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.
Granite didn't used to be priced the way it is now. Now people have moved on to the next countertop of the week - what is it quartz? Soon granite will be shunned like formica. Fads happen all the time, but when you're talking about a fad that costs you thousands and thousands of dollars to keep up with, that's craziness. Especially when you rip out a perfectly functional kitchen just to keep up with the joneses.
Life in the past doesn't shape current reality.
Granite used to be expensive.
Yup. And 720p 50" TVs used to cost $7000. Should we all be collecting the free CRT TVs from Craigslist because 12 years ago 720p 50" TVs cost $7000?
Shunning of granite has been predicted for many years. It hasn't been getting a lot of traction, from what I can see.
Quote:
Originally Posted by m378
You and I both know that 1800/sf single fam in W. Cary is not an easy feat.
Life in the past doesn't shape current reality.
Granite used to be expensive.
Yup. And 720p 50" TVs used to cost $7000. Should we all be collecting the free CRT TVs from Craigslist because 12 years ago 720p 50" TVs cost $7000?
Shunning of granite has been predicted for many years. It hasn't been getting a lot of traction, from what I can see.
Once again not understanding your analogy. I don't see the cost of kitchens/houses decreasing. TV's on the other hand...
Why would I buy a CRT when it's more expensive than a 50" LED? Not the same can be said for houses. I also don't throw away my perfectly good and functional 50", just to get a 60". But if I did, it's under 1000 dollars, not many many thousands.
It's your job to not be judgmental with people's buying choices. I understand.
Once again not understanding your analogy. I don't see the cost of kitchens/houses decreasing. TV's on the other hand...
Why would I buy a CRT when it's more expensive than a 50" LED? Not the same can be said for houses. I also don't throw away my perfectly good and functional 50", just to get a 60". But if I did, it's under 1000 dollars, not many many thousands.
To me it's a mass produced house in a neighborhood of mass produced houses where they all look the same and are usually not in keeping with local housing stock styles. HOWEVER, they can also be a stand alone house that is also out of keeping with the neighborhood, saw a lot of that in NY. There was one down the street from me....it actually wasn't particularly big, but it threw in every architectural and design detail you can think of. I mean, every.single.one - inside and out (house had about 40 square feet of usable property outside the house and they still managed a trellis, arbor, topiary-styled trees, etc etc). It gave one a headache just to look at it.
Jealousy is a tired old argument for anyone who doesn't agree with the keeping up with the Joneses mentality. In this case, it really makes no sense, because there are plenty of cheap/inexpensive McMansion neighborhoods in this world. It also begs the question, just because something costs "x" number of dollars, does that mean it's really worth it? The next RE crash is going to put the hurt on some areas of the Triangle, big time. $500K for a Pulte house? Let's see how that goes.
As Sheena said, a "used" McMansion has little charm to subsequent would-be owners.
Well, see... this is what I THOUGHT a McMansion was until I spent time on City-Data.
Apparently, if your house is more than X square feet or X price or not "unique" enough? It's a McMansion on here.
So, your house is one and so is mine.
By the logic of this forum.
__________________
When in doubt, check it out: FAQ
Coincidentally, I was riding bikes with a buddy, in West Cary in the area you mention, and we had a discussion about McMansions. He had listened to some podcast (he's an avid podcast guy) about McMansions, and was noticing some of the things they said. I didn't hear it, but I think they focused a lot on the cheap construction and things like the many mis-matched windows on the house, and the multiple, and unnecessary roof lines. One of the points he said they made is it was much about people trying to get the most square footage (eg: "prestige") they could, out of their dollars, with less focus on quality or actual utility and livable space. As we rode around and looked at houses and talked about it, it made a lot of sense.
Ironically, the conclusion of our observation was that people who LIVE IN McMansions are usually the people who can't afford them.
No... they cannot afford "mansions." They can afford McMansions.
__________________
When in doubt, check it out: FAQ
I guess I’m saying I’ve never heard of a single person living in these houses so my question is “what kind of house should a family live in”. Do we all have to live in ranchers? Is that the acceptable house? Apartments?
.
My neighbor was a single lady living in a 2500 square foot house (she has since married but they have no kids). Did i think it was an odd purchase? Yup. Still do. But it's her life and if she wants to, she can live in a suburban neighborhood where I am pretty sure she was the only single person here before she got married. Are we in McMansionville? Not by today's standards. Maybe when it was built, although the houses are not all exactly the same (they weren't built by the same builder either).
Families can live in whatever kind of house they want to live in. I used to work in Massapequa, NY....I worked with people who had gone to high school with the Baldwin brothers (Alec, Billy, Stephen, Daniel) and one day one of my co-workers showed me the house they grew up in (by the way there are two sisters, so 6 kids all together). I would venture to guess this was a 3 BR house, Cape Cod style with master down, 2 BR up, maybe a finished basement. Their dad was a gym teacher. I'm sure none of them want to repeat that experience for their kids, but it worked because it had to.
I grew up with a girl who was one of 5 kids - oldest was a boy and the rest were girls. The lived in a two bedroom house. Boy slept in the den till he was a teenager then moved to the basement. Girls shared ONE bedroom. It was a disastrous as you might imagine, but they did it.
Wants and needs. Sometimes they coincide, sometimes they don't.
As far as granite and stainless, people have been predicting their demise for at least 15 years....granites isn't gone anywhere - people are realizing there are other solid surfaces like quartz but bottom line is a stone surface can last a lifetime so for practically the same money people are going to go with that over Formica. We had friends that did their kitchen in NY were singing the praises of the Formica they chose and it did look nice, but when we went to price out our kitchen it negligibly cheaper than granite (or Silestone which we ultimately chose). Penny wise and pound foolish. Hype goes both ways.
Kitchen
Den
Living room
Master bed room
2 kids room
A guest room
A bonus room/space
Seems reasonable to me???
What happens when you have inlaws who visit for months at a time from overseas or live with you and take care of the kids while you and your spouse work?
What happens when you and your spouse both wind up taking jobs with remote work options and you need home offices (plural) because you need quiet to take calls during your workday?
What about when your kids get older and larger and are hanging out at your place with their older and larger friends?
What about when you have more than 2 cars and a 2-car garage won't hold them and your street is too narrow to park cars on the street and your driveway isn't long enough to park extra cars in it?
What if you actually do throw a lot of parties and need extra space?
So many reasons why people buy whatever it is they want to buy.
It's really none of my business why they pick it. You could not buy my current home for 300k in Cary.
I have lived in homes that were less than 300k, though. It really does depend on your use case.
__________________
When in doubt, check it out: FAQ
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.
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.
