changing American homes

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The topic of change, and how we deal with it was brought up a few days ago, and it sparked my mind onto something that really bothers me, and I don't know why. It's the change in American homes I see while driving around.

Around in these parts, the brick rancher was one of the most common style homes that were built back in the fifties, sixties, and seventies. There are millions of them around. When someone says "house" this is what I think of. I guess I am attached to this style home because I lived in one, but the landscape is changing. To me, it's sort of the traditional middle class home, the castle for millions of Americans, if you will. Sure, there are other types of homes, but it seemed to me that this is the type of house that most Americans worked to achieve.

I was traveling near Fairfax VA, an area with an ultra-hot real estate market right now, and saw something traumatic that has stuck with me. On the side of the road was a classic style brick rancher like i was describing above. The only thing was it's windows were boarded up, and the grass was growing unkempt in it's front yard between it's mature trees. Behind it, a dirt road was cut on what used to be it's driveway and it headed into the woods behind. The trees in the woods were quickly falling, and in their place, these huge, gargantuan 2 and 3 story colonial homes covered in plastic siding were being erected. They dwarfed the modest, and sad little rancher sitting in front of them. As I continued up the street, an even more traumatic fate became of another rancher, as a bulldozer sat perched atop a pile of brick rubble and lumber like it was proud of it's accomplishment or something.

When I saw these homes in these conditions a bunch of thoughts raced through my mind. First, I thought about a young couple looking at plans, getting excited about their new home, and then watching the builders erect it on their piece of paradise they had picked out. I then thought about their children living in the home, playing, having fun, and a family having a lovingly prepared dinner together in the kitchen. I saw a lawn outside that was meticulously maintained and adorned with all sorts of flowers and other landscaping. I also saw cookouts in the bck yard, kids playing ball. I thought of a father who was relentless in maitaining the home with fresh paint, and a mother who carefully cleaned...both of them working hard to keep their pride & joy in perfect, beautiful shape

I then thought of how the family was as the kids got older and went to college and the home became an empty nest, yet the parents continued to maintain it, even as the kids came back and established familes of their own, and went off to live in their own little ranchers. Then came the day when a real-estate company approached them with an offer for their pride & joy that they couldn't refuse, and they took it. All those memories, all that hard work gone with the stroke of the pen, and the growl of a diesel engine.

That bulldozer operator, and that real estate agent don't care about the memories inside that home, and they don't care about how well the place was maintaine over the years...it's in their way, in the way of progress.

Why do this bothe me? I'm not really quite sure. I guess because it breaks my notion of what I learned the "normal" life is about, and what everyone strives for. I guess it's also because I now see that this is not what Americans want anymore. They don't want a modest little house like this, they want a huge mansion in a planned community.

I've visitied these types of new homes in my job, and there's just something there that doesn't seem like home inside. They seem sort of sterile with their corian and stainless-steel kitchens. I sort of prefer the warmer look of the wooden cabinets in the old ranchers with a lower ceiling. The living rooms are also huge, with blindingly white painted walls, which is in stark contrast to the wood-paneled living room I remember growing up in that gave the room a warm, comfortable feel. These big huge new homes don't really feel like a home to me, but more like a place of business, an office if you will. Outside, Dad doesn't take care of the yard, a landscaping company does. it doesn't have the personal touch that comes with someone doing the work themselves. All the homes have the same exact landscaping. Within these homes, the windows are never opened to let in the warm summer breeze, and the sounds of birds chirping. becasue they have central air contidioning creating an artifical environment. The same heat pump system blows chilling air around during the winter...there's not warm radiators, or wood fireplaces to warm up to on a cold day.

Is this they way people like to live? in a place that just totally lacks personality, character, and the warm, comforting feel of "home"? I guess it's this change that's bothering me about these homes...the American way of life is changing...or I guess people are living beyond their means to sort of prove something with their home, versus just trying to get a nice place they would be comfortable in. To me the abandoment and destruction of these modest homes I saw was sort of saying to me that a happy, comfortable modest home is not good good enough, and not what people want nowadays. It sort of says to me that Americans have abandoned having nice comfortable places to live, and to raise their kids. They want bigger, flashier, places to show off, not so much to live in and make a home out of.

My hat is off to you for recognizing this fast-becoming trend..Splendid and accurate writing of what is seen all over our once-all-american-apple-pie-play-tag-in-the-street days.. I am so saddened when I see these huge homes and subdivisions sprawled where farmers once owned land for growing corn, hay, soybeans, etc. where we could walk along the road without cars flying by us. Wher the farmhouse stood proud, and all neigbors were equal. The beauty of the land, the barns, the freshly painted homes welcomed all who drove by..Now, as you stated so perfectly, we have mansions beside a small 1950's home, and the social status becomes painfully obvious. Families are smaller, yet homes are bigger than they have ever been.I don't know how they make these huge payments....My dream home is an old farmhouse, with the the integrity, patina, and construction of the good ol' days...I absolutely agree with your insight of the way things are changin, and I am not pleased with these changes..It just does not make sense to me...There may be a day when house recession occurs, where folks do'nt have the ability to avoid foreclosures, and no one will be able to buy these huge homes...What a shame..Whenever I see Mayberry on t.v., I feel I was born in the wrong decade, as thse small towns had the charm and warmth that is missing today.. An excellent observation on your part! Splendid...

I agree with you that the McMansions are getting way out of control. It's a symptom of a bigger problem of people living outside their means. It's very prevelent here in Dallas where huge houses all look the same, the restraunts all pretty much serve the same food, and all our kids are in soccer. We are no longer trying to keep up with the Joneses...we're trying to out pace them. We are all trying to build our own "eutopia."

I think it's only natural to want to succeed and to provide a better life to our children than what we had. Although, it should be done realistically and within a family's budget. Unfortunately, our current society has not been very good about teaching our children about responsible spending. However, there will come a time when we will have to deal with this problem, and it's not going to be pretty.

In the meantime, I own a house that is 1555 sf., save for retirement, give back to G_d and my community through time, talent and tithing, paint my stark white walls with warm tones, take care of my own landscaping, take my son hiking and camping every chance I get so he can learn the importance of "natural" nature, and teach him about money and how the world really works so he'll be prepared when he goes out on his own.

It bothers me. It saddens me when I see it and I see it everyday as part of my work. I realy do not get the huge house thing they are sterile and I could never imagine growing up in one. I think its more about showing off than anything else I mean who needs 6 bathrooms. I once worked on a house the people paid 750,000 dollars for then tore it down to build a 2.5 million dollar house.
My favorite type of work is when people are fixing up an old house to its orginal condtion just adding modern convences I like to think of it makeing the house happy.My brothers house I spent off and on over 3 months painting and fixing it to be sold only to see it gutted and stripped. It was the house I grew up in it made me feel like my memories where torn way All I have now is pictures. And as far as planned communities go I'd be the first to be kicked out .

AV Geek, you have quite a way with words!! You brought me right back to my childhood, to the little brick rancher I spent the best and first 15 years of my life in. Some houses on our street were two story, many were one, but all had brick on the first floor facade at least. Ours was all brick, except the shutters and trim. You woke up Saturday mornings to the sounds of all the neighbor dads running mowers. I am glad to have grown up then.

When I looked for my first home I wanted something with charm and character. Hubby wanted low maintenance. We looked at new construction, but it left me cold. We ended up buying a 30 year old brick rancher, with spanish architecture. We've done some work inside, and I've tried to remain true to the design of the home (despite the fact that neither me nor my husband is of spanish origin). We live in a neighborhood of people who take pride in their property and for the most part do all of their own work.

It has to affect they way you think, feel, and behave. My friend got married and bought one of those huge cold impersonal buildings on the other side of town. She had a housewarming, and I was sitting next to her mother who commented to me "nothing could warm this house up". She was right. I felt like I was sitting in the waiting room at the doctor's, not in a friend's living room.

On top of that, her house payment is twice what mine is. She wants kids, and wonders how we can afford to have one parent stay at home. That mortgage payment would go a long way towards that income. I doubt I'll be moving anytime soon.

I look at some of the newer neighborhoods here in Rochester and wonder how people can put up with it. The CC&Rs alone would kill me let alone the mortgage payment. At least with my condo, I do up the inside any way I want and I have some interesting plans for it too. Not all would agree with I am sure that hardwood floors or laminate would beat carpeting in the dining room any day.

When I move, I know there there are the type or ranch houses that the earier posters talked about here in Rochester and I intend to move to those areas. In fact, if I want a house out of my reach, I will move to Pill Hill (Plummer Hill to those who do not know the area). At least those houses have character instead of the bland all places look alike and all residents act alike.

To be honest, people like everything to be the same. That is why they are moving to these subdivisions in droves and why the CC&Rs and McMansions are so popular. It is just the american way is for everyone to act, work, and think alike and that is working. It is ingrained into most people during the school years and most people stick with it.

I grew up in a 1250sq/ft ranch home that was built in 1953.

I grew up during a watershed era in our society. I was born right before the start of the technology boom, and came of age right at the start and saw a giant transformation take place.

I can remember when our house had a 60amp electrical service in it, we only had one TV, a stereo, record player, tape deck, and a radio in the kitchen and we all got by just fine.

Then the technology happened. And suddenly people saw what could be possible, and now life is now a race to see who can get the most the quickest.

That's why we no longer have 1200sq/ft houses. That's why homes no longer have windows that open. Why open a window when you have no time to enjoy the outside air!

I find it very disconcerting. Maybe it's just my memory of life before all of this happened, but I don't understand this fanciful drive that people undertake. I don't have a cell phone, I don't have a credit card or any of the other things that in vouge and I survive just fine.

I think you guys have struck a chord with why I find the sight of the abandoned homes so disturbing. That brick rancher I grew up in meant many things to me. It was more than just a retreat from the relentless bullying I suffered through school. In my mind, the place was really paradise.

I got along pretty good with some of the other neighborhood kids, and the backyard served many things in my playing with them from a ball field, race track, construction zone, battlefield, among others.

I remember going to sleep on summer nights, with the warm breese coming through my bedroom window, carrying with it the sounds of crickets, frogs and other night creatures seranading me.

I remember gathering around the living room fireplace on cold winter evenings, cooking moon pies and s'mores and watching TV or listening to music with the rest of the family.

I remember listening to music with Dad on his old Fisher stereo system, just sitting back, relaxing and listening to the warm sound coming from the speakers.

I remember how busy the house would become with extended family, and I got to see all my cousins, granparents, aunts & uncles. Mom, of course would fix up all her favorite treats to feed the family, and we'd sit around chatting about all sorts of things.

Every year, I would climb higher and higher in the big maple tree in the front yard, would get so high, I could see over the roof of the house!

Seeing these homes go under the bulldozer sort of says to me that people don't want simple, enjoyable things like this anymore. It also seems to say to me that these things are not a part of my life anymore. I'm not a kid anymore, and life has moved on. Well, my own home is an older home built 50 years ago, and around it sits mature trees and landscaping. I'm listening to the birds chirping outside and stuff. So I'm re-assured that paradise in suburbia really does still exist...it's just not in these new McMansions!

I think a lot of people get caught up in the rat race of life and forget about the simple pleasures. I don't think they mean to forget; it just happens. It's so easy to get pulled into everything, especially when you have children. You want them to learn so much: sports, music, scouts, etc. Before you know it your calendar could rival the President's. I know I'm constantly reminding myself to slow down.

I don't know why you would think that the simple things are not a part of your life anymore. It's your life and you get to create it they way you want it to be whether it be slow paced or fast paced. Those old memories of yours are great, and you always have the opportunity to make more. Perhaps a little different but still very endearing.

I can understand those memories, but home has always had more negative than positive associations for me. As a kid, I lived in an apartment, inside a plain-looking apartment building. My home felt more like boot camp than a home. My current house isn't much better; my parents constantly ransack my room, rearrange all my things, and throw away my prized posessions. When I confront them about it, they either ignore me or yell at me.

So if I moved out of my house, and then saw it being torn down and the rubble being hauled away, I'd think "what a wasteful use of salvageable material", rather than "oh, the memories".

In the city I live in, all the McMansions or what-not are being thrown up way out in the suburbs or in a planned community beside the Mississippi River. I know one thing. I would not envy them if we had a tornado because those flimsy homes would be blown to bits. Yet people spend ridiculous money on those cheaply-built houses just so they won't have to be in the "inner city".

The historical neighborhood I stay in has houses that are over a hundred years old. And though they do require upkeep, they look so much better and have character. These "old money" families keep their properties so they can pass them down to other generations instead of trading up for the next model. The ambiance isn't that of artificial turf-like some newer developements. You can tell people really take pride in their community and there houses are homes, not over-priced ego boosters.

I work them you realy woulnd not belive just how cheaply built some not all of them realy are

Oh, I've seen how cheap they are, albeit only from the outside. How about the siding? Buckled, poorly fit, and just plain terrrible looking. Not something I'd pay $300,000 for (and that's a starting price here).

I remember a Dateline NBC story about a couple who bought a lemon house. The guy opened a window and shook it, and the entire house started shaking. The company "quietly bought back the house" from the couple. That story, and a lot of other new-home nightmares, are here.

http://www.freeenterpriseland.com/BOOK/LITTLEBOXES.html


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Levittown,_New_York

I was born in 1959, grew up in a 1/4 acre lot subdivision build in the 50's

It got real weird in the 80's there was no children, we had all grown up and our parents where still there. Than the housing started truning over and new people came and the neighborhood has children again.

I bought a house in a similar type area,my house was built in the late 50's

These sterile new McMansion neighborhoods aren't neighborhoods,people drive down the street and hit the garge door opener and drive inside their house. It's like they own forts and hide behind the walls of the fort.

The have little armoured cars with the windows rolled up tight so nobody gets them

They build huge forts so they don't have many encounters with other members of their clan,like God forbid they might have to talk to each other. They each have their own bathroom and hide from each other in their own sections of the house.

Most people today can't carry on a conversation,the skill doesn't exist anymore, 15 second sound bites is the best they can do.
TV was a wonderful invention,completely wiped out any need to interact with each other.

It's funny as hell when these brain dead people find some internet forum and start trying to act like they are informed about something. They get all bent out of shape if somebody comes along and makes them look like the clueless morons they are.
They have become so accustomed in the day to day world of being able to say anything to another clueless person that they come unglued at these online forum when they run across somebody who points out they don't know what they are talking about.

You wouldn't believe how many "gated" communities we have here. Nothing but a bunch of densely-packed big houses with a huge brick wall surrounding the whole complex. And you better not go in unless you have some legitimate reason or you'll have an armed rent-a-cop after you.

We have lots of them around here too I cant imagin why anybody would want to live like that and all the hassles of nieghborhood assocations too. On top of that I find a lot of the houses ugly