Why Homes in the Exurbs Aren't Built to Last (Dallas: new home, neighborhood)

[Lakewooder]

D Magazine : Why Homes in the Exurbs Aren't Built to Last

"Using the Collin County assessor’s website, I looked at five representative properties in Craig Ranch. They lost an average of 44 percent in total value, including “improvement” (aka house) and land, between the 2008 housing peak and 2011"

"...overall assessment of the Swiss Avenue properties went up in all cases but one, which remained flat. Tossing out one outlier, a property that more than doubled, the others averaged a 10 percent increase in value since the housing peak in 2008. For some of these properties, the structure’s value actually dropped as the land value climbed, in some cases nearly tripling since 2008.

It isn’t just the Swiss Avenue properties that are holding steady. The English Tudor homes in Hollywood Heights, the craftsman cottages along the M Streets, the eclectic houses of Junius Heights—none of them have taken a 40 percent dive like the places in McKinney"

[Ramona72]

I loved that article. And his point was also that those McKinney homes are SHOWCASES -- in the middle of some trendy development with a golf course, pool, etc. If those are losing value, God knows what some really crappy new builds out in the middle of nowhere are going to do. I loved the lines about let your third garage be your local bike trails, let your huge kitchen be your local restaurants, you don't need at that isolated vast space.

[Lakewooder]

How about: "Does it make any sense to buy a disposable house?"

[mSooner]

I'd like to point out that not all homes in those areas have lasted...the homes that were KEPT UP and renovated have. There are plenty of death traps in the M Streets that are still (barely) standing or have been bulldozed. Ironically, they've been replaced by..."disposable houses"

I also don't think Argyle and Double Oak are really the best examples of what he is talking about...both feature a lot of large homes on acreage...not really "disposable homes" in the sense he means. Frisco is a much better example.

[racehorse]

Disposable is in the eye of the beholder. If you go with a good builder and spend the time and money to maintain your property, your home will last, regardless of where it is built.

[Lakewooder]

MSooner aren't you confusing Vickery Place with the M-Streets? Yes I agree some of the newer McMansions in Vickery Place are disposable - many of them were built after tearing down a better-constructed home. That's yet another reason so many people fought against unregulated McMansions.

That happens even in HP. I know of one lot on Beverly that has had three homes in my lifetime. Also an issue is not always whether the homes last but rather whether the neighborhood lasts..

Vickery Place now has more restrictions, e.g. a conservation district. M-Streets was uniformly better constructed and has had restrictions for many more years. Not many of the originals have been torn down. If they have been the replacement homes are hard to distinguish from the originals - you can tell by the roofline mainly.. There is a section where there have been some foundation problems where an old creek ran through - that's where you see the most new homes in the M-Streets. The areas to the south of Vickery Place have a larger number of poorly-constructed home vs. Vickery Place. However, many of them are also well-constructed. Some have been kept up better than others.

However -- will there be any impetus to replace homes in exurbs when they start going downhill? Which suburbs are strong enough to have tear-downs and rebuilds in the future?

[mSooner]

MSooner aren't you confusing Vickery Place with the M-Streets? Yes I agree some of the newer McMansions in Vickery Place are disposable - many of them were built after tearing down a better-constructed home. That's yet another reason so many people fought against unregulated McMansions.

You're right...there is a difference. The areas north of us still have a decent number of homes that are rebuilds, though. Quite a few of them have additions, too. Bottom line, they were well taken care of...the few that aren't in the M Streets Proper still look like hell.

[racehorse]

I was raised in Chicago, and grew up in the city for the most part. My parents moved to a southern suburb called Country Club Hills, which at the time was way out in the boondocks. The houses were thought to be not well made, cheap, not McMansions but not as well regarded as what you'd find in the more established suburbs or within the city.

My parents old house was nearly 20 years old when they sold it to move further south. It was in great shape when they sold it and just needed cosmetic updating. Nothing but minor electrical issues came up during the house inspection and they sold it for a profit.

Just because a suburb is not located near the city center doesn't mean it has no intrinsic value.

[jelf]

Wouldn't somewhere like Vaquero in Westlake be a better comparison to Swiss Avenue? Craig Ranch seems nice, but from my understanding, some of the most prominent families in Dallas lived on Swiss in its prime. I don't get the sense that Craig Ranch is quite of the same caliber.

Originally Posted by racehorse

I was raised in Chicago, and grew up in the city for the most part. My parents moved to a southern suburb called Country Club Hills, which at the time was way out in the boondocks. The houses were thought to be not well made, cheap, not McMansions but not as well regarded as what you'd find in the more established suburbs or within the city.

My parents old house was nearly 20 years old when they sold it to move further south. It was in great shape when they sold it and just needed cosmetic updating. Nothing but minor electrical issues came up during the house inspection and they sold it for a profit.

Just because a suburb is not located near the city center doesn't mean it has no intrinsic value.

[PrincessKick]

Originally Posted by mSooner

I'd like to point out that not all homes in those areas have lasted...the homes that were KEPT UP and renovated have. There are plenty of death traps in the M Streets that are still (barely) standing or have been bulldozed. Ironically, they've been replaced by..."disposable houses"

I also don't think Argyle and Double Oak are really the best examples of what he is talking about...both feature a lot of large homes on acreage...not really "disposable homes" in the sense he means. Frisco is a much better example.

Double Oak- disposable homes? Has he ever been here? Not even close...