. If baking is not your thing then perhaps specialty coffee or teas. Everyone likes treats and even if the homeowners don't particularly care for coffee or tea they could serve them for guests.

Your original post suggested a very natural human response and that is comparison. We all do that about things whether it is cars, bikes, kids or homes and in the presence of largess it's not that hard to feel dwarfed. I loved your response to that feeling in that you went home and began scrubbing your floors. That might be something I would do too.

You saw something enormous and overwhelming and were in awe of it and in the process you peered into a lifestyle that is very different from that of most people. Your post did not indicate a hint of envy or scorn for that lifestyle, just a realization that it is very different from your own and that is very natural.

I was born into modest living, in some of my years I throughly enjoyed bigger and better and lots of "toys". I'm a bit older now and my tastes have changed and things I value have changed also.

To each his own, live and let live are comfortable words to live by.

[snapdragen]

We have our own super-monster house in my neighborhood. There are a few mini-monsters, I hate 'em, but they're not mine, so I ignore them. But this one....gawd, talk about your sore thumbs.. Almost 6,000 sq ft, 5 bedrooms, 5.5 baths. Most homes here are about 2500 sq ft. ranch style homes.

The first owners lost it to forclosure, I think it's already on it's third set of owners.

[Biciclista]

We have our own super-monster house in my neighborhood. There are a few mini-monsters, I hate 'em, but they're not mine, so I ignore them. But this one....gawd, talk about your sore thumbs.. Almost 6,000 sq ft, 5 bedrooms, 5.5 baths. Most homes here are about 2500 sq ft. ranch style homes.

The first owners lost it to forclosure, I think it's already on it's third set of owners.

It looks like a village.

[shootingstar]

Well, in some vicarous way it is interesting to know someone and visit a large home...mansion like, etc.

In our building, we sneaked up to see the penthouse before they sold it.

We were underwhelmed and couldn't see why it was worth paying the extra $$$$ for more space but everything else wasn't extra special.

[limewave]

You saw something enormous and overwhelming and were in awe of it and in the process you peered into a lifestyle that is very different from that of most people. Your post did not indicate a hint of envy or scorn for that lifestyle, just a realization that it is very different from your own and that is very natural.

Surprisingly, I didn't feel any twinges of jealousy. However, I DO get VERY jealous when I read about new bikes on this forum! Which is why you almost never see me comment on those threads

[Tri Girl]

Holy Schnikeys!!! The guest house alone would house half my neighborhood.

[channlluv]

The article says they want that house to be a gathering place for multiple generations of their family, and I take that to mean extended family, as it's a vacation home, or so it's described in the article. It looks like a hotel or a B&B to me.

As for three bedrooms, I think a room has to have a closet to be listed as a bedroom. There may be a dozen more non-closet rooms that may provide sleeping quarters for all the cousins, but I'm guessing.

As for buying bigger and better, it doesn't really bother me all that much if the person doing the buying can afford it. We live pretty modestly, ourselves, but DH has no problem plunking down some serious cash on bikes. It's about priorities.

I have a friend who is building one of those huge houses on a canyon near where they currently live -- I tease her and call it a compound because it will have multiple buildings and a huge pool, etc. -- but she's doing it to provide homes for her parents and her mother-in-law, and for her kids and their families when they grow up, plus they'll be doing summer camp enrichment-type stuff like yoga and dance and art classes and all sorts of stuff like that for their many friends and their kids during the summer. I'm kind of happy to be in that group.

Roxy

P.S. As for the housewarming gift, I'd pick a dozen or so pretty bulbs to plant. Something that will grow and multiply, like daylilies, and then every time they bloom, she'll think of you.