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If you can afford a mcmansion, thats cool. Different strokes for different folks. What i dont get is simply the "wasted space". How many times do you 3000k+ sq ft home owners spend time in your "Formal Living room"? How many dinners in your "formal dining room" in a year? When your basement is finished, how often do you spend time in your family room?
My issue with mcmansions is the wasted space. A lot of these mcmansion owners are then the same ones complaining in the "How much is middle class in NJ" thread that there 200k a year doesnt get them anywhere and is "farrrr from rich and they are having a hard time making ends meet.
I know folks with these big houses. They eat dinner in the dining room, less than 5 times a year. They NEVER use the formal living room. They finish the basement, then NEVER use the family room either. Then they complain about their $600 gas bills in the winter. Then they "have" to get a cleaning lady to clean the house because its so big. Then a landscaper to mow the lawn. All for what? They certainly don't "need" the space, becuase they don't use it. So whats it all for?
Again, if you can afford this, cool, spend your money, you worked for it. God bless. But its the folks who do this, and then claim poverty, becuase they dont have enough left over money to do any other cool stuff.
I admit we NEVER use our "formal LR" (well. the cats do) - it never occurred to me that it would be an empty space until we started living here. I wouldn't have one in my next home. DR? For meals maybe 3xs a year, but my kids use it as a dumping ground (er...i mean place for homework). Another room I'd ditch in my next home. I'd like a big "open concept area" with a dining area big enough for a crowd and a big family room.
i don't have a mcmansion but a typical CHC layout.
isnt the reality for the vast majority of people? builders build communities and the homes are usually pretty similar to each other. i doubt all these people speaking negatively about mcmansions because they "all look alike" have their own custom designed home that they live in. all the houses ive lived in except one of them all looked pretty similar to the ones around them. the one that didnt was custom built by the builder for himself.
Many of us live in towns that were not developed that way.
My house is an old federal built in 1890, with enough additions over the years to make it a decent size. The house across the street is a classic split level, the one caddy corner is a sprawling 1950s ranch, and the one next to mine is a grand old beach victorian. Not a cookie cutter mcmansion to be found.
Lots of neighborhoods in NJ with houses that are neither custom, nor development style.
are they really those people? i think thats how others want to perceive them, but i doubt they are the ones crying poverty. i think mostly its the people with less money than them crying poverty.
Don't get me wrong, there are legitimately poor folks crying they are poor. I am talking about the over stretched family that makes over 100k HHI in this thread
Sorry About My Previous Description this is a better one.
My home is 4800 square feet. We have a 3-car garage and a 1.2 acre lot. Our house has a large foyer, Formal Dining Room and a breakfast room. The house has an office, 6 bedrooms, a wetbar, a kitchen, two large living spaces and a large storage room which will eventually become a home theater. We have 6 bathrooms in our house. Three bedrooms have a private bathroom directly connected to the room. 2 bedrooms share a bathroom in a "Jack and Jill" Style. The other bedroom doesn't have a bathroom connected to it and is used more for office purposes even though it is considered a bedroom. Our house includes a main floor laundering room with a walk-in pantry and 11 other closets thought the house. My dad's company is starting to kick off so we will be eventually upgrading to a 6000+ square foot home or adding on to make ours at least that size. What should we consider our house as now? What is your opinion? Front gate or no gate????? Is my house a mansion?
My home is 4800 square feet. We have a 3-car garage and a 1.2 acre lot. Our house has a large foyer, Formal Dining Room and a breakfast room. The house has an office, 6 bedrooms, a wetbar, a kitchen, two large living spaces and a large storage room which will eventually become a home theater. We have 6 bathrooms in our house. Three bedrooms have a private bathroom directly connected to the room. 2 bedrooms share a bathroom in a "Jack and Jill" Style. The other bedroom doesn't have a bathroom connected to it and is used more for office purposes even though it is considered a bedroom. Our house includes a main floor laundering room with a walk-in pantry and 11 other closets thought the house. My dad's company is starting to kick off so we will be eventually upgrading to a 6000+ square foot home or adding on to make ours at least that size. What should we consider our house as now? What is your opinion? Front gate or no gate????? Is my house a mansion?
is this a 16 year old girl?
congratulations to your dad on his business success. tell him its never to early to start estate planning. he needs to give you and your siblings the annual tax free gift max amount (14k in 2013) and he should also do the lifetime gift ($5.25 million in 2013).
if he doesnt do that, when you graduate from college you wont be living in a mansion or even mcmansion anymore unless you want to keep living with your parents.
Last edited by CaptainNJ; 03-09-2013 at 09:52 AM..
congratulations to your dad on his business success. tell him its never to early to start estate planning. he needs to give you and your siblings the annual tax free gift max amount (14k in 2013) and he should also do the lifetime gift ($5.25 million in 2013).
if he doesnt do that, when you graduate from college you wont be living in a mansion or even mcmansion anymore unless you want to keep living with your parents.
Many of us live in towns that were not developed that way.
My house is an old federal built in 1890, with enough additions over the years to make it a decent size. The house across the street is a classic split level, the one caddy corner is a sprawling 1950s ranch, and the one next to mine is a grand old beach victorian. Not a cookie cutter mcmansion to be found.
Lots of neighborhoods in NJ with houses that are neither custom, nor development style.
The house I grew up in was one of a kind because it was built for my father partly on a government grant since he was a disabled WWII vet--thirty+years before the ADA. The doorways are wider than standard to accommodate a wheelchair, one bathroom has a shower that a person can pull a wheelchair into, there are no front steps in front of the house, etc.
Then they kept having more kids and so they added a second floor and later on made the kitchen bigger and put another room off the kitchen in the back.
But the other original houses on the street are not all exactly alike, either, and they were built in the 1950's. There are different styles.
The newer houses built across the street in the 1980s all pretty much look alike.
Personally, now I'm in a condo, so yeah, we're sort of the same. There are two styles here--a one-story "ranch" and a two-story "townhouse". I have a "ranch".
are they really those people? i think thats how others want to perceive them, but i doubt they are the ones crying poverty. i think mostly its the people with less money than them crying poverty.
How do you know for sure? If you are so wealthy and saying we are all so jealous, why don't you tell us all how much you make annually? Or are you embarassed because you won a few jillions from some ridiculous lawsuit? Or maybe you are just like those people, living over your means, spending and flaunting money you do not have, all because you have an image to uphold.
How do you know for sure? If you are so wealthy and saying we are all so jealous, why don't you tell us all how much you make annually? Or are you embarassed because you won a few jillions from some ridiculous lawsuit? Or maybe you are just like those people, living over your means, spending and flaunting money you do not have, all because you have an image to uphold.
im just using some basic info out there and drawing some conclusions from what i see. i dont know for sure, how could i? there is no way to draw 100% accurate conclusions since you can never be 100% right unless you want to give me a specific family to judge. people want to lump people into negative categories because they dont like them. but sometimes, they lump them in opposing categories. for example, the category of complaining about poverty and the category of showing off their wealth (even if they dont necessarily have it) may have some overlap, but not a lot. im going to simultaneously brag about my fancy big house and complain that im poor and not even middle class? doesnt make logical sense. your bigger complainers are probably going to be the people who dont own the mcmansions but own lesser homes.
also, when it comes to the whole financial mess and foreclosure "crisis" it was mainly poorer families who lost their homes, not more expensive homes. of course, thats not to say there werent plenty of mcmansions in foreclosure, but as a group people with less money had greater problems. so when people say these mcmansion owners are all really house poor and want to show off what they dont have, i dont think the statistics confirm that.
which of those categories you describe in your last sentence do you suppose i am in? i just realized that you think i live in a mcmansion and thats why im "defending" them and their owners. my house is not a mcmansion, my house is lesser than a mcmansion and nowhere near danielle's daddy's house.
Last edited by CaptainNJ; 03-10-2013 at 08:05 AM..
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Sorry About My Previous Description this is a better one.
