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Coming Down, Part I

suburban renewalYesterday, we saw the first signs that the house in our neighborhood that was recently sold is about to disappear and be replaced by a newer, much more expensive model.   The water line was dug up and capped off. 

 

The house sold for about $466K.  Assuming that it will cost between $250K to $300K  to build the new house, the  selling price will probably be in the neighborhood of  $1M.

Most of the houses in the town we live in were built in the late 1950s/early 1960s, so I guess it’s not too surprising that they are gradually being torn down and replaced.  What constantly amazes me though is that there is no shortage of people around here that can afford to buy the new houses.  Or maybe they can’t as evidenced by the monumental collapse of the housing market a few years back!

Stay tuned for more on this latest suburban renewal project.

McMansion, the Sequel

About four years ago, the house next door to us was torn down and replaced by a McMansion.[1]

the house next door

Now it’s about to happen again on the property next to the McMansion.  The new house is advertised as being ready in Spring 2011 so I assume the wrecking crew will be here soon.  coming down soon

The Sign…

Yesterday morning, a crew appeared and erected this sign in the front yard of the new house next door. A few hours later the builder’s site supervisor showed up and said the sign was being removed. The town had called the homeowner and informed him that the sign was illegal and had to be removed; otherwise he would be subject to a fine.

The wheels of the town’s bureaucracy seldom turn this rapidly…I suspect that one of the neighbors called and complained about the sign.

Update -August 31… at 1430 local time today, the sign was taken down.

502-20060830-2.jpg

The Neighbor’s Big House

The house next door - 29 July 2006 HR's House - 29 July 2006
The house next door is just about complete now. The contractor’s foreman said they plan on scheduling the county and town inspections for the house in the next week or so. The property still has to be graded and decorative bricks need to be laid in the driveway. Once that’s done and inspected, the occupancy permit will be issued. There’s one potential problem though. The county just realized that many of the new homes built in the past few years have exceeded the height requirement (maximum of 35 feet) for residential zoning. They will grandfather houses that are already occupied, but for those awaiting final inspection, they plan on strict enforcement of the 35 foot maximum height. If the house exceeds the maximum height requirement, an occupancy permit will not be issued. Fixing the problem could run into the thousands of dollars, depending on the design of the house and the amount of rework needed to bring the house into compliance with the zoning ordinance.
The crux of the problem is that the present zoning ordinance is ambiguous about the height measurement technique. Contractors have been using the average height as the measurement; the county insists that the measurement be taken at the highest peak of the house. I can see the contractor’s sharks (aka lawyers) circling this one as I speak. And they might even win since the zoning ordinance is ambiguous and the county has been approving all the plans and drawings for these non-compliant houses for a long time now without objecting to the height.
The lower picture is of my one-story vintage late 1950’s brick rambler, which is dwarfed by the huge “McMansion” now sitting next door!

Shell – Part VII

The house next door - siding 1 The house next door - siding 2 The shell of the house next door is just about complete now.

Looks like all that remains to be done is to finish the trim, install the garage doors, outside electrical work and other finishing touches.

All of the interior framing is done, electrical and plumbing rough-in is complete, the insulation has been installed and they finshed hanging the wall board yesterday.

The picture of the interior was taken last week, prior to hanging the wall board.