[I_Like_Plants]

Yeah here in 'murrica we use the prefix "mc" to mean, like McDonald's, a generic product. So, I could say I have a mcjob, live in a mcApartment, have mcHealthcare, etc. Generally means a generic product of inferior quality.

[turmoil]

Like mcNuggets!!

[cube]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Markos101', '.').........
We will see a crash here very soon. Meanwhile, I think there will be many opportunities at the bottom of the crash. I'm looking out for it.

Mark

[falser]

McMansions don't just describe the house. It describes the entire style of modern subdivisions. Some big developer clears out a farmers field 50km outside a city centre and squeezes in as many ENORMOUS houses as they possibly can. They are huge 4-bedroom 4000 sqft houses on extremely small lots, you can spit on your neighbours house from the edge of the porch. Every house on the street looks exactly the same. Some have yellow siding, some have red, others paid extra for brick, garage on left or right, but it's the same damn house, row after row. The streets have cutesy names like "Shadowy Meadows Dr.", and then you take a left onto "Sunny Springs Ave" to get to the sub-sub division where there's even more of these bland cookie cutter houses. There's no playground for kids and no trees (what profit is there in that?) nothing of interest in walkable distance except a 2 lane highway. It is the new suburbia, mass produced for cheap and sold for high profits for the developer. And people are gobbling the things up like it's fast food.

[drattom]

I don't think it's stereotype to say that Asians are fiscally conservative. You can probably explain it with general human behavior. When you already live tough times, you tend to be careful, save money in case problem happen again.

When you never live rough time, you become to be overconfident and don't anticipate problems. This is the basic under Kondratieff cycle. This is also true for war, a country who just live war usually try to avoid it at all price but the next generation will not. It's the same thing in sports when you see an undefeated team losing to a crappy one(like if Texas lose to Baylor in football or Manchester United lose to a Division 2 team). It's just basic human psychology.

Except for Japan, Asian prosperity is really recent and Japan got through the Nikkei and housing bubble at the end of 80s.

The life of baby boomers in america was a continuous party except for those who went to Vietnam. They are overconfident and think life will go on forever. Parents of the boomers who lived the Great Depression were more conservative, think of Granpa with a shoe box full of dollars because he didn't trust banks.

You can expect when an economy restart after the crash, Americans will be really conservative again.

[MD]

Mcmansion building is fueled by our techno culture. Instead of requiring green space for outdoor activities, every dime is invested in massive interior spaces dedicated to entertainment rooms and huge garage spaces.
Yes, you can spit on your neighbors porch, but most of these people don't know their neighbors name or have more than a passing recollection of what they look like! The open the garage with their remote and into the cave they go!

[DesertBear2]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('falser', 'M')cMansions don't just describe the house. It describes the entire style of modern subdivisions.

[MD]

Most of these monsters are heated with a barely adequate natural gas forced air furnace. The house cannot be subdivided into heating zones without major retrofit to the entire structure. They tend to also have huge vaulted ceilings and massive great rooms. Wide windows are also the norm. Most of these people are financially screwed, they just don't know it yet.

As for me, I live in an R30+(14 inch exterior walls!) house with segregated heating zones

[o2ny]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Markos101', 'T')he United Kingdom of Real Estate too. The old crowd-creator, television, has been pumping out property developer programmes day after day on daytime television for a long time. This has created a huge crowd of people all fancying themselves as getting free of the system via property development. Property prices here are at record levels and have been rising at record rates for the longest time on record.

[emersonbiggins]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('o2ny', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Markos101', 'T')he United Kingdom of Real Estate too. The old crowd-creator, television, has been pumping out property developer programmes day after day on daytime television for a long time. This has created a huge crowd of people all fancying themselves as getting free of the system via property development. Property prices here are at record levels and have been rising at record rates for the longest time on record.

[max_power29]

I never bother getting to know my neighbors because nobody ever stays in one residence very long. Its a waste of effort. Also another factor about not knowing your neighbors is: in the modern world nobody has the same monday through friday, day shift, weekends off schedule anymore. so even if you did get to know them you'd never be home at the same time. I have to work 2 jobs to afford my moddest house.

[Snowrunner]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('max_power29', 'I') have to work 2 jobs to afford my moddest house.

[max_power29]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Snowrunner', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('max_power29', 'I') have to work 2 jobs to afford my moddest house.

[max_power29]

-on a side note, I actually used to fantasize about being "homeless", getting a motorcycle, cruising the beaches and mountains, and doing day labor/temp work with the mexicans when i needed a little money for gas, food, new clothes, or repairs, hanging out in the north in the Summer and south in the winter. AHHHH

However in the end i realized that it would be extremely lonely (very hard to land a halfway decent woman)

I bet sex drive is a big factor in a lot of men's voluntary decision to join the soul-crushing rat race, (I essentially joined it anyways as soon as I was 18 and started borrowing money for college. It is soooooo stupid to borrow money for college. Its better just not to go if you cant afford it)

[Snowrunner]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'S')hould I be homeless then? I don't think i would be able to make my marriage work and I just read in the news that the government is starting to suspect that homeless people are terrorists too!

[Snowrunner]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('max_power29', 'I') bet sex drive is a big factor in a lot of men's voluntary decision to join the soul-crushing rat race, (I essentially joined it anyways as soon as I was 18 and started borrowing money for college. It is soooooo stupid to borrow money for college. Its better just not to go if you cant afford it)

[Leanan]

The NY Times reports that McMansions are going out of style:

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/02/reale ... 2nati.html

People are opting for smaller houses with more amenities, partly due to energy costs.

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'T')here are many reasons the appeal of bigger houses may be waning, including the high cost of maintaining them. "In a city where $1,000-a-month air-conditioning bills are not uncommon," said Ms. Horsey of Dallas, "people are beginning to say, 'Maybe I can have less space, and spend the money on a trip to Europe.' " Increasing fuel prices are likely to make large houses even less appealing, Mr. Ahluwalia and others said.

[rogerhb]

This is terrible, not only are people in debt up to their eyeballs, but their houses are now unfashionable! How will people look their neighbours in the eye now?

[emersonbiggins]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Leanan', 'T')he NY Times reports that McMansions are going out of style:

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/02/reale ... 2nati.html

People are opting for smaller houses with more amenities, partly due to energy costs.

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'T')here are many reasons the appeal of bigger houses may be waning, including the high cost of maintaining them. "In a city where $1,000-a-month air-conditioning bills are not uncommon," said Ms. Horsey of Dallas, "people are beginning to say, 'Maybe I can have less space, and spend the money on a trip to Europe.' " Increasing fuel prices are likely to make large houses even less appealing, Mr. Ahluwalia and others said.

[fossilnut2]

It's the opposite trend here in Alberta, Canada. We have a relatively young working profile (compared to most western nations). A lot of young couples have their1.2 children, lots of disposable income, and build 2500 square foot houses. We do a lot of travelling into the Western states and see the same trend in Nevada, Utah, etc.

On the other end of the spectrum there's lots of high-end condos being built. These are attractive to young and single professionals and to a second group, seniors downsizing not for economic reasons but for a lifestyle choice.

I don't see high energy prices impacting the economic class that's many of the families that live in Mcmansions. Do most families that make over 100 thousand a year feel the pinch of energy prices or is it more of an inconvenience? I also wonder if folks who buy vehicles for 35 thousand are really all that impacted by gas prices.

The other variable is that if folks are less enamored with their Mcmansions then the prices on those house are dropping dramatically. Is that happening where you are living? When I look at real estate prices the opposite is occuring across most of North America. If a house drops in price from 500 thousand to 400 thousand....that difference of 100 thousand and the interset on that money sure pays for many years of utility costs.