4 ms·

As an european who has never visited the US, I'm totally unfamiliar with this kind of buildings, other than seeing them in TV Shows like Family Matters or Full

by omegote 10y ago

As an european who has never visited the US, I'm totally unfamiliar with this kind of buildings, other than seeing them in TV Shows like Family Matters or Full House. Also, almost every single american woodworking YouTube channel is recorded in a garage of one this kind of houses. I find them huge, yet their popularity makes me think they're pretty common, maybe even affordable?

swah 10y ago
I wonder how are the houses in some places in Germany, for example? They also love their cars and have real winters...
- pluma 10y ago
  The average German lives in an apartment or multi-family house. On the country side there are still a lot of fully detached houses but they're either mostly "old" (i.e. built or fully renovated after the war) or built to a different standard (Germans generally consider drywall a cheap substitute). But of course that is also changing. Also, building your own house is not as affordable as it seems to be in the US. Germans have a stronger aversion to taking out loans and banks often want a significant down payment. From what I've seen few home owners actually park their cars in garages though. Recently carports (basically sunroofs) have become pretty popular but most people seem to park their cars in the driveway as far as I can tell. We just clean them more often, I guess.
  - MK999 10y ago
    what kind of multi-family house? Side by Side duplex? Up down duplex? Quadplex? Something else?
    - taejo 10y ago
      I don't know what the averages are, but I'd say in towns the most typical are terraced houses with four or five floors - sometimes that's one apartment on each floor, sometimes two.
    - pluma 10y ago
      In my experience it varies. In the bigger cities they're typically four to five storey apartment buildings with between one and four apartments on each floor. But across Germany you probably see the entire gamut from fully detached single-family to residential skyscrapers depending on where you go.
- U2407_U0003 10y ago
  If you do an image search for "Neubau" you'll get a good overview. The word means newly-built house and I guess the result skews a bit towards detached houses and prefabs just because those are more likely to be photographed and put on the web but from what I have seen it's not too far off the reality. https://www.google.com/search?q=neubau&source=lnms&tbm=isch https://www.google.com/search?q=neubau&source=lnms&tbm=isch If you google for "Rohbau" instead ("house in the process of being built") you'll get a good overview over construction materials, which are mostly brick and concrete. https://www.google.com/search?q=neubau&source=lnms&tbm=isch https://www.google.com/search?q=neubau&source=lnms&tbm=isch
maxerickson 10y ago
60% of US housing is detached single family homes. https://www.census.gov/hhes/www/housing/census/historic/units.html https://www.census.gov/hhes/www/housing/census/historic/unit... They aren't all huge and architecturally peculiar though.
pluma 10y ago
As a fellow European I think it's worth pointing out that the norm in Europe is still to build houses to last (you expect your kids to inherit them or to be some kind of investment). In the US they are more often built for the shorter term. This comes down to building materials and other (from a European POV) questionable decisions that save money or make them easier to produce or just don't seem as important with the short term in mind. This doesn't hold true universally of course. Some people in the US place value in building things to last and some Europeans are starting to see houses as something they will replace when the kids move out or whatever, but it seems to be reflective of a general cultural difference. Also, there's just a lot more space in the US and mass-produced suburbian housing is a thing.
nommm-nommm 10y ago
They are common in some suburban neighborhoods but not most. Not affordable to most. These homes are $1million+. There are lots of different style home and each part of the US has styles that are unique. My personal favorite American style is the brownstone https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brownstone https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brownstone Check out this https://www.thisoldhouse.com/ideas/american-house-styles https://www.thisoldhouse.com/ideas/american-house-styles
gopi 10y ago
In suburbs of most US big cities (Chicago, Dallas, Raleigh, Atlanta etc) you can get a decent 4 bedroom 3000 sqft detached house in a good school district for under $500k BTB, I am a immigrant and i like these Mcmansions compared to the cramped houses i grew-up in india. Also i think US has one of the cheapest real estate in the world relative to income.

by omegote 10y ago

swah 10y ago

I wonder how are the houses in some places in Germany, for example? They also love their cars and have real winters...

pluma 10y ago
The average German lives in an apartment or multi-family house. On the country side there are still a lot of fully detached houses but they're either mostly "old" (i.e. built or fully renovated after the war) or built to a different standard (Germans generally consider drywall a cheap substitute). But of course that is also changing. Also, building your own house is not as affordable as it seems to be in the US. Germans have a stronger aversion to taking out loans and banks often want a significant down payment. From what I've seen few home owners actually park their cars in garages though. Recently carports (basically sunroofs) have become pretty popular but most people seem to park their cars in the driveway as far as I can tell. We just clean them more often, I guess.
- MK999 10y ago
  what kind of multi-family house? Side by Side duplex? Up down duplex? Quadplex? Something else?
  - taejo 10y ago
    I don't know what the averages are, but I'd say in towns the most typical are terraced houses with four or five floors - sometimes that's one apartment on each floor, sometimes two.
  - pluma 10y ago
    In my experience it varies. In the bigger cities they're typically four to five storey apartment buildings with between one and four apartments on each floor. But across Germany you probably see the entire gamut from fully detached single-family to residential skyscrapers depending on where you go.
U2407_U0003 10y ago
If you do an image search for "Neubau" you'll get a good overview. The word means newly-built house and I guess the result skews a bit towards detached houses and prefabs just because those are more likely to be photographed and put on the web but from what I have seen it's not too far off the reality. https://www.google.com/search?q=neubau&source=lnms&tbm=isch https://www.google.com/search?q=neubau&source=lnms&tbm=isch If you google for "Rohbau" instead ("house in the process of being built") you'll get a good overview over construction materials, which are mostly brick and concrete. https://www.google.com/search?q=neubau&source=lnms&tbm=isch https://www.google.com/search?q=neubau&source=lnms&tbm=isch

maxerickson 10y ago

60% of US housing is detached single family homes. https://www.census.gov/hhes/www/housing/census/historic/units.html https://www.census.gov/hhes/www/housing/census/historic/unit... They aren't all huge and architecturally peculiar though.

pluma 10y ago

As a fellow European I think it's worth pointing out that the norm in Europe is still to build houses to last (you expect your kids to inherit them or to be some kind of investment). In the US they are more often built for the shorter term. This comes down to building materials and other (from a European POV) questionable decisions that save money or make them easier to produce or just don't seem as important with the short term in mind. This doesn't hold true universally of course. Some people in the US place value in building things to last and some Europeans are starting to see houses as something they will replace when the kids move out or whatever, but it seems to be reflective of a general cultural difference. Also, there's just a lot more space in the US and mass-produced suburbian housing is a thing.

nommm-nommm 10y ago

They are common in some suburban neighborhoods but not most. Not affordable to most. These homes are $1million+. There are lots of different style home and each part of the US has styles that are unique. My personal favorite American style is the brownstone https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brownstone https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brownstone Check out this https://www.thisoldhouse.com/ideas/american-house-styles https://www.thisoldhouse.com/ideas/american-house-styles

gopi 10y ago

In suburbs of most US big cities (Chicago, Dallas, Raleigh, Atlanta etc) you can get a decent 4 bedroom 3000 sqft detached house in a good school district for under $500k BTB, I am a immigrant and i like these Mcmansions compared to the cramped houses i grew-up in india. Also i think US has one of the cheapest real estate in the world relative to income.