Drive to the Big, Huge House. Mine's the Little Crappy One Next Door.

Brian, I just love the way you write!  This is a pretty funny post...

We are seeing this in the Chicago subs.  It's insane what they are putting on the lots.  There is no grass any longer.  Just big massive house

Brian, Its about time we heard from you.

This is definitely a trend. Maybe even an opportunity. We call it highest and best use. If the market "accepts" these big houses then the owner of the little house has an opportunity to add "value" to his house, and he can probably add more value than it costs him.

Bill Roberts

Perhaps if "Big, Huge" would have downsized in square feet a bit he could have afforded brick all around instead of just a brick facade....you know, like the house next door! 

I would rather own the small one than have to expain, "I have the mansion next to the little shack!"

Can't wait to be the listing agent on the big one. Good luck finding comps!

Brian, now you have done it.  That house next door is calling for you to list it!

Well, I moved from Bethesda where "teardowns" are the thing.  Beautiful luxury homes next to 55 year old neighborhood homes. 

But, I believe it's necessary.  We need to "rotate the crops".  Neighborhoods that don't evolve decline. 

All you need to do is get a "teardown" permit on the 55 year old home and put up a lovely luxury home and move into the 21st Century. 

I live in a century old yellow victorian house that is sort of a landmark in my neighborhood because of its architectural features. Many people use my house to give directions as well. My next door neighbor shared with me that when she gives directions and mentions my house the response is "You live there? I love that house!" and then she has to say that she lives in the split level next to it.   

Cute... I have to tell people that I'm the house next to the fugly pink house with bone colored solar shades.  Don't you love descriptive words that help people find you?

Brian - we have the same trend going on in the South Tampa area, many of the older homes are small homes and often when the home is sold, the new owner will tear it down and put up a big new home right next to other smaller homes.

Lenn makes an excellent point that the neighborhoods do decline if you don't bring in newer homes.  Still, I am not sure I would want to be either the dinky house or the McMansion.  Perhaps somewhere right in between.

I have seen a lot of this in Falls church.. near Tysons..it's kind of strange... to see

Brian - This is happening here as well.  It is very interesting to talk to those not interested in tearing down and getting their perspective.

Hi Brian,

I enjoyed reading this, pretty funny! Reminds me of a little crappy house I rented years ago by the water, all the other house's were bulit up to take in the water view. I would tell people mine was the one across the street and watch the look on their face when they pulled in! LOL! ;)

LOL, ya gotta admit that the Mansions are pulling the value up on the crappy one!

"Mine's the crappy one next door."  OMG, I am still laughing.  That just cracked me up...now, of course, I will not be able to drive through Alexandria without laughing every time I see this scenario. 

So after you left the Hilton you drove through central Springfield!  This area really was the target of some bad real estate and loan practices over the last couple of years.  It is sad as it was my stomping grounds growing up and now it is such a mismatched neighborhood.  It will take a few years for it to all straightened out.

That was adorable...frankly if I was in the big house...I'd be embarrassed! Talk about ostentatious!

Ha! My first really good laugh of the day! Of course, the crappy little house can gloat at tax time!

Good one Brian.  Last summer I was showing McMansions to a couple.  The wife said.... MY these homes are HUGE and the yards are SO small.  I think I can reach out of the kitchen window and touch the neighbors house.

I replied jokingly - Well it makes borrowing a cup of sugar easier!  We all enjoyed that laugh!

Brian- I am still laughing at the crappy line. That was a good one. It would be a sight for sore eyes with such an extreme.

Awesome. "I live in the guest house that also has a driveway. The address is 3454.2 Main St.

I know in my market that hurts the appraised value, because the utility is different than the average in the neighborhood.

I guess the person who built the big house feels the rest of the neighborhood will follow soon... and they probably will.

Here in rural Virginia we have "Mom & Dad I just bought a new home here's the directions... drive to the big house and then it is the 1st trailer on the left."

NATALIE:  Thanks for your comment and compliment.  Glad it gave you a chuckle.

JOE:  Houses are growing and lots are shrinking.  It's happening all over the place.

BILL:  Very true.  In most cases, when someone likes the neighborhood where they own their small home, it is less expensive to add on and build, or to tear down, than it is to start anew and purchase a sizable home somewhere else.

MIKE:  That's a good point!  Thanks for your comment.

GARY & MELYNDA:  That's another good way to say it "The mansion next to the shack."

DENNIS:  That's often another problem, finding comps within the neighborhood.  Good luck to the appraisers.

KAREN:  I'll heed that call.  Thanks for your comment.

LENN:  The teardown and rebuild cycle is a necessary thing as buyers and homeowners are faced with functional obsolescence in their homes.  Eventually many of the homeowners in a neighborhood will follow suit.  Until that time, it does look odd to see these homes juxtaposed.

LINDA:  Thanks for your comment.  I grew up in a 100 year old Victorian home loved the architecture and the little nooks and crannies inside.  Sounds like your friend gets a little letdown every time she has to use your house as a landmark for directions.

DONNA:  There's an eyesore in every neighborhood.  Thanks for your comment.

PAM:  These days many homes are even advertised as a teardown.  Some owners planned to do it, got the architectural plans and convey those with the home sale.

GINGER:  Thanks for your comment.  I'd agree with you on that one.  Aren't the big homes in a small home neighborhood a target for crime?

KONNIE:  You can find these in just about every older neighborhood in the D.C. area.  It can be strange to see.  I drive by several instances of this almost every day.

STEVE:  Those holdouts will eventually sell and the next owner will likely complete the cycle and build a bigger home.

SUZANNE:  Thanks for your comments.  I'm glad that you enjoyed the humor.

CHRISTINE:  It works both ways.  The smaller homes are worth a bit more because of the new big one, and the big one is not worth quite as much as a big home in a big home neighborhood.

SUSAN:  I'm glad that I tickled your funny bone.  Just try not to laugh when one of these is your client's home.

Obviously, this is a neighborhood in huge demand?  Stay put and ride the appreciation wave when it next appears.

CINDY:  You got me.  I've had this idea for a blog post for a while and just needed to take a few pictures.  As you mention, it will take a while for some of these communities to get things squared away.

JOAN:  Thanks for your comments.  Ostentatious they can be sometimes.  Reminds me of the barely acclaimed Jack Black/Ben Stiller film "Envy."

DAWN:  Must not have been a great day if you didn't have a laugh until reading this post late in the evening.  Anyways, I'm glad to have provided you with some comic relief in your workday.  

JAMES:  The funny thing is that some of the newer neighborhoods are purposely built that way with McMansions on top of McMansions.  The developers are trying to squeeze in as many houses as possible.

KATERINA:  Thanks for your comments and for laughing along.

JOEY:  I like the use of decimals in your address!  I agree that these types of situation can hurt appraised value.

JOSEPH:  That's certainly what their thinking must be.  They're probably right, though they took the first leap.

NANNETTE:  Funny.  Thanks for your comment.

DIANE:  Thanks for your comment.  These McMansions do often pop up in highly desirable established neighborhoods.

Brian - We see this a little bit up her in Mass but not much. I would not want to be in a neighborhood like this where the homes are going to vary so much in value. I guess it helps the guy in the ranch with the law of progression but it looks so out of place I am not sure it's worth it.

BILL:  Thanks for your comments.  It's probably happening much more down here than up in your neck of the woods.

Perhaps it's because I'm used to it but I don't find the mix of home sizes, styles and ages unattractive at all.  In fact, it gives the neighborhoods a bit of charm. 

Think about Chevy Chase which suffers from political interference where they have instituted restrictions on tear-downs and adding to footprints.  What you see is what you get and you're stuck with it. 

I love the mixed neighborhoods.  Folks complain about "cookie cutter" neighborhoods.  Well, Bethesda, Arlington, Fairfax, etc. will not suffer from that. 

We're finding the same thing in Leesburg too.  Tear-downs are upgrading neighborhoods where folks can buy close-in homes in areas where there is no more land available. 

It works for me.  In the country where I live, we have new homes interspersed with older homes some on large lots, some on small lots and all styles and types. 

As for the new large home next to the small older one, just walk in the new home and look at the kitchen and you'll know why they sell - location and features.

Brian, That advice to list the small house, I say no, buy it instead. The remodel will put at least a $100,000. in your pocket. Good luck.

Bill Roberts

The problem with this area is that many of those houses are sitting empty and in foreclosure.  As a result entire sections of the neighborhood are falling in disrepair and show signs of neglet.  It is a sad site and will take years to straighten out.  The older original olders are the ones that now can't sell their homes at any price that are taking the brunt of the counties lack of oversight on building these homes.

Brian this is a trend going on alot in the Seattle/Bellevue area. I'm not seeing it all that much in my market, though w/ land use controls getting ever tighter, nothing would surprise me.

LENN:  Thanks for your extensive comment.  I agree -- the new homes sell because of the features.  I was working with some new home buyers this morning.  We'd looked at resales last weekend and new homes today, and the features of the new homes just appealed to them so much more, even though the neighborhoods are not yet established and they are still building and will be for a few years to come.  I don't mind the mix of homes either, but until some of the smaller homes disappear, there does remain a somewhat awkward imbalance between neighbors.

ANONYMOUS:  Thanks for your very eloquent comment.  I agree with you that historians will likely not look back on the McMansion period as a time of enlightened architecture.  Brick front, vinyl siding is certainly not the most attractive look.

BILL:  You are probably right with your advice.  Buying the less expensive home in a changing neighborhood can be a great investment.

PAT:  Thanks for your comment.  Foreclosures in any neighborhood certainly harm overall property values and don't make for a good market.

COLLEEN:  I know that there are many areas of the country that are experiencing similar things in different neighborhoods.

Brian,  There's a lot of those "McMansions" here in Long Island.  Most people thinks they are an eyesore in the neighborhood.  I live in a 100 years old Victorian with a front porch and love the architectural details.  If McMansions is called progress, I guess we can not stop them.

ROSALINDA:  Thanks for your comment and sharing your experience in Long Island.  Obviously there is a demand for McMansions otherwise they would not be built.  There's definitely much more interesting architecture out there.

I am personally with Rosalinda on this one.  I live in the crappy house next door - on a large plot of land which is next door to an 8000 sq.ft. McMansion with zero style and no taste whatsoever. Someone said it looked like a tacky Italian nightmare (the guy was Italian - so he could say that.) They stuffed it onto a 0.24 acre lot and wonder why no one wants it. After 18 months on the market, they rented it. If and when I ever sell, I'm laughing all the way to the bank.  Even though they made an expensive mistake, it brings up the value of my "crap" - which at least has style and charm. But then I think most new construction is garbage. 

RUTHMARIE:  Thanks for your comment.  I am sure that you will benefit from an increased value on your home.  Can you see the sunlight from your windows anymore, or is it blocked by the neighbor's home?

Brian - Doing a CMA must be a real picnic in neighborhoods like this!

BARBARA JO:  Yes, isn't that true!

Brian - the trouble is they OVER-REACHED!  They can't sell the damn thing!  They've been trying since 2005 in a city where almost anything sells. The area already has some very, very heavy-duty homes.  There are a lot of McMansions along with some very elegant homes from the pre-war period and even the turn of the century.  Mostly Colonials and Tudors (some of the Tudors are quite Gothic).  I already HAD value from expensive homes surrounding me.  But these homes have a reasonable amount of LAND associated with them.  The value in my property is also in the land.  I bought when land was cheap (1996) and it was on 0.67 acres. There are very few areas that have that much land associated with them in our densely populated area.  0.5 acres seems to be almost a built in maximum - with this area being one of the few exceptions.  I didn't need this idiot cramming 8000 sq.ft. on .24 acres!   And although I haven't subdivided yet, I probably could and will at some point.  The shadows will be on the empty lot should I do that affecting its value - in probably the wrong direction. 

Just so you understand...the side of my house faces a main road. The house itself is on a very high-end street in one of the most desirable neighborhoods in the area (if not the most desirable.) Initially, this house was the gatehouse to a very large mansion that has since been torn down. Hence its small size.   They guy who built made the fatal error of constructing an enormous amount of square footage in a small space ON THE MAIN ROAD - with the bulk of the house facing the main road. It's practically sitting in the street. That house is like living in a fishbowl - you are there for all to see because the set-back is non-existent - and all the windows facing front mean you will never have any privacy.  The other problem is that the home was geared for sheer mass and I suppose "tasteless" is the operative word - actually, I'm being kind. The mother of a friend of mine asked my friend whether the zoning had changed and and whether the new construction was  a restaurant!  Someone else suggested it had all the grace of a dentist's office!  The topography allows for sane building on that road provided there is enough setback for a thing called TREES and landscaping - and perhaps some fencing.  He would have made far more money with 3000-4000 sq.ft. home that was well landscaped providing a shield between the street and the home.  I fenced in the back yard and allowed the maples to grow in. The result is when I'm outside in the warmer months on my deck or in the yard, the traffic does not intrude. Its almost like a clearing in the woodland.  Which is why I didn't subdivide yet.

RUTHMARIE:  Thanks for the extensive details about your home and the neighbor's in your community.  Situations like this are going on all across America, I am sure.

Brian - well at least its not a cookie cutter neighbourhood. Monster homes as we call them are indeed popping up in the strangest places. Grand foyers, master suites as big as some homes, sometimes I think it is more about outdoing a friend or neighbour than it is about lifestyle.

KATHY:  Thanks for commenting.  I like that term "Monster homes"

Hi Brian,

I built a 3100 sf home next to a 1100 sf CMU block house.  Many of the homes in my neighborhood were 2 bedroom 1 bath beach cottages.  I tore down a 1000 sf house, also made w/ block.  We lived in the little home for 4 years but wanted to start a family.  It is hard to add to a concrete block house on a slab and end up with a nice result.

In our neighborhood you can definitely tell the built for profit homes from the built to live in ones.

 -Mark Moore

Brian, great title- I knew we weren't in Lynchburg anymore when we drove to NOVA 5 years ago to pick up cabinets that were taken out of a $600,000 ranch -to be torn down to make way for a $1.2mil mansion.

MARK:  Thanks for your comment and for telling me about your personal experience.  You can definitely tell.

DEBBIE:  Thanks for your comment.  I thought the title was catchy too!