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A big no-no= "Never buy the best house on a block"...
The mortgage is half the battle. What really costs $ is heating/cooling/maintenance/ of the house. 2500 sq foot vs 1200 sq foot is a HUGE difference in these aspects, not to mention a bigger tax bill in most cases.
I can tell you from first-hand knowledge that a 2500 sq ft+ house will cost $7000-$10,000 more per year to manage than a smaller house. Remember, bigger houses require more equipment, piping, duct work, multiple zone heating/cooling, etc...and these things are very expensive to replace when they break. Always ask for the most recent utility bills. I know people in mini-McMansions that get monthly $900 Lipa bills in the summer and $700 Keyspan or oil bills in the winter. vs $200 / $300 for a smaller sized house. If you are ok with spending an EXTRA $10k a year vs smaller house, plus what will be a bigger mortgage payment.. go with the giant house. Don't get in over your head, a good rule of thumb is take the mortgage payment + escrow payment + ($0.50*sq feet) , and that will roughly be your gross monthly payment. Don't forget groceries and ordinary bills (cable/phones/auto/etc..). The $.50 per sq foot is assuming energy prices stay at this price forever (very unlikely).
Bingo... look at the Extreme Home Makeover people who go bankrupt supporting and heating and paying taxes on their "free" house.
I think everybody still appreciates a stately "New England" home on a nice lot. They are a historical part of Long Island and when things are built to scale that way, they can really be something. Out of the price range of most... but they don't seem to represent where it "all went wrong" the way the McMansion does.
A big, poorly built house on an undersized lot... useless rooms, overstated, gaudy architecture… man caves, huge open layouts – impractical in everyway and look that seems dated within a year. Nothing timeless about them. Frankly, they are the architectural equivalent of “Mall Hair.”
Or, maybe they are the home equivalent of the “Hummer” in what they represent. A big, ostentatious display of faux wealth… big and impractical and tough to actually live with and obnoxious to park next to.
There's nothing wrong with a large home which is built with good architectural taste and style which will continue to be charming in 10, 30, or 50 years -- as opposed to many of the McMansions that are Fauxlonials and TacoBelllazzos. Gidget wants everything plus one more than Gina has...many of these mcmansions are nothing more than an alphabet soup of styles and features.
I bought an older home which was stick built and is one-of-a-kind. It is smaller, but it has accommodated my family very well going on 15 years with one small addition -- which, if anyone were to look at the house, would never be able to tell new from old. That's my style. If a 200 year old home became available to me, I would seriously contemplate buying it as I believe in preserving these older gems. If we look at many of the towns people like visiting and daytripping to, they share something in common -- older homes, and some revolutionary vintage.
It is wrong for anyone to come on this board attempting to assert that people who live in smaller homes are unsuccessful or inferior to them. Not everyone wants to live in a mcmansion. There are those of us who can easily afford to, but prefer the charm and history of their current home.
Someone else on this thread mentioned having a larger home and then downsizing several times. Personally, I wouldn't want to move that many times, especially if one is happy in their home, like I am.
Gabrielle, come back and talk to us in 24 years when you and your mcmansion are showing signs of age.
What's so special about that one? Is it the one that is in an old farmhouse (which btw is a cool idea - I wish more fast food chains would take advantage of existing structures)?
Funny this is around the area I live in its got nothing to do with where you live or what you drive. The richest guy I know drives a 2001 chevy and is worth over 19 mill. As he has told me in the past "It's got nothing to do wih what you drive, but what stickers are in your windows" Country clubs, sail clubs, ect.
Let me tell you something, Gabriella, the 20 something with the hugely successful husband. I am 42 and over the years have had many, many "hugely successful" 20 somethings working for me. They made a lot of money when things were good, spent it all and then some thinking it was an annuity, (no matter how much I warned them that things are cyclical and there's no such thing as a guaranteed gravy train) and, then, when things got bad, they had nothing except debt, and a whole lot of it. Which in many cases wrecked their marriages because everything was built around their money. Listen to someone who is older and wiser - it is wonderful if he is hugely successful - save a lot of it and in years to come, when you are certain that you are "set", go buy yourself a real mansion in a neighborhood where it belongs. Until then, stop sounding off like a spoiled little brat to people who are trying to help you, and worry about building a nest egg for your future children's education.
She could always take her Ivy League degree in Comparative Amazonian Literature and make a wonderful, successful, and rewarding career.
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