Why are houses in America so...ugly? (Sacramento, Pasadena: appliances, buying a house)

[Chatteress]

Originally Posted by hellaslover

I don't understand why houses are so ugly and cheap made? I mean, in Europe we use brick and stones to build a house, here they are made out of wood. I was told once it's because it's cheaper to make them out of wood + we have lots of trees. But it seems to me that houses here are more expensive compared to Greece (where i'm from), for example a million dollar home here is not worth that much in Greece. And why not use clay tile roofs? And another thing that bugs me the most, why do they put the garage door in the front? Shouldn't there be the entrance or a large window in the front of the house? Why do they build the houses with entrance on the side and a huge garage door (sometimes 2) in the front? And not only that, a lot of houses that i see have a tree right in front of the entrance, it's like they are doing it on purpose to not show any house other than the garage! Is it a privacy issue? Seems like million dollar homes are built this way, is it that hard to make cheaper homes look nice? And what's the deal with tiny doors? In my country most entrance doors are double, made out of nice wood with glass, here's it's just a wooden door. Is there a reason homes are built this way or do americans have no sense of style?

Californian homes are made with wood because wood is more flexible in the event of an earthquake.

[tande1n5]

Originally Posted by hellaslover

i'm looking to buy in the sacramento area (including lincoln, roseville, elk grove) up to 350k (which buys you a pretty nice house these days) you are not gonna find none. And i'm talking about areas that have plenty of space to build the garage.

How big of a garage? In older areas, the garage was built behind the house, possibly facing a back alley. Lot sizes'll be small though, and the garage will mostly be single-car, and it comes at the expense of backyard size. I agree that it's a most desirable layout, and I think even a lot of folks that live in a "snout house" would rather it be different, but land is at a premium, and putting it behind the house takes up more space. You'd either get less yard, or they'd have to make your lot that much bigger to accommodate a yard of the same size and the garage, driving up cost.

[analyticalkeys]

Wow. You say WE'RE being disrespectful, when you come in here and say that all our houses are trash, and that we can't build.. you could've asked a lot more simply, by asking why they're made a certain way, but you went the rude way and told us that we live in the equivalent of garbage cans. Then you wonder why WE'RE so rude... wow..

[Coldjensens]

Here is a decent looking house in Sacramento.

Yes that Greek tenament building is ugly. It has no architectural value whatsoever. However I am sure that there are nice looking houses ir tenament buildings in Greece, every country has somehting nice. .

[hellaslover]

Originally Posted by tande1n5

How big of a garage? In older areas, the garage was built behind the house, possibly facing a back alley. Lot sizes'll be small though, and the garage will mostly be single-car, and it comes at the expense of backyard size. I agree that it's a most desirable layout, and I think even a lot of folks that live in a "snout house" would rather it be different, but land is at a premium, and putting it behind the house takes up more space. You'd either get less yard, or they'd have to make your lot that much bigger to accommodate a yard of the same size and the garage, driving up cost.

I don't really care about the garage, a one car garage is pretty small and it usually means the house itself is small. a 2 car garage is fine even though i will probably turn it into a gym, a game room or just storage, a 3 car i think is too much and a waste of space. I just don't like parking my car in the garage, either park it on the street or on the driveway. If am gonna be afraid that someone will break into the car if i leave it out then i probably shouldn't live in that neighborhood in the first place. And it never gets that cold or snowy in california that i should keep my car indoors. Now if i was to leave for a couple months then yes i will wanna put it in the garage but again a garage is not a priority for me when i'm buying a house.
Maybe you 're right that it takes more lot to build the garage elsewhere but take a look at these links and you ll see what i mean. The first 2 are the ones i consider ugly, there is no house just a garage. The other ones still have a garage but the houses are nice too with a lot of surface and windows. They don't feel like a cabin like the first 2. I'm gonna die from depression if i lived in one of the first 2. Thankfully there's plenty of the kind of houses i like in rocklin and lincoln, houses built this way in sacramento are way too expensive.
Haley & Associates, Inc. Has California Homes Listed Online
Haley & Associates, Inc. Has California Homes Listed Online
Haley & Associates, Inc. Has California Homes Listed Online
Haley & Associates, Inc. Has California Homes Listed Online
Haley & Associates, Inc. Has California Homes Listed Online

Originally Posted by analyticalkeys

Wow. You say WE'RE being disrespectful, when you come in here and say that all our houses are trash, and that we can't build.. you could've asked a lot more simply, by asking why they're made a certain way, but you went the rude way and told us that we live in the equivalent of garbage cans. Then you wonder why WE'RE so rude... wow..

1. I never said ALL houses are trash
2. I did ask why they are built this way and got my answers. They are cheap made so they can be torn down easily and rebuilt (lol), they have the garage door in the front so you can get from your car into your house thru the garage, using that as the main entrance (lol x2)
3. I started being rude and disrespectful after the second post.
4. The word "ugly" is not rude just a way to describe something not pretty-sorry if that offended you, you have issues...
5. Compared to greek architecture american is trash..if you told me america has better technology than greece i would keep my mouth shut but saying greeks can't built? come on...open a history book

ps. I understand the houses are made of wood to resist earthquakes, but at least cover it with stucco so it doesn't look like a construction in progress. Wood is not very a very pleasant material to look at

Originally Posted by Coldjensens

Here is a decent looking house in Sacramento.

Can you explain how is this house nice and worth 1.5 million? Other than that it's big? What do you consider nice because i think we have totally different taste

[wburg]

Originally Posted by hellaslover

ps. I understand the houses are made of wood to resist earthquakes, but at least cover it with stucco so it doesn't look like a construction in progress. Wood is not very a very pleasant material to look at

Can you explain how is this house nice and worth 1.5 million? Other than that it's big? What do you consider nice because i think we have totally different taste

Most of the houses you have posted are covered in stucco, and most contemporary American houses cover their wood frame with something other than wood. I'd disagree that wood can't be a pleasant exterior.

The house above sold for $1.5 million because it is a mansion! 5000 square feet, on a 1 acre lot, in Davis (which is a very expensive city even when one is shopping for non-mansion homes.) I can't really tell from the photo if it is actually a historic home (probably not, considering the size--real Victorian era homes were rarely so gargantuan) but the builder went for a very Victorian era approach--it looks like it was inspired by Stick and Queen Anne styles.

Here are some examples of the kind of houses I think are pretty beautiful. They are old, by California standards (80-100 years old), are generally around 1200-1500 feet, and most houses like this don't have garages or driveways--if they do, they have a garage in back of the house, with access from the alley. Lot sizes are either 1/13 of an acre or 1/7 of an acre. They are in the downtown Sacramento/East Sac area and are all in the I'm curious as to what you think of them, hellaslover:


This house is on the alley, with a garage in the back.
http://mlsmedia.metrolistmls.com/bigphoto/058/80090458.jpg (broken link)
This one has a garage retrofitted to go under the house, in the basement. It is an unusual but not unknown modification sometimes seen in older neighborhoods.
http://mlsmedia.metrolistmls.com/bigphoto/020/80086320.jpg (broken link)

[hellaslover]

yes those are nice looking houses. a little too old and small for my taste but i don't consider them ugly, except the wood that's showing. you see how much emphasis they gave to the main entrance, the stairs leading to the door and the door is visible, plus a small patio area in the front. that's what i like. I like the second one of out all, i like how the garage goes underground so it's more discreet and the steel fence adds class and value to the house, plus it's good for privacy. I wish the were building new houses with the garage under the house, that would be perfect and it makes sense.

[wburg]

Actually, most of the brand-new infill housing in midtown Sacramento is done just like that: generally a three-story house, with a garage on the ground floor, sometimes in front but usually in back, a ground-floor entrance, and two stories of residence above it. The middle photo is a conversion: homes like this weren't built with garages because cars weren't all that common in the 1910s and 1920s when these houses were built (people took the streetcar or walked.)

The big front porch is a characteristic of the California bungalow and the Craftsman style, intended to allow residents to relax outdoors in an area that is still semi-private, due to its elevation from the street.

[zen_klown]

It costs more to build higher. You have to use more structural supports, you have to pump water uphill etc. In the midwest you will find a lot of basements because the ground expands when it freezes, but out here they are uncommon both because its warmer (and thus unneeded) and because the water tables in many neighborhoods are still quite high because of proximity to the Rivers. The reason Manhattan has lots of high rises and Sacramento doesn't is because up until now, generally speaking, the prevailing incomes and rents didn't really justify building higher. During the peak of the housing boom, there was a brief period were some of those projects like the Towers on Capitol Mall might have penciled out, but it may take quite a while for housing values and incomes in the area to justify that.

[NewToCA]

Originally Posted by hellaslover

I don't really care about the garage, a one car garage is pretty small and it usually means the house itself is small. a 2 car garage is fine even though i will probably turn it into a gym, a game room or just storage, a 3 car i think is too much and a waste of space. I just don't like parking my car in the garage, either park it on the street or on the driveway. If am gonna be afraid that someone will break into the car if i leave it out then i probably shouldn't live in that neighborhood in the first place. And it never gets that cold or snowy in california that i should keep my car indoors. Now if i was to leave for a couple months then yes i will wanna put it in the garage but again a garage is not a priority for me when i'm buying a house.

You really need to rethink your sentiments there a bit. In some communities, such as 12 Bridges (one of the homes you highlighted) they have community HOA requirement concerning limitation about garage conversions. Also, property crime is very high in the Sacramento metro area, and much of the crime involves breaking into vehicles parked outside at night time. Many "smash and grabs" take place then, as do the theft of items such as catalytic converters (very expensive to replace, and required by law).

Parking inside is really the way to go.