On Sun, 14 Jun 2009 22:21:01 -0700, jps wrote:



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.

Pretty much the same happened in Chicago. Yuppification.
I avoided Lincoln park and other close-in areas when I bought my first
house. Too much crime, and downtown was in the dumps too.
Paid twice as much for a place in west Logan Square.
But those areas I avoided eventually proved very lucrative for those
who bought there.
Wasn't right for my family though, so I don't regret it.
Still got downtown in 15 minutes when I worked there.

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.

They tear down perfectly good houses here to put up McMansions.
Here is Morton Grove. Maybe 20 miles from downtown Chicago.
Occasionally they knock the roof off and add a story.
That's all slowed down now, of course.
The lots are good-sized, but the original houses - small ranches like
mine - are about 1200 sq ft.
Of course the basement basically doubles that.
Wouldn't have worked well when I had 5 kids at home, but was fine with
2.
And now with just me and the wife it's a castle. I don't even think
about putting a second bath in any more. Wouldn't be hard to add
one in the basement.
House is easy to heat and cool.
Thick, quality basement/foundation pours, good brick, maple plank
flooring and maple woodwork.
Room sizes aren't exactly huge.
I was really surprised my wife wanted it, given the kitchen size.
She's a professional cook, and I when we walked into the small kitchen
I thought, "That's that."
She didn't care. She loved the house.
Had her eyes more on potential garden.
Still after me to redo the kitchen though.
Maybe next year.
But depending on what you do to a kitchen, I don't think you will
necessarily get your investment back.
The new woman might want it redone anyway.
Best to just do it for yourself.
The extra bath should always increase value though.
I've got a feeling most new home owners buy looking at potential and
not what's there. They want to make it their own.
That's how I've always been, anyhow.
I've been turned off when looking at houses and seeing work that
I would have to tear out. Owner thinks it's a selling point.
Wrong.
Might be different now though, as I'm not enthusiastic about work.

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.

Know what you're talking about. Here they call them slab houses, as
most are built with no basement. Most good homes here have a
basement.
Had friends with slab houses. They liked them though.
Home is where the heart is.
One friend told me his only regret was not getting the basement option
on his slab house. Would have been $35k versus $28k.
But double his usable area, and his second kid was on the way.
Long time ago.
But that memory tells me that slab or no slab doesn't always indicate
"little boxes" or "quality."
Some areas, like Florida, make fine homes with slabs and cement block.
Then you could have an otherwise fine home with no hurricane straps,
and the first big blow takes the roof off.
Nothing wrong with slabs houses if they are decently built, but you
often get back to the location, location, location refrain.
Since cheap houses attract rougher people, and the locality doesn't
garner good tax revenues, the location often turns sour.
Especially if work dries up.
OTOH, I recall scandal in some "upscale" developments in the Chicago
area, due to cracking foundations, unsquare rooms and popping drywall
in brand new houses. Some crews can take good material and screw it
all up.
Somebody told me - can't remember who, probably a plumber - that in
one development within a year everybody's sewers were backing up.
They fed a camera into the main sewer line and found a mess of
2"X4"'s jammed in there. Had to tear up the street to get at it.
Investigation found that the non-union plumbers with a grudge against
the developer had done it. Might have been union plumbers though,
depending on who told me the story.
Could be a tall tale. Don't know. Can't remember.
That's ok. Some things are best forgotten.

--Vic