Posts Tagged Real Estate

McMansion mania just doesn’t make sense

July 20, 2008 at 1:47 pm · Filed under McMansion News ·Tagged , , , , , , ,

Here’s what financial guru Suze Orman had to say about McMansions in a recent article “When the already-expensive cost of heating your home in the winter and keeping it cool in summer could keep getting higher and higher, McMansion mania just doesn’t make sense. Why would you want to heat and cool a 4,000-plus-square-foot house when any family of four can live more than comfortably in a house half that size? A smaller home means smaller utility bills.”

Help us out here home builders and remodelers.  Design, remodel, and build smaller homes.  Let’s see how creative we can get with a smaller footprint, rather than trying to figure out how to fill a large space.

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Voluntary Simplicity

July 17, 2008 at 10:54 pm · Filed under Featured McMansion ·Tagged , , , , , , ,

I think Stephanie Brail is on to something with her Natural New.com article entitled Voluntary Simplicity: Good for You, Good for the Environment when she said “…a person who is practicing voluntary simplicity may give up a large, expensive “McMansion” to move into a smaller home that needs less energy to heat in the winter and cool down in the summer.” She defines the philosophy of voluntary simplicity as “downshift(ing) from a high-pressure, high-cost lifestyle to one that is more spiritual, humble, and less materialistic.”

Queen Anne and Magnolia residents just received a flyer from Seattle City Light saying they want us to partner with them to help our neighborhoods conserve energy by passing out light bulbs. Neighborhood Power Project (NPP) It sounds like a good idea.

Maybe SCL should also consider partnering with developers and realtors to design and sell smaller, more efficient single family homes. A couple of light bulbs isn’t going to do much for my new McMansion neighbor with four bathrooms, three gas fireplaces, and a hot tub. We could all benefit by practicing a little voluntary simplicity.

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Here’s a burger that hangs over the bun: McMansion #3

June 17, 2008 at 4:59 am · Filed under Featured McMansion ·Tagged , , ,


3222 10th Ave W Seattle WA 98119

Don’t you hate it when you bite into a hamburger and come up empty? All bun and no meat. No need to worry with this McMansion. The original house had three bedrooms. Now there are four. The bathrooms used to be two and now are three and half. The old house took up 1,920 sq. ft. This new whopper expanded to 3,400 sq. ft. The burger is practically hanging off the bun.

Please email us a picture and description of a McMansion in your neighborhood. There is still time to convince developers and buyers that smaller portions are a good idea. Send suggestions to: nomcmansion@gmail.com

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No more McMansions

June 13, 2008 at 5:53 am · Filed under Site Information ·Tagged , , ,

This is a new blog dedicated to homeowners in communities where the lots are more valuable than the houses. I live in such a neighborhood. It is sad to see nice older homes being purchased to tear down and build new houses. It’s even sadder when developers buy these homes and build over-sized mansions on small lots. I think it is time for us to let developers and prospective buyers know that we don’t want these houses in our neighborhoods. Please send me pictures of McMansions in your neighborhoods. My hope is that this site will get popular and developers will think twice before tearing down a perfectly good house and think three times before replacing it with a McMansion.

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