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[quote=Anonymous]I wouldn't mind if I liked the way these houses looked on the outside. If they were tearing down the old 1950s/60s boxy "ranch" and split-level houses and building something elegant and attractive, I wouldn't care about the tear downs.

I think part of the problem is the demand for bigger and bigger homes. It doesn't matter how elegant you try to make it look, if you put a 4000 sq ft home on a lot that previously housed a 1200 sq ft home, it's going to look bad, because you pretty much have to build a giant box in order to make it work logistically.

As someone who wants to buy a house that is around 2k sq ft, it's also frustrating because many of the older homes are much smaller (and often poorly laid out), but most of the newer homes are much larger and have elements I don't want or need (why are we still building houses with separate dining rooms when the new builds also have large kitchens with space for dining -- I truly do not need both). I also don't need every bedroom to have its own bathroom. On the other hand, home offices are increasingly necessary and I personally love sun rooms. But I don't need all the rooms to be huge. I don't need a gigantic laundry room AND a huge mud room AND a two car garage AND a finished basement AND two home offices AND a dining room AND both a living room and a den AND 6 walk in closets.

Basically I wish we were making more choices in these new builds, and considered the value of right-sizing the house for the lot. I don't want a giant house of guest rooms and more storage than I could ever fill. I want a house that feels good to be in and has a bit of character and good flow, not just a series of huge rooms with vaulted ceilings.

We really have not moved on from the McMansion have we? It's just that now instead of the old 90s style of McMansion, we build giant box "farmhouses". But it's the same thing. Houses that are too large, ruin the feel of the neighborhood, and will look incredibly dated in 10 years.[/quote]

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