Reply to Massive home addition causes confusion in Fairfax County neighborhood

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]It looks like the best solution, if money is available, is for the neighbor to tear down their garage and build a mirroring structure, maybe with a nice rooftop patio so they can have sun again.[/quote]

As much as I like that idea, it is clear these two neighbors should split up. The well has been poisoned.[/quote]

What a pity.  The aesthetics are certainly jarring, but I’m sure such an addition would have ended up paying for itself in increased home value, and improved the neighbor’s enjoyment of their current home. Instead, they’re going to be out of pocket on frivolous lawsuits and needlessly increase their blood pressure. [/quote]

Haha, you don’t really think an addition like this will increase the value of a home?  What is more likely is that it will bring down the value of the house itself and the other houses on this street. Fewer people will want to buy houses on this street and the ones who are willing to buy there will only be willing to pay bargain prices. 
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The reality is that middle class and UMC people value function over form. All things being equal, people want a nice-looking house, but when they're making tradeoffs, that's one of the first to go.[/quote]

Citation for this?

I don’t know anyone who owns a home who doesn’t care how the house looks on the outside. 
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I didn't say they don't care. But they often accept homes that they don't find attractive if it is in a location they want or provides the space they need.[/quote]

Who? I don’t know anyone who has said, well, the house isn’t very attractive but it’s in the right location/big enough. How many people do you know who live in homes they don’t find attractive? Maybe someone who is poor would accept this, but not middle class and UMC people.

This is such a strange take. [/quote]

What's your HHI?[/quote]

Firmly middle class, as are the incomes of many Greenbrier residents. Talk to people you know in real life who are middle class/UMC and ask if they care what the outside of their houses look like. By definition, middle class/UMC people have enough money to have options. They’re not going to choose an ugly house. 
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I suspect you're older and out-of-touch with the realities of the current housing market for buyers. The median household income in 22033 is $135k. With housing prices where they are, middle class buyers can't afford homes without being willing to make tradeoffs. Not doing so drives you further and further out. Current buyers will absolutely accept aesthetic tradeoffs if it means they can buy a larger home, or one closer to work/feeding to the right school.[/quote]

But if they buy something that doesn’t look the way they like, they change it to be more attractive fairly quickly. They’re not buying houses that are objectively ugly and impossible to improve. A lot of people in that demographic who are middle class/UMC won’t even look at houses that haven’t been fixed up already. Yes, people who are below middle class will look at less attractive houses, but you specified middle class/UMC.

I know a lot of people in this demographic who have bought houses in the last five years and not one has bought an ugly house. 
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