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"I have no idea why anybody buys a single family house;" I can give you a few personal reasons which hopefully resonates with a few others. I prefer having a "

"I have no idea why anybody buys a single family house;" I can give you a few personal reasons which hopefully resonates with a few others. I prefer having a "detached" home. I dont want the hassle of sharing anything with anyone. That does not mean I dont want neighbors. But I am not interested in hearing when my neighbor flushes their toilet. I like having a backyard with some vegetation. I like having a driveway that I don't have the share (lot of new townhomes do that) etc etc. Biggest reason: Kids. Yes you can live with them in condos/townhomes etc. but the autonomy/freedom of a single family home cannot be undermined. It is not always about money and ROI. Life is a lot more than that and this coming from someone who values money a lot.

PaulHoule 13y ago
I've got a kid. There's a kid in the other house. I grew up in Manchester NH where housing prices are high in the suburbs where I grew up (that's how I traded a 1200 sq ft house for a 75 acre farm with two houses and a barn the size of an aircraft hangar.) In a really nice neighborhood in downtown (w/ good access to the freeway as well as a local grocery store 2 blocks away, as well as a dunkin donuts and a great ice cream stand not to mention a municipal pool and a beautiful park with a big pond and hiking trails) my uncle bought a huge 3 story house that was "luxury housing" in 1910, lived on the first floor, put up his mother and sister on the second floor, rented out the third floor to one family since at least 1976, finished 1/3 of the basement and built an addition on the first floor, raised 2 kids. His property values are "depressed" compared to an array of 2 story colonials that were built in 1998 next to the intersection of Rt 93 and 101 (we measured 80 db noise levels outside.) These houses are made of chipboard (we hit "peak wood" 15 years ago and nobody noticed) and they suffered 90% mortality for the yews planted on the foundations because the idiot contractors didn't know that you're supposed to take the burlap bag off yew plants when you plant them. But I guess they are expensive because of the liquidity premium that you can sell go get an equally bad house in Texas or Las Vegas or anywhere.

PaulHoule 13y ago

I've got a kid. There's a kid in the other house. I grew up in Manchester NH where housing prices are high in the suburbs where I grew up (that's how I traded a 1200 sq ft house for a 75 acre farm with two houses and a barn the size of an aircraft hangar.) In a really nice neighborhood in downtown (w/ good access to the freeway as well as a local grocery store 2 blocks away, as well as a dunkin donuts and a great ice cream stand not to mention a municipal pool and a beautiful park with a big pond and hiking trails) my uncle bought a huge 3 story house that was "luxury housing" in 1910, lived on the first floor, put up his mother and sister on the second floor, rented out the third floor to one family since at least 1976, finished 1/3 of the basement and built an addition on the first floor, raised 2 kids. His property values are "depressed" compared to an array of 2 story colonials that were built in 1998 next to the intersection of Rt 93 and 101 (we measured 80 db noise levels outside.) These houses are made of chipboard (we hit "peak wood" 15 years ago and nobody noticed) and they suffered 90% mortality for the yews planted on the foundations because the idiot contractors didn't know that you're supposed to take the burlap bag off yew plants when you plant them. But I guess they are expensive because of the liquidity premium that you can sell go get an equally bad house in Texas or Las Vegas or anywhere.