Why do people in the DC area hate newer and larger homes?

[Anonymous]

I don't necessarily hate new homes, just not a huge fan of what they "represent" - car centric suburbs, and so wasteful. Why does each person need 1,500 square feet? And the areas theyre located in just aren't my thing. I don't wanna live somewhere where everyone looks the same and acts the same.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't necessarily hate new homes, just not a huge fan of what they "represent" - car centric suburbs, and so wasteful. Why does each person need 1,500 square feet? And the areas theyre located in just aren't my thing. I don't wanna live somewhere where everyone looks the same and acts the same.

It's not 1960. That doesn't apply to suburban life anymore. And hello, have you been through a huge chunk of NW lately?

people want to have both of their narratives be true, but they contradict one another. The first narrative is that their DC neighborhood is so diverse. The second narrative is that most of the working-class people and/or people of color are now moving to the burbs and other "young families just like us" are moving into DC. Yes, young families just like you are taking over DC, which is making it LESS DIVERSE, the thing you all claim to hate.

Unreal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't necessarily hate new homes, just not a huge fan of what they "represent" - car centric suburbs, and so wasteful. Why does each person need 1,500 square feet? And the areas theyre located in just aren't my thing. I don't wanna live somewhere where everyone looks the same and acts the same.

I see new homes located in dc, Arlington and McLean. Not sure what that has to do with anything.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Old home lover here. I do think construction has improved, and one could in principle build a better built home now than in the past. The problem is that a great number of builders now don't use the available technology but instead rely on the cheapest possible way to mass produce homes of inferior craftsmanship than yesteryear.

Which is why a house built in 1975 isn't going to last as long as the one built in 1880. The walls in our rowhouse let in no sound and you can't punch a hole in the wall.

Not much resembling Notre Dame, Sagrada Familia, St Basils, etc.

The majority of new home builders use crap materials and put these things up in a few months time.

The capability to build more efficient homes is there--just not frequently utilized.

what are these crap materials?

You do realize that minimum code exceeds old homes?

Why would how fast a home go up be an indication of quality?

A home takes 8 months to 12 months maybe 6 to 12 if you used modular, does that mean it's bad? In fact the bad builds take longer because problems were discovered in permits, land or financing. You want to put up the shell asap to protect the interior as you finish it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I do not like old houses nor do I like small houses. But I'm from the south, where living in a old or small house usually means you are probably broke.

It's the opposite in this area!!! Go 45 miles outside the city and you'll have a Mansion for what you'd pay for 1,500 square feet close-in.

I love when a Southern inlaw was going in about how her friend just bought a million dollar home while she was standing in the kitchen of my $1.5 million home. I just demurely smiled in the Southern way. Bless her heart for being so ignorant

Sad your home doesn't look like a million dollar home. Maybe your in laws friends home would be 5 million in dc.

Hey Retard, the point is they wouldn't be able to afford a 1/4 of that square footage anywhere remotely close to DC.

At least my friends in their $250k Mansion in the Midwest are smart enough to realize that and joke about it. The Southerner isn't so bright.

Wow. You are awful in so many ways.

[Anonymous]

I'm an architect and I generally find that the opposition to new development comes from small, bitter, jealous people. I can't fathom having nothing better to do with one's time than attempting to squash some other family's dream. Live and let live.

[Anonymous]

It's not the newness, it's the size!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm an architect and I generally find that the opposition to new development comes from small, bitter, jealous people. I can't fathom having nothing better to do with one's time than attempting to squash some other family's dream. Live and let live.

THIS. I suspect PP is the same type of person who tries walking through her knock down neighborhood proclaiming "expert criticisms" (read: *crazy*) about the new construction.

Of all of the people I know (many), none are so bitter as those who take the time to claim, in so many ways/actions, they supposedly do not want what they haven't got. Grow up. Learn to live and let live, people.

Let. it. go.

[Anonymous]

I find the shrews and hags in the old construction much harder to take than the MYOBs in the new construction who honestly could not care less (and show it).

[Anonymous]

Because they are jealous that they can't afford them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm an architect and I generally find that the opposition to new development comes from small, bitter, jealous people. I can't fathom having nothing better to do with one's time than attempting to squash some other family's dream. Live and let live.

Perhaps, it's when you put a house ill-fitted on a lot too small and a home not keeping with the character of the neighborhood.

The assumption that anybody that does not like your work or can't afford it is completely pompous.

[Anonymous]

I just can't see why this topic is a thread. I find people living in big Houses very "american" that doesn't have any charm for Europeans or foreigners. We see the stereotype ironed on it everything has to be big, cars, houses, people, you name it.
Is not a money thing and if you do not get it, face it, you just don't get it. go ahead, live far away from the city, commute and enjoy the burbs but please do not bring your ugly taste closer to dc building horrible houses in neighborhood that were not meant to be for that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I just can't see why this topic is a thread. I find people living in big Houses very "american" that doesn't have any charm for Europeans or foreigners. We see the stereotype ironed on it everything has to be big, cars, houses, people, you name it.
Is not a money thing and if you do not get it, face it, you just don't get it. go ahead, live far away from the city, commute and enjoy the burbs but please do not bring your ugly taste closer to dc building horrible houses in neighborhood that were not meant to be for that.

A lot of people build new large homes in the city.

Oh lots of foreigners here in McLean in massive new homes.

[Anonymous]

I don't hate new or large homes. I just think it is rare to find a beautifully designed and constructed new home. The vast majority of new, large homes seem to be McMansions or cheap looking or just terrible architecture. Also, homes over teardowns tend to be too large for the lot and out of character for the street.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't like McMansions -- cookie cutter homes made with the cheapest possible parts. They're just not "charming." That doesn't mean I am a part of the "movement"..it's just my preference. I like smaller homes where I can actually see my family on a regular basis instead of them being on the other side of 6000 sq ft (example). Also, I don't want to heat/cool a big house. Again, just a preference.

Hahaha...this is funny. My first house was one of about 8 models in my 1960's neighborhood. When I sold the house, literally two of the listed comps were the exact same model of home with different design choices (and my house was different because the one car garage had been converted to another bedroom and a family room addition had been added onto the back making mine have more square footage than those comps). As for cheapest possible parts, when we built our current McMansion, I hired a general contractor recommended by my insurance company (who I trusted because he had done a good job on my insurance claim in the old house several years earlier) to come in and do two walk-throughs during construction, one for pre-drywall and one for final walk-through. He has worked in MD for over 25 years and knows the construction codes very thoroughly. During pre-drywall walk-through he commented how solidly built the construction was, pointed out several places where the builder had exceeded code requirements for the state and/or county where I live and several places where the builder had gone the extra mile to do something better than the minimum required. We were quite pleased and have been quite pleased for the last 7 years. This house has given us far fewer issues than several of my friends who have classic pre WWII "charming" homes with charming 80 year old problems and huge $$$ repair/renovation/replacement costs.

And despite our nearly 4000 sf, my family of four spends the majority of our time together. What we like about the extra space is not individual space, but a purpose for every place and not having to put everything related to one task/job/project/pasttime to work on another. We don't have an office and guest room doing double duty. The kids playroom and the family room are separate places. I don't have to find "creative storage" to hide kids' toys. I don't have to find ways to use the space 6 feet above my head because I don't have room to store anything else. And I no longer have to do my laundry in the kitchen.