My very first house was featured in the San Francisco Chronicle today. 104 Congo Street was a 725 SF 1904 earthquake shack located at the back of a 25′ x 100′ lot in the Sunnyside. By the time I bought it for $264,000 on April Fools Day 1990, it had been renovated into a pretty cool loft like space.
I loved that little house. Every square inch was utilized. The house actually controlled you to a certain degree – furniture had to be small scale and minimal, and you couldn’t buy things just to buy them because there was no place to put them. But 8 years later, I moved up to a house with a view and an actual guest bedroom, and sold it to Eileen for $275,000. Yes, I was underwater for a lot of years.
What Eileen has done with the place is uniquely Eileen. But what she has created leads to a broader topic that I have wanted to discuss here on the blog for a long time – Next House. What do we want from our homes today? What will they look like, and how will they be different from what the developers are offering? I’m just teeing it up, and look forward to your thoughts and ideas.
I loved that she kept the smiling concrete camels. They were one of my cherished possessions that I didn’t take to my new house. It brought a smile knowing that they are still safe and still amusing people.
Phil
1) Larger non-master bedrooms.
2) Get rid of the formal dinning room, living room combo
3) What is the deal with entering a house from the side? Seems to me a poor security issue.
4) I love my 4 car garage, but they need to be on the side of the house (mine is) so they are not part of the front elevation.
5) Too many houses are right on top of each other with no driveway, making street parking a mess.
6) A front porch, just to sit and watch the nieghborhood. I actually see people use garages for this and shake my head.
7)Fireplaces in a place where you can see them or just get rid of them they take up too much room most the time in smaller houses.
8) Master bedrooms are too big most the time and try to be more than bedrooms. Ever try working on your computer at the desk while your wife is sleeping?
9) Nooks are just a pain to decorate. Either too small or too big, and removes some design choices.
10) Carpet in too many places in the house. First thing I removed was carpet under the sinks in the batroom and replaced it with tile.
11) More energy efficient homes, while I like almost 4000 square feet in a single story, it just is expensive to heat and cool. Better zonal control would help.
Sully
I agree with Phil. The developers need to start listening to the people that are going to live in the houses, instead of the designers that quit college a year short to get a job!
Waldo
More important that what the developers want to build is what the developers are going to have to build in a world where people need 20% down and can borrow 3.5 times verifiable income, and that sure as hell ain’t no 4000 sq. ft. McMansion.
Anybody who wants to, and can afford to, purchase a 4000 sq.ft. new house can hire a contractor and build his own, but there ain’t gonna be any production builders building them anymore.
DonC
Very interesting point. Phil’s comments seem to reflect the “notsobighouse” movement, where people would prefer quality to quantity. That seems to be part of a changing zeitgeist.
The other issue is that for the last twenty plus years developers have made money by building suburban houses. Going forward the demographics will change, and the demand for suburban McMansions will not be there. Developers are going to have to find ways to profitably build smaller and different homes for those who don’t want four bedrooms and three baths in the burbs.
billddrummer
I agree with Phil. Some other things that even smaller houses would benefit from:
A great room with a movable wall or two, that could break up the space if needed.
A true home theater experience (perhaps that useless walkout basement)?
Kitchens designed for cooking, not for standing around drinking wine.
Built in bookcases.
Larger but fewer bedrooms–and real laundry rooms, not closets.
Small yards are eco-friendly, but have a large garage–3 bays minimum, preferably 4+.
This can be done with a sub 2500 sf footprint.
It just takes some creativity and flexibility.
Perhaps I’m dating myself, but that’s OK.
Lakedweller
Developers build what consumers want! And planners dictate what density a neighbourhood is designed to. The days of 1 acre (or larger) lots is gone. 60 feet of frontage is all that is needed for the average home owner living in the suburbs.
There will always be a market for single family homes…people have an inherent desire to own the land they reside on.
The suburbs will always be the most popular place for families to raise children. They will sacrifice buying a new car every second year to be able to make mortgage payments. And energy efficiency will help to reduce operating costs.
Secondary suites (granny suites) will become increasingly popular as multi-generational living is accepted again. Houses will be adaptable to multiple family situations, like developed attics, barrier free rooms (for the aging), and rooms adjacent to master suites for nurseries. (I don’t have a sense of whether the trend of smaller families will continue, I suspect it will reverse.)
Houses without garages will not be popular as the DINKs migrate to condos and families demand attached garages for security and convenience.
Home buyers will become more educated in what makes a house and land valuable, forcing developers to add value at every opportunity. Ironically, less community amenities will be demanded from a HOA maintenance perspective.