Could you resist?

"Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing." (granfury) 11/21/2015 at 23:35 • Filed to: None

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As winter starts to descend upon us here in St. Louis, I begin to think back to the decades I spent in Orange County CA, and how, if I were stupid-rich, I’d move back to my old stomping grounds in Newport Beach, near the end of the Balboa Peninsula, and retire. I’d have to be ridiculously wealthy, because the real estate prices there are beyond stupid. For example, $1.9M will buy you a huge estate on plenty of acres here in STL, whereas the same money on the peninsula will get you about 2,250 sq. ft. on a lot that’s not much bigger, and was built in the ‘40s or ‘50s. But if I had the money, I’d be there at the beach, away from anything resembling snow.

Now I’m one that likes mid-century modern architecture and it’s relatively clean aesthetic. I also like the smaller and simpler life, and as someone who’s interested in that post-war period I wouldn’t mind a smaller house. But as the cost of land on the peninsula continues to escalate, the small, quaint beach homes are being demolished, one after the other, and replaced with McMansions and lots of faux-Tuscan monstrosities.

Let’s take a couple of houses for example. Below is an example of what I like, and what to me is reminiscent of the Newport Beach I grew up with:

These houses are not too big, in a good location, and perfect for a couple or small family. These may have been vacation homes back in the day, but I could see living out my days in something like these (I’d probably have a warehouse a few miles inland to keep my cars and workshop). But as you can see from the houses behind and on either side, these smaller places are becoming the minority.

Below, just a few houses away, is an example of what is replacing those older, smaller homes:

Given the value of the land, I have some understanding of why people put up these monsters. I just don’t know if I could do it. Plenty of older, serviceable homes are being sold for millions just for the land, with approved plans already in-hand for constructing more McMansions.

So that begs my question - if you had the resources to do so, would you tear down a 60-70 year old place and put up something big and fancy and in the style of the week, or would you, like me, prefer to live in the area as it was and reside in a more modest home?

CB > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. 11/21/2015 at 23:39

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Modest home. I grew up in a bungalow, then a mid-sized home. The large mansions just weird me out. I had several friends who lived in them, and I could never understand how the hell they could live in such huge houses. The styling is usually pretty gaudy, too.

HammerheadFistpunch > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. 11/21/2015 at 23:40

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My ideal situation would be to build a modest home to suite my needs and style in the area I desire. If I’m dropping custom home money, I want a custom home. The perfect situation for me would be about an acre in the mountains, someplace not in the sightlines of or directly in a recreational hotspot about 3000 sq feet, a 3 car garage and a workshop.

TheHondaBro > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. 11/21/2015 at 23:41

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Real estate around here is also getting stupid expensive, though we have Amazon to thank for that.

Supreme Chancellor and Glorious Leader SaveTheIntegras > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. 11/21/2015 at 23:42

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I live and have grown up in a mid sized home, been in and out of a small small apartment in NYC...and have an uncle with a mansion in the rich historic area of Pittsburgh. I would take his massive house over the former anyday, even if id piss myself trying to find the bathroom

Arben72 > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. 11/21/2015 at 23:42

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Hell yes, if I'm spending so much on land, you better believe I want a house to match. Construction materials and labor will be pretty much equal throughout the country, so it's worth buying nicer land if you can. That being said, 10 car garage with multiple lift bays at the bare minimum.

Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. > Supreme Chancellor and Glorious Leader SaveTheIntegras 11/21/2015 at 23:46

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Using my example, if you wanted to live in Newport Beach, would you destroy an old home and put up something custom and huge in its place, or just buy one of the existing huge houses?

Supreme Chancellor and Glorious Leader SaveTheIntegras > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. 11/21/2015 at 23:48

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One of the exisitng huge houses

bob and john > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. 11/21/2015 at 23:50

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I would combine them. a medium sized home with a 6 car garage / project space.

Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. > Supreme Chancellor and Glorious Leader SaveTheIntegras 11/21/2015 at 23:51

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OK, I’m cool with that. I have no issue with those that want the bigger places - my beef is with those that are leveling the smaller homes and putting up large ones in their place.

Urambo Tauro > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. 11/21/2015 at 23:51

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If I was in a financial position to do anything I wanted, I would take a restoration job. Find something with cool architecture that most people couldn’t afford to fix up.

If there’s no historical mumbo-jumbo holding me back, I’d resto-mod the place. Strip the interior, getting rid of any hazardous building materials or old wiring, etc. Then I’d take care of any structural issues, making sure the whole place was level and square. Restore the exterior and customize the interior to my liking.

Bman76 (no it doesn't need a WS6 hood) M. Arch > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. 11/21/2015 at 23:57

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(shudders)

McMansions are the absolute worst. Tacking fake stone, shutters, and those garage door facades onto a spec’d floorplan is awful. People need better taste, STL included.

SVTyler > CB 11/21/2015 at 23:58

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I have a friend whose four-member family lives in a 14,000 square foot house that has rooms no one besides the cleaning ladies has been inside for years. Like, they just have three extra bedrooms (as many as my house has) that no one’s ever slept in. He doesn’t understand why I think that’s weird.

Admiral-cb > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. 11/22/2015 at 00:00

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I’m very familiar with the area (had my wedding reception in balboa at the balboa inn back in 2007) and while I love to visit the area, I wouldn't want to live there full time. I would take one of those big houses on the beach to live in part time and a nice big house further inland also. The parking (or lack of) is a deal breaker.

Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. > Urambo Tauro 11/22/2015 at 00:05

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I like this idea, and it’s probably what I would do if I were in the position to do so.

There was another house a few blocks away that I loved. The asking price was obscene, close to $11M, but sold as a tear-down for just under $4.4M. It was a mid-century place, done in an asian theme, that I would have loved to own; sadly, the Powerball ticket didn’t pay off. Yeah, it needed some work and a little interior updating, but I would have rather it been restored to its former glory than to have been leveled (which is what I saw when I last looked at it on Google Street View):

Before I moved east I did sneak around the property a bit and took some pictures of the kitchen and whatever else I could see from the street. Yeah, a lot of the interior hadn’t been updated since the ‘50s or ‘60s, but the bones of the place seemed solid and worth fixing up. I just dread seeing what’s going to go up in its place, and what huge place is going to go up in place of that expansive front lawn. Real estate like that sadly won’t remain open.

ranwhenparked > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. 11/22/2015 at 00:10

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This looks like a service outbuilding at a winery. If that was what they were going for, they succeeded.

SVTyler > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. 11/22/2015 at 00:12

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I would never do it since I have taste and decency and also because I had it happen to me:

This asshole bulldozed three perfectly nice cottages to build this hideous new-money monstrosity and blocked the lake view for about a half-dozen houses (including mine). Unsurprisingly, everyone on the street hates him.

Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. > Admiral-cb 11/22/2015 at 00:13

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I’ll agree with you about the parking. When that area was first being developed one car in a household was normal; times may have changed, but the streets haven’t. I’d probably do the Jay Leno thing - have a big shop/warehouse a few miles away for the collection, and just keep a couple of cars at home.

norskracer98-ExploringTheOutback > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. 11/22/2015 at 00:13

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I’d rather have lake side cabins in either the Adirondacks, Montana, Tennessee or somewhere in the UK. I prefer the country side and small, quiet life. I also prefer really old houses.

Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. > SVTyler 11/22/2015 at 00:33

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My folks are still in the 3,600 sq. ft. place I grew up in. It’s way more space than they need, and I don’t know what they do with all of the extra bedrooms; one is an art studio, another has a twin bed, but other than storage I don’t know what the last one is used for. They’ve tried to expand out and use more of the house, moving their one TV out of the master bedroom, but end up consolidating back into just a few rooms.

There are a few things that crack me up about how they live these days, and they too think it’s a little silly. They’ve got three refrigerators for the two of them. Mom wanted a Sub Zero during a remodel years ago and found it to be too small for their needs so they got another full-size one for the garage. Then there’s a smaller one for drinks and stinky things in the kitchen, but surprisingly, no fridge in the wet bar. They’ve got solar power, so all of these refrigerators aren’t too much of a resource drain. Growing up we rarely ate in the dining room, reserving that area for special occasions only, and instead had nearly every meal at the table in the kitchen. Now the kitchen table never gets used, and it’s dining room 100% of the time.

Speed > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. 11/22/2015 at 04:58

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In your particular circumstance, I’d fix up one of the old bomes. Part of your reasoning for wishing you could go back is for nostalgia. Money can buy you a mansion anywhere, but you can’t get nostalgia anywhere. It’s like buying a 1970 Challenger even though a 2015 is a better car.

Im general though, I’ve always wanted to restore an old home.

Manwich - now Keto-Friendly > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. 11/22/2015 at 10:15

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It really depends on whether the place has architectural merit and also the location... not to mention the size of the property.

And if the place does have architectural merit, but was too small for me, assuming there was enough space on the property, then I would look at turning it into a backsplit. Keep the original front of the house with an addition added to the back.

That way, the view from the street looks mostly the same, the look and feel of the original house is still there, but with the desired added space.

And I say this as someone who lives in a pre-WW2 house.

With my current house, I can’t do the backsplit thing as I don’t have the space. But I could rebuild my garage (which is separate from the house in the back) and turn it into a garage and one apartment... OR two apartments and no garage.

And I might do that at some point.

gmporschenut also a fan of hondas > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. 11/22/2015 at 18:03

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Do what the Brits do and go down

http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2…

Same thing happened near my grandparents house. There’s two very different social/economic groups the original owner or their kids and then new money mcmansions.