So I just googled “starter house” because I’d seen someone use the term and went ???
And if you heard someone shrieking in rage from the astral plane that was me just now
Thanks, I hate it.
But seriously, over half of the things on that list we actively DID NOT WANT in our house search. We LIKE older homes, we WANT actual rooms and hate the modern open floor plans, we LIKE older neighborhoods with trees, and leaves, and frankly, our home is more efficient because of rooms. If we heat our kitchen up in the summer, it’s separated from the main living area by WALLS. Also, there was absolutely no mention in that rash-inducing article of what quality of materials you get buying an older home. We have oak hardwood floors on both floors that just needed some TLC. Our neighborhood has brick homes (not just the decorative brick on the street side of the property for that “look”). To get that kind of material in a modern home, you’re paying well over 3x what we did for a home of similar size (granted, we got a home that needed some cosmetic work, so I lucked into a pretty good deal for this 3 bed/3 bath, 2000sq ft place). Also! Because we live in an established neighborhood, we’re 10 minutes away from downtown where we both work, rather than a 40 minute commute from the new ‘burbs.
I FUCKIGN HATE OPEN FLOOR PLANS I HATE THEM SO GODDAMNED MUCH HATES THEM PREIOUS
Last year my parents almost couldn’t sell their AWESOME older (not THAT old) house because all these new money tech bro families had it in their head that they NEEDED an open floor plan. When my dad asked “Why?” The answers were mainly “Because that’s what’s ‘in’ right now.”
They ended up having to sell for $90,000 under asking price, just because it was built in the early 80’s, and nobody back then planned on bad home planning being what idiots wanted in the 2010’s.
I’m waiting for the granite countertops trend to die away too, because I bet you a LOT of $$$ that twenty to thirty years from now people will think it looks “dated” and you’ll see all these guides on how to rip out granite countertops or paint over them or something, and I intend to laugh forever.