Wow! The landscaping too! Maybe that’s why everyone is getting potted plants.
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What a pity!
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@lucy_van_pelt - Good Luck!
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I really feel for the planet and future generations when people tear down (or replace) perfectly good things simply because they don’t care for it. So much trash. So much unnecessary new stuff (esp when new stuff is difficult to get).
I know my family and I are in the minority with that thinking, but honestly? This life/planet isn’t all about us as individuals. There is no Planet B.
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I totally agree.
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Their house looks very similar to my best friend’s house. Her zip code is 78750-I think the area is called Northwest Hills. Is that near your Dad’s former house?
oh to live somewhere that the police are bored… I don’t suppose you want to trade? LOL
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Not far. This house is in 78746.
In 1997, we bought a lot after the house on it burned down. We built our house on it and moved into it in late 1998. A year or two later, our next door neighbors sold their 1985 house to a couple who tore it down and built a new house. I was shocked that a house only 15 years old or less couldn’t have been re-modeled.
One of the few house styles that can’t be successfully remodeled is the dreadful split entry that was so popular around here in the seventies. I can see why someone would tear down a house to build several homes on the property. It is also understandable when someone wanting a home for their family with kids simply can’t make an addition to a one bedroom cottage built in the fifties so the house gets completely torn down.
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Perhaps a developer who is willing to fight any NIMBYs who think that higher housing density will devalue their properties or encourage what they consider “undesirables” to move in?
If the lot is big enough, perhaps build a new house on a different part of the lot and keep the small cottage as an ADU? Although if the small cottage is where you want the main house, moving it to a different part of the lot may be more work than it is worth.
In fairness to our neighbors, the house they tore down was very nondescript, when what they wanted was very California Mediterranean-white stucco with red clay tile roof, lots of imported Mexican tiles everywhere, etc. It was very beautiful. I’m sure they at least explored the option of trying to create that with the existing home, but I guess they just couldn’t get it to work.
Not always feasible when you need an updated electric panel and septic drain field design.
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It’s totally understandable when a house is so far “gone” it isn’t useable any longer and remodeling it would be worse than building new. My dad’s place is this way (technically mine, but doubtful sis will ever actually do dad’s estate so I get it). The roof, floors, and foundation are falling in or have significant cracks.
That’s totally different than taking something essentially move in ready and ditching it to build new.
Then there’s everything between the extremes, of course. We’re definitely more toward one end of the extreme than others, I’m sure, but there’s is a point even we would agree on. Broken or non-energy efficient needs replacing, as does better drainage, etc.
In my California neighborhood, as everywhere else, the prices are insane!
No one is willing to move because there is nowhere to move to, so, there is a very limited inventory. Plus, we have a great neighborhood and really strong schools!
The neighbors are cordial and helpful.
I can see why someone would want to live in this area but my family and I would never have been able to pay what these families are willing to pay! Six times what we originally paid!!! Insane!
It’s the same in our area. In our subdivision, we have a one story model, which is the smallest model in terms of square ft. One just sold for over $500,000! Granted, it’s the smallest model in a nice subdivision, in a nice town with good schools. But still, it’s not that big. Our next door neighbors live in one of the one story models and they paid way less because they bought it from a relative.
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In my new neighborhood, we have everything from small stone cottages to enormous mansions. There is an obscenely huge house being built right now. It literally looks like a hotel. I recently learned that the buyer paid $5 million for the house (a colonial red brick mansion on probably 3 or 4 acres) and proceeded to tear it down to build this monstrosity. I’m very curious to know who the owner is and if he has 12 children or something, but the appraisal district lists an LLC as the owner.
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Elon Musk or a Russian oligarch covering their tracks. JK!
An LLC could spell trouble if the intended use is a party house for rent. There are LLCs that are set up so that no one of the members owns the property but instead owns shares of the LLC (this is different from timeshares).
There are plenty of people all over who don’t give a hoot about the planet. To them life really is all about them and their wants. I know I’m in the minority. It’s nothing new nor will it ever change. I’ll always be sad about it though.
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A 2 bedroom, 1 bath house not far from me (though not in my development) sold recently for over $500K. It’s on a half acre lot in an area with no HOA so I suspect it’s a teardown.
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