The Rise And Fall Of The McMansion: An American Story

Comments · 29

• WO

  @wolftickets1969 · 2 months ago

  Unlike the 1950s "little boxes" Malvina Reynolds satirized, McMansions really are made out of ticky-tacky.

  12

• KA

  @KarenOCallaghan-e1w · 1 month ago

  In the 90’s a realtor tried to talk me into spending more than I was comfortable with for a house.  The rationale was that real estate was appreciating 7% a year.  I wanted to have a certain amount of liquid assets, in case of emergency.

  7

• DI

  @disillusionedanglophile7680 · 1 month ago

  When I see American houses (built out of tarpaper) with all those A frame peaks and complicated roof shapes, I see leaks and ongoing repairs

  3

• LI

  @lizabethgussman331 · 1 month ago

  William Levitt signed a contract with the US Government that stated he would not sell to minorities. 🤬🤬🤬🤬

  5

• HI

  @Histrionicer-j1h · 2 months ago

  Mcmansions also play to a part of American psychology that for the past century and a half, many Americans have been fascinated by nobility and royalty. From fairy tales to real royal news, the increasing presence of royalty and aristocracy in American popular culture (despite the USA being founded to get away from such antiquated institutions and the total lack of civil liberties for the common man) has led to the notion that an American's house should be their palace or castle. The format of mcmansions made it more financially accessible for the average American family to have its own regal residence akin to (at least in scale and architecture) the manor houses once occupied by nobility in Europe.

  10

• RO

  @Robert-yp9zs · 2 months ago

  McMansions, being shrunk are now called "Mini-McMansion" and are still being built.  The original ugliness has been shrunk, but has not disappeared.

  5

• AI

  @aintnolittlegirl9322 · 2 months ago

  Those kitchen cabinets at <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vrekucsSWrM&amp;t=231">3:51</a> are nearly identical to the ones I&apos;m looking at right now in my 1982-built cheap apartment. the wood might be a little better than mine, but that&apos;s it.

  5

• RY

  @ryanlabuschagne8606 · 1 month ago

  Buy a house also massively depends on your wife in the early 2000s, wife wanted huge kitchen, granite tops ..etc. So shows like extreme make over, trading space ..etc did help the men&apos;s life with bigger mortgage and plenty renovation. PS If you got a stunning wife in today&apos;s times, you going to work your ass off.

  1

• TR

  @travisjohnson6676 · 1 month ago

  I grew up in Levittown PA and it was a wonderful neighborhood to grow up in.

  1

• LI

  @lizabethgussman331 · 1 month ago

  I would rather have a house on a corner lot with a side entry garage.

  1

• SW

  @swampwiz · 2 months ago

  I never did think of the home-mortgage interest deduction being the only tax-advantaged loan as fueling McMs - but it makes perfect sense. &nbsp;This especially made sense when interest rates were high (I supposed we&apos;re back to those days, LOL), although a big, fat standard deduction basically takes this advantage away, at least to some extent. &nbsp;I also think the mobility (back in the days when employers would pay relocation costs for regular Joes, LOL), to say nothing of the instability of marriage, of homeowners made them think of &quot;resale value&quot; as the paramount concern, hence the cheapifying of houses. &nbsp;These houses are going to go for so little in the future that the might be the new repurposed factory loft.

  1

• TH

  @theonemodifier · 1 month ago

  Hey let&apos;s add some loud rumbling swooping sound effects to the video that make people hurt