BLOG IN YOUR FACE

I grew up and spent most of my years before going off to college in a house that was built in 1919 in Sioux City, IA. No, it is not the one pictured above, which I posted to prove a point. The neighborhood that I grew up in was approximately 24×4 blocks of all houses. Not a single strip mall, Home Depot, Wal-Mart, movie theatre…NOTHING. The only thing there was besides houses was an enormous park at the end of the neighborhood. Now, in this 24×4 block area there were approximately 576 houses, and the amazing part is NOT…ONE…OF…THEM…WAS…THE…SAME. Not even close! I mean there were ranch styles, two stories, three stories, brick houses, ones with hills in the front yard, others with HUGE back yards, some with picket fences, some with huge porches, some with wrap around porches, some with long driveways, some with no driveways, some with evergreen trees, some with birch trees, some with massive oak trees etc. etc. etc.

My point is, builders back then took a lot of pride in building houses and the people that have lived in those houses ever since have a lot of pride in the uniqueness of them. These days, it just isn’t the same case. Half the time, I bet if I was drunk I would come home to the wrong house, walk inside, spend the night, get up and put someone elses clothes on, kiss someone else’s wife goodbye before work and be on my way without ever noticing what happened! They all look that much the same!!

Why did America start building houses this way? I know why, its because it is cheap. Every investor out there wants to build the cheapest house that will make them the most profit. If you have ever watched these subdivisions go up, you have seen them magically appear in about six months flat. Jaci and I are moving into our new house in less than two weeks and let me just tell you about our experience with home shopping. I bet we went and viewed 40 houses. Of those 40 houses we came across about 30 that were your typical mid-nineties cookie cutter house. They all seem to have split entries with the kitchen at the back of the house and the bedrooms above the garage. Every single shade of white paint and texture is the same. Every single microwave and stove is the same model. Every tub and shower looks alike. Every deck, patio and/or privacy fence out back looks the same as your neighbor’s house and his neighbor’s house and his neighbor’s house and so on and so forth. It literally took us until the fortieth house or so to find one that really made us say “Wow, I haven’t seen one like this before. What an interesting floor plan! And it has such character!” I think that fact is sad and pathetic.

No wonder the housing market is is crap these days. I think it is because people just aren’t getting excited about finding their dream home; something they can call their own and what makes them unique. The people that do move into these crap houses are getting ripped off by builders, banks and real estate tycoons. Once word spread that this was happening, it created a snowball effect and now nobody is excited about being a home buyer. Jaci and I just got lucky, I guess. My advice would be that if you are shopping for a new home, don’t move into a cookie-cutter house just because you are getting a good deal on it. Look at as many houses as it takes until you walk into one that makes you say “Wow.”

Feel free to comment below. You may need to click on the article’s title (headline) in order to open up the comment field below. You may also e-mail me any thoughts you might have to ahubbard13@bloginyourface.com and if I like what you have to say I will post it alongside this blog. If I don’t like what you have to say I may also post it alongside this blog along with my personal comments on where you should shove it!