Why do you chose to live in particle board house

[Duderino]

Originally Posted by bigh110

IMHO its not about choice its all about the money. if ya got the money you can engineer and build whatever/however way you want. if ya ain't got the money ya take what you can get. speculation home builders (aka Toll Brothers) build to maximize profit. a true custom home builder listen to the client specifications. money is not the issue but quality is of the utmost importance. As long as engineered designs meets local/national building codes you can design a new home or remodel an existing home to be built with any materials you want to use. Also, if ya got some money but not a lot of it you always have the option to install soundproofing/dreading material in an older home.

Exactly. It absolutely comes down to budget. New construction, solid material homes are definitely still built, but they tend to be reserved for people who have upper-middle/upper-class budgets.

It's important to note that times have changed dramatically since, say, 1900. More solid building materials (e.g., solid wood, brick and stone) are much more expensive now. Also, we have learned to be much more efficient with materials and engineering.

While I also prefer more solid, older homes, I also recognize that most older homes are, to some degree, "overbuilt" and can also have a lot less efficiency. So, while these newer, post-war suburban homes tend not to be as solidly built, they are not going to simply collapse with the next major storm.

Also, the Philadelphia area (and Pennsylvania in general), due to its age, has one of the oldest housing stocks of in the country -- so older, pre-war housing is very plentiful in this area. While you may complain of "cookie-cutter" housing here, you'd have a REALLY hard time settling on a house in the Sunbelt or the West where that is pretty much the norm.

[Duderino]

Originally Posted by thunderkat59

The developers who assaulted PA are a cancerous plague. They cut corners and short perspective owners wherever they can.
I spent years on a committee that tried to get them to conform to even minimal standards ~ At least shoot for mediocrity, and they wouldn't. Since they own 99% of local gov's, this is what you get if you want a new construction.

Let's recognize the fact that this is far from a Pennsylvania-only problem. In fact, it's FAR worse in most other areas of the country where population growth is much more substantial and "cookie-cutter" housing developments go on for miles and miles.

In fact, in traveling to other areas of the US, it's clear to me that Pennsylvania's municipalities tend to be more strict about growth restrictions and open space preservation than most.

[ElijahAstin]

Originally Posted by SteelCityRising

Nailed it! To be fair this isn't a problem exclusive just to suburban Philadelphia. This is a national phenomenon, and to be quite frank I'm not sure what we in the younger generations can do to reverse this trend.

We probably are starting to reverse that trend. I personally foresee that there will be more of a balance between urban/suburban living, with certain inner ring suburbs especially rising in stock. I don't think those $800k vinyl boxes are going to become ghettoes anytime soon, though they could very easily lose cachet in the not-too-distant future.

Originally Posted by Angus215

This is true. Despite the fact that it seems like most new posters that come on here looking for advise on where to live in a "walkable community close to shops, restaurants, etc", the vast majority of people ultimately end up living in a home in a suburban housing development that was built in the past few decades. Why is that? I guess the pros outway the cons for most people.

Different people have different priorities and that's ok by me. Just in my personal experience, while I think my home neighborhood, Penn Valley, is very charming/resolutely not cookie-cutter (mostly higher end-custom construction/only a couple tract developments) it's also decidedly auto-centric and I really missed being able to walk places as a kid, something most of my friends living in Bala-Cynwyd, Merion, Narberth, Ardmore, etc. But as much as I like easy access to town centers, I also love custom houses on big lots, and it's really hard (though not impossible) to have both. I'm probably at least 7 years off from buying any kind of home, but I anticipate those often-competing desires will come into play when the time comes.

[Krissy235]

We purchased a 4BR, 2.5BA 40-year-old center hall colonial in Doylestown on an acre about six months ago. While we have had to put in new windows (something we knew going in) and certainly do some cosmetic work, the house is SOLID and beams with character. The neighborhood is established and while we cannot walk to the borough, we are about five minutes driving distance which is wonderful. My husband and I are both transports from the NYC tristate area and liked the idea of the cultural exposure available in a town like this. The idea of living in a planned community nestled off of a highway, trapped down a winding road in a development maze was unappealing. And quite simply, a new construction of the same size on comparable property would have cost another $200K and that frankly is not within our reach. Plus, it is tough to find new construction with the kind of privacy we have here.

However, we do plan on making this a long-term home. We have a daughter and another on the way and don't plan to leave this home until the newest addition graduates from high school (barring unforeseen circumstances, of course). If we were looking for something more temporary, or had something else in mind to work toward, we just may have made a different choice and purchased something newer on a smaller lot. Why? Well, if I have a five year plan, I wouldn't want to spend $25K replacing windows or replace damaged drywall. I wouldn't want the headache of possible problems with roofing or replacing of heating and cooling systems. While our new home did have some of these upgraded by the previous owner in recent years, if we stay for another 20 certainly things will need addressing. I would not want that kind of responsibility in a home I was not planning to stay in for long. I also have a partner who is handy and neither of us mind spending weekends doing things around the house and keeping up with maintenance. Not all home owners are the same or have the kind of schedule to manage this. Another situation where you may look for something newer and more hastle-free.