Stretched thin in the McMansion

[Kire]

Stretched thin in the McMansion
Homes with 9 or more rooms make up bulk of state's growth and are pinching owners
Wednesday, August 31, 2005
BY ROBERT GEBELOFF - Star-Ledger Staff

New Jerseyans are paying higher and higher prices for new homes.

What they're getting for their money is this: More rooms and more debt, according to new Census data released yesterday.

Homes with nine or more rooms make up more than a quarter of the state's housing growth between 2000 and 2004, the data show.

In addition, the percentage of New Jersey homeowners devoting more than 35 percent of their income to mortgages, taxes and other housing costs jumped sharply, from 23 percent in 2000 to 29 percent last year.

Personal income, meanwhile, remained relatively flat.

More: http://www.nj.com/news/ledger/jersey/index.ssf?/base/news-1/1125466440104100.xml&coll=1

[SpiralHawk]

1. What do you suppose it will cost to heat a McMansion this winter?

brrrrrr

[Davros]

2. Who is buying these houses?

I live in Monmouth County and we have neighborhoods filled with McMansions. Who is able to buy them? Are people putting themselves in debt to a point where they are just paying interest on their loans and hoping that the rate doesn't go up? Has anyone ever asked one of these homeowners, "How does it feel to be living in a McMansion?"

[Kahuna]

4. Beats me. But they're popping up all over the place.

nt

[mcscajun]

3. What they're also getting is some of the UGLIEST homes

I've ever seen.

Most of them are architectural bastards exhibiting no particular style, plus they rarely seem to fit either the property on which they are sited, or the surrounding homes, or both.

They're too large for the number of people inhabiting them, and they lack shade trees; all the trees get bulldozed to make the build easier.

If I hit the lottery tomorrow you couldn't get me to live in one of them.