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I think its funny that you tell me to hire a maid, and then tell me I should do the work myself..
I couldnt live in a home smaller than my bedroom.. If it works for you, go for it.
Its not like the neighbors didnt have to approve the building permits, and considering the house was added on multiple times over multiple years, the neighbors approved every addition. And no, actually it doesnt look out of place.. I've got 4 times the yard they have, and it doesnt look out of place at all.. I'm very happy with what I've got, I've got no problems with people who have smaller homes and happy with that. So why do you?
Because I have a larger home I can spy on everyone else? Hows that work? Do you think I have a sky telescope on one of the wings that I can convert into spy equipment? And I wouldnt bring everyone elses values down, everyone elses values would be boosted by a larger home that sells for more money. Its my house value in question because it would come down to other home levels..
My parents lived in one just a bit larger than this when I was born so its not at all uncomfortable. Later they bought a two story with split stairs job by the ocean. We never actually went to the beach but I remember hating all the carpet that had to be vaccumed. I personally have banned carpet. I have nice old hardwood floors or tiled over not so nice ones. So much simpler.
If your home has extra land and is not sitting right on the property line thats great. That is what I was thinking of. The last few years its gotten popular to buy a nice 1950s house and tear it down for a HUGE monstrosity which covers all but a walkway on both sides. Doesn't fit the neighborhood or the neighbors. And if your house is so close to the next yard you can look out and down they lose their privacy. One in the neighborhood of 50's era houses was like that, the ONLY two story in the entire multi blocks. The neighbors on either side were not happy and planted big trees which grew over their fence, which they did not like. But it was hovered like an observation post and they kept the windows open most of the time. So that is all circumstances and code. The people who did the second story did not have to get the neighbors premission.
Part of the problem with the houses built recently is the were both huge and cheap. Meaning that you'll be spending a fortune keeping them up structurally. Give me my 1930 probably box ordered house over something slapped together in a day or so all at the cheapest possible. As energy costs go up, too, these homes which were never meant to be energy efficent will end up being hard to sell as well and in maybe 20 years it is possible people will be ripping them out for smaller homes and bigger yards.
Thing is, I heard a lot of people saying look how big my house is, see its bigger than yours. And how much work it is, how they had to spend money on furnature to fill it, how this and that where its obvious they did not need it but wanted to "keep up with the Jonses". If a big house is what you want and you have use for it and you enjoy it without stress, fine. But I'm not sure a lot of those who had to have the mcmansion really wanted one like that, just got it because "everyone had one". Not how you make your choice.
Homes and cars are status symbols! Sign of success! It is funny really rich people are not as showy though. Can I skip to really rich?
No their not, only the Nosiest of People. People who live in a home Large or SMALL, it is a home. Not a status symbol, we are not hollywood celebriries far from it, or maybe to those who cannot afford a larger home it is, but get over it, it is just a home only larger then most. And their is always bigger, I could care diddly squat what people have, i don't make a mountain out of a mole hill, because i do not care, what people have, not my freaking business. You want to live in a whole in the wall, so be it, want to live in a Mansion (file://\\Mansion - broken link), more power to ya, people really need to get a life, and worry more about the important things, not what it is that people live in, how utterly ignorant.
I have friends who are very wealthy, and i have some barely making it, i respect them the same. I don't look down upon anyone who does not own a home, or owns a 2 bit cabin. There is a difference between myself and most of you, I don't envy what people have or put them down, or make stupid inmature childish remarks, because of what they have, You know how stupid that is. Please. My parents taught me better then that.
And my Father use to say, those that make the biggest stink, are those people doing what it is they say their not.
You guys really should not care about what people have, use your energy on something better.
And i think it could be the other way around, those who have the larger homes well we could look down upon so many of you, know how stupid that is. I don't have energy to worry about where most of you live, not a priority of mine.
Last edited by california-jewel; 12-17-2010 at 11:28 PM..
I don't look down on people that have larger homes then mine, hell I grew up in a 8000 square foot home, nor do I look down on people that have smaller homes then mine. To each his own is the way I think of it. If you want to clean a 9000 square foot home, then you can afford to pay for a cleaning service. Hell...I can afford to pay for a cleaning service if I chose, and I'm under 1800 square feet. Who cares?
Pick what you want...and enjoy it. We bought this property for the location, flowing design, and the pool and spa. To each his own. We love it, and since our son is in the Navy, and won't be home anytime soon...we're good to go.
Though I should add, yes we have beautiful guest room just for our kid.
The last few years its gotten popular to buy a nice 1950s house and tear it down for a HUGE monstrosity which covers all but a walkway on both sides. Doesn't fit the neighborhood or the neighbors. And if your house is so close to the next yard you can look out and down they lose their privacy. One in the neighborhood of 50's era houses was like that, the ONLY two story in the entire multi blocks. The neighbors on either side were not happy and planted big trees which grew over their fence, which they did not like. But it was hovered like an observation post and they kept the windows open most of the time. So that is all circumstances and code. The people who did the second story did not have to get the neighbors premission.
Part of the problem with the houses built recently is the were both huge and cheap. Meaning that you'll be spending a fortune keeping them up structurally. Give me my 1930 probably box ordered house over something slapped together in a day or so all at the cheapest possible. As energy costs go up, too, these homes which were never meant to be energy efficent will end up being hard to sell as well and in maybe 20 years it is possible people will be ripping them out for smaller homes and bigger yards.
Thing is, I heard a lot of people saying look how big my house is, see its bigger than yours. And how much work it is, how they had to spend money on furnature to fill it, how this and that where its obvious they did not need it but wanted to "keep up with the Jonses". If a big house is what you want and you have use for it and you enjoy it without stress, fine. But I'm not sure a lot of those who had to have the mcmansion really wanted one like that, just got it because "everyone had one". Not how you make your choice.
I was a kid in the 50s and my parents used to rail about the "crackerboxes" being built then. (We lived in a house that was built in 1918.) They said the same things people say about the houses being built today, eg poor construction, thrown together, etc, etc. I think thus it shall always be.
I will say regarding energy efficiency that houses today have to be built to a stricter code than houses in past eras, and that their is more energy consciousness now. When we first moved to Denver in 1980, storm windows were just coming into common use there. We were shocked, as in the midwest and northeast where we grew up and lived, even very old houses had been retrofitted with storm windows.
I was a kid in the 50s and my parents used to rail about the "crackerboxes" being built then. (We lived in a house that was built in 1918.) They said the same things people say about the houses being built today, eg poor construction, thrown together, etc, etc. I think thus it shall always be.
I will say regarding energy efficiency that houses today have to be built to a stricter code than houses in past eras, and that their is more energy consciousness now. When we first moved to Denver in 1980, storm windows were just coming into common use there. We were shocked, as in the midwest and northeast where we grew up and lived, even very old houses had been retrofitted with storm windows.
You have to look at building codes. In the 70's they were lowered so much that by the end of the decade they had to be raised, but a whole lot of people were left with plastic pipes over copper which had to be replaced since plastic will break on you eventually. And the infamous "floating ground" where everything electrical in the house is a ground for everything else. We ran into problems with that on our 70's house... and there is no fix.
I have family in construction and they don't think much of the methods or quality of goods used today. The house built today is intended to last about 30 years. Much past that and your looking at high expense maintaining it. The house built in 1952 I had was without problems 40 years later. My neighbor is tearing down a "kit" house in a nearby town for the owner, getting all the salvage, and the boards and studs in it are so good they will smoke a saw blade. Nothing like the cheap stuff today. when they need wood today they check each piece at the lumber yard to see if its really useable.
Of course, not every house is built prefectly, but despite some really bad before it was purchased refurb (house was bought mid refurb) this is a far more solid house than something built twenty years ago in a rush with every shortcut in the book.
Most of the people I know who have had "new" houses would either love to build their own or have something older, because of problems that should not have been if someone had been on the ball. You can't build in a mad rush and take the care you need no matter what it is your building or making.
I don't look down on people that have larger homes then mine, hell I grew up in a 8000 square foot home, nor do I look down on people that have smaller homes then mine. To each his own is the way I think of it. If you want to clean a 9000 square foot home, then you can afford to pay for a cleaning service. Hell...I can afford to pay for a cleaning service if I chose, and I'm under 1800 square feet. Who cares?
Pick what you want...and enjoy it. We bought this property for the location, flowing design, and the pool and spa. To each his own. We love it, and since our son is in the Navy, and won't be home anytime soon...we're good to go.
Though I should add, yes we have beautiful guest room just for our kid.
Nope i clean all 5300 sq ft of my home, can afford to have someone in, but do i trust them NOPE. I trust no one in my home i do not know, i am sorry but in todays world, i trust no person i do not know. As long as i am healthy enough to do so, i enjoy cleaning this home, put my music on and go to town. Can't expalin this layout, it is a big home, in different corridors, but this home don't get diry, can't expalin it. I am a clean freak, drive my friends nuts, i clean like all the time, nervous energy maybe. My friends always say, my home is smaller then yours, come clean mine.
Size does not matter, our first home was only 1,400 sq ft, and i loved it, because i made it my home. You know the old saying American Dream, well some people do follow this dream, with many many years of hard work, and when you get my age, you do like to know that all those hard years, have paid off, it is not a status symbol, to us it is just many years of hard devotion to work. And giving our Children a very nice home to live in. Something wrong with living in a nice home.
You know life is short, i know way too many people that went before their time, my FATHER one of them. So i say whatever dream you may have or ponder about, go after it.
So many say you don't envy, sorry with the remarks ignorant as some are that you have made, what do you think it sounds like.
Just a question, i have lived in small homes before, why do you live in such small homes, can't imagine why.
No room to move around in them, oh my gosh, how can you stand it! Teeny Weeny Tiny Rooms, oh my i would get dizzy in those tiny rooms.
Last edited by california-jewel; 12-18-2010 at 01:12 AM..
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Its not like the neighbors didnt have to approve the building permits, and considering the house was added on multiple times over multiple years, the neighbors approved every addition. And no, actually it doesnt look out of place.. I've got 4 times the yard they have, and it doesnt look out of place at all.. I'm very happy with what I've got, I've got no problems with people who have smaller homes and happy with that. So why do you?
