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Posts Tagged ‘Housing’
Quantity-Quality-Cost, Which do you choose?
December 28th, 2009
Note: Morgan Andenas is back with us from Montana State during her winter break. Many of you will remember her blog posts from this summer when she focused on architectural and design issues. Welcome back Morgan.
As an architecture student, we study how the character of a place helps to define and shape the homes, buildings, and businesses surrounding it. The way the land is formed, whether it is mountains, prairies or woodlands, influences the shapes of buildings. In the same way, the people’s attitudes about themselves and about a place influence the way buildings are designed.
A friend asked me to design a forever-home for her and her husband on his family’s ranch, one in which they will live, well, forever. They wanted a house at or under 2200sq. feet with two bedrooms, one maybe two bathrooms, a lofted office, and enough room for a 14 foot dining table and lots of space for entertaining his large family. I thought to myself, no problem, that’s easy enough. That was before I tried to design it. The bedrooms and living room ended up being too big and looked uncomfortable, even though they were average sized rooms.
That’s when I realized “average” size applied to large suburban lifeless McMansions. This type of house is what Sarah Susanka writes against in her book, The Not So Big House by Sarah Susanka (Taunton Press, 2001). She describes the early 2000s housing boom as,
So many houses, so big with so little soul. Our suburbs are filled with houses that are bigger than ever. But are bigger houses really better? Are the dreams that build them bigger or is it simply that there seems to be no alternative? Americans are searching for homes in unprecedented numbers. Yet when we look, the only tools we seem to have are those we find in the real estate listings. But a house is more that square footage and the number of beds and baths. In one of the wealthiest societies ever, many people are deeply dissatisfied with their most expensive purchase. ”
Quality vs. Quantity
I started reading her book and it all became clear. It wasn’t about making a McMansion big enough to house 25 people, it was about providing a home for the two people living there, and an opportunity to host the other 23 several times a year for parties. It was about deciding that when cost is a set number, quality and quantity are your two variables. You can choose to have a higher quality house with a smaller footprint that is more responsive to your needs, or you can choose to have more square footage with less quality and spaces that are more generic. For this couple, it was about quality.
When I start thinking about my forever-home, I want it to be in a rural setting where people are not out to impress, but to welcome. In both my home and my future children’s hometown, I want it to be a place that will feel cozy, welcoming and comfortable. I don’t want it feel like a typical McMansion: cold, extra large and built to impress its occupants and visitors.
Susanka says that she is not out to sell everyone a small house, and I’m not out to get everyone to live in a small town. But, I do want to illustrate that not everyone is happy in that comfortless house or that impersonal city. Just because you can afford to buy and maintain that massive house, does not mean you are happy. What does make me happy is attention to detail and feeling like I belong to something bigger than myself. For me, a small town does just that. For me, living in a rural community gives me the best ratio of the Quantity-Quality-Cost triangle. In this specific triangle, cost and quantity may be lower, but the quality is worth the quantity sacrifice.
This massive house was built to impress, not welcome, with its soaring roof and columns and manicured lawn.
This home was built on a more human scale with a one story roof line. This, plus the wilderness beyond, makes it much more welcoming.
Photo Credit: (left) Carolyn - Flickr & (right) seier+seier+seier - Flickr
Tags: design, Housing, McMansion
Posted in Housing, Rural | Comments (1)
Where am I supposed to live?
June 30th, 2009
I don’t want to buy a house, since I don’t know what I’ll be doing a year or two from now. An apartment, a condo or maybe a town home with charm is what I’m looking for. I don’t want anything that looks like my grandma just moved out, but something nice. I don’t want to take care of a big yard either - I have too much other stuff going on. Do you have anything like that?
Is your community appealing to young professionals who are coming to you sans children? Are you thinking about the needs of those who are fresh out of high school or college?
According to the Urban Land Institute, Millennials are the largest generation since the Baby Boomers at 75 million strong. They also say my generation is, “making a mark that is as different as it is powerful.” So, what does that mean? Industry experts suggest that Millennials will want housing that reflects themselves: unique, diverse (about 39% of this generation is non-white), social, and green.
What do Millennials want?
Millennials want something that they can handle. Most do not have the money to fix up an older house. Instead, they want something they can move right into, where the only improvement is a new coat of paint. Also, these potential buyers or renters are usually in entry-level positions without a large amount of job security. They might feel buying a house does not make financial sense if there is a possibility of moving on in a few years.
So, what can you do to attract young buyers or renters to what you already have? 
- Rent your house instead of selling it. Many college students are used to renting a house or apartment with friends while in school. They might love the idea of still being able to rent, but living in a larger space than an apartment can provide.
- Critically looked at your place from the outside, as well as the inside. Try taking pictures of different rooms and from the curb. Once you have them in front of you, ask yourself, “If I was coming here for the first time on a limited budget, would I like what I see?”
- Invest a couple hundred dollars in small projects like paint, accessories and a little landscaping. You would be amazed at the difference. Check out HGTV for great shows about updating your place on a small budget.
What can a developer do to invest?
- Consider rehabbing an old building. It is probably brick, which younger people often love to have exposed in their apartments. The building will come with a character and attitude of its own. Plus, it is a great green alternative to new construction.
- Build as close to the action as possible. The last thing young people without children want is to be on the edge of suburbia. Try and get them as close to food, shopping and entertainment as possible.
- Think about green investments. Research says that nine out of ten Millennials care about sustainable design. It may be possible to attract more young people to your house or complex by boasting the greenest facilities in town.
Most people know that Millennials are socially different from other generations, but do communities understand that they also looking for different housing? I believe that creating certain types of housing in smaller communities will help lead my generation back. As Kevin Costner says, “If you build it, they will come.”
Photo credit: Anthony Easton:Flickr
Tags: curb appeal, Housing, millennials, Rehab, renting, urban land institute, young professionals
Posted in Community Development, Gen Y, Housing, Rural | Comments (2)
Goodbye McMansions
January 12th, 2009
According to CBS News Sunday Morning, Americans are recognizing that higher construction and energy costs make living in larger homes less desirable. Citing statistics from the National Association of Homebuilders, they claim the average size of new homes has shrunk 194 square feet in the last three months alone. And that trend will most likely continue into 2009.
But what does that mean for our rural communities?
During the age of “McMansionism” it was popular for the more affluent to build homes in new developments on the edge of town or on small acreages just outside town. With stagnant population growth the norm in many rural communities, this left the older and usually smaller houses in the core of the communities to decay. Sort of like urban decay, just on a micro scale.
To me, the move towards smaller, less expensive homes is another reason to advocate for “Purchase, Rehab, Resell“ programs. If renovated with energy efficiency in mind, these older houses will serve as excellent opportunity for families to get into quality homes at lower prices.
But those opportunities are non-existent if the houses look like rundown, old homes. So then the question becomes if not Purchase, Rehab, Resell, then what? Perhaps this should be a part of the Economic Stimulus Plan that seems to be leaving rural places behind.
Tags: economic stimulus plan, Housing, McMansion, Purchase, Rehab, Resell
Posted in Community Development, Housing, In the News, Rural | Comments (0)