Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:I think it is Gen X who owns the McMansions, I sure don't own a McMansion.
Agree - definitely in our neighborhood anyway. It seems like the tail end of the Gen Xers and possibly the front end of the Millennials who are snatching up the McMansions - not Boomers.
+1
Boomers are selling their teardowns to the builders who pump out McMansions.
Anonymous wrote:Ha. If you think that your spiffy new McMansion won't supply you with project after project...you will be disappointed.
Every house has it's own sh*t.
Anonymous wrote:
Sounds like you've made some great decisions that, at a minimum, will allow you to enjoy your home more. I suspect that prospect doesn't sit very well with some folks whose mission in life is to bash suburbanites and their homes (when what many of them secretly want most of all is for others to move to the city with our kids to shore up their own schools).
Anonymous wrote:Ha. If you think that your spiffy new McMansion won't supply you with project after project...you will be disappointed.
Every house has it's own sh*t.
Anonymous wrote:Gen Xer here with two middle school kids in McLean VA. My wife and I knocked down our tiny 1960s split level (worth $~750K) and built a new home (now worth ~$1.6 million). The neighborhood we live in has a mix of tear downs and older homes. It's a large home, but we still have a nice backyard and added many upgrades that weren't cheap although I think the haters would still call it a McMansion. However, I don't understand the desire for the alternative. Here's what I mean:
Our old home had a brick exterior, no house wrap, tiny windows, squeaky floors, no drain tile so the basement leaked, no basement vapor barrier so radon was leaking up, and no character. The original kitchen contained asbestos tiles (which was covered up). The energy efficiency of the house was terrible. Why is what I described better than a new home? Sure, we decided to use HardiPlank vs. brick on the outside but that’s a personal design preference but everything else in the new place is superior to the old one. I hear comments from people that our old home used plywood and solid wood beams but the new home uses Advantech OSB and beams. Well, science tells us that the products are structurally equivalent and OSB is stronger in shear values. The new home has a radon system, better drainage, large windows so we don’t need to use as much electricity, sensors that shut off lights to save energy, and is air tight. The floor doesn’t squeak and is less likely to in the long run, our fire alarm is integrated into home security system which makes it a much safer home (e.g., the air conditioner shuts off if a fire is detected). And yes, we now use our gourmet kitchen to cook most of our meals because it’s just much easier and fun (our old kitchen was tiny and it sucked to cook in)! Why is our ‘McMansion’ worse than our old home?
Anonymous wrote:Gen Xer here with two middle school kids in McLean VA. My wife and I knocked down our tiny 1960s split level (worth $~750K) and built a new home (now worth ~$1.6 million). The neighborhood we live in has a mix of tear downs and older homes. It's a large home, but we still have a nice backyard and added many upgrades that weren't cheap although I think the haters would still call it a McMansion. However, I don't understand the desire for the alternative. Here's what I mean:
Our old home had a brick exterior, no house wrap, tiny windows, squeaky floors, no drain tile so the basement leaked, no basement vapor barrier so radon was leaking up, and no character. The original kitchen contained asbestos tiles (which was covered up). The energy efficiency of the house was terrible. Why is what I described better than a new home? Sure, we decided to use HardiPlank vs. brick on the outside but that’s a personal design preference but everything else in the new place is superior to the old one. I hear comments from people that our old home used plywood and solid wood beams but the new home uses Advantech OSB and beams. Well, science tells us that the products are structurally equivalent and OSB is stronger in shear values. The new home has a radon system, better drainage, large windows so we don’t need to use as much electricity, sensors that shut off lights to save energy, and is air tight. The floor doesn’t squeak and is less likely to in the long run, our fire alarm is integrated into home security system which makes it a much safer home (e.g., the air conditioner shuts off if a fire is detected). And yes, we now use our gourmet kitchen to cook most of our meals because it’s just much easier and fun (our old kitchen was tiny and it sucked to cook in)! Why is our ‘McMansion’ worse than our old home?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:An interesting factoid - Loudoun only has about 60% of the population of DC, yet has over 20% more kids in the school-age years (5-17).
DCUM can always be counted upon to cough up some people who'll swear how they and all their friends would never live in the outer suburbs, but that is exactly where more of the real moms and dads are.
How does that compare to say, Arlington, though? Which is also not an outer suburb, but is historically more favored by the upper middle class (especially its schools) than DC is? Or say City of Falls Church, where the big complaint is that the planners underestimated how many school kids would be generated by new apartments?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Oh they will, just not yet. Still too young.
This - obviously - once they stop taking pictures of their food, have a kid and find it harder to go to Iceland for the weekend, they will want what everyone wants. Space and easy access (by car) to the things they need. Walking to meet friends for sushi will be replace by putting the sleeping baby in the car seat and finding a drive through Starbucks.
Matter of time. I am perfectly happy in my house for the next 20 years - I can wait.
36 year old Millennial here. I don't want your McMansion. Not eve a little. I don't want poor design, crap materials, a probable long commute, suburbs with amenities only accessible by driving, or the more conservative politics. I'd like more space for my three (already existing) kids, but I'm not buying a trailer on steroids to satisfy that desire, especially when I'm 56.
Also, I cook 90% of our meals at home. I've taken zero pictures of them.
36 is Gen X, babe.
np. not if she was born in 1980
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Oh they will, just not yet. Still too young.
This - obviously - once they stop taking pictures of their food, have a kid and find it harder to go to Iceland for the weekend, they will want what everyone wants. Space and easy access (by car) to the things they need. Walking to meet friends for sushi will be replace by putting the sleeping baby in the car seat and finding a drive through Starbucks.
Matter of time. I am perfectly happy in my house for the next 20 years - I can wait.
36 year old Millennial here. I don't want your McMansion. Not eve a little. I don't want poor design, crap materials, a probable long commute, suburbs with amenities only accessible by driving, or the more conservative politics. I'd like more space for my three (already existing) kids, but I'm not buying a trailer on steroids to satisfy that desire, especially when I'm 56.
Also, I cook 90% of our meals at home. I've taken zero pictures of them.
This. Another millennial. I don't want to spend hours a week in my car. It's already challenging to juggle kids and a job without sitting in traffic for two hours a day. It's also hard to stay in shape and sitting in an office and then a car doesn't help. I couldn't care less about walking to get sushi. I don't want a lengthy commute and many others don't as well.
This. Almost millennial here (37). No interest in a long, sedentary commute, a lack of diversity, and the conservative politics that characterized our neighborhood when we briefly lived further out. We ended up buying a SFH in upper NW, which also allowed us more job options--we can have comfortable reverse commutes to MD, or a shorter commute downtown, where I now work. Lots of older millennial families starting to move to our current neighborhood.
Anonymous wrote:I'm 34 and have one kid. No more kids for me (can't imagine paying for 2 daycare slots in DC). My little three person family has no need and no desire for a huge house. We make do with our 1 car and 1600 sq ft "shitshack" in a close-in, historic neighborhood with good public schools. DH and I bought this house in 2011, at the tail end of the recession, for less than $300K; now we have about $250K in equity. I think our situation is a lot better than people 5-10 years younger than us.
A lot of my friends have 1 or 2 kids and probably won't have more. I can't think of any that would ever buy a McMansion. We like being able to walk places. But maybe I'll eat my words in 10 years.
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Oh they will, just not yet. Still too young.
This - obviously - once they stop taking pictures of their food, have a kid and find it harder to go to Iceland for the weekend, they will want what everyone wants. Space and easy access (by car) to the things they need. Walking to meet friends for sushi will be replace by putting the sleeping baby in the car seat and finding a drive through Starbucks.
Matter of time. I am perfectly happy in my house for the next 20 years - I can wait.
36 year old Millennial here. I don't want your McMansion. Not eve a little. I don't want poor design, crap materials, a probable long commute, suburbs with amenities only accessible by driving, or the more conservative politics. I'd like more space for my three (already existing) kids, but I'm not buying a trailer on steroids to satisfy that desire, especially when I'm 56.
Also, I cook 90% of our meals at home. I've taken zero pictures of them.
36 is Gen X, babe.