Death of the McMansion? (Levittown, East Meadow: foreclosures, house, neighborhood)

[OldLongIsland]

For whatever reason I feel like half of the McMansions I come across are made of that pinkish color brick. I personally couldn't find a worse color for brick. It makes me ill and in some areas like every other house is made of it. It's like Trump's bizarre obsession with that hideous pink/orange marble and gold railings he used to love so much.

[I_Love_LI_but]

Originally Posted by OldLongIsland

For whatever reason I feel like half of the McMansions I come across are made of that pinkish color brick.

It matches the pink Cadillac they got from selling Mary Kay cosmetics ... makes perfect sense to me. How do you think they were able to afford a McMansion in the first place?

[Crookhaven]

Originally Posted by S.I.B.

nuts to that. give me as much space as the building code allows. I'd gladly trade homes with anyone who is "embarrased" by their "mansion".

Nothing sells like space(except location).
Ill take a waterfront bungalow over an inland empire anyday.

All Im saying is there's quite a few empty nesters looking for new construction other than what's currently being being built.

Moderator cut: watch the crude language, please .

crooks

[Chrisk327]

See I don't see the McMansion trend as much on LI as other places. If anything its more out east than in Nassau and western suffolk.

Yes you do see people pulling the tops off of capes and putting large dormers up there that we may call a McMansion, but the true McMansions are really the ones you see all over the country with 3500-5000 sqft. The redesigned capes are normally in the 2000-2800sqft size when done which falls right into the "normal" category.

As for building large houses on infill lots....when the buy in for the property is 300K and the permitting, inspections, red tape payoffs are so high in our towns, throw in actual construction costs to build something entry level would put the builder in the 500k range anyway so why not make it 600 and have a normal 2500 sqft house.

If you go to a cheap area where the cost of land is 10K it makes sense to build a 150K house and the 100K difference to build a 250K house is signficant 66%. When the cost of land is 300K the difference between a 500K and 600K house isn't as large 20%.

[BovinaCowHateWindTurbines]

I never get it with all those other states and other places to live. Beaches Bagels and Bad Debt. The Island of wonder...

[Crookhaven]

Originally Posted by BovinaCowHateWindTurbines

I never get it with all those other states and other places to live. Beaches Bagels and Bad Debt. The Island of wonder...

QOTD

crooks

[AlexisT]

2000 sf is really not big if you have 3+ kids--I think a standard 3 bed split comes in around that, and you wouldn't have room for a larger family. I have to say that as much as I hate McMansions, I think there's a lot of bad snobbery involved and that Forbes article has some good examples. 650 sf just is not enough with kids. And I should know because my last apartment was only a little larger! I've encountered some self-righteous types boasting about how they and their kids live in tiny houses or apartments, and great for them, but not for everyone.

The real McMansions are at least 3500 sf, and badly planned to boot, so you don't have more rooms or much more usable space. The comments also touch on another important part--a big problem with McMansions isn't the houses but the layout of the developments. They're all plunked down on their lots, with a gated entrance if they're trying for the high end market, with little or no thought to the aesthetics or function of th space as a whole. I'm in Melville, which had quite a few of these done in the past 10-15 years, and they're uniformly awful, especially as there's no connections from development to development. You're isolated in your little cul-de-sac.

[OhBeeHave]

The McMansion in it's unnatural setting is a nightmare: house upon house upon house, situated closely together and looming about the roadside. The development had been stripped of all vegetation to ease the movement of construction vehicles and crews in their mission to create another visual scar. This creates a very uneven balance wherein homes which reach as high as town code permits dwarfing all the saplings planted nearby in addition to the immature shrubberies.

Wide roads twist and turn past uninspired, slightly different mutations of the same plan; perhaps the reverse gable on house 1 is on the east side while it is on the west side of house 2. Faux stucco, brickface, stone face as well as simulated cedar shake in vinyl replicate the look which has been rapidly spreading from Brooklyn and Queens eastward across LI.

The house has to have an impressive double entryway; if not, it has to be a grand, ornate door with side lights. Upon entering, there has to be a sweeping 2 story foyer and a broad staircase rising up to 2nd floor landing. The rails and spindles have to be as fancy as possible. Crown mouldings are all over, but chances are it was installed by the homeowner's wife's brother who is cop/fireman and does home improvement on the side. The poorly mitred corners speak for themselves. There has to be the obligatory Palladian window, several reverse gables, some geometric shaped protuberance which is to pass as a tower or turret for this castle. And let's not forget the plastic snap in grilles! The baths of tile and marble are somewhat stark and cold. The kitchen is a smorgasboard of granite and stainless steel. The newer McMansion owners haven't the money yet for the $10,000 European import stove and furniture, so chances are they have a stove that costs more than their first car and little or no furniture.

I know a few too many people who feel that this is the way to live. I don't get it. Why buy something that has no soul and is merely the bigger version of the development they probably grew up in? This is a house that (unless they win the lottery) they will not be able to grow old in and afford or possibly be able to move around in. If it makes them happy, that's fine by me, but please let them understand why so many of us find them distasteful.

I saw a McMansion patch in Smithtown today, abutting St Patrick's Cemetery. They were all clumped together, as close to one another in scale as the headstone's in the neighboring graveyard. They were a stone's throw from 347 and did not loom over homes on the other streets. This was good McMansion Patch planning.

Perhaps I cherish the old ways too much. I hope that my first (and so far only) house will be the house I grow old in. I brought one child home here, am raising the children here, have had many pets here and have crafted this dwelling to reflect who I am and to be warm and inviting. Maybe because I am a modest person who was never given to elaborate things and flash, I don't understand the draw of the McMansion, the insular nature of the gated community which prevents the people inside the fence from interacting on a regular basis from their neighbors on the outside.

Give me 2,000 sq ft of older home in a long established neighborhood over the McMansion anyday.

[Crookhaven]

Originally Posted by OhBeeHave

The McMansion in it's unnatural setting is a nightmare: house upon house upon house, situated closely together and looming about the roadside. The development had been stripped of all vegetation to ease the movement of construction vehicles and crews in their mission to create another visual scar. This creates a very uneven balance wherein homes which reach as high as town code permits dwarfing all the saplings planted nearby in addition to the immature shrubberies.

Wide roads twist and turn past uninspired, slightly different mutations of the same plan; perhaps the reverse gable on house 1 is on the east side while it is on the west side of house 2. Faux stucco, brickface, stone face as well as simulated cedar shake in vinyl replicate the look which has been rapidly spreading from Brooklyn and Queens eastward across LI.

The house has to have an impressive double entryway; if not, it has to be a grand, ornate door with side lights. Upon entering, there has to be a sweeping 2 story foyer and a broad staircase rising up to 2nd floor landing. The rails and spindles have to be as fancy as possible. Crown mouldings are all over, but chances are it was installed by the homeowner's wife's brother who is cop/fireman and does home improvement on the side. The poorly mitred corners speak for themselves. There has to be the obligatory Palladian window, several reverse gables, some geometric shaped protuberance which is to pass as a tower or turret for this castle. And let's not forget the plastic snap in grilles! The baths of tile and marble are somewhat stark and cold. The kitchen is a smorgasboard of granite and stainless steel. The newer McMansion owners haven't the money yet for the $10,000 European import stove and furniture, so chances are they have a stove that costs more than their first car and little or no furniture.

I know a few too many people who feel that this is the way to live. I don't get it. Why buy something that has no soul and is merely the bigger version of the development they probably grew up in? This is a house that (unless they win the lottery) they will not be able to grow old in and afford or possibly be able to move around in. If it makes them happy, that's fine by me, but please let them understand why so many of us find them distasteful.

I saw a McMansion patch in Smithtown today, abutting St Patrick's Cemetery. They were all clumped together, as close to one another in scale as the headstone's in the neighboring graveyard. They were a stone's throw from 347 and did not loom over homes on the other streets. This was good McMansion Patch planning.

Perhaps I cherish the old ways too much. I hope that my first (and so far only) house will be the house I grow old in. I brought one child home here, am raising the children here, have had many pets here and have crafted this dwelling to reflect who I am and to be warm and inviting. Maybe because I am a modest person who was never given to elaborate things and flash, I don't understand the draw of the McMansion, the insular nature of the gated community which prevents the people inside the fence from interacting on a regular basis from their neighbors on the outside.

Give me 2,000 sq ft of older home in a long established neighborhood over the McMansion anyday.

Me too.

They are such a blight on the area.Mt Sinai and Shoreham Wading River are inundated them
My wife calls them House Farms since they are the only vegetation in sight.

If thats what it is to "arrive"...Id prefer to never leave.

Great post.

crooks

[Crookhaven]

Originally Posted by OhBeeHave

The McMansion in it's unnatural setting is a nightmare: house upon house upon house, situated closely together and looming about the roadside. The development had been stripped of all vegetation to ease the movement of construction vehicles and crews in their mission to create another visual scar. This creates a very uneven balance wherein homes which reach as high as town code permits dwarfing all the saplings planted nearby in addition to the immature shrubberies.

Wide roads twist and turn past uninspired, slightly different mutations of the same plan; perhaps the reverse gable on house 1 is on the east side while it is on the west side of house 2. Faux stucco, brickface, stone face as well as simulated cedar shake in vinyl replicate the look which has been rapidly spreading from Brooklyn and Queens eastward across LI.

The house has to have an impressive double entryway; if not, it has to be a grand, ornate door with side lights. Upon entering, there has to be a sweeping 2 story foyer and a broad staircase rising up to 2nd floor landing. The rails and spindles have to be as fancy as possible. Crown mouldings are all over, but chances are it was installed by the homeowner's wife's brother who is cop/fireman and does home improvement on the side. The poorly mitred corners speak for themselves. There has to be the obligatory Palladian window, several reverse gables, some geometric shaped protuberance which is to pass as a tower or turret for this castle. And let's not forget the plastic snap in grilles! The baths of tile and marble are somewhat stark and cold. The kitchen is a smorgasboard of granite and stainless steel. The newer McMansion owners haven't the money yet for the $10,000 European import stove and furniture, so chances are they have a stove that costs more than their first car and little or no furniture.

I know a few too many people who feel that this is the way to live. I don't get it. Why buy something that has no soul and is merely the bigger version of the development they probably grew up in? This is a house that (unless they win the lottery) they will not be able to grow old in and afford or possibly be able to move around in. If it makes them happy, that's fine by me, but please let them understand why so many of us find them distasteful.

I saw a McMansion patch in Smithtown today, abutting St Patrick's Cemetery. They were all clumped together, as close to one another in scale as the headstone's in the neighboring graveyard. They were a stone's throw from 347 and did not loom over homes on the other streets. This was good McMansion Patch planning.

Perhaps I cherish the old ways too much. I hope that my first (and so far only) house will be the house I grow old in. I brought one child home here, am raising the children here, have had many pets here and have crafted this dwelling to reflect who I am and to be warm and inviting. Maybe because I am a modest person who was never given to elaborate things and flash, I don't understand the draw of the McMansion, the insular nature of the gated community which prevents the people inside the fence from interacting on a regular basis from their neighbors on the outside.

Give me 2,000 sq ft of older home in a long established neighborhood over the McMansion anyday.

Oh...and beware the fucco
What the fucco?

crooks