Cookie Cutter housing.

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[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Cookie Cutter housing.

Posted: 3/9/2006 4:52:23 PM EDT

More and more I see these Ryan Homes going in. You know the 1/4 acre lots, 80% of the land is house, no yard, or privacy. It makes me sick anymore, as I drive around for work, I see 10 or so of these popping up in the county, and more coming. Anyone with a 20 acres or so has sold out to the developers.

I was talking to a coworker about this (liberal from Florida), he said that this is how people are moving these days. I said I was looking at a 6 acre lot, and was thinking of buying it and building a house in the middle of it ( heavily wooded lot) and have my own private getaway. He said I would be better off buying the lot and making my own developement.

I was born a century late.

Anyone else feel this way about these housing developements?

Posted: 3/9/2006 4:54:13 PM EDT

[#1]

They have them in MA too. They take a wooded 20 acre plot, divide it, cut all the trees down, and put up cheap houses that all look exactly the same. For some reason people dont mind them. I'm sure some people here live in them. I don't get it myself.

Posted: 3/9/2006 4:56:01 PM EDT

[#2]

Quoted:
They have them in MA too. They take a wooded 20 acre plot, divide it, cut all the trees down, and put up cheap houses that all look exactly the same. For some reason people dont mind them. I'm sure some people here live in them. I don't get it myself.

I live in a late 70s housing developement, all brick ranch style houses on 1/2 acre lots, and I feel so closed in here. If I can swing that lot, I will.

Posted: 3/9/2006 4:56:19 PM EDT

[#3]

More and more fields in the area are being lost to that kind of development.

Posted: 3/9/2006 4:56:27 PM EDT

[#4]

+1

goddamn mini-mcmansions. they mowed down a few perfectly good acres of woods behind my house to build those ugly pieces of #$#@$#

i know, i know, some will say "the poorer members of society deserve a nice home too", but that argument doesn't really hold water when these mini-dumps are selling for more than what a decent home cost just a few years ago. they pack those particle board pieces of shit together like sardines in a can...... and the folks who buy them can only afford them with interest-only or negative-amorization mortgages and other financial trickery....

Posted: 3/9/2006 4:56:45 PM EDT

[#5]

"Build it and they will come"

Posted: 3/9/2006 4:58:45 PM EDT

[#6]

Quoted:
More and more I see these Ryan Homes going in. You know the 1/4 acre lots, 80% of the land is house, no yard, or privacy. It makes me sick anymore, as I drive around for work, I see 10 or so of these popping up in the county, and more coming. Anyone with a 20 acres or so has sold out to the developers.

I was talking to a coworker about this (liberal from Florida), he said that this is how people are moving these days. I said I was looking at a 6 acre lot, and was thinking of buying it and building a house in the middle of it ( heavily wooded lot) and have my own private getaway. He said I would be better off buying the lot and making my own developement.

I was born a century late.

Anyone else feel this way about these housing developements?

Preach it brother, preach it!

It's a shame what they've done down where I live. (FV) I see these things and the zero lot line homes and townhomes popping up everywhere. Worst part is as you say, the cookie cutter aspect. You'd think they could figure out a way to at least make the exteriors look a little different but it's 500 homes with 5 different plans. Cost effective for the builder maybe, but lord what it does for the area.

I was walking at work through an older neighborhood during lunch, (gut work

) and couldn't help but notice how big the lots were and how nice the architecture was. Even the smaller homes/lots were "real" neighborhood homes not the dime a dozen things they build these days. There was a certain sense of purpose, functionality and style that is sadly lacking in todays mass produced homes.

And this was in Durham imagine what it must be like in a nicer city.

Posted: 3/9/2006 5:00:04 PM EDT

[#7]

+ infinity.

They just threw up a townhouse development two minutes away. They're all over the suburbs of Chicago. The southwest and west suburbs and west suburbs are crawling with these.

What was once farmland is now subdivisions.

One of my dad's coworkers lives in a development near Joliet, IL. They're all cookie cutter houses. The house next to him looks the same as the one on his left. And they're expensive too. Around $265K a house for his development.

Posted: 3/9/2006 5:06:22 PM EDT

[#8]

You guys should see the shit they're pulling in Miami.

A quarter acre in South Florida is like 10 acres anywhere else. In some places, if you get an eighth of an acre, you're lucky. I know of houses where the distance from the rear wall of the house to the backyard fence is less than six feet.

I just came from looking at a house in Durham that's on a quarter acre, and to me it's like a football field. Fortunately, it's a nice neighborhood.

Posted: 3/9/2006 5:06:29 PM EDT

[#9]

That's why I bought 10 acres heavily wooded in NC for my retirement home...

Posted: 3/9/2006 5:10:40 PM EDT

[#10]

um, where would you have these people live?

Anywhere ,as long as it does not spoil your view of abandoned farmland, or a stand of trees?

I have news for you. People live in apartments, too. Big buildings full of 3 or 4 room units, your boundary wall is someone else's also. These same people will live in "pleasant valley" subdivisions just as easily, and you don't have to listen to the noise of the neighbor banging his GF at 3 AM (unless, you're, like, into that).

These folks you are complaining about are moving out of cities to get away from bad schools, and to get to where the jobs are. Yeah, its called SPRAWL. But ever since Mr. Levi built his town on Long Island, its been an intermediate stop for folks looking for something better. Once the kids are gone, these folks will sell to the next generation and move out to Montana (if Ted Turner hasn't bought every last acre of it by then).

Did you think that once YOU moved out to the edge of suburbia, that it would just stop growing out of respect for your aesthetics?

Posted: 3/9/2006 5:14:24 PM EDT

[#11]

i don't have a problem with people moving into surburbia, but they could build the houses less densely..... the whole reason people move to suburbia is to get rid of the problems in the city (crime, pollution, bad schools, etc) many of which are caused by high population density combined with poverty. however, as the former suburbs become more dense and urbanized, those with means will move even farther out, thus continuing the cycle of sprawl and urban decay.... until finally the whole thing becomes extreme, with people commuting 100+ miles just to get to the office in downtown....

Posted: 3/9/2006 5:20:21 PM EDT

[#12]

Quoted:
um, where would you have these people live?

Anywhere ,as long as it does not spoil your view of abandoned farmland, or a stand of trees?

I have news for you. People live in apartments, too. Big buildings full of 3 or 4 room units, your boundary wall is someone else's also. These same people will live in "pleasant valley" subdivisions just as easily, and you don't have to listen to the noise of the neighbor banging his GF at 3 AM (unless, you're, like, into that).

These folks you are complaining about are moving out of cities to get away from bad schools, and to get to where the jobs are. Yeah, its called SPRAWL. But ever since Mr. Levi built his town on Long Island, its been an intermediate stop for folks looking for something better. Once the kids are gone, these folks will sell to the next generation and move out to Montana (if Ted Turner hasn't bought every last acre of it by then).

Did you think that once YOU moved out to the edge of suburbia, that it would just stop growing out of respect for your aesthetics?

So do you believe the only forest view we should have is a state park?

In the next few years, there wont be any farms left around here, which is a shame. Im just wanting to get a few acres for myself befor all they Yanks and developers raise the price out of site.

Posted: 3/9/2006 5:29:13 PM EDT

[#13]

It's a hard one, it's easy to say that these developments should be zoned away, but what does that say for property rights?

I'm on 3.25, and they just don't do that anymore. The reason is simple, back in '84 when my house was built, land was cheap where I am, so why not build a 1700 sqft colonial on a lot that size. The more well off won't buy in this subdivision anyhow. Fast forward to today, and the new developments are putting 3500 sqft houses on 1.5 and selling them for over $500,000.

It's simply supply and demand.

Posted: 3/9/2006 5:29:24 PM EDT

[#14]

Quoted:
Quoted:
um, where would you have these people live?

Anywhere ,as long as it does not spoil your view of abandoned farmland, or a stand of trees?

I have news for you. People live in apartments, too. Big buildings full of 3 or 4 room units, your boundary wall is someone else's also. These same people will live in "pleasant valley" subdivisions just as easily, and you don't have to listen to the noise of the neighbor banging his GF at 3 AM (unless, you're, like, into that).

These folks you are complaining about are moving out of cities to get away from bad schools, and to get to where the jobs are. Yeah, its called SPRAWL. But ever since Mr. Levi built his town on Long Island, its been an intermediate stop for folks looking for something better. Once the kids are gone, these folks will sell to the next generation and move out to Montana (if Ted Turner hasn't bought every last acre of it by then).

Did you think that once YOU moved out to the edge of suburbia, that it would just stop growing out of respect for your aesthetics?

So do you believe the only forest view we should have is a state park?

In the next few years, there wont be any farms left around here, which is a shame. Im just wanting to get a few acres for myself befor all they Yanks and developers raise the price out of site.

so buy the land if you have a problem with it being developed

Posted: 3/9/2006 5:30:29 PM EDT

[#15]

Nearest house to me is 3/8 of a mile.And it's vacant.It's vacant 'cause they sold the 135 acres it was on to a developer.Another farm gone.And now I'll have n-n-n-neighbors! At first the developer tried to buy a piece of my place to ease his roadbuilding.I told him it was all or nothing.He walked away. I let him know that,right now,I'm just an eyesore.I can be a nose sore,and an earful as well! Told him I like bushhogging at 0600.NEKKID! And can't afford a muffler for the Old Ford.And,I was thinking of moving my hog pen out front ,where prevailing winds will waft to his homes, "starting at the high 500s".
Plus the old guy behind me,on 300+ acres,is real old,and I doubt his kids will be long selling after he's gone.

Guess,I'll start looking then.After I sell off lots.

Posted: 3/9/2006 5:31:36 PM EDT

[#16]

Most people don't want to spend the time outdoors.

They don't want to garden, cut the grass, or trim trees. Their kids don't go outside on purpose so why have a yard. They lock their barking dog outside all day and as long as it's got enough room to crap they don't give a second thought to it.

I bought in the older second of town where I have a small lawn and a big backyard full of mature trees. What frosts me is when the yuppies move here from back east they fell all the trees and pave over everything.

Posted: 3/9/2006 5:35:37 PM EDT

[#17]

Quoted:
Quoted:

I was walking at work through an older neighborhood during lunch, (gut work) and couldn't help but notice how big the lots were and how nice the architecture was. Even the smaller homes/lots were "real" neighborhood homes not the dime a dozen things they build these days. There was a certain sense of purpose, functionality and style that is sadly lacking in todays mass produced homes.

And this was in Durham imagine what it must be like in a nicer city.

A friend of mine grew up in a neighborhood (in Durham) that would have been an upper middle class/ working-rich neighborhood in the early-mid 80s. No cookie cutter homes, some have overgrown shrubbery now and grayed and cracked driveways. It really gives me a good feeling, nostalgia I guess...

The hot new thing in the area are the cookie cutter homes that come with John Deere lawn mowers and tools.

Oh wait, did you hear KB Homes is building 650 homes in Cary based on a handful of Martha Stewart's homes/plans/designs? I doubt many ARFCOMers will be living there...

Posted: 3/9/2006 5:36:18 PM EDT

[#18]

Quoted:
]

so buy the land if you have a problem with it being developed

That is what I am working on doing, but only being 25 and just bought a house last year, things are tight. Im looking at maybe selling my Jeep for extra money to put down on it.

Posted: 3/9/2006 5:36:29 PM EDT

[#19]

So do you believe the only forest view we should have is a state park?

don't be a simpleton, nobody remotely suggested that.

Lets turn it around, and a great tradgedy befalls you. Your kids get cancer, your wife runs off with the milkman, your best dog bites a debutante... (I don't wish this on you, its just for example).

You need money. Are you going let anyone tell you that you cannot sell off your 100 acres to developers because they got used to driving past your beautiful farmland everyday?

Posted: 3/9/2006 5:40:38 PM EDT

[#20]

Quoted:
At first the developer tried to buy a piece of my place to ease his roadbuilding.I told him it was all or nothing.He walked away.

Similar happened to my grandfather.

Farm next to his farm sold to largest local developer. Developer wanted to buy 10ft of his land to help ease his road building. Was promptly told he didn't have enough money to buy it

One day it will be mine. I suspect they'll want to buy the entire tract to expand thier development. Once again, they'll be told to eat shit.

Posted: 3/9/2006 5:41:43 PM EDT

[#21]

Quoted:
So do you believe the only forest view we should have is a state park?

don't be a simpleton, nobody remotely suggested that.

Lets turn it around, and a great tradgedy befalls you. Your kids get cancer, your wife runs off with the milkman, your best dog bites a debutante... (I don't wish this on you, its just for example).

You need money. Are you going let anyone tell you that you cannot sell off your 100 acres to developers because they got used to driving past your beautiful farmland everyday?

I know its not my property, and they can do whatever they want with it. It just seems that suburbia is taking over everywhere, and the trash comes with it.

It seems everytime an old farmer dies, there kids sell it off to make the quick buck and go on. But do they really have to build on such a small ass lot and build only 5 different houses, and clear out every tree?

Posted: 3/9/2006 5:46:12 PM EDT

[#22]

Quoted:
More and more I see these Ryan Homes going in. You know the 1/4 acre lots, 80% of the land is house, no yard, or privacy. It makes me sick anymore, as I drive around for work, I see 10 or so of these popping up in the county, and more coming. Anyone with a 20 acres or so has sold out to the developers.

I was talking to a coworker about this (liberal from Florida), he said that this is how people are moving these days. I said I was looking at a 6 acre lot, and was thinking of buying it and building a house in the middle of it ( heavily wooded lot) and have my own private getaway. He said I would be better off buying the lot and making my own developement.

I was born a century late.

Anyone else feel this way about these housing developements?

ah.. in my whole county .. cobb county, ga.. on the west side.. RAW land goes for around 100,000. you wanna 6 acre lot.. fine.... estate lots that size gonna cost you close to 1,000,000.00. land costs, they aint making any more of it. we all want 40 acres and a mule. few can afford it close in and few wanna live in the middle of nowhere....

Posted: 3/9/2006 5:46:31 PM EDT

[#23]

1/4 acre lots are not even the norm around here. Try 50' lots in lots of subdivisions.

Posted: 3/9/2006 6:41:38 PM EDT

[#24]

Quoted:
Quoted:
More and more I see these Ryan Homes going in. You know the 1/4 acre lots, 80% of the land is house, no yard, or privacy. It makes me sick anymore, as I drive around for work, I see 10 or so of these popping up in the county, and more coming. Anyone with a 20 acres or so has sold out to the developers.

I was talking to a coworker about this (liberal from Florida), he said that this is how people are moving these days. I said I was looking at a 6 acre lot, and was thinking of buying it and building a house in the middle of it ( heavily wooded lot) and have my own private getaway. He said I would be better off buying the lot and making my own developement.

I was born a century late.

Anyone else feel this way about these housing developements?

ah.. in my whole county .. cobb county, ga.. on the west side.. RAW land goes for around 100,000. you wanna 6 acre lot.. fine.... estate lots that size gonna cost you close to 1,000,000.00. land costs, they aint making any more of it. we all want 40 acres and a mule. few can afford it close in and few wanna live in the middle of nowhere....

I think the people that live in these quasi-rural areas should just be glad that their heretofore worthless plots can let them retire happily now.

[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Cookie Cutter housing.

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