The housing market is rebounding in many areas of the country. Southern California and the Upper East Coast are experiencing similar housing effects that occurred a decade ago. Lots of interested buyers, too few houses to buy (at least to the level or quality and finish they want). Today's housing market in the "hot areas" of the country have created some problems due to the previous 4-5 year housing slump. Developers didn't just slow down on renovating and building new construction, many put a halt altogether until they had more confidence that buyers would be consuming their products. This "freeze" has put a strain on the market for those buyers looking to purchase a new home that is updated. With the housing prices still high; and in some areas soaring again, buyers want move-in ready homes and not fixer-uppers. After all, if you're spending $700,000 or more on a home, would YOU want to live through the mess that is construction in order to save a few dollars a month on your mortgage or move into a home that you can begin enjoying from day one? Another issue being created is the overstock of homes that are small, outdated, or both in these areas. What does a developer do? Purchase and renovate with a possible addition in the hopes that his clientele will be satisfied with a 1950's home that has been updated with an addition or tear it down and just build an entire new home in it's place and be able to list it as a New Construction home? When it comes to advertising, it certainly is more enticing to many buyers to see the words "New Construction" because they associate it the same as someone buying a New Car versus a Pre-Owned Certified car. NEW conjures up the idea of, maintenance free for a period of time. Tear downs are becoming more and more commonplace and in many cases not for the betterment of community.
When a neighborhood was created, much like a new construction development today, many of the homes shared similar size, design, and scale to one another. They created an environment that worked together rather than each home standing on it's own. When a developer tears down a 1,800 square foot Cape Cod style home in a neighborhood of Cape Cod style homes and puts up a 3,000 square foot Colonial, that developer is not improving the neighborhood. He's creating a stand alone home that was not designed to the site it is sitting, rather creating what he feels will sell the easiest and make him the most profit. Making money is a great thing and I for one will never tell someone they should do something where they're going to make less money in order to satisfy my desires; it is however reasonable to request and expect anyone performing a tear down to create a home that represents the neighborhood and goes with the setting in which it will be sited. Where do you stand on the subject? Would you rather enter into and live in a neighborhood where the homes compliment one another or one in which the homes disregard the others and create a mish-mash that doesn't feel welcoming or warm?
To read more about some of what is going on you can follow this link to a well written article on the subject:
http://www.latimes.com/business/realestate/la-fi-housing-tear-downs-20140104,0,5252206.story
- Design is what you make it.
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