On Sun, 03 Oct 2004 07:10:19 -0400, Tom Watson wrote:

Posted on Sun, Oct. 03, 2004
.... snip

With wavy floors, space that barely accommodates a 21st-century
lifestyle and little up to code (and they haven't even looked behind
the walls yet), the $679,000 purchase price may be the smallest
expenditure.


I've been gettting TOH magazine for a couple of years since we are
planning a kitchen (now enroaching on living-room and family area) remodel.
This past month was their 25'th anniversary edition and included some of
the top 25 best changes to home building over the past 25 years. They also
had a few comments of trends they found not so good. In grand irony
bordering on high elitism, one of the "bad" trends was the rise of the
"McMansion" with a few elitist comments about how these 6000 sf homes were
rising over the "graves" of older large homes. The message seemed to be,
"these homes we remodel that are in the millions are meant for the worthy
and deserving, don't even imagine that the likes of *you* should aspire to
such large digs."

As contractor Tom Silva put it, "Drama is expensive."

The first house only cost $18,000. Drama was a lot cheaper in 1979.



Regards,
Tom.

"People funny. Life a funny thing." Sonny Liston

Thomas J.Watson - Cabinetmaker (ret.)
tjwatson1ATcomcastDOTnet (real email)
http://home.comcast.net/~tjwatson1