Thoughts on this place in MLT?

[perfectfire]

[perfectfire]

[ira s]

Sorry for offending your 300 sq ft home, I'm not going to bother elaborating a point which you're not interested in.

I'll translate:
I think Westside Billy meant to say 3000 sq ft, not 300.

[EconE]

[Lake Hills Renter]

[rose-colored-coolaid]

perfectfire, is the point to all this that you grew up in a really small house, or that you currently have a really big house? I don't quite get it.

EconE is right about the wants vs needs thing. There are several examples out there of people living in "microhousing" solutions (less than 300 sq ft for two people, for instance).

Regarding your complaints about my argument of utilization, please allow me to elaborate. Current utilization is set by both the actual *needs of the resident and societal norms. You need to eat, the societal norm is that you purchase groceries on a regularly spaced schedule and then prepare the meal at a later time, ergo you need a kitchen regardless of how many people live in your house. Other societies operate differently, but their communities are also structured differently. If the expectation is that nobody has a refrigerator (many poorer areas), then you will live near (within walking distance usually) of a market where fresh meat can be purchased the day it is to be used. In Europe, for example, many people live in smaller homes, but they also tend to have small local grocery stores so that on the way home (walk from subway perhaps) it's convenient to stop by and pick up a loaf of bread or a carton of milk. If that's the world you live in, then having a fully stocked American style kitchen is indeed wasteful, but it's really just a different norm.

That's why I won't berate a single who buys an 1100 sq ft house. As was pointed out earlier, his only other SFH option was a 950 sq ft house. Sure, you can argue that he doesn't need a SFH at all, but then nobody actually does. Owning the ground under your feet is something our society values (there I go, talking about societal norms again) and so it's unsurprising to find a person within that society who has the same values. Particularly if they have concerns about the community costs associated with the alternatives (HOA dues, emergency funds raising votes).


Which brings us to why McMansions are worthy of such scorn, even if five whole people are living in one. The premise of a McMansion takes many of the least agreeable aspects of our society and emphasizes them to the breaking point. Many people are uncomfortable with the rat-race American society has become, but owners of McMansions seem to be saying "look at me, look at what a big rat I've become!" Second, the McMansion emphasizes the loss of community that many Americans feel. Forty years ago, it was common for people to spend much more time outside their homes, which meant they got to chat with neighbors across the fence. But when you put a 4,000 sq ft home on a 5,200 sq ft lot, you don't even have a yard anymore. You're ostensibly saying to the whole world "STAY OUT!!" Finally, the McMansion pulls off the feat of combining what many people consider to be the worst aspect of living in a city with the worst aspects of living in the suburbs. It creates a community as densely built up as any multifamily living situation (condos/townhomes), but at the same time you're still clogging the streets to get to work in the city centers. Most people probably can't put it at words, but those are at least some of the essential reasons McMansions make us sick.

You can't really apply any of the same arguments to a single guy in a 1000 sq ft home. He's just a family guy who never actually got married or had kids.


* note, "needs" for this conversation will relate to those things which for the price make a person's life more comfortable rather than less.

[dls]

It's been interesting to follow the responses to the my original post. Ira, Jillayne, DL, thanks for your objective comments.

Angie, Whether or not a single person, guy or gal, (I know SFH owners of both genders) 'needs' a single family home is a personal decision. I don't like listening to the neighbors stomping on the stairs, slamming their doors, blasting their music through the walls. An SFH provides some relief from these issues (not perfect I know). Basic grounds and house maintenance doesn't bother me, I've taken care of my folk's yards, painted their houses, and performed basic maintenance and repair work. I do have an understanding of what is required to keep up a property.

One thing I've not seen anyone mention is that what a person wants does not always jib with what is available. Yes, a 3br place is a bit more than I need, but the 2br places (on smaller but acceptable lots) are either old worn out junk, or in expensive places such as the Edmonds bowel, so, one has to balance one's wants with what one can afford. The house I posted the link to is on the smaller end of what is available in the MLT/Lynnwood/Edmonds area of South Snohomish county. For personal and work reasons I prefer South SnoCo over North King county. Mukilteo and South Everett are thoughts (close to work) but Mukiteo is somewhat too expensive for me and I'm having difficulty judging whether Everett is growing, declining, or just somewhat coasting. Shoreline isn't out of the picture, but I've yet seen anything there (SFH) that looks better than what I see in So. SnoCo, so I might as well stay north of the county line and save a bit on taxes (I am assuming folks outside of King county won't be taxed for the viaduct replacement tunnel). Thanks for all your comments, always good to get somebody else's point of view.

[davidlosh@davidlosh.com]

I'll go to the point. What you want and need are two different things. People come to me all the time with what they want and I say no.

You're 48 with a job and want to move after retirement. Most people do want to move unless they have family ties. One of the things I worked on for a long time was getting people to retire to say South America or Morocco.

Your Social Security check would go further there than in the United States. For that matter if you netted $10K after expenses for your living situation those would be dollars ahead for you.

Most people don't want the inconvenience of making money with Real Estate. People want to go to a foreclosure auction then sell a home for $100K net profit. It does happen

The reality is you probably want a nice place to live with a payment comparable to rent. The reality is that if there was a way to come out ahead you will need to make sacrifices.

[dls]

So, the house I originally posted the link to is now no longer listed. The Redfin message says it is no longer listed, I read that as it has been taken of the market, not sold (I could be wrong), interesting.

[ira s]

dls,
It's gone "pending inspection."

[jjl]

Don't leave out Brier in your search.

Brier has much better resale value than MLT. Two ramblers just came on the market:

http://www.redfin.com/WA/Brier/22416-32 ... me/2680791

http://www.redfin.com/WA/Brier/3605-233 ... me/2764281