One of them in the pic has two cars. Of course, the ass is sticking into the road a bit but ehhhh it counts.
I wonder if you’d be allowed to park on the street, like parallel park, blocking your own driveway? Or maybe there is guest parking. Otherwise I can never see how you would have company over. Or share that place with a significant other.
Otherwise, they don’t look too bad. Wished there were pics of the interior.
While blocking the footpath making your disabled/pushchair-pushing/child neighbours life just a little bit more unsafe and harder.
disabled/pushchair-pushing/child
Uh, blocked sidewalks is the least of their concern if they live in these 1 bedroom houses. Where's the child going to sleep? In one of the two baths?
“It’s ok to inconvenience people, because they probably have bigger inconveniences bothering them”
I wouldn't block a sidewalk too, just making fun of that guy having two cars in a mini driveway in a tiny single bedroom house with lawn. You seem to be taking this meme too seriously. Does the downvote even necessary (it's public btw, unlike in reddit)? This is a meme community, not latestagecapitalism.
To me, a european, those urban areas packed with the same house over and over again always seem so depressing and boring. Is there any variety or does it look like this for kilometers miles?
nah, HOAs should have legally regulated limits on what they can and cannot do, sweden has HOAs too but basically all they do is pool together money to pay for infrastructure in the neighbourhood.
like, i for one quite like having paved roads and functional pipes, but i guess you do you.
like, i for one quite like having paved roads and functional pipes, but i guess you do you.
Do non HOA homes not have paved roads and working pipes?
There are no such areas, i'm not sure how you envision common infrastructure being maintained without an organization owning it?
Or do you just envision the municipality being in charge of maintaining your street's piping? Have fun waiting half a year for them to get to it when it breaks.
Or do you just envision the municipality being in charge of maintaining your street's piping?
That's how my neighborhood works.
Have fun waiting half a year for them to get to it when it breaks.
They're usually there within an hour if that happens.
When my wife and I were looking for a house. I automatically filtered any house part of an HOA. They really should be a thing of the past.
Unless actual buildings are attached, they shouldn't exist.
And buildings means a community park with an Olympic sized pool, at least. Only HOA I've ever heard of that made a tiny bit of sense, maintained a park, golf course, and pool for the community that lived there.
I agree, and these houses look way too small and overpriced for a comfortable family setting, but stating that identical homes packed next to each other is purely an American thing is disingenuous. It’s a byproduct of capitalism, which supersedes national borders
In Chicago there is one block just north of Wrigley Field that was a demo for a planned community decades ago. Each of the 10 or so connected houses on one side of the street are all different. The opposite side of the street is identical, but mirrored. That means the northernmost house on the west side of the street is identical to the southernmost house on the east side of the street. The effect is that it looks like a very unique and natural community in spite of being completely planned and regimented.
That’s a better approach I think. It’s economically viable to make similar houses, but aesthetically and psychologically pleasing for houses to be different and unique, even if it’s just a variation per house on a street and not every street itself
It seems like a huge waste of vertical space. If they condensed all of that into a small 8-10 story building, they could create green spaces all around it for everyone to enjoy.
Lol, then there would be stairs. We're fat over here. We don't do stairs.
/s in tone, but seriously we don't do stairs.
Not only is it boring, it's made in the shittiest way possible. It's the American way, after all. You want properly installed outlets? What are you, some sort of royalty or something? Properly sealed windows? Look at Mrs. Moneybags over here. The siding is falling off the house? What did you expect from a $350k home?
Generally it is each subdivision, but it can be larger groups of homes like that.
They are depressing, but people buy them because they're generally new construction and represent good value. You get over it if it saves you enough $$$.
I've yet to go into any new construction that wasn't shit compared to the 100 year old house I grew up in. That place was rock solid. The only problem with it was a roof leak that was actually from the extension my parents had done on the 2nd floor (aka new construction). By comparison every time I go visit their new house they've uncovered some new shoddy workmanship from the shit builders that inly focus on cranking out houses as fast and cheap as possible. I hate so much that they sold their old place for this garbage I'm going to have to fix when I inherit it.
I agree, old homes have hella survivorship bias. But, you are playing roulette that nothing with fail immediately. The advantage of new construction is that you don't have to worrru about any stupid retrofits and that you know nothing will break for at least a little bit.
Or worry about all of the asbestos, lead, and formaldehyde -laced building materials that were all of the rage in previous decades.
I think Formaldehyde is a bigger problem in new construction than old. Asbestos and lead are harder to deal with though. Formaldehyde just needs ventilation and a few years of offgassing.
nothing will break for at least a little bit.
Has not been my experience. Yea the builder will usually fix it but I've seen them try to weasel out of that too.
What a poor use of land and space for housing. Why not increase density with at a minimum a duplex or triplex? This is ridiculous.
A lot of people don’t want to share walls.
“Hey uh, I have 3 loud kids and a wife who is loud during sex. Wanna be my neighbor?”
Then maybe develop the concept of a brick wall and social skills.
These types of houses won't protect you from noise. You're never more than 5m away from your neighbors and only separated by cardboard. You will hear them.
I'm currently living in an apartment building from 1910 or so, made from proper bricks. Hardly ever even notice that I have neighbors.
Can confirm. I currently live in the suburbs, with a fairly wide lot (100ft). In the warm months, there is almost never a moment of daylight where I can't hear lawn equipment (lawnmowers, leaf blowers, etc). And my house is well-built and sealed properly. For some reason, everyone thinks they need a giant riding mower or an enormous gas-powered leaf blower. There are lawn service contractors parked on the road almost all the time. The winter months aren't as bad, but snow blowers are out at the slightest hint of snow.
I had a much quieter experience when I lived in an apartment building. It's anecdotal, but it makes sense once you've lived in both.
A lot of people have very narrow lived experiences, but are happy to talk about imagined experiences.
Yeah man not just that, but if the neighbor has a bug problem, great now I have a bug problem.
What about neighbors who mow their own way 8am on a Sunday with their kids running around and screaming outside or their teenager blasting loud music out their bedroom window or every neighbor using some kind of noisy power tool because there's always someone doing renovations of some kind?
It's not because you live in a separate house that you will automatically have peace and quiet.
•
My current place is super quiet. I essentially never hear anyone and it's quite relaxing.
I'm on the sixth floor in a building with 100 units, it's just built well.
Exactly. If I'm working nights and need to use power tools in my home? No problem. In an apartment? Good luck
Unless you're living way out on a farm a mile away from your neighbors, even if you live in a detached home in a suburb, you still have to respect noise bylaws. Especially with power tools.
a farm a mile away
That is the dream for many. Lots of farm land is being turned into housing in this way.
what? do you think people in apartments never use power tools?
just keep it between 10 in the morning and 10 in the evening and you're fine.
I specifically mentioned working nights.... I guess I could've been more clear that the power tools are for work.
I have a small shop set up in my basement that allows after-hours work without disturbing the neighbours (two walls with 10ft+ between them will beat any apartment wall assembly for sound transmission), within reason for the noise I'm making of course.
Reading this thread has taught me that soundproofing a shared wall isn‘t possible in America.
Right??? How about increased density with amenities at a maximum 15 minute walk distance and public transportation?
Where the fuck are the trees in that picture? Where's the shade? How far are things if everybody needs a car? How bad must traffic be in the morning and evening at rush hour? It's just a concentrated suburb with all of its problems intensified.
I live in a duplex. The downstairs neighbor is my roommates's mom and she's the most fucked up miserable person I've met in my life. Don't be like me.
Just because you happen to have a bad experience doesn't mean it's the same everywhere.
My last residence was a triplex. While the walls were thin, the tenants and the landlord living on the bottom floor were great. I made some good friends there. We looked out for each other. Had a real sense of community.
Have you lived with another human that needs to shit at same time as you? It definitely happens.
Just sit on the other’s lap and drop that double decker deuce, my friend. Also saves water with a single flush.
Hell yeah. Or if u have to piss while your wife is shitting just have her spread her legs and go in between. Gotta be on point with ur aim tho.
What if one of you is dropping nuggets and the other is “draining the oil pan” with a bout of IBS? You need to be sure who’s the bottom deck.
This can be solved by the technology of just waiting a few minutes until they are done.
If you have the space for two bathrooms then sure, go ahead, but the argument here is that there isn't really space for it.
Piss off. You've obviously never lived with someone and experienced the moments it was critical to use the toilet.
Ever lived with someone while both of you were ill and had diarrhea?
Your reply is ignorant.
One for the ensuite, one for the "main" bathroom when guests are over or whatever. I assume there's still a living room of sorts.
•
You are right, check out the 3D tour:
https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/7117-Elm-Cv-San-Antonio-TX-78244/2053945461_zpid/
Looks really cramped...
Do you people not have guests over? Do you want them traipsing upstairs and using your bath room?
Uhm yeah? In Europe it's pretty common to just have one bathroom and just... Wait for the other person to be done.
-
If you're a couple, you can both use a toilet at the same time.
-
If you live alone you might want a separate bathroom for guests. The second one is possibly a half bathroom.
Understood. But with such limited space, wouldn't the home be better served with a guest room/study instead of a 2nd bathroom?
The bedroom is obviously upstairs and would have an adjacent bathroom. Assuming they have guests, the builders have put in a downstairs bathroom for them.
You can’t buy a shed for that price where I live. An apartment of that size would be $2500+ per month.
I don’t want this to be the future but it’s better than a future where no one can buy anything at all.
Exactly. I saw the price and the sq ft. and I was like, damn, I wish that wasn't in Texas.
I fucking hate the real estate market where I live. So do all my roommates.
My wife and I finally decided to take the leap and buy back in 2022. We had been waiting for years for the “market to correct” and finally just decided that we needed to stop waiting. Within months interest rates became unaffordable, and they’ve only gotten worse since then. We would not be able to reasonably afford our current home with current interest rates. It’s insane. The whole thing is rigged.
"Listen, you're gonna live as the markets dictate. The labour markets, the consumer markets... are you listening?"
*me, lighting the Molotov coctail*
Ah-huh. Continue.
I wouldn't be surprised to find a fair amount of computer wizards skulking around Lemmy
US-americans: apartments suck, I want a single house
Also US-americans:
Meanwhile, in the civilised world:
The houses are so close together and have so little yard I don't see why they didn't just turn them into townhouses.
A shoebox like this should, in a reasonable world, be like 50k. Many years ago someone with a basic factory job could have a REAL home for a family of four on his income alone. Then boomers ruined everything and, now, people look at this bullshit as 'good.'
Yes by 2024 standards it's 'good'. But that's like saying only being 400k in debt after cancer treatment is 'good'
Yeah, but American homes are unsustainable in their sizes. What you're looking at there is already the norm in Japan. We don't need as much space as we use for single family houses in this country. Sure we have the space, but we also have a homelessness crisis. These tiny homes are a very good solution for that.
I will agree that $150,000 seems a bit higher than it should be, but depending on how close to San Antonio this is, that is fairly typical for a major city in pricing. If this is some suburb in the sticks, then yeah, they need to be asking around $75,000
Space isn't the issue here. We have more empty homes than we have homeless people.
Prices aren't astronomical because we're running out of space.
They are astronomical because we build too large. That accounts for the vast majority of home ownership cost increases. The average home size is up 230%+ from the 70s, or 300% per person.
This makes up the vast majority of the difference in prices seen since that time.
Other direct causes are that we add two or three car garages (30k+) and increased home construction standards ( which add cost up front but often save money long term).
When looking at a price per area, the price is almost static (after accounting for inflation).
Don't forget the mortgage insurance for several hundred a month if you're not able to put that 30k down to pass the 20% thresshold.
•
You can buy apartments too. Specifically I think you buy the right to live there indefinitely and not the actual building.
dunno how it works in the US, but in sweden there are like 3-4 ways it can be done, and fwiw renting here generally comes with the right to continue renting however long you like thanks to very strict renters' rights laws.
I know two of the ways to own an apartment is either straight up owning the actual apartment itself (with some asterisks obviously because it's part of a building), and the most common form is to own the right to live there (and pay maintenance costs, which is why i find it pointless to own) and sell it on.
i mean you do realize that owning housing comes with maintenance costs, right? why would i spend money i probably don't actually have to buy a house when an apartment would have about the same rent as the maintenance costs (and the ability to just move if the apartment is flooded or whatever)?
Home maintenance sucks, but its not that expensive. Certainty basics are on YT. If it were a real challenge then apartments wouldn't exist either. How often does your building need a new roof?
Of course, it does! Tiny homes are hip now, and they still want to fuck us for every penny we have.
The second car in the bottom driveway is partly in the road. This first cat is either partly in a garage, or missing. The driveways are so close that there is no street parking. I have concerns about buses (think school, not public transit) and garbage day.
If you look at the front view of the house, it's clear the roof overhangs the driveway by about a meter.
What the actual fuck is that?
It's like a fully detached apartment you can buy.
Honestly, I'd rather have one of those shipping container homes. Above that, I'll live in a fucking trailer park.
Yeah it seems insulting that they could have boxed that space out for extra room. But they didn't. Instead they gave it an artsy flair. Like we're supposed to be happy with the damn things.
Two people living together and getting ready at the same time. Not the end of the world but can be helpful.
For fucks sake just drop four shipping containers, rig them, dry wall them, and walk away. 150k for that and it's got a little fancy art fling to it? That's fucking insulting.
people will complain about being forced to live in pods and then willingly live in places like this