The house at the top of the street, which sat halfway done for months, is finally complete. It’s now surrounded by an inviting brick wall. Before and after pics:

The house on the adjoining corner sold over a year ago but was only recently torn down. Also, spires!

The asbestos shingles are gone from the little house up the block. This one had a “new homes” sign on it in my first McMansion entry, and I figured it would be gone months ago.

The house that disappeared in a June entry last year has been replaced:

Finally, here’s one more that’s nearly complete – with an impressive wall of pain. The first pic here is not the same lot, but it’s a good example of a nicely kept original model, one street over.

When I was a kid I figured that these were “normal” houses, like anyone would have. As an adult, I realize that they’re in fact nice houses — an acre of land! come on! — but they’re still fairly modest houses, particularly from the outside. And I like their simple lines and wood siding.

The developer built two models on this block. There’s “the ranch” (pictured above) and “the colonial”.

My folks bought in the early 70s, when these 4-bedroom, 2-bathroom houses went for about $60k. Now, thirty-plus years later, the same houses sell for about $800k. Most of them have been extensively renovated and landscaped; the neighborhood is much more upscale than it was 20 years ago.

And of course, a few people are buying to tear down.

This guy extended his back yard by trucking in tons of dirt and building a highway-style retaining wall at the back of his lot. So he has a bigger back yard, but his neighbors down the hill have a giant wall in their back yard, instead of woods. And their entire culdesac looks up to the new castle.

There’s only two teardowns so far, so they really stick out.

It’s interesting: when I see a new development with six dozen identical houses, I can’t stand it. Meanwhile, my folks’ 30-year-old neighborhood and my 50-year-old neighborhood were just as cookie-cutter when they were built. Now they’re kind of charming. And when someone replaces one of the original models with something different, it’s ugly. Am I just disagreeable? Will today’s new McNeighborhoods be charming in 30 years?

Here in McMansion-ville, we have walls of pain too:

You’ve got your 4500-square-foot house that goes for nearly a million dollars. It’s brick in front, becuase brick looks spendy, but building a house this big out of brick is spendy. So to save money, the sides and back are vinyl siding. And to tie it all together, at least one wall is pretty much devoid of windows… just a big vinyl monolith.

Bradee’s brother is a volunteer firefighter. He says that when houses like these burn, it’s just a question of when the brick facade will fall over — there’s nothing to hold them up.

I guess these houses are designed to be built fifteen feet from each other, on tiny lots, where the sides aren’t visible. But the lots in our neighborhood are big enough, and the neighboring houses are small enough, that the walls of pain are clearly visible.

When we got home from work, the house was gone.

This one never had a “for sale” sign or anything; I’m not sure if a builder approached the owners directly, or if the owners themselves are building a new house. There are a number of people in the neighborhood who are about to tear their own houses down. Most started out planning to add on a second floor to their existing house, but it turned out that the cost was barely any different than putting up a big builder model from scratch. And, as our neighbors said, the second way you get an entirely new house.

We’ve learned that shingle removal doesn’t bode well for the house. Sure enough, a week or two later:

Last week a crew started clearing the woods one block over; I guess a lot was subdivided?

Those woods back up to this house. I think this one has been here since we moved in, I’m not sure. It looks higher-budget than the new arrivals.

The pile of rubble I showed last time now has a (huge!) foundation. Even with a wide lens I couldn’t get the whole thing in one shot. This is two photos stitched together.

One street over, this house just sold. The realtor can’t tell me how much it sold for since they haven’t closed yet, but the asking price was $430k and it sold for “much more”. This is an original model: 2 beds, 1 bath, no basement, walk outside to get to the laundry. But it apparently wasn’t sold to a builder.

And, to wrap things up, a neighbor pointed out that the house at the end of our street was freshly de-shingled:

We bought two years ago, in a neighborhood that was built in the 50’s. It’s a quiet neighborhood, save for the sound of the beltway (”ah, the sound of the ocean”, we like to say). It has nice wide streets that are perfect for skateboarding or biking or walking around the block.

The original houses were small 2-bedroom, 1-bathroom starter homes with asbestos siding. Tiny, but cute. Here’s an original model that belongs to a neighbor:

And now, the metamorphosis. Last year, this house was built up the street:

That house is about 4200 square feet. It sold for around $800,000. Shortly after that, this one went up, one street over:

On the way to work a few months later, I noticed that the asbestos shingles had been taken off of a house up the street. The next day that house was flattened. Four months later:

That house also sold for about $800k. The owner next door also sold to a builder, but that builder didn’t demolish the house; she built up a second floor and put an extension and garage in back. She sold the place for about $700k.

A few houses down, I guess this one is next:

And finally, on a walk around the block last week we were surprised to find another one down.

I know this stuff happens but it’s amazing to see how fast it’s happening, and how eager people are to move into these giant, expensive, identical houses. I want to leave a copy of The Not So Big House on each of their doorsteps as a housewarming gift.

I figure I’ll make a photo study out of this whole thing… I’ll shoot as many befores and afters as I can. More to come.