On Sun, 14 Jun 2009 22:45:13 -0500, Vic Smith
wrote:

On Sun, 14 Jun 2009 20:22:40 -0400, D K
wrote:

jps wrote:


Our house was built in 1924 of good materials.

You live in a sub-division with hollow core doors.

WTF does that have to do with the value of a house, idiot?

Most home value is in the location and lot size.
Wife's aunt's house was an old frame 2-flat in poor shape
near Montrose on Lawndale. Old Irving.
Think she got $360k for it, and would have been $380k
if the lot was empty, because the developer tore it down.
Excellent timing was part of that price. Height of the boom.
My old place was all oak floors and woodwork, built in the
'20's.
You know, North side brick 2-flat. Very nice face brick.
Well built, but horse-hair plaster over lath or wire screen, no wall
insulation.
Classic, but not very energy-efficient. But I liked it.
Solid oak doors.
Though the oak woodwork was beautiful, the old varnish was
darkening so I stripped the living and dining rooms on the first floor
to refinish it.
Oak is heavy, dense wood, and that was part of its beauty to me.
When I pulled it off, it was light as balsa, and brittle as hell.
Must have dried up like an old woman after 70 years.
Still had great grain though, so I refinished it and slapped it back
up.
But I sure didn't think of it as dense and heavy any more.
New pine would do that, and I actually considered it, but pine
can never look like oak, even old oak.
Anyway, that experience actually changed how I view things like that.
My current home was built in '59, and has hollow core interior doors.
I like them, because they're light, and have beautiful maple veneer.
As long as you're not the type to get drunk and kick doors, they're
fine. Don't insulate noise as well, but that's not a problem for us.
Drywall is fine too. I don't miss lath and plaster at all.
Again, I got over punching walls a long time ago.
They still didn't build in wall insulation though.
Drywall on exterior walls is on 1/2" firring strips to the brick.
Still don't get big heating gas bills, as I had all new thermal
windows put in a few years ago.
I'd stud and insulate the walls if it wasn't for the all the window
framing I'd have to do. I just don't think it would look right.

--Vic

Lot size in our city can certainly play a role but most lot sizes are
similar. What makes houses valuable here is proximity to the city and
the charm of the house and neighborhood. We're in an old part of the
city quite close to downtown so anyone moving to the city with a job
downtown is attracted to the area. Literally five minutes to anywhere
downtown with access to all services within minutes. My commute to
our office on the ship canal is about 8 minutes.

Tear downs are extremely rare. There's no such thing as a hollow core
door unless someone has done an uncle joe update. Most folks around
here invest in kitchens, bathrooms and master bedrooms. They make the
$ back when they sell. They were built for big families in the 20's
and for most of the past 80 years, heavily Catholic.

Folks who work for Redmond mostly live on the other side of the lake
where housing resembles outlying areas of Northern California.
Developments with similarly designed houses, built with economical
materials and put up in weeks.

That's what makes me think of the Malvina Reynolds song about "little
boxes." Typical for the mobile tech community.