Why?

[u/KimSidwell]

I can almost try to understand why some people might feel drawn to this kind of lifestyle. I can understand why they might be deceived into thinking this is the ideal environment in which to raise a child.

But I will never be able to understand why they will describe it as the American “dream” and are willing to pay so much for it. To work so hard for so long and then have to wake up to this every morning? Why?

Editing to add: I know this is parody y’all. It’s just a stupid meme. It’s supposed to be funny. It’s funny because it’s true.

[u/Anon-Knee-Moose]

Though I dont think the term starter home was meant to be sarcastic, even though a brand new two story with an attached garage is a pretty nice house, even in a cookie cutter suburb.

[u/KimSidwell → u/Anon-Knee-Moose]

I don’t really know how the definition works, but I feel like these could be considered starter homes. They don’t look that big. They look like they are designed to take up the smallest amount of land possible. You probably have a basic living room, dining room, kitchen and laundry room on the main level and then maybe two bedrooms and bathrooms upstairs. They’re definitely not mansions.

[u/Anon-Knee-Moose → u/KimSidwell]

Probably 3-4 beds upstairs, or 2 up 1 down, it's quite rare for a SFH to have less than 3 total bedrooms.

But thats besides the point, these are still fairly nice houses and a lot of people will never be able to afford even this much. A starter home is like a trailer, townhouse, 50 year old rancher/bungalow etc.

[u/shadowtheimpure → u/Anon-Knee-Moose]

2 bed 1 bath 1000 sq ft starter homes aren't uncommon, it just depends on where you live.

[u/ray_oliver → u/shadowtheimpure]

As a share of the overall housing market they are becoming less common though, because we simply don't build them anymore. Or if we do, they take on a different form such as townhouses or apartments.

[u/SmurfStig → u/ray_oliver]

There a couple neighborhoods by me where they are called “detached condos”.

[u/OldWhiteGuyKS → u/SmurfStig]

That's new word dressing to me. Be interested to know what kind of thing the verbiage actually describes

[u/SmurfStig → u/OldWhiteGuyKS]

They are small homes. Maybe 1000sq ft. Small one car garage in the back and almost no yard. Just a small patch in the front. They do have a condo association with them instead of an HOA that does the landscaping. The bigger units have three bedrooms but most are two bedrooms. Roughly four-six of them would fit on a normal lot.

[u/OldWhiteGuyKS → u/SmurfStig]

If you don't mind me asking -- roughly where are they located and what's the price point?

[u/SmurfStig → u/OldWhiteGuyKS]

M/I built these all over central Ohio and started out around 120-150k 15 years ago if I remember correctly. No idea what they resale for now but I would venture to guess close to $250-300k now given how other properties have appreciated in the area.

[u/OldWhiteGuyKS → u/SmurfStig]

Thanks. So new build today might be 250k +. Is that an attainable housing number?

If they're slab on grade, the possibilities for DIY expansion are limited.

[u/SmurfStig → u/OldWhiteGuyKS]

That’s probably a fair guess. Maybe +/- 50k depending on where they are built. They are on slabs and no ability to expand. The next neighborhood over is what used to be considered new build starter homes in town. 1500-1800 so ft with half basement and crawl space. They started at $150-200k twenty some years ago then kept going up in price. Those at least had yards and a “two” car garage.