So I think we can all agree, this housing market sucks. In what world is a 3 bed 2 bath house built in 1997 that sold for $120,000 in 2011 allowed to have an asking price of $450,000 in 2025 with absolutely minor adjustments made to the house? Apparently this one… but never mind that. I think this is a widely accepted fact that the prices are wild, even the people who stand to benefit, from the potential of a $330,000 profit, are stuck. Even if they find a buyer who is willing to give them the incredible profit, they can’t move because the they can’t afford the housing prices anymore than the 1st time buyer. You could argue that the prices are as bad as they are because of a lack of houses. And you would be correct, another widely accepted fact, that there aren’t enough houses to drive the prices down YET it’s still not the part of the equation that irks me so. The houses available SUCK.
Come with me on a virtual stroll on zillow. On your right a neighborhood of identical townhomes with open concept, 3 bed 2.5 bath, no closets outside of the bedroom, 2 bedrooms not big enough to hold more than a twin bed and a dresser, awkwardly long living rooms, skinny pantry, 6×6 concrete patio, and the pièce de résistance a 1 car garage (they expect you to use as storage) next to the front door. On your left a neighborhood of stand-alone homes, 4 or 5 different layouts, open concepts, 3-5 bedrooms, 2-4 bathrooms, no closets outside the bedrooms, bedrooms now fit a full size bed and dresser, larger pantry (sometimes), larger patio (sometimes), 2 car garages (still expected to use as storage) next to the front door. Not feeling the new builds? How about the old school neighborhood connected to the new one? Now this is when you have the real issue with prices again, selling Grandma’s house for 5x what it was built for and willing to sit on it because no one is relying on it to sell for money to buy the next house. But let’s see what’s up with that house! Okay, it needs some updates, maybe if we get them down on the price we can do the work to bring it to life again… aaaand it sold… to a flipper who painted everything white or grey, ripped out EVERY wall in the house that wasn’t surrounding a bedroom and bathroom, then pulled the laminate floors to put in vinyl, and smashed out the 60s tile to put in shiplap.
Please hear me when I say, I think shiplap can be cute but so can 60s tile. White can be just what you are going for but it’s also great for a blank slate, thank God we are away from the grey and beige attack. And while every person in a House Hunters will tell you, “the open concept is good for entertaining” I will disagree that its not mandatory for a party that you can see the food and the TV at the same time. But why are you determining your house layout on a party you have, maybe, once a year. Many a school project was done on the dining room table in my childhood house… if you don’t have that little bit of separation there how are you going to leave the craft supplies out and a mess for a week?
You can only blame house flippers so far… y’all are buying their “handiwork” and convincing them it’s what sold the house. I feel this may have been true 15 years ago, when there were a plethora of outdated homes that needed walls ripped out and bathrooms added. But the same trendy fixtures have been used and have become the stamp of a quick flip that took out the character for the sake of a quick buck. I realize that old homes take vision but the vision can’t be to have identical cubbies. But all can be forgiven for what you’re doing to YOUR house if it is truly YOUR house. I take back all my judgments on your home if that is truly what makes you happy… but to change it for the sake of changing it then reselling it… please stop.
Now back to my absolute beef with new builds. New houses being built with 1 car garages when the average family has 2 cars is criminal. There are 4 townhome communities that have built near me that have 1 car garages and when you drive through them the roads are essentially 1 way traffic. These homes have no storage requiring you to use the garage as your storage and then park one car in the driveway and one on the street. Now let’s pretend that you don’t need to use the garage for storage and you actually park in it! The person parked in the driveway now has to move before you can move the car from the garage–AND they’re not deep enough for a standard truck (from experience). So why are we building homes for families in the 50s while knowing full well that they will likely be filled with 20 something roommates each with their own car and no where to put all their stuff.
All of these complaints I bet you can see my side, but this last one doesn’t seem to bother anyone but me. I hate a garage on the front of a house. Especially those houses with the garage FRONT and center and the front door pushed back from the road so you can’t even see it. Why on earth is the storage unit the focal point of the house?! I swear you wouldn’t be able to find the front door without the sidewalks that link to the driveway/parking spot on the front of the house. Which is a whole other beef… why do these rinky dink driveways, that are difficult to get the cars to fit on, linked with a puny little slab of concrete going to the from door? At the very least have it lead to the sidewalk that is out front!
To summarize, the housing trends I think should go jump off a cliff are:
- one car garage
- garage on the front of the house
- garage as the focal point set far ahead of the front door
- no storage/garage intended as storage
- fully open concept
- neighborhoods with the same houses over and over
- neighborhoods without room for street parking when they’ve given you a 1 car garage (that’s intended as storage).
- character ripped out of old homes for the sake of ripping it out
- dumb sidewalk placement
I really just need to buy some property.
The Wordy Over Thinker 