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They just look poorly constructed and "fake". There are homes over a hundred years old in my area that are constructed of real stone, brick, just quality craftsmanship.
I thought it was because if you're dropping 2 million on a home, you don't want it to look like the one next door?
McMansions don't go for $2million. At least not in large parts of the country.
McMansions are "Mc" for a reason... At $2million, you better at least be approaching real mansion status.
McMansions are just today's tract homes, they're just larger than the 1950s ranchers, because many families today with sufficient income seem to think that living in less than 2000sq ft is some kind of torture.
I would agree about the original use of the term, but it's become of broader meaning (or so broad as to no meaning!)
On the first point, heh, reminded me of a situation near my parents house. They are in a mid-century ranch development, not huge homes (2500sq) but mostly custom designs, nicer than your average 1960s tract ranches.
A kid from my high school did well in real estate, but wanted to stay living very close to his family. So around 2000 he found a homeowner on my parents block with a slightly oversize lot (12000 sq feet where most are 9000), got they guy to split and sell half, then put up a 4,500+ home on the small lot that is just a mess of gables and arches and geegaws and faux this-and-that exterior treatements, topped off with a pretentious stonework driveway that was occupied by, of course, his-and-hers Hummers. Looks utterly ridiculous just towering over the horizontal, subdued ranches that it is squeezed between.
Exactly what IS a "McMansion"?
HMMM...
Perhaps I live in one!
3 bedrooms and a den (could be fourth bedroom), 1 3/4 bath, single level, 2 car garage, large deck, on 1 2/3 acres, with combination 2 stall shop, hay barn, and 2 horse stalls.
Could that be considered a "McMansion"?
You can call it what you will, we call it "home"!
I like it because there is no HOA, very few CCRs (and nobody to enforce them), and it is 5 miles outside the City Limits! I can keep my RV at home, I can overhaul a vehicle in the driveway, and nobody will ever tell me I can not install any radio antenna I can afford (I have a Ham license!)
No a Mcmansion is a very large newer house built on a tiny plot. Usually open floor plan.
Near me I have 4,000 square foot houses on 60x100 lots. Your place is just a house.
I have conflicting opinions about McMansions. On paper, I like what they offer; square footage, master bath, bigger kitchen and closets, finished (or finishable) basement, attached garage.
In my experience, though, a lot of the ones around here are just surface pretty. It is granite, but the granite is so cheap and low quality that it is actually worse quality than laminate (FTR, I actually don't like granite), carpets are forbidden but they put in the cheap looking laminate 'hardwoods' that look like the plastic that they are. Cabinets are low grade construction quality dressed up to look fancy...
Plus, they are a little too cookie cutter for me.
ETA: just realized that what I was talking about aren't really McMansions but more like mini-McMansions. (McMcMansions? McMansion-lite? McMansion-ita?) But my thoughts on them still hold.
McMansions don't go for $2million. At least not in large parts of the country.
McMansions are "Mc" for a reason... At $2million, you better at least be approaching real mansion status.
McMansions are just today's tract homes, they're just larger than the 1950s ranchers, because many families today with sufficient income seem to think that living in less than 2000sq ft is some kind of torture.
I think that "McMansion" usually applies to something on the high side of 4000 sq ft rather than 2000... and they can approach $2 million where I live (Chicago), but at that price you are talking 5000-6000 sq ft and all the bells and whistles. I don't hate 'em, I just want them built where there is enough land and you don't have to tear down a perfectly good older home to build one.
In the suburbs, people are all about interior space now. We are a nation of couch potatoes. Sure if you can get a 4,000 sf house on an acre, great but most people can't afford that. So, they settle for the 4,000 sf house on a quarter acre because outdoor space doesn't matter anymore. Children don't play outside, people don't grow gardens or talk to their neighbors. It's all about the interior. And McMansions fit the bill. You can talk character all you want, but people want high ceilings, a bedroom and bathroom for each family member, big family rooms, big kitchens and multiple-car garages. Even in the older neighborhoods around here, people are renovating and putting additions on to make them as much like a McMansion as possible.
I do think there is a limit where the size becomes stupid especially if you don't have six kids or whatever.
I always thought Mc in McMansion was a play on McDonald's, a home built fast and cheap like fast food. I won't knock anyone wanting to live in one because at one time, I did too. I grew up in an area that was established from the 40's and most were small tract homes. On the other side of town were the nicer brick colonials but they were out of my budget and by the time I could afford one, the town had changed and was going down the crapper.
We moved to a new location where newer built homes were the norm and we looked at a few McMansions that were in our price range due to the drop in real estate. I guess a part of me felt that buying a home like that meant that I had made it somehow. The front of the home looked stately. A high arch on the porch, all brick front and had a grand look to it. The neighborhood was tidy and everyone had brick mail boxes to match their homes. That was pretty much where the character ended. All that I had heard about these homes feeling cheap was true. I was quickly disappointed when the realtor opened the door. The foyer was cheap linoleum that was also used in every bathroom and the kitchen. The grand staircase I had envisioned was just a half wall. There was a cat walk that ran across the center of the house where you look down into the great room on one side and the kitchen on the other. I don't understand this concept really. The view of the kitchen was basically looking down on top of the dirty cabinets that collected dust with crayons and small toys that some kids must of tossed over the banister for entertainment. The ceilings were cathedral and in every room there was a huge echo. Since it was a foreclosure it was a beat up a bit. All I kept thinking was I would never be able to paint any room myself we would need to hire professionals. The fireplace had floor tiles glued to the drywall around the opening and the small mantle resembled a cheap shelf you could pick up at your local Home Depot. No woodwork, just small baseboards. Nothing around the windows. Zero character. It was just a big house, one big room after another. Maybe there are nicer ones out there but to me, it was just a big box.
In the suburbs, people are all about interior space now. We are a nation of couch potatoes. Sure if you can get a 4,000 sf house on an acre, great but most people can't afford that. So, they settle for the 4,000 sf house on a quarter acre because outdoor space doesn't matter anymore. Children don't play outside, people don't grow gardens or talk to their neighbors. It's all about the interior. And McMansions fit the bill. You can talk character all you want, but people want high ceilings, a bedroom and bathroom for each family member, big family rooms, big kitchens and multiple-car garages. Even in the older neighborhoods around here, people are renovating and putting additions on to make them as much like a McMansion as possible.
I do think there is a limit where the size becomes stupid especially if you don't have six kids or whatever.
Kind of this in bold, I couldn't possibly care less about how much lot size my home sits on except driveway space I need to be able to park 3 cars in the driveway not including the garage, my garage is my shop. I am in a 2 story 2200 sq ft main home with a detached, some people would call it attached but there is no direct entry to the main house, 700 sq ft in-law suite. Some of the responses here would classify my home as a McMansion just because it is a tract home so there is about 10 of these in my neighborhood of 360 homes. If I hadn't gutted the interior to put high end finishes in then maybe, there were cheap builder finishes.
The total house is 2900 sq ft 2 story 5/4 and the footprint of the home is probably 2000 sq ft give or take a couple hundred, the in-law suite is single level with nothing above it. It sits on a 6500 sq ft lot which is WAY more outdoor space than I would ever want/need, though in AZ that outdoor space is hard to use half the year. We don't care about outdoor space because we have large park space in every neighborhood and weather limits the outdoor use in most parts of the country at some point, excessive snow in the north and too hot in the south. My lot has more than enough space for a diving pool if I wanted one and still would have space left over so maybe it isn't a McMansion, opinions on this will vary.
As for the OP's question people like them because they appear nice by using low cost products to get a similar appearance and sadly builder upgrades are expensive so they rarely get things like hardwood floors. Every type of home has a market and you shouldn't worry about resale unless you are buying something odd for the area, like a prefab in an area with custom homes. If anything as time goes on they will be the norm because builders have been dividing the lots more and more and it will only get worse as time goes on. There is a section of my neighborhood that was zoned for apartment houses and was recently rezoned for single family homes but the lots are going to be 4000 sq ft with similar sized homes as mine, mine is an average size for this neighborhood the largest is 3700 and the smallest is 1600 sq ft single story.
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