Welcome to City-Data.com Forum!
U.S. CitiesCity-Data Forum Index
Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > North Carolina > Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill, Cary
 [Register]
Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill, Cary The Triangle Area
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
View detailed profile (Advanced) or search
site with Google Custom Search

Search Forums  (Advanced)
Reply Start New Thread
 
Old 08-20-2010, 12:33 PM
 
Location: South Beach and DT Raleigh
13,966 posts, read 24,082,322 times
Reputation: 14761

Advertisements

Quote:
Originally Posted by aldamon View Post
I thought the most interesting part of the article was this:



What happened?
....self indulgence happened.
....unrealistic expectations happened.
....living on what one wants to pay for in the future happened.
....keeping up with the Jones's happened.

The older I get, the more I appreciate NC's state motto: To be rather than to seem.

Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message

 
Old 08-20-2010, 12:35 PM
 
Location: South Beach and DT Raleigh
13,966 posts, read 24,082,322 times
Reputation: 14761
Quote:
Originally Posted by frankpc View Post
I think part of the challenge is many folks still think of their house as an investment. So they really try to maximize the sg ft for resale comp issues as opposed to buying a home they actually want to live in.

I'm afraid that as soon as the finance folks figure out a way to once again finance $700K for a family of four with $75k in annual income we'll be right back to oversize houses.

Frank
I guess the better investment is to have a smaller home and a second smaller home as a rental?
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 08-20-2010, 01:30 PM
 
Location: Morrisville, NC
9,140 posts, read 14,715,987 times
Reputation: 9053
Quote:
Originally Posted by BurntHombre View Post

And, as Vicki implied, people have many ideas of what consistutes a McMansion. For an interesting exercise, do a Google image search on the term "McMansion." You'll see the whole range from large-but-not-ostentatious to giant-hodgepodge-eyesore to estates that are undeserving of the "Mc" -- they're just mansions, plain and simple.
Have to agree with this. Just like someone pointed out a house with a gift wrapping room. If you have a seperate room dedicated to gift wrapping, thats just a plain old mansion (and in truth, the only home I have heard of that had a gift wrapping room was the Spelling estate and thats one of the largest and most expensive houses in the entire US).

McMansion is just the trendy perjorative term that people like to use to denigrate larger homes than they like.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 08-20-2010, 01:35 PM
 
116 posts, read 366,317 times
Reputation: 72
As others have mentioned, size of a Mc-Mansion is very relative. Some of it matters on how many people are living in it.

We currently have a 2000 sq ft house for 5 people (2 adults and 3 small kids). We are somewhat cramped. We are looking for a 3000-3500 sq ft house. (which I don't think is excessive for 5 people and I often work from my home office.).

A 3000 sq ft house is a bit excessive for 2 people though. And a 3000sq ft house would be a bit small for a family of 7. (yes, it is doable. But if you have the income, why do you need to be cramped.).
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 08-20-2010, 01:35 PM
 
Location: South Beach and DT Raleigh
13,966 posts, read 24,082,322 times
Reputation: 14761
Quote:
Originally Posted by Sherifftruman View Post
McMansion is just the trendy perjorative term that people like to use to denigrate larger homes than they like.
I have to disagree with this statement. McMansions specifically refer to houses that are large but of mediocre quality. Think of the 5000 sf house that's brick on the front but vinyl siding on the other three sides. Think of the huge house with cheap cabinetry and other entry level finishes.
Many large houses in Raleigh aren't McMansions in my opinion. There are plenty of super sized but super high quality homes in the area.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 08-20-2010, 01:36 PM
 
Location: Durham, NC
2,586 posts, read 9,087,756 times
Reputation: 1719
Quote:
Originally Posted by rnc2mbfl View Post
I have to disagree with this statement. McMansions specifically refer to houses that are large but of mediocre quality. Think of the 5000 sf house that's brick on the front but vinyl siding on the other three sides. Think of the huge house with cheap cabinetry and other entry level finishes.
Many large houses in Raleigh aren't McMansions in my opinion. There are plenty of super sized but super high quality homes in the area.
Well said!
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 08-20-2010, 01:37 PM
 
Location: South Beach and DT Raleigh
13,966 posts, read 24,082,322 times
Reputation: 14761
Quote:
Originally Posted by chiledog View Post
As others have mentioned, size of a Mc-Mansion is very relative. Some of it matters on how many people are living in it.

We currently have a 2000 sq ft house for 5 people (2 adults and 3 small kids). We are somewhat cramped. We are looking for a 3000-3500 sq ft house. (which I don't think is excessive for 5 people and I often work from my home office.).

A 3000 sq ft house is a bit excessive for 2 people though. And a 3000sq ft house would be a bit small for a family of 7. (yes, it is doable. But if you have the income, why do you need to be cramped.).
My parents raised their family of 6 in a 2173 square feet with a one car garage. My mom would have preferred to have had a 2 car garage and room above it but that would have only raised the living footage be a few hundred. Our expectations have become higher over the last few generatations.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 08-20-2010, 01:59 PM
 
365 posts, read 1,207,078 times
Reputation: 576
I grew up in a family of 6 living in a 1300 sq. ft. house (1 1/2 bathrooms!). Of course, we didn't have much money to buy stuff, so we didn't need many places to put it.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 08-20-2010, 02:14 PM
 
6,297 posts, read 16,069,777 times
Reputation: 4846
Hah! Gotcha beat! Raised in family of 8; 1500-square-foot home (built in 1910), 1 bathroom for most of the time, then they added a half-bath. (3 bedrooms: 3 boys in one, 3 girls in another, and parents' room.) No garage. FT mom at home. Private elementary school. We were an active, happy family. No one ever told us we were missing anything.

I don't know HOW we did it, but we also survived without granite countertops or stainless steel appliances!!! Imagine!


Quote:
My parents raised their family of 6 in a 2173 square feet with a one car garage. My mom would have preferred to have had a 2 car garage and room above it but that would have only raised the living footage be a few hundred. Our expectations have become higher over the last few generatations.
Quote:
I grew up in a family of 6 living in a 1300 sq. ft. house (1 1/2 bathrooms!). Of course, we didn't have much money to buy stuff, so we didn't need many places to put it.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 08-20-2010, 02:34 PM
 
116 posts, read 366,317 times
Reputation: 72
I don't think anyone said you can't raise a family of 8 in a 1500 sq ft house. Just, if you have the money for a 4000 sq ft house, why not upgrade.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.

Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.


Reply
Please update this thread with any new information or opinions. This open thread is still read by thousands of people, so we encourage all additional points of view.

Quick Reply
Message:



Over $104,000 in prizes was already given out to active posters on our forum and additional giveaways are planned!

Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > North Carolina > Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill, Cary
Similar Threads

All times are GMT -6. The time now is 05:02 AM.

© 2005-2024, Advameg, Inc. · Please obey Forum Rules · Terms of Use and Privacy Policy · Bug Bounty

City-Data.com - Contact Us - Archive 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37 - Top