Most houses (including condos) just plain suck

In My Humble Opinion
1

First, let me start with a positive that will help you know where I am coming from. What kind of house or apartment would satisfy me? I like factory loft type spaces when it comes to apartments/condos, and I like “modern” architecture (i.e., 1950s - 1970s era modern) when it comes to single family homes. I like refined, clean spaces that I can paint up like a canvas. Ideally, I would be the owner of my own building with a very modern penthouse on top. I can dream.

I was a home owner from 2005 to 2018. An early 1960s ranch in Indianapolis. It kind of sucked. I hate doing lawn work, and I hated paying for a guy to mow the lawn. Here’s the truth about buying a home that isn’t new: there will be lots of things about it that either need to be repaired or that you don’t like and want to change, and when you do make the change, you won’t recoup the full value when you sell the home. I.e., buying a used home sucks. You will never be satisfied, or if you are satisfied, you have spent a lot of money and are probably broke. A new home is not much better unless you have designed it and tricked it out from the start with everything you like. Congratulations, you are rich. If you are buying any other type of new home, it is probably quite generic and requires the custom touches that a used home does in order to make it completely yours. Have fun.

So both used and new homes kinda suck, unless you are rich, but here’s why the homes from various eras suck:

Pre-1970
• Walk-in closet, what’s that? You don’t have a lot of clothes, do you?
• One-car garage or detached garage.
• Clunky, old-fashioned layouts. Not all that functional.
• Insulation sucks. High heating and cooling bills. (Hey, energy was cheap back then.)

On the other hand, homes from this era at least tend to look pretty good. A modest 1950s ranch outclasses a McMansion any day of the week. Also, I like late 19th century houses. Not very practical, but neat-o.

1970s
• Atrocious split levels. Almost nothing from this decade is any good in terms of either design or quality.

1980s
• My parents bought a house in 1980, and I hated it from the beginning. Houses from this era are a little more practical, but they are in an un-sweet spot of boring design and lacking the space of McMansions.

1990s
• McMansion rising! Practical and large, but also generic and low-quality in terms of design and feel. There is no point in buying an old McMansion when you can buy a new one.

2000 - present
• Nothing has changed, nothing has advanced. My mom lives in one of the most expensive neighborhoods of her city in Indiana, and it’s all McMansions built after the year 2000 (though there is a section of duplexes, where she lives. And her house is fine, but it’s not trying to be anything in terms of design.). Every single fucking house in this vast neighborhood sucks total ass in terms of design. It’s almost comical. Dumbass fake-looking stone finishes, too-skinny wooden pillars–it’s all bad. And it’s managed to be consistently bad for the past 20+ years (OK, there are, I admit a few houses in there that manage to be inoffensively unexceptional in terms of design, but they aren’t good). And as I said, a 1950s ranch can genuinely look good, while these houses definitely do not. It’s a travesty.

I mean all of the above quite sincerely. Older homes look better but are not very functional, while newer homes have a bit more space and functionality but have no character and terrible designs. That’s the crux of the matter.

And I watch (when I’m with my mom, because she has this crap on TV all the time) HGTV shows, and the supposed dream house costing $800k or whatever in California that people are getting their gonads pumped up about is just some taste-free McMansion with a bunch of drywall and cheap-looking finishes and that’s… exciting? Fuck that!

Most houses just suck. Thanks in advance for your opinions!

2

By the way, the reason most condos suck is that they they are just like shitty apartments, but you have to deal with an HOA. I dealt with an HOA as a renter in Chicago that loved to make renters feel like pariahs… never again. As a renter or an owner…

3

Agree with the sentiment and the rant with the addition that homes and and apartments in the US are not built with any notion of energy efficiency or workflow, and trying to retrofit or remodel them for such is an exercise in frustration. You end up with a lot of poorly conceived liminal space, a lack of utilization of natural lighting and ventilation, et cetera, often driven by the need to adhere to outdated or nonsensical building codes.

Stranger

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I like my house.

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Stranger On a Train:
Verily, you are correct!

6

Tell me about it and why it works for you. Thanks!

7

This seems to happen mostly in spec subdivisions, especially in warm places around big cities like Miami and LA. But I would suggest that a lot of rural homes are still well-built. Like Insulating concrete form construction.

8

I think it helps to not care that much. I like my house. But I would like other houses, too. And my house is a 1960 ranch that has never been updated in any particular way. Original cooktop and stove and cabinets. Original bathrooms, which are ugly and small. The only thing I wish i had, really, is a walk in laundry room instead of an alcove off the kitchen. I would like a room with a door and a counter.

There are plenty of things I’d love to have fixed, but it’s a really low-key thing. Been here 20 years. In less than 10 it will be paid off and my son mostly through college. Maybe then i will rip out the kitchen and add a laundry room, or move. Or maybe not.

Its not that I’m not picky about anything, but my expectations for a home are low. We lived in 7 different houses and several apartments when i was growing up. All had some nice features, all lacked something that I missed. It was fine.

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MandaJo, I get you. Thanks for your post!

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Could I refer you this thread :slight_smile: , I think your problem might actually be with the concept of houses per se, not any particular era. Maybe a hunter gather life style is more your scene? No renos, no bills, no HOA. When you are bored with your digs just tear them down and move elsewhere :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

11

Well, let’s see.

Our house was built in 1920. It’s not unique in terms of design, but distinctive enough on the outside to be satisfying to look at. Previous owners did a lot of the heavy lifting on renovation (i e. the kitchen) so we were spared that, but certainly there’s been quite a bit to fix/update, as we knew and allowed for when negotiating the sale. Whether we make back what’s being spent on it or not isn’t much of a consideration, as I hope and expect it’ll be our last place.

Mrs. J. has enough to enjoy hers, which is a separate room.

Detached, yes. Helpful if it burns down in terms of sparing the house (my parents’ garage mysteriously combusted, probably due to an automotive problem). It was an adventure getting garage doors fitted to the structure. Apparently no one before us saw a need for doors.

I think ours is functional though “old-fashioned”. Most importantly there’s lots of space, which helps keep peace in the marriage.

True enough, but at least someone before us made an effort to put in some modern windows and add insulation.

Most people are concerned with amenities and convenience rather than high design. I am undoubtedly a Philistine when it comes to appreciating design, as a house or building has to be loathsomely ugly to trigger my awareness. The first thing I tend to notice is landscaping and garden elements.

Seeing that the OP loathes lawn work (and probably garden/landscaping duties as well), here’s a perfect listing I just spotted the other day.
Sell that mower, sit back and relax!

Or live like Jack Reacher. No home, just keep on moving. He never needs a walk-in closet, seeing as he throws out his clothes when they get soiled or stinky and buys new ones.

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In seriousness though I was pretty happy with both my previous and new house. I can’t say much for the previous one design-wise, pretty generic (1950s?) Maryland brick detached house with an extension, but they had lovely sun room and generally nice ambience.

The current one (also 1950s) is actually really nice, large, huge rooms, lovely light (and great views over a wooded park). The kitchen and bathrooms are very dated (and we may put an extension in the top floor just because despite all the amazing views, the master bedroom has an awesome view of the wall of the house next door). But all that I’d consider pretty minor (I mean we didn’t buy this assuming it would be this magical investment that would gain in value massively each year), we’d do them because we want a nicer toilet or kitchen not as investment.

We did look at a lot of crap though and I wouldn’t touch the modern developments around here. My wife’s family is all a bit further our from DC in the most generic new developments imaginable, there were moments when were feeling an exasperated to point of being “oh lets just move out to one of those”, but so glad we didn’t as they are goddamned awful IMO (though that has more to do with the awful town planning, and walkability, than the design of the houses).

13

I’ve liked all my houses. Partly because my expectations have “normal home owner stuff” baked in, partly because I sort of enjoy pointing out the occasional idiocy of the builders/previous owners to myself and others, and partly because after the first one I have been picky and chosen something I genuinely liked.

I have, for instance, never had a lawn. My previous house had a small patch of grass, but I mowed that twice a year with a small scythe to preserve the many wildflowers it had, and this one has woods and non-lawn green space (and a goldfish pond and a creek and heated floors).

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I like my house. I had another house I liked to. And I lived in three houses growing up that I liked. If I don’t like a house it’s gonna be pretty bad. For me a house is what you make of it, what you make it into. That’s the great part of owning a house, you can do anything you want with it.

15

I like my house. 1940s. It’s got some major design issues, but also some quirky bits that give it character. It’s fun slowly improving it / discovering and either undoing or featuring some of the strange things that previous owners did. The floors aren’t entirely level and the rooms are all quite small. And while we don’t really have much closet space, my British spouse is convinced that closets aren’t a thing anyway so we added wardrobes to the smallest, weirdest room.

16

My house kinda sucks, indeed, but its mine, its paid for and it beats being homeless.

And when I wanna move on (if ever) I can sell it for far more than I paid for it.

17

I’ve lived in rental housing for most of my adult life, including three years in this rustic place. Of all the places I’ve lived, I loved that one the most.

18

I live in a house which was newly-built for us three years ago.

It is excellent.

It is also not in the US.

19

Haha, umm, that would be an inspiring landscape to look at every day!

20

I stayed in my friend’s parents’ trailer (an extra place near their real home, though they sold it all and moved a few years ago), and it was actually quite comfortable. But you even see these getting pricey these days…