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I live in one 5 bedroom, 4.5 bath. It fits the needs of where we need to live... good schools, safety, and proximity to my husband's job. There were not a lot of non-cookie cutter options in this area. I don't love this house. My last house was a custom build of better quality workmanship, better quality upgrades and of course, our own design. I know plenty of people who think these houses are awesome. I have to remind myself to be grateful that we have what we have.
For the people who love these houses, I think a lot are first time home owners. To them, any granite is awesome. They don't notice the quality of the house because they don't know better. The houses are aesthetically pleasing in some ways. I see a lot of mixed architecture and cheap materials. I notice when builders take short-cuts.
The McMansion term came about in my area only referring to the houses that have been torn down and rebuilt much larger, to their building lines, so they almost topple on top of the smaller, older homes. These homes are sometimes 2-3 times the size of the existing homes in the neighborhood.
Large homes in suburban neighborhoods that might look the exact same are not referred to as McMansions.
I've heard both, in my area, referred to as McMansions. There IS the McMansion ordinance which refers to what you're talking about, but the term has been used for donkey's years here in Central Texas to refer to large houses on small lots in subdivisions where they're all alike. The McMansion Ordinance was named after them, to keep people from turning central city neighborhoods into something like those, not vice versa.
Ohio_peasant....not many of us could afford those lovely custom built mansions now could we?
in the meantime, i guess its not too bad to try to want those amenities.....also not sure if it is prudent to spend that much on a new custom built real mansion in the kind of real estate times we live in.
The point is that if the genuine article is beyond our reach, then we shouldn't aspire to surrogates. I can't afford a Rolls Royce (OK, I can, but it would be a stupid purchase). So I don't buy a Chevy Cavalier and then install fiberglass body-cladding to superficially resemble the body-lines of a Rolls Royce. Instead I buy a Camry, and maybe splurge on the V6 engine option.
Deep in the American psyche is the belief that if any man works sufficiently hard, he too can become a king. But real kings are few. It's one thing to treat oneself to prized luxuries. It's quite another to plaster a veneer of privilege, exclusivity and nobility, while the underlying reality remains pedestrian and meager. I see the same thing in the "New Russians", who "privatized" state resources after the USSR collapsed in the early 1990s. Almost invariably, they have poor taste, making ostentatious purchase and frittering away their money. But unlike in the US, such people are reviled in Russia, both for their rapacity and their boorishness. In America they would be extolled as rags-to-riches shrewd businessmen.
Along similar lines, the American middle-class is "strapped" not because milk and eggs and home heating-oil have become unaffordable, but because consumers are seduced into buying all sorts of crap - not the least of which is McMansions. If we were content to live in 2015 like we lived in 1915, pocketing the resulting savings, would we still be cash-strapped?
This is my dream home. Not this exact house but the style of house. You could not get that around here for less than a 1,5 millions or more. That's probably why I will end up buying a Mcmansion in the suburbs.
Exactly what IS a "McMansion"?
HMMM...
Perhaps I live in one!
3 bedrooms and a den (could be fourth bedroom), 1 3/4 bath, single level, 2 car garage, large deck, on 1 2/3 acres, with combination 2 stall shop, hay barn, and 2 horse stalls.
Could that be considered a "McMansion"?
You can call it what you will, we call it "home"!
I like it because there is no HOA, very few CCRs (and nobody to enforce them), and it is 5 miles outside the City Limits! I can keep my RV at home, I can overhaul a vehicle in the driveway, and nobody will ever tell me I can not install any radio antenna I can afford (I have a Ham license!)
Definitely not a McMansion. Sounds like a great spread to me
I would say that a lot of people do, at least enough so that style house is certainly amongst the popular choices that many folks are choosing when they are buying a house.
I think that the most common definition, that of a developer built house, pumped up a bit with some extra square footage and volume space- especially at the entry way- both outside and in (Texas and Florida are especially full of oddly proportioned and scaled entryways- just plain wrong to my eyes) a few slapped on veneer surfaces on the outside that evoke "luxury" (but not on the side or back elevations) and the ubiquitous "you've got yer granite" upgraded materials here and there on the inside. All in a house with the same average- if you are lucky- build quality of a starter home.
I'd say there is nothing inherently "wrong" with that type of house, aspiring for one or living in one. You should buy what ever works for you and your family, and if it also satisfies some aesthetic notions in your mind of what a house should be all the better.
I'm more of the Not so Large House crowd. Give me a smaller, thoughtfully designed, well crafted and detailed house settled comfortably in its landscape and garden, with mature trees and its own unique style over a pumped up box with styrofoam Corinthian columns any day. But then I have to give up space, rooms, garages bays and 30' ceiling dual stairway entryways. I can live with that.
And as far as being jealous because we can't afford them, my modest 1800 s.f. '20s Spanish cottage on its compact urban lot easily out prices a new McMansion three times its size out in the 'burbs.
If you've ever been in a real mansion, you'd see all the luxuries it has to offer right down to the intricate designs on the marble tile in the guest bathroom wall. You'd see the 3rd floor ceiling and skylights from the 1st floor living space.
We live in a newer build and I like it because it is modern and spacious for our needs. It is by no means over the top, but again the best feature is "new and modern". As for judged to be too large for its parcel, I'd need a definitive ratio for that - the plots here are never large given that we live on an island, and we have building code restrictions including property line setbacks and how tall it can be.
"McMansion" is indeed a derogatory term that nobody who lives in a newer home would ever use to describe their own home. That tells you what kind of people would use it.
I'll go with OP. Our last two homes before our recent downsizing were McMansions averaging 3500 SqFt.
We really enjoyed them while we had a growing family, but when the family started heading in different directions, it was time to start changing how we spent our housing dollars.
If we still had all the kids at home with us, I'd have another McMansion in a heartbeat!
This is my dream home. Not this exact house but the style of house. You could not get that around here for less than a 1,5 millions or more. That's probably why I will end up buying a Mcmansion in the suburbs.
Your dream home isn't brand new, is it. That looks to be an older home which has been rehabbed.
I like my 63 yo rambler with walkout basement on .5 ac. As for the cookie cutter aspect, there are two other houses like mine in the neighborhood. The house next door and the one across the street. My neighborhood was built by people who bought parcels of land and built houses on them. You may find one or two houses with similar exteriors but different floor plans. 99% of the houses are solid masonry. We are 10 miles, at the most, from the White House.
I have been in McMansions and my years in the construction trades took me through many. They would have been built better 30 years ago by those who spoke English. 2x4s are giving way to 2x3s, pressed particleboard replaces plywood, corners are cut and illegals do most of the work. I learned from older Americans, no one teaches the illegals the correct methods to build.
A few years back I lost a job and had to turn to construction for a couple of years to eat. I installed flooring - anything but carpet.
Here is what McMansions are to me. Everything in those houses, floors, fixtures, doors, sinks, faucets, etc is basically builder grade. We put hardwood floors in some of them but not like I have in my house. The stuff we installed was prefinished crap made by Bruce. The telltale sign is the beveled edges between the individual strips, unlike unfinished floors which are sanded and sealed. The latter is more expensive but a better product and lasts for years. I recommend anyone spending over $200K having it installed instead of prefinished. It's like comparing an off the rack suit to a tailored one. The prefinished stuff can be junk in a few years as the finish is like baked on crayon wax. Any who have it know exactly what I mean. Your kids and dogs will shred it in a few short years whereas an oak floor sanded and sealed with varnish/urethane will last decades. Mine have never been refinished and I don't see it needing it unless someone wears metal cleats or golf shoes on it. Not on my watch! The dog can't hurt it.
Granite? You can have it. I love my vintage laminate countertops. They don't make a repro of mine, I have looked. Take care of it and it lasts forever. My kitchen isn't as big as a bedroom either, what for? It's big enough for me and another with a breakfast table. Big unwieldy island? For what?
The passageways to my living room have arches; not the crap ones in new houses, they are good quality. A buddy of mine who does construction told me he couldn't replicate them. My living room/dining room walls and ceilings are textured like stucco but different. My buddy is puzzled over how it was done as he wants it in his early 20th century home.
My upstairs bath has vintage 1x1" tile on the floor and 4x4 on the walls 4' high except in the tub where it goes to the ceiling. It is typical 50s colors, black, white and light blue. I have an old American Standard toilet with huge tank. All of my fixtures, sink and tub are American Standard from that era. My downstairs bath was put in during the 60s so has a VCT floor, American standard sink and fixtures. I redid the shower - no tub - so it is a freestanding glass stall on a pedestal. I put in a new Jacuzzi toilet. It's not bad for 12' below street level. I have a full sized laundry room in the basement. Gotta paint it.
I have a 30x15 Florida room as well.
A 1/2 ac of former farmland with Zoysia makes for a nice lawn. Gotta have a lawn tractor. Everyone here does.
My total square footage in the house is roughly 3500' and I consider that too much. A guy down the street has my ideal house with roughly the same layout but no basement; around 3K'.
When I got the house it had a cedar shaker front around the windows and door as well as the gables which had been painted 20 different colors over the years. I removed that and put vinyl siding up in a tan color with Hershey chocolate brown gutters and shutterrs. I had a gold colored roof put on a couple of times now - architect shingles next - and my house is quite distinctive from the two mirrors around me. Garages weren't a priority back then so I don't have one as of now. I need to cut a new driveway around the back to accommodate one. It's an ongoing project.
Good thing HOAs didn't exist then or now around here. I can work on my car in my driveway and the guy down the street has a military grade shortwave setup with 3 antenna towers.
McMansion as a derogatory term started at the same time as the middle class started to contract, to give a scent of taint on decent large size newer houses to push people to either accept less of everything in their life (since 'the media' was making fun of people trying to move up in the world into these 'atrocities') or to return to the city centers via condos and public transportation in the Clintonesque Democratic Utopia.
Just read any post in this thread by eyeb or ohio_peasant for examples of the 'keep in your place, don't get uppity unless you are wealthy like me' mindset.
Terms like McMansion are coined as social engineering tools, just like the concept of 'jaywalking' was.
This is my dream home. Not this exact house but the style of house. You could not get that around here for less than a 1,5 millions or more. That's probably why I will end up buying a Mcmansion in the suburbs.
Your dream home isn't brand new, is it? It looks to be an older home which has been rehabbed ala "This Old House". Cool. The powerline/phone pole gives it away.
I like my 63 yo rambler with walkout basement on .5 ac. As for the cookie cutter aspect, there are two other houses like mine in the neighborhood. The house next door and the one across the street. My neighborhood was built by people who bought parcels of land and built houses on them. You may find one or two houses with similar exteriors but different floor plans. 99% of the houses are solid masonry. We are 10 miles, at the most, from the White House.
I have been in McMansions and my years in the construction trades took me through many. They would have been built better 35 years ago by those who spoke English. 2x4s are giving way to 2x3s, pressed particleboard replaces plywood, corners are cut and illegals do most of the work. I learned from older Americans, no one teaches illegals the correct methods to build to code.
A few years back I lost a job and had to turn to construction for a couple of years to eat. I installed flooring - anything but carpet.
What McMansions are to me. Everything in those houses, floors, fixtures, doors, sinks, faucets, etc is basically builder grade. We put hardwood floors in some of them but not like I have in my house. The stuff we installed was prefinished crap made by Bruce. The telltale sign is the beveled edges between the individual strips, unlike unfinished floors which are sanded and sealed. The latter is more expensive but a better product and lasts for years. I recommend anyone spending over $200K having it installed instead of prefinished. It's like comparing an off the rack suit to a tailored one. The prefinished stuff can be junk in a few years as the finish is like baked on crayon wax. Any who have it know exactly what I mean. Your kids and dogs will shred it in a few short years whereas an oak floor sanded and sealed with varnish/urethane will last decades. Mine have never been refinished and I don't see it needing it unless someone wears metal cleats or golf shoes on it. Not on my watch! The dog can't hurt it.
Granite? You can have it. I love my vintage laminate countertops. They don't make a repro of mine, I have looked. Take care of it and it lasts forever. My kitchen isn't as big as a bedroom either, what for? It's large enough for me and another with a breakfast table. Big unwieldy island? For what?
The passageways to my living room have arches and not the crap ones in new houses, they are good quality- art. A buddy of mine who does construction told me he couldn't replicate them. My living room/dining room walls and ceilings are textured like stucco but different. My buddy is puzzled over how it was done as he wants it in his early 20th century home.
My upstairs bath has vintage 1x1" tile on the floor and 4x4 on the walls 4' high except in the tub where it goes to the ceiling. It is typical 50s colors, black, white and light blue. I have an old American Standard toilet with huge tank. All of my fixtures, sink and tub are American Standard from that era. My downstairs bath was put in during the 60s so has a VCT floor, American standard sink and fixtures. I redid the shower - no tub - so it is a freestanding glass stall on a pedestal. I put in a new Jacuzzi toilet. It's not bad for 12' below street level. I have a full sized laundry room in the basement. Gotta paint it.
I have a 30x15 Florida room as well.
A 1/2 ac of former farmland with Zoysia makes for a nice lawn. Gotta have a lawn tractor. Everyone here does.
My total square footage in the house is roughly 3500' and I consider that too much. A guy down the street has my ideal house with roughly the same layout but no basement; around 3K'.
When I got the house it had a cedar shaker front around the windows and door as well as the gables which had been painted 20 different colors over the years. I removed that and put vinyl siding up in a tan color with Hershey chocolate brown gutters and shutterrs. I had a gold colored roof put on a couple of times now - architect shingles next - and my house is quite distinctive from the two mirrors around me. Garages weren't a priority back then so I don't have one as of now. I need to cut a new driveway around the back to accommodate one. It's an ongoing project.
Good thing HOAs didn't exist then or now around here. I can work on my car in my driveway and the guy down the street has a military grade shortwave setup with 3 antenna towers.
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