Maronda Homes marks its rebound with new line of high-end residences (Pittsburgh: for sale, 2013)

[Garvdog]

Originally Posted by Gnutella

The direction the garage door faces doesn't matter much to me, but that house would look better with just a two-car garage, and even better still with a detached garage.

When I lived in Penn Hills, I lived in a house with the garage door in the back, and it was actually kind of a pain in the ass. If you drove forward down the driveway, you had to either back into the garage or park opposite the garage door. Otherwise, if you wanted to pull forward into the garage, you had to back the car down the driveway to do so. And since the edge of the house was right next to the driveway, scraped paint was a distinct possibility as well. Front-facing garages are much more functional.

Agreed, I don't get the objection to it. A "good" house in my mind is a blend of attractive looks and functionality. I've seen many houses that are drop dead charming yet extremely inconvenient to actually live in day to day.

I honestly think a lot of the posters with negative comments about the looks of that big Maronda would hate it a lot less if it were scaled down in size.

[Mr. Mon]

At that price per square foot you are buying the prestige of size, not finish.

[hinsey86]

Originally Posted by Mr. Mon

At that price per square foot you are buying the prestige of size, not finish.

Exactly. When we first moved here we toured a Maronda home...being oblivious to their reputation. Size was what they touted and cheap material and workmanship is how they do it. We also did not like Ryan either but the quality was better..at least on the surface. I am so glad we stayed away from them or any similar developments. I have seen similar houses for resale on the market for years while houses in our little subdivision usually get snatched up in 10 days. Not everyone in the burbs is in a cookie cutter garage house.

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by Garvdog

I honestly think a lot of the posters with negative comments about the looks of that big Maronda would hate it a lot less if it were scaled down in size.

I don't think it is the size for me, but what looks to me like poor design.

I've seen big houses with three-car garages that look decent. But the materials they use for the garage and the way it is grafted into the house are terrible. And you don't need the drive that wide all the way to the street.

For example, I don't love this home either, but at least you can tell they thought about what they were doing:

[zip95]

This whole 'we hate semi-custom builders' sentiment sounds suspiciously like jealousy to me. It's pretty obvious that very few of you have ever built a house. Ryan, Maronda, Heartland, etc are semi-custom builders which means the house can be customized. One could opt to put the garage on the side with single doors, remove those ugly windows on the roof, add/remove additional rooms, etc, etc, etc. If that's not enough I'm sure there are dozens of other house models. Whether or not you like the picture is irrelevant. The point is 4,800+ sq ft for under half a million... then customize to your personal preference.

Many of you are being completely impractical. For example, the house in the above picture is definitely nicer and most definitely more expensive... probably half a million more expensive. Not everyone can afford a $7k monthly mortgage. On the other end of the spectrum, not everyone is happy in a 1,100 sq ft, 50 year old split-level in the Shaler school district, with a kitchen smaller than a mcmansion master bathroom. There's a reason these things sell like hotcakes to upper middle class families. Many people need 4+ spacious bedrooms with walk-in closets and separate bathrooms. Exceptional school districts with big yards near lots of retail. Huge kitchens with islands, ample closet space, and a pantry. There is a huge market for these mcmansions. It's not like 5,000 upper-middle class families in Wexford, Cranberry, Moon, Peters, Murrysville, North Huntingdon, etc are stupid?

[Evergrey]

Originally Posted by zip95

This whole 'we hate semi-custom builders' sentiment sounds suspiciously like jealousy to me. It's pretty obvious that very few of you have ever built a house. Ryan, Maronda, Heartland, etc are semi-custom builders which means the house can be customized. One could opt to put the garage on the side with single doors, remove those ugly windows on the roof, add/remove additional rooms, etc, etc, etc. If that's not enough I'm sure there are dozens of other house models. Whether or not you like the picture is irrelevant. The point is 4,800+ sq ft for under half a million... then customize to your personal preference.

Many of you are being completely impractical. For example, the house in the above picture is definitely nicer and most definitely more expensive... probably half a million more expensive. Not everyone can afford a $7k monthly mortgage. On the other end of the spectrum, not everyone is happy in a 1,100 sq ft, 50 year old split-level in the Shaler school district, with a kitchen smaller than a mcmansion master bathroom. There's a reason these things sell like hotcakes to upper middle class families. Many people need 4+ spacious bedrooms with walk-in closets and separate bathrooms. Exceptional school districts with big yards near lots of retail. Huge kitchens with islands, ample closet space, and a pantry. There is a huge market for these mcmansions. It's not like 5,000 upper-middle class families in Wexford, Cranberry, Moon, Peters, Murrysville, North Huntingdon, etc are stupid?

Strange that you would resurrect a 6 month-old discussion with this fevered rant. I doubt most of the critics here are jealous of "upper-middle income" families with bad taste. Your sentiment sounds suspiciously like you have a financial stake in Maronda, Ryan/Heartland, etc. and/or reside in one of their creations.

[zip95]

Originally Posted by Evergrey

Strange that you would resurrect a 6 month-old discussion with this fevered rant. I doubt most of the critics here are jealous of "upper-middle income" families with bad taste. Your sentiment sounds suspiciously like you have a financial stake in Maronda, Ryan/Heartland, etc. and/or reside in one of their creations.

Sorta close but I resurrect old threads all the time, and I've been meaning to comment on this subject for probably a year. Also, I do own one of these creations, although not from one of the above builders. It was a great purchase and I highly recommend living in drive-everywhere, great-school, big-box, Stepford-Heaven. That said, I didn't specifically accuse anyone of jealousy because no one in particular caught my attention. It was just the general vibe of haterism I always sense in these one-sided threads. So here I am calling BS... I encourage us all to aspire to our own little piece of mass produced Americana!

[UKyank]

My main problem with those type homes is that because they are made cheaply their lifespan is greatly diminished thus while everything is new and shiny and nice when it is first built and you move in, over time the cheap construction rears its ugly head, and you're less then half a million dollar house that you now want to move out of cannot be resold for close to what you paid for it.

[Kippy]

I am too lazy to start a whole new thread, but did you hear that Ryan bought Heartland?

[zip95]

Originally Posted by UKyank

My main problem with those type homes is that because they are made cheaply their lifespan is greatly diminished thus while everything is new and shiny and nice when it is first built and you move in, over time the cheap construction rears its ugly head, and you're less then half a million dollar house that you now want to move out of cannot be resold for close to what you paid for it.

If you're saying that plaster is not as durable as drywall than I agree. If you're saying that brick is more durable than siding than I also agree. If you're talking about other things like doors, windows, hvac, foundation, framing, appliances, etc... then I disagree. The difference being that new homes have better technology and more energy efficient versions of these things. For example, almost all of these new homes are EnergyStar government certified. That means there's something like 17 inches of insulation everywhere. They put a vacuum seal over the door and pump up the house like a balloon. If the pressure drops that means the house isn't airtight. A leaky outlet cover can fail a house. Utilities are probably half the price for double the square footage.

I think the reality is closer to something like... During the housing boom these builders where able to sell as many of these things as they could build, so they threw up crap as quickly as they possibly could. Those days are long gone. These houses aren't perfect, but they aren't anywhere near the poor quality many here are imagining (with no direct knowledge I might add).