The Transformation

The single family housing in our town is undergoing a transformation. I sometimes wonder if this transformation is another sign of the changing makeup of what we view as the middle class here in the United States.

The original single family housing in our town dates from the late 1950s and early 1960s. The vast majority of this housing consists of ranch-style tract housing. Each has a little over 1000 square feet of living space. In 1957, these houses sold for about 18 thousand dollars.

This is around 152 thousand in today’s dollars. Many of these houses now sell as “tear-down/rebuilds.” Developers buy them, tear them down and build new homes on the property. The new houses usually contain 4000 or more square feet of living space. The typical asking price for these new homes is over 1.0 million dollars. The latest of these new homes in our neighborhood sold for a little over 1.2 million dollars. This is about 142 thousand in 1957 dollars.

The following pictures show the difference in size between the original and new houses. The picture on the left shows a completed new house to the left of a late 1950s vintage house. The picture on the right shows the same house with a new house under construction to it’s right. Click/point on the pictures to enlarge the photos.

This table shows a comparison of an original versus new house.

What’s the moral of this story? In 1957, people who could afford an 18 thousand dollar mortgage bought homes in the town. In 1957, 142 thousand dollars was equal to the 1.0 million dollar cost of today’s new homes. A large majority of these people could not afford to buy a house here back then if the price of a new home in 1957 dollars was equal to the price of a new home in today’s dollars.

 

Going Up, Part X

504stephen_20110522_03 The siding was completed this week.  It’s been raining quite a bit during the last two weeks, so it took a while to get the all the siding installed. 

I’ve not had the opportunity to get a look at the interior lately, but I do  know that the hardwood flooring and kitchen cabinets have been installed.

504stephen_20110522_05this is a close-up of the stone façade at the left of the garage door.  The stone work is meant to simulate dry-stone.  The stone veneer is attached to the vertical surface using mortar.  No mortar is used between the stones, thus giving the appearance that the stones are “dry-stacked.”  The following pictures illustrate this technique.

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That’s it for now, more to come soon…

Going Up, Part IX

504stephen_20110507_03we will no longer be able to show progress on the interior on a regular basis.   The doors are now locked or blocked in some other fashion during non-working hours.  The last time we saw the interior, all the wallboard had been installed and finished.  And there were pallets of wood trim (baseboards, wainscoting, etc.) sitting on the floor waiting to be installed.

Work started this week on the stone veneer trim for the front porch.  Other exterior finishing work completed this week included installation of the garage door.  

The exterior as of May 7th.

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That’s all for now, more to come soon.

Going Up, Part VIII

The rain this past week slowed down progress on the exterior.  But, they did manage to get the roof shingled.

The Drywall was delivered on 22 April

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Going Up, Part VII

There has been a lot of rain this week, so not much progress has been made on the outside work.  The shingles were delivered this past Monday…and then the rains came.

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The interior construction is moving right along.  It looks like the interior framing is just about done and the wiring runs for the electrical system are beginning to appear.

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This is the side door of the garage. Note the water faucet on the left.

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Finally, here is a view of the house as it stands today.  Although it has rained a lot this past week, the front steps and the roughed-in work for the front porch were completed.

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That’s all for now.  More to come soon.

Going Up, Part VI

And the beat goes on.  Or maybe should I should restate that as “and the sound of nail guns and gasoline-driven portable air compressors goes on!”

The neighborhood’s latest suburban renewal project is moving right along.  Here is a picture taken on April 1st.  The roof was covered with tar paper that day.

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Here are some pictures taken at the end of the work day on April 6th.  The first is a side view of the house.  Note that the house wrap is now in place.  I don’t remember the exact day it happened,  but as I recall, it took about 4 –5 hours to complete the wrapping.  And the windows are now in place too.   504stephen_20110406_01

And here’s a front view.  504stephen_20110406_02 

The next three pictures show the interior.  Although it’s not too visible in these pictures other than a few PVC and metal pipes lying around, work has begun on the plumbing and HVAC duct work.504stephen_20110406_03

This is a view looking towards the rear of the house.  Lots of windows!504stephen_20110406_04

Here’s another view showing more of the rear, including the rear door.504stephen_20110406_05

This picture was taken on April 9th.  The front door is in place as are the wooden forms for the front steps.  It is not too visible in this picture but a 6-foot fence is now in place along the left and back property lines.  And it matches the neighbor’s fence on the right side of their property.IMG_0009

That’s all for now.  More to come soon.