American homes

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Hellooo said:
I got some interesting perspective on American homes and architecture evolution over the past few weeks strangely enough, between observing foreign architecture, reviewing the inspection reports on the home I'm personally looking at, and looking closer at the homes and communities that make up different zip codes in my area.

In Florida (and throughout a lot of the US for that matter) we have entire communities where the homes are designed not by an architect, but by developers, and unless you are living in a historic district, an urban core, or out in the boondocks by yourself in a swamp or on a farm, you are most likely living in suburbia in these cookie cutter housing communities where developers give homebuyers a choice of model "A, B, C, D" with a list of a million potential upgrades to these home models. Granted, it suits a lot of people's lifestyles, but our homes aren't typically built with an artistic aesthetic in mind.

Some compelling reading, and a podcast:

Welcome to McMansion Hell — McMansions 101: What Makes a McMansion Bad...

McMansion Hell: The Devil is in the Details - 99% Invisible



(P.S. Anyone here seen Arrested Development? Remember Sudden Valley? )
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Yep, same thing is happening in Australia. I live in one, lol, renting. It's about 5 years old and already has issues, just slapped together on a matchbox sized plot of land. Would never buy a kit home, much rather build our own place on a large piece of land like 2 acres or so. Currently researching to build out of shipping containers when we do build one day :)
 
That's funny that you say that regarding your rental Brent.
It makes me wonder if we're going to experience an era when people will be walking away from these homes again as they reach their senior years and are perhaps unable to keep up with the maintenance on these large homes, they're not built to last.

I suppose it makes business sense for developers and builders to plot out as many small lots as possible and then maximize the size of the home on that lot
so you can charge more per square foot.

The weird thing is I love the hustle and bustle of big cities, where tall buildings are designed to squeeze as many rooms and apartments and offices as possible to collect rents, but it doesn't seem as unpalatable to me. Then again, theres usually some variety. I wonder if there's some kind of sweet spot we can achieve where architects and artists can partner with building developers to design a more creative suburban landscape with sustainable materials that are still accessible to people instead of these mass produced Stepford wife villages. It can't cost that much more when you look at the prices of some of these "mcmansions" go for.

There are bigger concerns facing humanity, of course, but there's something really interesting about buildings and design and their evolution.


Also, good luck on your building endeavors! (Personally I'm not savvy enough to articulate what I'd want in the architecture of a completely customized home from the bottom up, I just recognize what I like and what I hate when I see it. )
 
P.S. I just noticed I misspelled your username Breno785au...i read it as brent785. that's what I get for not wearing my glasses.
 
i've seen that show, and they definitely show only the upper echelon of homes and upper class buyers.

the first home i bought was something like 1/8 of the price and size of the cheapest homes they look at on those shows. the second home was maybe 1/4 of the cheapest homes they air.
then again i was in a much smaller city than what they typically show there -- but also i was in a position that i think most Americans are not in, that being the position to actually buy a home instead of rent one or rent an apartment. both the houses i bought had stoves and refrigerators, and the second had a dishwasher too.

but not washers and dryers! those, we take with us!

both also had chain-link fences, with bushes growing through most of them, and the one i am in now, inherited, has a wooden fence -- all three backyard-only. the fence at this house was put in by our relatives who purchased it initially.. it is one of those cookie-cutter deals in a suburb in the middle of the county, and the kind they might actually look at on that television show, on the low end, but in a larger city it would cost easily 2 to 3 times what it is worth here. property values vary quite a bit depending on the location -- you can get a rather large house with a good portion of land out in the country somewhere for about the same price as a 2 bedroom condo in the middle of the happenings.

our dream is to eventually get 40 acres somewhere, with a wooded lot, some miles away from a city. to be away from all that hustle and bustle, but not so far that we can't hop into a car to do shopping. that;s one thing about America -- unless you are living right in the middle of a large town, it's very hard to get by without a car. it is a big land, and things are far apart, in general.
 
i watch the Australian Master Chef every year -- here's something i'd like to know; is it really like what i see on that show? are all Aussies super kind and full of camaraderie?

because the American version is so cut-throat, and everyone is out to get each other, even the judges! but in the AU version, which runs for far more episodes, too, even while they remain competitive, they never have ill feelings toward each other, and even sometimes sacrifice their own time to help one another out during challenges. the atmosphere is completely different, so much nicer, and gentler -- while the level of cooking is still just as good if not better. it's really given me the impression that everyone is Australia is a 'good neighbor' -- while so much of America is 'all about me' and 'looking out for number one' and 'to heck with anyone that gets in my way'

is that for reals, or some kind of tourism schtick to make it look like you are all generally nice people?
i mean, i live in the south, and am from Appalachia, both places where people are generally much more cordial than the rest of the nation to each other.. but still. the people on that show are impressive, not just for what they do in kitchens, but for the affection and brotherly love they all seem to have.
 
posthuman said:
i've seen that show, and they definitely show only the upper echelon of homes and upper class buyers.

the first home i bought was something like 1/8 of the price and size of the cheapest homes they look at on those shows. the second home was maybe 1/4 of the cheapest homes they air.
then again i was in a much smaller city than what they typically show there -- but also i was in a position that i think most Americans are not in, that being the position to actually buy a home instead of rent one or rent an apartment. both the houses i bought had stoves and refrigerators, and the second had a dishwasher too.

but not washers and dryers! those, we take with us!

both also had chain-link fences, with bushes growing through most of them, and the one i am in now, inherited, has a wooden fence -- all three backyard-only. the fence at this house was put in by our relatives who purchased it initially.. it is one of those cookie-cutter deals in a suburb in the middle of the county, and the kind they might actually look at on that television show, on the low end, but in a larger city it would cost easily 2 to 3 times what it is worth here. property values vary quite a bit depending on the location -- you can get a rather large house with a good portion of land out in the country somewhere for about the same price as a 2 bedroom condo in the middle of the happenings.

our dream is to eventually get 40 acres somewhere, with a wooded lot, some miles away from a city. to be away from all that hustle and bustle, but not so far that we can't hop into a car to do shopping. that;s one thing about America -- unless you are living right in the middle of a large town, it's very hard to get by without a car. it is a big land, and things are far apart, in general.
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Interesting you say it's the upper echelon on the show as I am led to believe that the average wage in the US is much less than in Australia, so I was thinking the people in the shows must be bigger earners to have a $300,000+ (about AU$400,000) budget to spend where as in Australia, in Victoria where I live anyway, the MEDIAN house price is about $500,000-$600,000! And our average wages would be anywhere between $20-$25/hour (US$15-$19).

I'm with you about going country someday, i'd be happy with 2-3acres about 30mins away from nearest township. Just recently visited my mum in Tasmania and they are on 11 acres and it's really nice :) So quiet...

gtuiMaJ.jpg


.
posthuman said:
i watch the Australian Master Chef every year -- here's something i'd like to know; is it really like what i see on that show? are all Aussies super kind and full of camaraderie?

because the American version is so cut-throat, and everyone is out to get each other, even the judges! but in the AU version, which runs for far more episodes, too, even while they remain competitive, they never have ill feelings toward each other, and even sometimes sacrifice their own time to help one another out during challenges. the atmosphere is completely different, so much nicer, and gentler -- while the level of cooking is still just as good if not better. it's really given me the impression that everyone is Australia is a 'good neighbor' -- while so much of America is 'all about me' and 'looking out for number one' and 'to heck with anyone that gets in my way'

is that for reals, or some kind of tourism schtick to make it look like you are all generally nice people?
i mean, i live in the south, and am from Appalachia, both places where people are generally much more cordial than the rest of the nation to each other.. but still. the people on that show are impressive, not just for what they do in kitchens, but for the affection and brotherly love they all seem to have.
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Ahh yes, I enjoy Masterchef as for the camaraderie in real life? mmm, I really don't know how to answer that lol People can be nice yes but as for Masterchef, I love how they're like a family in that show. I don't know about the US version but as you've seen they live in a large house together for months while filming so that might have something to do with it?
We have another show called My Kitchen Rules, that show is all about drama, people hating on each other, revenge and spitefulness, the people are always stuffing up their cooking, I think it's a dumb show and I don't how the people treat each other but yet, it always manages to get much higher ratings than Masterchef. MC struggled there for a while but they went back to their roots and REALLY upped the cooking in the last two seasons which has been awesome to watch when my wife and I do :)
I'm surprised you watch our MC, is it on television in the US or do you watch it online?
 
breno785au said:
Ahh yes, I enjoy Masterchef as for the camaraderie in real life? mmm, I really don't know how to answer that lol People can be nice yes but as for Masterchef, I love how they're like a family in that show. I don't know about the US version but as you've seen they live in a large house together for months while filming so that might have something to do with it?
We have another show called My Kitchen Rules, that show is all about drama, people hating on each other, revenge and spitefulness, the people are always stuffing up their cooking, I think it's a dumb show and I don't how the people treat each other but yet, it always manages to get much higher ratings than Masterchef. MC struggled there for a while but they went back to their roots and REALLY upped the cooking in the last two seasons which has been awesome to watch when my wife and I do :)
I'm surprised you watch our MC, is it on television in the US or do you watch it online?
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the second show sounds a lot more like our MC.

we enjoyed ((naively, i guess)) the Hell's Kitchen shows, having worked in kitchens for a while earlier in life, and gravitated naturally towards the US MC when it started airing here. i suppose focus groups showed that the rudeness and drama was a big draw, so both shows seemed to devolve over the years. somehow or another i learned that there was an Aussie version and i find episodes online; it doesn't air even on amazon prime or hulu or anything -- so honestly i torrent it. we can't even stomach to watch the US versions anymore.

someone said once, "things are the same all over"

we're glad MC AU still airs - sometimes we even learn something ((whodathunk?)) - and dude! i really thought Mattie was going to win. i had the final two picked for about a month this year, actually. but cheers to Elena :)
 
Yeah I thought Mattie had it too but Elena was also an awesome chef. I didn't even think it'd be torrented, might have to get the next season on torrents because I usually wait for it to go online on tenplay.com.au because I really dont like TV commercials every five minutes. But tenplay.com.au isn't very good for streaming on a television.

Oh and yes, there is another season coming, i've seen a call for contestants a while ago now. I'd assume they'd be filming right this moment or very soon. Going by how their dressed on the show it looks like it's filmed over summer/spring time hehe
 
breno785au said:
This is a thread with questions to all my American friends out there...

Every now and then I catch this show on TV called House Hunters and it's basically about following a couple who are looking for a home to buy. Whilst watching this show I made some observations that I would like explained.

One, I have noticed that a lot of American homes (on this show at least anyway) do not have a fence, I see no fence on along the sides of the house! You can walk out a side door and right into your neighbours property and you can see right into their house..Why wouldn't you have a fence? This is odd...

And two, a lot of the houses come with appliances like microwaves and fridges! I find that to be odd, in Australia we ALWAYS move with our appliances. I've never heard of a house coming with a fridge or a microwave...is this common all around America?

If you're ever gonna find a miscellaneous topic...this is it :P lol
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Breno this is a perfectly logical question and as a sophisticated american i would be happy to give you an educated answer.

we dont dont need fences here in the states as one can safely step out their front door any time and not have to worry about getting attacked by wild dingos.
 
jaybird88 said:
Breno this is a perfectly logical question and as a sophisticated american i would be happy to give you an educated answer.

we dont dont need fences here in the states as one can safely step out their front door any time and not have to worry about getting attacked by wild dingos.
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Hahaha, that's makes sense! So what do you do when you see a bear? Hug it?
 
breno785au said:
Hahaha, that's makes sense! So what do you do when you see a bear? Hug it?
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funny thing about bears, bigger is better. you would be better off meeting a grizzly bear (1200 lbs) than a black bear (400 lbs). we have black bears around here and they are really mean. they dont seem to want to stop attacking until your dead, the bigger ones will immobilize you and leave.
and that another reason you wont catch me in Australia, koala bears! if the dingos dont get you the koala bears will.
 
jaybird88 said:
funny thing about bears, bigger is better. you would be better off meeting a grizzly bear (1200 lbs) than a black bear (400 lbs). we have black bears around here and they are really mean. they dont seem to want to stop attacking until your dead, the bigger ones will immobilize you and leave.
and that another reason you wont catch me in Australia, koala bears! if the dingos dont get you the koala bears will.
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Lol yeah the koalas will bore you to death, they're so lethargic!

Is having a double sink in the bathroom a common thing in American homes? I see a lot of that on the show.
 
breno785au said:
Lol yeah the koalas will bore you to death, they're so lethargic!

Is having a double sink in the bathroom a common thing in American homes? I see a lot of that on the show.
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yes we all have double sinks in the kitchen.

and now i have an aussie Q, how many men in your family are named Bruce?
 
Adstar said:
Do most houses in the USA have built in appliances like Dish washers built into a wall? Or are they separate enclosed appliances..
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Our dishwasher is built-in. So is our microwave. And, although the fridge is free-standing, the space allotted for it was designed for exactly the size of the unit... same thing with the stove. (But then, I designed and built our whole kitchen.) In fact, trying to sell a home in the states is a bit of a detriment if the appliances aren't included. The quality and newness of them is often a big selling point.
 
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