There's an urbanist podcast/nonprofit that releases really good, approachable content, and I recently saw a video they did where they went into a typical subdiv

There's an urbanist podcast/nonprofit that releases really good, approachable content, and I recently saw a video they did where they went into a typical subdivision and just looked at the houses. In particular, he singled out the complete lack of any porches, saying "these are people who can't afford their houses. If you live out in this countryside place, the absolute highest-returning space is the deck/porch. It wouldn't take more than maybe 10k to construct really good porches (less than 10% even in this cheap area), and not a single house has one. That means they built a huge house and ran out of money before they could build the most important part." I guess that's just a different way of saying what you're saying. I think buyers choose mcmansions for a couple reasons. The first are the ones sucked into it by the school or proximity to work (where proximity is VERY subjective.) The others actually want those houses, either because it's a cheap structure in which they can imitate the many nice interiors they've collected in their heads, or because they want to build their walls to encompass a maximum volume, hoping that their house will insulate them from all the shit in their work and commute while they're in it.