1438-McMansions (affordable housing)

In our area, the county government requires that developers have a plan for affordable housing when they create a new development. In most cases this requirement is met by building several rows of townhouses on the edge, or sometimes at the entrance of these developments. The developers always build the separate, single family homes first, and once they have all been sold to the Yuppingtons, they then build the affordable townhouses. The yuppies get so pissed that townhouses are in their neighborhood! I think it's funny!

Affordable housing, my ass. If the breeders want affordable housing, then they should stop having so many damned kids and get their asses out and get jobs instead of sitting home in pink stretch pants or driving to Starbucks with the kyds.

I would go NUTS if I had to live in the burbs. Way out of town, boring neighbour hoods, all white families with 1.5 kids and an SUV, a shopping centre with big name American stores, help!

I've always lived in the "uptown" part of big citites, weird, unique houses and stores, preferably partly in the gay communitiy, not many families, mixed races and economic brackets, downtown right where I need it, ahh...perfect.

Seriously, live in the gay community, the CF lifestyle fits right in, the only difference is that you're not the same gender. No brats running around, everyone's got dogs, no breeder whining.

I agree with KidFreeLuvnLife. If breeders don't think that McMansions are "affordable housing" for famblees, then they need to lower their expenses and/or add to their income so they can afford said McMansion, or, even better, rethink what they really need in a house.

I don't understand why people think that they need a McMansion - with its four or five bedrooms, formal living area, formal dining area, separate playroom or media room, a large kitchen with separate breakfast nook, and a bathroom for every bedroom - in order to have "family friendly" housing.

I have never lived in a house that is more than 2,000 square feet. The one-story house where I spent most of my childhood was about 1,700 square feet.

My parents still live there. The house has four bedrooms that I consider to be spacious (although in McMansion land they would be considered small), but only one living/dining room area, and a small kitchen with no separate breakfast nook. And only two tiny bathrooms. One is attached to my parents' bedroom, and my two sisters and I shared the other one, which was also a guest bathroom.

This house provided plenty of room for two parents and three children, plus our assorted pets. I never felt cramped when I was living there, or felt deprived because I didn't have my own bathroom or a separate playroom. Our house was plenty "family friendly" for us, and my parents didn't worry about how to pay for it because they could afford it on only one parent's (my father's) salary. They were smart enough to not buy a house that they couldn't afford.

In the last few years, my parents have enclosed a porch to make a sun room, so the house is now a little over 2,000 square feet. But it's still not a large house by any means. However, it's well built, and my parents have taken care of it inside and out, so although it's 31 years old, it doesn't look dated at all.

The house where we lived from the time I was born until I was 7 years old was also well under 2,000 square feet. It had only three bedrooms - I shared a room with my younger sister.

DH and I now live in a 22-year-old house that is just under 1,500 square feet. We've already done many improvements to it, but it still needs some updating. We have no desire to move to a McMansion or even a slightly larger house because we know our house is the perfect size for us and our two cats. It also has character that those McMansions, with their stark white walls and beige carpeting, doesn't have. And, as with my parents' house, it's a house that we could afford even on one of our salaries, since our monthly mortgage payment isn't much more than what we were paying to rent an apartment.

Seriously, live in the gay community, the CF lifestyle fits right in, the only difference is that you're not the same gender. No brats running around, everyone's got dogs, no breeder whining.

No kidding! I live in the one of the most historic neighborhoods in my large city. The one that whites abandoned in the 1970's because "HORRORS" African Americans lived nearby. My father in law bought and resold the house next door and let us pick the winning couple because two wanted in very badly. A pregnant couple with one sprog and a gay couple. Of course the gay couple won. They were sincerely shocked at our choice and we've been great friends ever since.

Now if I could get rid of NeighborNasty on the other side in favor of Adam and Steve....

Lady Cooper Wrote:
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> I've always lived in the "uptown" part of big
> citites, weird, unique houses and stores,
> preferably partly in the gay communitiy, not many
> families, mixed races and economic brackets,
> downtown right where I need it, ahh...perfect.

I hear ya! My sister, although not gay, lives in Chicago's gay community and it's heaven. There's always tons of stuff to do, unique stores, and you can walk to everything. On weekends, there are actual adults actually enjoying life outside and rarely a kid in sight!

The few yuppies with their strollers are the minority & nobody treats them special. People are reading, jogging, or eating leisurely breakfasts at cafes and everyone's relaxed & friendly.

When I do see any adults in the burb's I live in, they are zombified parunts whose leisure activites center around Chunkie Cheese's and a yearly block party where everyone acts fake until they're too drunk to care. I seriously would be outa here if I didn't like my house and having a yard.

LV67, your sister's neighborhood sounds like a wee slice of heaven. I wish the whole world was like that. Breeders should have to live in their own state where none of us would have to suffer the indignities of putting up with their shit. I wish the area I lived in had a concentrated area where a lot of gay couples lived, I'd move in a heartbeat.

I've never lived in a house in my entire life. I've lived in apartments and in a mobile home while growing up. The mobil home had two bedrooms and we did just fine with my mom (divorced mother), her sponge of a sister, the dog and myself.

People are so self absorbed that they think they need all this room. For what? To house all your shit you've put yourself in debt to buy. Fuck, in most cases kids are just happy to have a roof over their head. They don't need 1,000,000,000 square feet to run around inside. If they need exercise kick them out of the house and make them go play outside.

The one upside I could see is that since these eyesores are so in demand maybe smaller, older houses will be more affordable.

Oh, buying an undervalued foreclosure from a breeder family is wonderful business!!!! LOL!

However, I do HATE those McMansions they are building. They are so close together, ugly, soul-less and suck up a lot of resources - far more than they need to and it's MORE space than any family of 4 or 5 needs. Selfish breeders.

I've been hearing San Francisco is not child-friendly - is this true? Maybe it's time to relocate!!! I'd love a child-free city.

It is true. SF is a very child-unfriendly. I might stay if it weren't so damned expensive.

How is NY in that regard?

I know one of the reasons these damn yuppies want these big McMansions. The bigger the house is, the farther away from your kids you can be. They've raised such shitty obnoxious little brats, it takes a bigger house than it used to to get away from the little bastards!

My house is 1,200 square feet, but it feels big to me because my last home was a 600 square foot apartment. I would probably get lost in a McMansion.

Latrodectra Wrote:
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> How is NY in that regard?

There are still kids all over the place.

KidFreeLuvnLife Wrote:
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> LV67, your sister's neighborhood sounds like a wee
> slice of heaven.

It's absolute paradise.

Everyone has time for a life and freedom since they have small apartments and don't spend their lives cleaning and working to pay for huge houses. What a concept, huh?

I went to look at the new model homes in the McMansion development down the street. The first one I walked into, had cracks in the drywall. This was a brand- new home. Okay, my town is built on the San Andreas fault, so I decided to cut them a little slack. Well, the rest of the models were no better. These things were constructed so poorly, the developer had to have greased the palms of the inspector. These places were not safe, but moos were oohing & aawing about how wonderful they were, and how they just had to have one. It amazes me that people are so narcissistic, that their image as upscale, hip moos comes before the safety of the family they claim to adore so much. One house was so bad, one of the bedrooms' ceilings was separating from the wall. The moos didn't see that, all they saw was an opportunity to own a status symbol. Even if I could afford one of these homes, I wouldn't want one. Cheap construction aside, these moos would drive me insane if I had to live near them.

and watch when the house falls down, they will sue the makers (who no doubt will have gone "bankrupt" and moved on

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Lord, what fools these mortals be!
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sprogless Wrote:
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> The first one I walked into, had cracks in the drywall.

Heh. I pulled up a carpet in my previous townhouse and found Doritos bags and cigarette butts under it from the construction workers. Egads!!!

I've walked through an "upscale" new home recently & wasn't impressed either. Everything was so bland and all the stuff matched in this horrifying rooster theme! They were everywhere: on the dishes, wallpaper, curtains, etc. staring at me! (mommy-I'm scared!) Do people really decorate like that?

And the whole house had this just unwrapped plastic industrial smell. And let's not forget to mention the 4 bedrooms which included 1 nursery, 1 boy's & 1 girl's bedroom.

Why don't they ever show reality-like a disaffected goth teen's bedroom painted black, or a nursery complete with gagging odors, or the 14 yr old teen girl's bedroom with condom wrappers on the floor?

What is it with the roosters?! These places had roosters, too! I just thought they were really tacky, but I guess it's a prerequisite for McMansion ownership. My in-laws have one of these monstrosities, and they also have this enormous ceramic rooster on their kitchen island. I never understood it before, but I suppose they're the BIG THING!

I thought that died back in the 70s!

You are so right about the shoddy workmanship of these homes. A mother of a student I had last year had just moved into a 600K home, and the jacuzzi in the master bedroom didn't have a pipe attached to the drain. The first time they used it, they flooded the floor beneath it!

I own a little three-room bungalow within walking distance of campus. It certainly is no mansion, or even any luxury residence for that matter, but it suits me just fine. I have a very pretty garden out front that I tend to like a beloved pet, and I keep the house in good repair all by myself. Forgive my showing of the sin of pride, but I do think I am doing a good job.

One of the advantages of being faculty at the community college is access to all of those nice people over in the industrial arts and vocational training programs who teach practical skills like carpentry, basic electrical work and plumbing, and their students who have to do projects for each term. They have been a godsend to me.

This summer's project will be a new bathroom, complete with new tile, porcelain fixtures and chrome faucets. I am very excited about this, as it marks my first foray into the DIY world of bathrooms.

I am in the process of finishing my kitchen. Home Depot has marvelous classes in cabinet installation, and the woodwork is almost finished on the base cabinets, and I will do the uppers next. Poor twiglike me has no upper body strength, so a nice young man from the carpentry program is going to use my kitchen cabinet installation as his project for the term.

Why people want some showboat of a house eludes me, but then I do not understand most people these days.

Wouldn't it be funny if all breeders were *made* to live in trailor homes, and leave us childfree alone and have breederless/bratless housing areas? THAT'D BE AWESOME!!!!!

---

lab mom

My inlaws live in a childfree retirement community. You have to be 55 or older. They love it, kids get on their nerves.

I've never even lived in a house. I spent my first 20 years in an apartment building, and I've been living on the second floor of a duplex since then. My Gawd, how did I ever manage to survive?!?

sprogless Wrote:
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> and they also have this enormous ceramic rooster on their kitchen island. I never understood it before, but I suppose they're the
> BIG THING!

lmao...the big ceramic rooster! WHYYY???

This is reminding me of what happened between my 2 breeder cousins. They each got married a month apart and then got into a big fight because each wanted to decorate their new McMansion's kitchens in watermelons. Hilarious.

lv67 Wrote:
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>
> This is reminding me of what happened between my 2
> breeder cousins. They each got married a month
> apart and then got into a big fight because each
> wanted to decorate their new McMansion's kitchens
> in watermelons. Hilarious.
>
>

Oh. My. God. They actually got into a fight over that? Breeders are so weird. They really are.