Potpourri: Big Homes, Advertising, Recycling

I have a backlog of interesting items on various topics that I'm condensing for this post.

Big homes: I was distressed to learn that, in spite of all the favorable press small homes have been receiving—especially the ultra-small "tiny houses,"—people are opting for larger new homes. From The Wall Street Journal:

"KB Home says the average square footage of houses currently under contract is 2,079, an increase of 13% from last year. And more KB buyers are picking models that exceed 3,500 square feet...The return to bigger houses—which has taken industry watchers by surprise—indicates that the housing downturn paused, but didn't kill, America's love affair with supersize abodes...A major driver behind the bigger-home trend is record-low interest rates, under 4% for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage, which allow some buyers to move up without necessarily making larger mortgage payments."

Advertising: Soon there will be no escape from advertising. Here's the warning from the LA Times:

"A company called Novo Ad has developed technology that can turn a public bathroom mirror into an electronic display for video advertisements...The mirrors are actually LED screens that have an internal hard disk and "very sophisticated proprietary software," according to a spokesman for the company."

The technology hasn't arrived yet in the U.S., but efforts are being made to find partners and advertisers to get it here as quickly as possible.


Recycling: On a cheerier note, in the Netherlands, recycling has been elevated to a new level of cultural awareness and change. The New York Times reports from Amsterdam about the "Repair Cafe" phenomenon:

"Thirty groups have started Repair Cafes across the Netherlands, where neighbors pool their skills and labor for a few hours a month to mend holey clothing and revivify old coffee makers, broken lamps, vacuum cleaners and toasters, as well as at least one electric organ, a washing machine and an orange juice press...'The Repair Cafe is an effective way to raise awareness that discarded objects are indeed still of value,' Mr. Joop Atsma [the state secretary for infrastructure and the environment] wrote in an e-mail...Marjanne van der Rhee, a Repair Cafe volunteer who hands out data collection forms and keeps the volunteers fortified with coffee, said: 'Different people come in. With some, you think, maybe they come because they’re poor. Others look well-off, but they are aware of environmental concerns. Some seem a little bit crazy.'"

I like the Repair Cafe idea, but I may be a little bit crazy.

Small Houses, Urban Gardens, Consumer Spending ~ and a Blog Anniversary

In honor of today's fifth anniversary of The Thoughtful Consumer blog, I'm taking a hiatus from my hiatus to share several articles devoted to three of my favorite areas of interest: small houses, urban gardening, and consumer behavior.

Small Houses

As regular readers know, I enjoy exploring the options offered by small houses, but sometimes I'm amazed at just how small a house can be and still have someone willing to live in. The design model pictured above is an example. This house will be 28" at its narrowest and about 4' at its widest. It's scheduled to be completed in December in Warsaw, Poland, and, yes, it was commissioned. Read more and see more photos at the NPR post here.

Urban Gardening

On an acre of land in the densely-populated Mission Terrace neighborhood of San Francisco, "Little City Gardens recently became the first legal commercial farm within city borders. Thanks to [the women gardeners], San Francisco leaders revised zoning laws to allow the cultivation and sale of produce in all neighborhoods." Will Oakland and Berkeley follow suit? Read more in the LA Times article here.

Consumer Behavior

The recession may have put a damper on spending in the U.S. on items to decorate homes and make them more fashionable, but that's not the case in other countries that are developing a middle class with "disposable income" for the first time in their histories. Brazil, Russia and, especially, China are hot markets not only for the stylish stuff but for the glossy magazines that pitch it. Architectual Digest is about to start publishing in China, but more than just foreign branches of already established magazines are finding welcoming markets; brand new publications, such as Minha Casa and Bamboo in Brazil and Home in Russia, are also being launched. Can clutter be far behind? Read more here in the LA Times.


I'll be back with more posts soon!

Alternative Housing: Lighthearted Links

The sun has set on McMansions according to real estate writer Steve Bergman in an article for NOLA.com. The decline of the appeal of gigantic homes began in 2006, but the collapse of the real estate market over the past five years has resulted in a change in housing priorities:

"The median-sized home being built today is smaller," reported Paul Bishop, vice president of research for the National Association of Realtors. "And our survey of homebuyers indicates that as well."

Problems getting financing and expenses involved with the upkeep of larger houses have contributed to their lessening appeal, but I'd like to think that an awareness of how much space we really need has fueled the increasing interest in smaller homes.

"Homeowners feel the days of appreciation are not coming back so they are not going to be purchasing homes just for the sake of investing," said Kermit Baker, chief economist with the American Institute of Architects and a senior research fellow at Harvard University's Joint Center for Housing Studies. "Homebuyers are purchasing because of how they intend to use the home, on the basis of what they need. They are treating their home more like typical consumer goods rather than investment goods."

Although I've devoted many posts to housing and I think it's a topic worthy of serious consideration, sometimes it's fun to take a break and think of shelter in a completely different way. 

Eve Politanoff at What's up! trouvaillesdujour has three posts about treehouses along with an assortment of great pictures on her blog, including the "castle" above from Portland, Oregon, and an airplane hotel suite at the Costa Verde resort in Costa Rica.

Dai Haifei, a young Chinese architect, recently graduated and unable to afford the high cost of housing in Beijing, built a mobile egg-shaped, solar-powered house that he lived in for two months on the sidewalk near his employer.

Joyce Wadler at the NY Times wrote about Derek Diedricksen, who makes micro-shelters out of salvaged junk. His RelaxShacks blog provides more information about other building projects, his book, YouTube series and Tiny Shelter Building Workshop set for this summer.

Fast Company offers a post about a 90-square-foot minimalist loft with walls covered in . . . 25,000 ping pong balls! The space serves as a part-time bedroom for Daniel Arnshem, partner in the firm, Snarkitecture, where the loft is located.

And, finally, Strictly Paper offers an apartment made entirely out of cartons, white paint and black marker! It's a great artistic statement and timely social commentary.

Please click on the links to see many wonderful photos and learn more details about all of these clever "alternatives!"

Alternative Housing: Options for Seniors

Pisgah Village, in the Highland Park area of Los Angeles, is a unique housing project for low income seniors. Usually when we hear the term "housing project," it conjurs nothing but negative thoughts and images, but learning about Pisgah Village will change that. It may even change the way you think about housing and communities in general.

"Eden's garden" is how LA Times writer Mary MacVean described the place, "a collection of rehabilitated bungalows and new Craftsman-style buildings, 47 homes in all in a compound full of gardens and a fountain." (Photos available in the linked story.) Founded over one hundred years ago by a Pentacostal minister, the community has been served since 2002 through a partnership between the Christ Faith Mission church and the non-profit Women Organizing Resources, Knowledge and Services (WORKS). The houses were renovated and the village has received LA Conservancy, Governor's Historic Preservation and California Preservation Foundation awards.

The emphasis on food programs at Pisgah Village is "an effort to alleviate the problems of getting fresh, nutritious food [to residents]...along the lines of teaching people to fish rather than giving them one." Pesticide-free, organic gardening is taught, there's a produce farmer's market on site, cooking classes are available, and master gardener and water conservation classes are planned in an effort to develop self-sufficiency. Once a month, residents share a communal meal featuring dishes that reflect their ethnic diversity. Spanish and Korean language translators facilitate conversations.

There are other WORKS sites in addition to Pisgah Village, all offering the same type of programs:

Currently WORKS has successfully developed more than 1000 affordable housing units, providing attractive and affordable homes to families of modest means. Most of the households we serve earn between 30%-60% of the area median income (AMI), which in Los Angeles translates to $23,790- $47,580 in 2009 for a family or four.

But WORKS is not the only non-profit in LA dedicated to improving seniors' housing options. Rosemary McClure wrote a Times article last week entitled "Aging Artfully at the Burbank Senior Artists Colony:"

The Colony, which targets people 55 and older, opened in 2005 in an attractive five-story building a block from downtown Burbank. A sign outside says, "Get Active, Be Creative, Be Inspired." The words aren't just window dressing: On any given day, residents might be involved in an intergenerational writing workshop, a watercolor class, a sculpture seminar or a tai chi class. Or, they might be making a movie.

The Colony's many stimulating programs are the direct result of involvement by EngAGE, a non-profit organization founded by Tim Carpenter and devoted to providing lifelong learning and creative opportunities to seniors. (Full disclosure: I've taught writing classes for EngAGE and contributed commentaries to "Experience Talks," the radio show produced by EngAGE.) EngAGE serves nineteen apartment communities, but the Colony was the first one specifically built with these enriching programs in mind, thus the 45-seat theater, artists' studios, computer center, digital film editing lab, and communal areas large enough to host jazz combo performances and fundraisers. The Colony has been recognized by the National Endowment for the Arts as "a model for creative aging." While most apartments rent at market rates, some of the units are dedicated to low-income housing.

I've written in the past about alternative housing and intentional communities, but Pisgah Village and Burbank Senior Artists Colony are distinctive in their focus on seniors. Independent living when you're older can result in isolation, but it seems there's little chance of that in either of these communities. And with housing costs taking the largest share of our consumer dollars, the extra value added by living in a nurturing environment can be priceless.

Do you know of interesting housing options for seniors in your area? Do you have concerns about your own housing choices when you're older? How would you feel about living in communities like these, or do you have ideas about another type of community you'd find appealing?

© 2010 Cynthia Friedlob
Image: Graur Razvan Ionut at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Related post:

Alternative Housing: Intentional Communities

Families and Small Houses

My last post about small houses prompted a comment from a reader who speculated that she could live alone in a tiny home, but she wondered if families could live comfortably in very little square footage. Below are links to several relevant and thought-provoking posts on that topic. The concept of "small" is variable, but everyone can agree that it means less space than is the norm in our too-often "McMansionized" society.

First, the rather amazing story of a very large family in a small home:

Life in a Shoe: Methods and Madness of One Family of Twelve

How can a big family live in a small house?
The short answer is the same answer we give to many other questions: life style choices.

•We don't think every child (or even every 2 children) needs her own bedroom.

•We don't think we need a huge master bedroom with a walk-in closet and a master bathroom.

•Although we would very much enjoy having a 2nd or 3rd bathroom, we don't believe that we need it. In all fairness, some of the children don't quite agree, especially in the morning.

•We don't need space for an extensive seasonal wardrobe for each member of the family, particularly in South Texas. There are only 2 seasons here anyway, and one lasts for 10 months of the year. A summer wardrobe plus a few warmer items is perfectly sufficient.

This family home-schools, too! Check out their posts about storage, entertaining, and finding personal space. I particularly like the concept of a "treasure box" for the kids in which they keep their personal items. The name alone signifies that whatever is in the box is not junk or clutter, but something important (we know that valuable doesn't always mean expensive).

Here's an SFGate article about making room for adolescents in a small house and how to accommodate their psychological development needs.

"I think parents tend to err in giving adolescents too much space," says James Windell, psychologist with the family division of the Oakland County (Michigan) Circuit Court and author of Six Steps to an Emotionally Intelligent Teenager. "You need to be looking over their shoulders," says Windell. "You need to know what they're listening to on CDs, what they're watching on television and what they are doing on the Internet. There has to be a balance between the kids' need for independence and the parents playing out their role of being there for the kids." . . .

What all this means in square footage terms is that, ideally, each teenager will have a room of his or her own, however small, and that the family will find a space in the home for teens and their friends to let loose a little while remaining within parental radar range.

The article writer, Deborah K. Rich, concludes:

. . . small homes force families to cooperate and solve problems as their spatial needs change; you may unexpectedly develop a functioning family.

Michael Janzen at Tiny House Design recently said that he is going to devote a series of posts to small houses for families. The first post, Small Family Birdhouse, reports on a shed conversion for a mother and young son. Too rustic for a city girl like me, but an interesting read.

Here's a book review by Jared Volpe at Sustainable Cities Collective of Little House on a Small Planet by Shay Salomon. I haven't read it yet, but I'm now eager to do so. Vople states:

The book didn’t just focus on little houses, either. Some of the homes were quite large, but had been redesigned to fit two families or several independent adults who were willing to share common space.

I'm convinced that economic circumstances will continue to force many people to reconsider sharing living space with family or friends, but I'm hopeful that there will be benefits from that experience that will help us redefine community. (Sustainable Cities Collective is "an online community of urban sustainability professionals" and is an interesting resource for those of us who are committed city-dwellers.)

Apartment Therapy ("saving the world, one room at a time" -- one of my favorite tag lines) has a link to a series of posts about downsizing that includes several about families moving into small homes. Many photographs, as always.

Practically speaking, it takes an intrepid soul to consider tiny housing for a growing family. Most of us will choose larger spaces, but how large? It's a personal decision that has an impact beyond our own lives. It can be tricky to sort out responsible choices without feeling pressured -- or rebellious. The only sensible answer is to live in as much space as you need. And you are the only one who can figure that out.

An addendum: The Thoughtful Consumer is pleased to celebrate the fourth anniversary of this blog! Thank you to all my readers and special thanks to those who e-mail and comment on my posts. You keep me going.

© Cynthia Friedlob 2010
Image: Brindy Daniels at stock.xchng

Housing and the American Dream: Think Small

Whether the economy is (a) improving, (b) getting ready to tank again, or (c) precariously maintaining its equilibrium (take your choice, depending on which pundit you believe), we all need somewhere to live. There's a tremendous problem with homelessness here in Los Angeles and in other metropolitan areas, a topic undoubtedly worthy of discussion. But for this post, let's stick with the population that's fortunate enough to be able to own or rent comfortable housing.

For years, a significant part of the American Dream was to own a home, complete with yard and white picket fence. During the real estate boom, it seemed that everywhere you turned you were faced with people strongly advising you to buy a home, then urging you to leverage it into a larger home -- or you were at least supposed to refinance regularly to support buying all the stuff you needed to fill the place. You were met with looks of disbelief or even utter disdain if you weren't in the process of buying/remodeling/selling/trading up.

All that's changed. In fact, once again we're hearing that, in many cases, it might be smarter to rent. One example may apply to people who live in New York City. A recent New York Times article demonstrated that for a hypothetical family of four earning $175,000 a year, it would cost 18% more to own a house in the suburbs than to rent in the city. Of course, there are trade-offs that might make it worthwhile for some families to live in the suburbs, but that should not be an automatic assumption any more than one can automatically assume that buying a house is always a good investment.

If saving money is your primary concern, it's important to figure out if renting makes more sense no matter where you live. Here's a rent-or-buy calculator from the New York Times to help with that task. And here's a Devil's Advocate article entitled "Rent Forever, Don't Buy" that presents some of the benefits of avoiding home ownership. It's worth considering what's right for you in your situation without feeling pressured one way or the other.

What if you'd be quite happy to rent, but you can't afford a place in the neighborhood you prefer? In Los Angeles, one solution is to think small. An LA Times article talks about the Manhattan-sized mini-apartments built in Santa Monica that make beach living relatively affordable (in LA that means a 350 square foot apartment for $1100 to $1400 per month). Would you trade living space for beach access? Many people would.

But what if you want to own your home and are you're also willing to think small? I mean ultra-small. You might find that owning a home could cost less than the price of a fancy new car. I've talked about small houses in previous posts (see below) but there seems to be increasing media coverage of this option. "Downsizing to 100 Square Feet of Bliss," is an article from CNN.com about the joys of a small house in a bad economy. "Do It Yourself Downsize: How to Build a Tiny House" was a featured story on NPR just a few weeks ago. A do-it-yourself small house can cost less than $10,000 (of course, you'd also need land to build on, unless you're going to treat it like a trailer and be on the move all the time); plans are available for those of us who are less inclined to tackle the project on our own. Check out Tiny House Blog , This Tiny House, and Tiny House Design for excellent information and regular posts about very small houses.

Not everyone could live comfortably in a home as small as an average bedroom, but I think we're all probably more adaptable than we realize and I know that most of us could live with less space and fewer possessions than we have now. (Full disclosure: two of us downsized to a 1500 square foot townhouse purchased twelve years ago, before the boom and bust. It's quite comfortable. Because we both work at home, smaller might be a challenge, but certainly not an impossible one.) It's always easier to downsize by choice, but even if financial circumstances have you considering the possibility of moving to a smaller apartment or home, you may find that less space has certain advantages you never expected. Enforced uncluttering could be one benefit, if you don't rent lots of storage space to avoid the uncluttering process! (Read my book to learn about my adventures with too much stuff.) Rethinking how much you need could be pretty enlightening, too.

So, was Mies van der Rohe right when he said, "Less is more?" I think he was. I'd like to hear your thoughts in the comments.

© 2010 Cynthia Friedlob
Image credit: Gerard79 at Stock.Xchng

Related posts:
Small House, Big Benefits
Small Houses, No Houses
Living Small, Paying Rent
Manhattan's Smallest Home

Manhattan's Smallest Home

Recently I've noticed quite a few print and on-line articles about small homes. I can only hope that this reflects our society's increasing comfort level with decreasing living space. But this article in the New York Post features the smallest home I've seen that has truly captured my imagination. In fact, had I known it was on the market, I could have been greatly tempted by the opportunity to buy it, even though it's on the opposite coast in Manhattan. Have you ever heard of a place in the city that cost only $150,000? A parking space, maybe, or a broom closet. Ah, well, it turns out that "broom closet" pretty aptly describes it.

On 110th, between Broadway and Amsterdam, sits a pre-war, sixteen-floor co-op building, with a doorman. On the top floor, there is a very tiny room that used to be one of several maids' quarters back during the building's previous configuration. At ten feet wide and less than fifteen feet long, this miniscule studio has space for a bed, a kitchen with mini-fridge and hotplate. There's also a three-foot by nine-foot bathroom (obviously no tub, just a shower, sink and toilet).

The reason this little broom closet might have been such a fabulous buy for an out-of-towner is that it could be used like a hotel room and make a bi-coastal (okay, fantasy) life possible. But what would it be like to live there?

Owners Zaarath and Christopher Prokop think it's great. They even share it with their two cats. Granted they use local dry-cleaning establishments as closets and never cook a meal at home, and I'm certain they keep all of their work-related paraphernalia in their offices, but it's still a stretch for me to imagine squeezing the complete lives of two adults into such a restricted space.

Day after day after day.

Even in the winter when it's freezing outside.

Or during a bout of the flu.

With cats!

Nope. I'll have to pass.

Could you do it? Take a look at the slide show here.

© 2009 Cynthia Friedlob

Photo Credit: © Nikolai Sorokin Dreamstime.com

Living Small, Paying Rent

It's no surprise that many people are rethinking the wisdom of buying a house. Property values are always supposed to go up, but the last few years have proven that assumption wrong. I don't know why anyone needed proof again; housing prices have dipped precipitously in the past. But, we seem to have a collective short memory when it comes to the unpleasant realities of the financial world.

The benefits of homeownership are familiar to most of us: you can build substantial equity if you stay in your home long enough, you can remodel to suit your tastes, you may get some helpful tax breaks, and you can enjoy feelings of stability and being a part of your community. On the other hand, you're responsible for all the maintenance bills, you can't just pick up and move if you feel like it with thirty days notice, and if your personal financial situation alters dramatically for the worse, you could end up losing your home to foreclosure, a truly unpleasant reality for many people right now.

I was always a believer in the flexibility of renting, so becoming a townhouse owner about ten years ago was a big step out of character. Fortunately, the Los Angeles housing market was just emerging from a slump, so prices were favorable for buyers. Also fortunate is the fact that the property has appreciated enough so that even in the current horrendous marketplace, it's remained a solid investment. Best of all, it's been a great place to live. But, being the kind of person who ponders, probably too often, the road not taken, I sometimes wonder how renting would have changed some of the choices that were made over the last decade.

One couple who chose to rent rather than buy are "living happily in 380 square feet" along with their nine-month-old son, Thurston, and Charlie, the dog. Kelly Breslin and Ryan Conder have furnished their miniscule apartment fashionably and functionally. Conder owns a men's clothing store; Breslin makes ceramic art, obviously not at home.

Looking at the photos in the LA Times article about them, I wondered what it would be like to live in such close quarters. My answer: not a joyful experience (okay, I phrased it more emphatically than that).

Could you do it?

(c) 2009 Cynthia Friedlob

Photo credit: Mark Manalaysay

StockVault.net

Alternative Housing: Intentional Communities

[There was a Feedburner technical glitch affecting the distribution of my last post on September 25th, "Going Wrong Going Green, Part 2," and I was never able to get the feed to update. If you subscribe to this blog by RSS Feed, you probably didn't receive the post, so you may want to take a moment to read it at your convenience.]

I’ve talked in the past about alternative types of housing, but the alternatives have always referred to structural and environmental issues. What about other types of alternative housing? What about housing that encourages people to live in a more communal spirit?

Throughout human history, groups of people with common bonds have lived together in a community, either a shared physical location or, in the case of nomadic tribes, a shared pattern of roaming. When civilization moved beyond the tribal stage, religious beliefs were the common bonds that held together villages and most small towns. When we moved into the era of multiple types of groups living in larger urban areas, ethnic bonds usually prevailed. Sometimes this offered the comfort and familiarity of a community; sometimes it resulted in impoverished ghettos. Larger societies also have class or caste systems that create communities. Some are blatant, like those in India or England; some are more subtle, like Japan or Israel. Here in “the land of the free, home of the brave,” we have a massive mix of groups, many still astonishingly segregated, and a class system in which higher echelons can be cracked, to a substantial degree, with enough financial success.

So where do modern “intentional communities” fit in? There are still religious and cultural forms like ashrams and kibbutzes, and, in the U.S., communities like the Amish, or Native Americans who live on tribal lands. But there are also other types of intentional communities, communes and cohousing, which are based on shared philosophies or on simple economic need.

In addition to shared philosophy, communes have a shared economy, i.e., the communal structure generates at least some income for the members. Aging Boomers who were politically active liberals probably remember The Farm, Steven Gaskin’s “noble experiment” and a classic commune. An English professor at San Francisco State, Gaskin witnessed the explosion, then implosion, of the Haight-Ashbury district during the late 1960s. His response was to buy land in Tennessee and, along with a few hundred followers, set up an intentional community that was held together by the philosophical beliefs of anti-materialism, vegetarianism and self-sufficiency. The Farm still exists, in spite of bumps along the way, and now includes charitable service as part of its philosophy.

According to the CoHousing.org website, "The cohousing idea originated in Denmark, and was promoted in the U.S. by architects Kathryn McCamant and Charles Durrett in the early 1980s. . . [Cohousing brings] together the value of private homes with the benefits of more sustainable living. . . The common house is the social center of a community, with a large dining room and kitchen, lounge, recreational facilities, children’s spaces, and frequently a guest room, workshop and laundry room. Communities usually serve optional group meals in the common house at least two or three times a week."

Click here for the six defining characteristics of cohousing. One is that the cohousing community is not a source of income for its members, making this arrangement distinct from a commune.

Check out EcoVillage in Ithaca, New York; Milagro Co-housing in Tucson, Arizona; and Prairie Onion Cohousing, right in the city of Chicago for examples of cohousing.

Finances may be pushing a lot of people who have never considered it before into alternative living arrangements. Multi-generational families are sharing homes again after the latest stock market and housing meltdowns. Finances are also often an issue for older people who are alone and either have limited resources or want to spend their later years in a more collegial setting than what passes for "neighborhood" in many larger cities. Boomers Go Back to the Commune in Retirement, an informative article from Bankrate.com, discusses this trend. It's particularly significant for older women, who usually outlive their husbands. A Smart Money magazine article states, "The 2006 Census found that 7.4 million women aged 65 and older live alone, compared with 2.7 million men. . . Even scarier: In 2005, the Census found that 12% of women age 65 and older were living in poverty, a sizable chunk more than the 7% of men in the same group."

But I liked the story of one resourceful Asheville, NC, woman: "[I]nstead of joining an existing [intentional] community, the self-described maverick set up her own, buying two houses in a three-house enclave. Now, she lives in one house, rents her second property to two other single women, and has a friend living next door. 'It's like being married to four different people,' says Kilkenny, who helped organize the 'Women Living in Community' conference in Asheville in July. 'You drive into your driveway and there's someone there. It's huge for me. I can walk out on my porch and say 'Morning, Bobbie, want a cup of coffee?' There's camaraderie.'"

We can talk about all kinds of ways to live more lightly on the Earth, we can debate all kinds of strategies to get through difficult financial times, and we can lament the lack of community that so many of us feel. The simplest solutions for most of us are to live in smaller spaces, keep our living costs affordable and get to know our neighbors. I've got the first two solutions covered, but I just met my "new" next door neighbor last week. She's lived in her townhouse for a little over a year. What can I say? LA's a tough town.

Find more information at:

Intentional Communities

The National Shared Housing Resource Center

Diggers & Dreamers, the Guide to Communal Living in Britain

© 2009 Cynthia Friedlob

Image: Jackie at StockVault.net

Small Houses, No Houses

In this economy, it should come as no surprise to anyone that, as a society, we are reconsidering what home ownership means. For the many people who are unable to make their mortgage payments or are dealing with foreclosure, owning a home may not be an option again for a very long time, if ever.

With property values depressed, even fortunate or frugal homeowners who aren't at risk are also reassessing the amount of space they need to live in to be comfortable. Is that big monthly payment for a 5000-square-foot home starting to look a bit pricey for a family of two? Is paying for the upkeep on a half-acre of land plus swimming pool feeling like it may not be worth it after all? If you've got two kids, is it really necessary to have six bedrooms, a den, a "great room" and a full finished basement? "Trading down" at the next opportunity to do so is starting to sound like a good idea to a lot of homeowners.

Of course, how much space you and your family need to live is a personal decision, but the previously popular belief that bigger equals better when it comes to houses has fallen out of favor. There are obvious advantages to this change of opinion, at least the way thoughtful consumers see it. Better use of natural resources and lower expenses that allow for better allocation of personal resources are two that come to mind immediately.

So, what's in the news about this enforced reassessment of how we're "supposed" to live?

Bankrate.com has an article entitled, New Realty Reality: Small Is the New Big, written by Jay MacDonald. The article says that we're getting a healthier perspective than we've had in a long time about what a home is:

"As Americans focused more and more on the financial appreciation of their address, many lost the thread of what makes a house a home in the first place.

. . . [Real estate expert Barbara] Corcoran says, 'When someone decided to renovate a kitchen, the first priority was, what changes would sell well, and the second priority was, what changes would we enjoy? People sacrificed many things they would personally enjoy for the sake of resale. I saw that over and over.'

". . . You don't have to own everything that you make use of. You don't need one room for exercise equipment, one room for a movie theater," says Marc Vassallo [co-author with architect Sarah Susanka of Not So Big Remodeling: Tailoring Your Home for the Way You Really Live.]

". . . The 'Not So Big' movement advocates downsizing toward cozier, more enjoyable homes that emphasize quality over quantity."

Last week the Fort Worth Star-Telegram ran an article entitled, "For Some, Tiny Houses Are Just the Right Size," by Steve Campbell. It discusses "super-downsizing:"

". . . but that’s just the extreme edge of a growing movement away from suburban castles and into 'right-sized' homes that require less energy, upkeep and money. . .

". . . In a June survey by the National Association of Home Builders, 59 percent of respondents said they are building smaller homes . . ."

All this is good news for the small house builders. (Please see my 2007 post, Small House, Big Benefits? for examples of very small homes. Also, several months ago, Michael Janzan at Tiny House Design posted about his Tiny Simple House and the shotgun houses that inspired it.)

But you don't have to go "super-small" to rightsize into something that works. Habitat 15 is a Hollywood, CA, development that boasts fifteen townhouses on a 14,000 square foot lot:

"Design elements such as the irregular window placement are not merely some artistic statement. Their positioning on all the exterior walls, as well as on the roof in the form of skylights, is driven less by the aesthetic demands for symmetry and more by the need to draw light inside the homes, some of which are two stories tall, some of which are three. Lucky for the architects, the final result is functional and idiosyncratically arresting."

Not cheap, however, with prices from $590,000 to $849,000. Photo tour here.

In Eagle Rock, CA, just a brief freeway ride from Hollywood, fifteen "environmentally friendly, almost-townhouses" share a half-acre of land.

"'The buildings don’t share a common wall,' says architect Kevin Wronsky, who with brother Hardy also is the developer of the project, called Rock Row. 'There is five inches of space between each of them that is totally open.' The gaps allow each building to move independently of the others in an earthquake. Perhaps most important, the space serves as sound insulation, lessening how much noise transfers from one unit to the next.'"

Take a photo tour here. The units range from about 1300 to 1600 square feet and they're also expensive. However, if you can afford them, they have a special feature:

"With prices running $482,000 to $569,000, Rock Row has the first homes in Los Angeles under $500,000 to be LEED certified, winning a U.S. Green Building Council rating for green design and sustainable construction methods."

Obviously, one doesn't need to spend at the steep prices we still have in Los Angeles to find a suitable smaller home. Unless you're here in LA or New York or San Francisco, you'll undoubtedly be able to find or build a house at a smaller scale and more reasonable price that will serve you well.

If you want to buy a house. If you can afford to buy a house. There is nothing wrong with renting and it may offer benefits many of us haven't considered. According to a 2007 article in eFinanceDirectory that lists some of those benefits, thanks to the collapse of the housing bubble, people who bought houses in 1987 would have been better off investing their money in stocks from 1987 to 2007. Of course, between 2007 and today, the financial markets have taken such a beating that the average person might have done better stashing cash in a mattress.

The serious problem we face right now is that the economy has been so devastated that many people can't even afford to rent.

In April, Patrick Oppman of CNN.com wrote about a tent city in Seattle:

"Set up in the parking lot of a church near Seattle, Washington, the camp houses anywhere from 50 to 100 homeless people each day.

"Residents call it Nickelsville. The name takes a page from the infamous 'Hooverville' shantytowns of the Great Depression that were named for a president many thought did not care about their economic hardships. . . .

". . . 'In shelters, if you don't get there in time enough, you don't have your bed no more 'cause there are so many people trying to rush in to get it,' [a resident] says. 'Got a lotta people losing their homes. You don't want to go all the way to the bottom. Nickelsville is kind of a catch in between.'"

California's collapsed economy has resulted tent cities, too. Over a year ago, the BBC reported on a tent city in Ontario, forty miles east of LA.

You can listen here to an NPR report about the situation in our capital: "Sacramento's Tent Cities Still Bloom In Secret," by Ben Adler on today's "Weekend Edition."

See photos from an earlier NY Times story about the Fresno and Sacramento area tent cities here.

And, as I've always said, when a story makes it onto "Oprah," it's hit the mainstream. See Lisa Ling's report here about her trip to Sacramento.

We've come a long way from the days of the mandatory McMansion, from the peculiar concept of "starter houses," from rampant speculating because housing prices were "always" going to go up. Is that a bad thing? Not necessarily, if it forces us to be more realistic about our expectations rather than having feelings of entitlement that usually lead to very bad judgment. Is it a bad thing for the people who are affected personally by the mess we're in? Of course. And that's why remembering the importance of charitable giving at this critical time is important for those of us who are fortunate to have a roof over our heads – whether we rent it or own it. (I'll be talking more about charities in my next post.)

Meanwhile, I've been reminded of the cleverness of people who design for all kinds of challenging housing situations. Take a look at this unusual $5,000 "paper" house by a Swiss company called The Wall AG. These unique houses are stronger and more resilient than they may appear, just like the people who will live in them.

I feel certain that the strength and resiliency of our society will pull us through our current housing crisis. But I haven't dismissed the idea of hiding some cash in the mattress.

© 2009 Cynthia Friedlob

Photo credit: Salvatore Vuono

http://www.freedigitalphotos.net/

Related posts:

What Makes a House a Home? (2007)

How Much Space Do We Need? (2006)

Alternative Housing: Unusual Choices and Emergency Shelters

I've written in the past about small houses and alternative housing structures (see: Small House, Big Benefits; Prefab and Modular Housing: Solutions to the World's Housing Crisis?; and Alternative Housing: From Small to Quirky). Here's more information I'd like to share with you.

WebUrbanist has an eight-part series on "Crazy Houses" that includes a few small homes we've already seen along with others we haven't (rev: see credit below for photo at left). The series includes links to some "Crazy Condos" that are worth a look. A search through their architecture archives will turn up some outrageous homes of all sizes and shapes. Not all are suited for the socially and environmentally conscious builder or buyer, but it's always interesting to see extreme houses and take away the ideas that could work for the rest of us. The post on 16 Excellent Temporary Emergency Shelter Designs should be mandatory reading for any group or agency working on housing people after a natural disaster.

A post on Gizmodo features a five thousand dollar "paper" house that accommodates eight people in about 400 square feet. Nigeria and Angola have placed orders for the house. The blog refers to it as "the world's swankiest hobo pad" and many who commented made fun of the feature that allows for slaughtering animals on the veranda. Reading the comments revealed how little many people know of the housing needs in third world countries (and, sadly, in some rural parts of our own country).

But the concept of alternative housing goes beyond innovative design or unusual building materials. During this time of economic crisis, several generations of a family may end up living together; people may rent out rooms in their homes to get extra income; and some "planned communities" are now more appealing because of the extra emotional and financial support they offer. We'll explore these options further in another post.

© 2009 Cynthia Friedlob

On the Radio: Mortgage Meltdown

If you'd like to take a break from watching the inaugural festivities on Tuesday, please tune in "Experience Talks" from 2:00 - 3:00 p.m. Pacific Time on KPFK-FM, Los Angeles and Santa Barbara, or streaming live on the web. If you're glued all day to your television or computer (or out in the freezing cold in D.C.!), you can always listen to a podcast later.

You'll hear an interesting show featuring Christopher Kennedy Lawford, son of President John Kennedy's sister, Patricia, and her husband, actor Peter Lawford. He'll be discussing his latest book, Moments of Clarity.

Also on the show will be Fabrice Florin, founder of NewsTrust.net, a social news network that helps find and share good journalism online.

And, at the end of the show, you'll hear my essay about the mortgage meltdown.

Click here for more information. And thanks for listening!

Alternative Housing: From Small to Quirky

Of the two billion or so bloggers posting regularly on-line, I imagine that about 1.99 billion of us recently have devoted a post or two to the near total collapse of the U.S. economy and its collateral damage to the economies of other countries across the world. The root of the problem centers around housing, so I thought it might be interesting to speculate about what would happen if everything continued on this catastrophic path and we were all catapulted into a world that required a radically alternative way to look at housing.

Okay, it's not likely that all the existing homes and apartments will suddenly be abandoned and collapse into piles of rubble, even if the stock market continues to tank alarmingly and the jobless rate hits an all-time high. But many changes in the way we create our homes may be required over time just to deal with issues of sustainability.

Housing is usually a consumer's major expense, whether renting or buying. In the past I've blogged about small houses, pre-fab and modular houses, and other related topics, but I decided to put together a list of links to other websites and blogs that discuss alternative housing in detail. You may be surprised by the many resourceful and interesting choices that are available.

Zenzibar is an alternative culture site that would have had great appeal back in the "Summer of Love." But there is an interesting post from 2000 about alternative housing that suggests everything from camping on public land to living in a school bus. It also mentions nomad or "snowbirds," as they're often called:

"Quartzsite is a town in southwestern Arizona where hundreds of full-time nomads gather together each winter and set up a temporary city where they have potluck dinners, buy and sell items and generally enjoy each other’s company. There are many other places like this all over America although probably none as large. There are regular annual migrations of these modern nomads from the cool north in the summer to the warm southwestern deserts in the winter."

Alternative Housing offers news and information about everything from teepees to treehouses, log cabins to floating homes. If you find the thought of hanging out in Quartzsite appealing, you can investigate RVs and trailers, too.

Alternative Solar Housing explains the advantages of a modified Buckminster Fuller concept, the geodesic dome. Their Cube Octahedron Hemisphere allows solar energy applications.

American Steel Span Buildings touts the environmental and economic advantages of using steel to construct a home or other structure. They even sell kits.

BioHome uses Buckminster Fuller's geodesic dome concept, too, and gets you off the grid completely. They call it "closed system housing." The framework of the dome is covered with insulating foam and topped with bubble windows.

Green Home Building is a great site that has information on straw bale houses, a popular type of construction in the southwest. Check out Earthship design, building fanciful lightweight concrete structures, and other fascinating options. Wonderful photos, too. Entertaining, inspiring and my favorite site on this topic!

Finally, just for fun take a look at Pink Tentacle. It offers a post about "Reversible Destiny Lofts," located in Tokyo and designed by NY-based architect-poets and philosophers, Arakawa & Gins.

"In their vision, a home that keeps its inhabitants young and healthy should provide perpetual challenges. A tentative relationship with your environment,they argue, is key to 'reversing the downhill course of human life.'"

Many unbelievable photos and a video are on the site. The NY Times has a recent article about the design here. It's unlikely that this type of design will catch on in a big way, but I have a feeling that art was the motivating force rather than practicality.

[March 24, 2009 update: Arakawa & Gins invested heavily with Bernie Madoff and lost millions. Here's a link to the story in today's Wall Street Journal.]

If you know of other useful sites or blogs devoted to alternative housing, please feel free to leave a comment. Considering our volatile economic situation, an affordable, sustainable, alternative home may start to make sense to a lot of people who had never considered the possibility in the past. And if those homes are as cute as this one, well, that's not so bad.


© 2008 Cynthia Friedlob

Green White Roofs

Ten years ago, upon moving into a townhouse, I was slightly disappointed to discover that the Homeowners Association had already made plans to replace the roofs on all the units in the complex. I thought it was unfortunate that no one had considered the possibility of installing solar panels. We do live in southern California and there is no dearth of sunshine; in fact 73% of our days are sunny every year. Imagine the energy savings over the last decade if the Board had been a bit more forward-thinking.

But it's not just solar panels that can make a difference. I've discussed green roofs on several occasions in the past, but for many people, the structural reinforcements necessary for a green roof can rule out that option. What if there was a simpler way not only to lower energy costs but also slow down global warming?

It turns out that simply having a highly reflective, white roof on the average home, rather than the conventional dark roof, can prevent 10 metric tons of planet-heating carbon dioxide emissions from entering the atmosphere. And, because a white roof never gets more than a few degrees warmer than the ambient temperature, the need for air-conditioning is substantially reduced -- as much as 40% in some commercial buildings.

The LA Times reported today:

"Since 2005, the Golden State has required that flat commercial structures have white roofs. Next year, new and retrofitted residential and commercial buildings, with both flat and sloped roofs, will have to install heat-reflecting roofing, as part of an energy-efficient building code."

If, in addition to white roofs, the 100 biggest cities in the world also began using reflective materials for pavement, "the global cooling effect would be massive, according to data released Tuesday at California's annual Climate Change Research Conference in Sacramento."

The Atlanta Business Chronicle pointed out that "several years ago, [Georgia] became the first state to amend its building code to recognize the benefits of reflective material. The 'White Roofing Amendment' became part of the Georgia State Minimum Code for Construction."

The Chronicle also notes, "White roofs also reduce the heat island effect in an urban area, a potentially critical boon for Atlanta, which famously suffers from a lot of bad-air days. Studies have shown that cities are often three to eight degrees warmer on hot days than outlying rural areas. The effect in Atlanta has been measured as high as 12 degrees. And heat is a major contributing factor to the formation of ozone." Anyone who's ever ventured into downtown LA on a hot, smoggy summer day knows how miserable that heat island effect can be.

Naturally, the EPA has taken a positive position on cool roofing materials:

"Cool roof systems with high reflectance and emittance stay up to 70°F (39°C) cooler than traditional materials during peak summer weather. Benefits of cool roofs include reduced building heat-gain and saving on summertime air conditioning expenditures. By minimizing energy use, cool roofs do more than save money – they reduce the demand for electric power and resulting air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions."

If you've traveled to the Mediterranean countries or seen photographs of towns and cities in those areas, you've probably noticed the consistent use of white on the buildings, both residential and commercial. Well, it doesn't just look beautiful, obviously it's smart, too. Good for the consumer, good for the environment. A very thoughtful choice.

Cool.

© 2008 Cynthia Friedlob

Juxtapositions: Foreclosures and Candy Spelling's New Penthouse

The Los Angeles Times very kindly handed me a blog post on a platter this past week.

Roger Vincent reported in the July 22nd edition that Candy Spelling, widow of Aaron Spelling, has purchased a new condo for $47 million. That translates into a whopping $2,848 per square foot for the two-storey, 16,500 square foot residence at the top of a Century City tower that's still under construction. This is how down-sizing works at the top of the food chain.

Twenty years ago, the Spellings built LA county's largest home (56,500 square feet with 123 rooms) and took a lot of flak for it at the time. "The Manor," as it was called, was deemed offensively extravagant by many. I found this to be rather amusing criticism from a community in which the term "over the top" must have been coined -- and in the 80s, yet, a decade in which greed was "good" and advertisers proclaimed that we all needed to wear gold because we're "worth it." Ah, show biz.

On the other hand, while Mrs. Spelling was formulating her plan to change residences, "more than 1% of US households were in some stage of foreclosure in 2007," according to Seeking Alpha's February Housing Market Tracker post. HousingWire.com reported that nationwide foreclosure activity jumped 97% in December of 07, and here in California the picture was particularly bleak:

"With a total of 481,392 foreclosure filings on 249,513 properties during the year, California documented the highest number of foreclosure filings and the most properties in some stage of foreclosure in 2007. The state’s total foreclosure filings more than tripled from 2006, and the state’s 2007 foreclosure rate — 1.9 percent of its households entering some stage of foreclosure during the year — ranked fourth highest among U.S. states." (Nevada was highest at 3.4%.)

The situation has not improved in 2008; witness the Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac bailout.

LA Times writer, Tim Rutten, mused on the meaning of this "new low in the high life" in his July 23rd column:

"As Candy Spelling's condo deal illustrates, so much wealth in the U.S. is concentrated in so few hands . . . Recent data suggest that the richest 1% of U.S. households -- those with annual incomes of $348,000 or better -- now control 34.3% of the nation's net worth, while the bottom 40% of households dispose of just 0.2% of America's wealth."

Rutten calls this a new "Gilded Age." Harvard Magazine reinforces this comparison with an article in July's issue entitled, "Unequal America:"

"Income inequality has been rising since the late 1970s, and now rests at a level not seen since the Gilded Age—roughly 1870 to 1900, a period in U.S. history defined by the contrast between the excesses of the super-rich and the squalor of the poor."

The article is long but fascinating reading, covering everything from speculation regarding the effects of the disparity on the democratic process to the fact that life expectancy actually has decreased recently in some U.S. counties.

There seems little doubt that the fabric of our country's economic distribution system is shredding. The situation requires massive change unless we're content to descend into a society resembling that of feudal lords and starving peasants.

Of course, it's unlikely that the lady of "The Manor," Candy Spelling, will ever be feeling any economic pain. True, she'll be leaving behind the family manse with its 11 bedrooms, 16 bathrooms, the gift-wrapping room, the doll museum, the screening room, etc. That means that she'll certainly have to unload quite a few possessions to squeeze into a condo with less than a third of the space of the former homestead.

Wonder if there's going to be a garage sale . . .

© 2008 Cynthia Friedlob

Prefab and Modular Housing: Solutions to the World's Housing Crisis?

Over five years ago, "Environmental Health Perspectives," the journal of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, wrote about the global housing crisis and its effect on human health and welfare. Sadly, the situation has not improved. Of course this crisis must be addressed, especially in areas where there's terrible suffering and disease as a result of lack of shelter and clean water. But it's also worthwhile for those of us who are more fortunate to rethink just how much space we need to live and how that space might be constructed.

I've written in the past about ultra-small houses ("Small House, Big Benefits?"), which offer interesting alternatives for many people. Another option we can consider is prefabricated housing. Prefab homes are manufactured off-site in standardized pieces that are easily transported to the site for quick assembly. They're inexpensive and durable, and have now, at last, qualified as trendy. In fact, the Museum of Modern Art in NYC is opening an exhibit on July 20 entitled, "Home Delivery: Fabricating the Modern Dwelling." The high-fashion angle is confirmed in an article in Gothamist.

If you want to be at the cutting edge of prefab homes, check out FabPrefab where the joys of modernist prefab construction are extolled.

An article on New Hampshire Public Radio's website explains that prefab housing has been around for over one hundred years and mentions an environmental benefit:

"Prefab housing also taps into the desire for more sustainable and ecologically-friendly architecture. "

There's also a video on the site that shows the assembly of the prefab "Cellophane House."

You can find a variety of green prefab housing choices at LowImpactLiving.

And what retailer would be a natural for getting into the prefab business? IKEA, of course. They're building prefab apartment houses in Sweden and soon in the UK. The IKEA-ized name for the product: BoKlok.

Another unusual approach to housing is discussed by Bob Vila, who writes on his website about using steel shipping containers for modular construction:

"Inter-modal construction means applying many methods – often unconventional ones – for housing and commercial construction. It frequently implies recycling materials for reuse as building components. More than 50 years ago, the U.S. converted steel shipping containers for use as portable command centers and medical facilities in Korea. Now, architects, designers, planners, and homeowners are finding renewed interest in these inter-modal steel building units (ISBUs) as they look for affordable, sustainable housing options for the 21st century."

If you can stand to read the tiniest font size ever created, in white on black, no less, the Houses of the Future website has interesting information about new steel modular building.

If you're an investor in housing, the International Property Investment website discusses the advantages of steel modular housing from the Australian perspective. L.A. readers, you may want to note the comment about its advantage in an earthquake: "it may collapse, but it won't kill you." Most comforting, if slightly mystifying.

And if you want to get the current perspective on our main concern, the global housing crisis, take a look at this inspiring video of Cameron Sinclair, co-founder of Architecture for Humanity. The organization's motto is: "Building a more sustainable future using the power of design."

Of course, the power of architectural design is only part of the equation that will add up to a sustainable future; another part of it is each of us making thoughtful choices as consumers. If you're planning on buying or building a home or office space, this could be a great opportunity for you to contribute to that sustainable future by considering carefully what you need and how you can fulfill those needs. There might be an unusual solution that would be green, creative and, thanks to MOMA, very, very cool.

© 2008 Cynthia Friedlob

Juxtapositions: L.A. Heat Wave, Asian Disasters and Mukesh Ambani's House

It's hot in Los Angeles today. In the high 90s, I'd guess, which can be pretty miserable if you're out and about, especially when you get into a car that's been sitting in the sun for a couple of hours, as I did earlier today. I turned on the air conditioner and was uncomfortably cruising home on the freeway for about ten minutes before the car cooled down enough to be tolerable. Oh, poor me.

Meanwhile, the government of Myanmar is still balking at opening the borders of its country to allow access to foreigners who want to offer aid to victims of the cyclone that killed an estimated 78,000 people. The U.N. ambassador from Myanmar has even accused the French of sending a "war ship" to anchor just off their shores. It isn't a war ship, of course, but a ship laden with food and medical supplies, along with medical personnel. Over two million people were affected by the cyclone and are desperately in need of this aid.

Over in China, it's estimated that ultimately the Sichuan earthquake will have claimed 50,000 lives; many more will have suffered injuries and losses. Fortunately, aid is being accepted there. Three days of mourning have been declared by the Chinese government. On Monday, in a unique and moving gesture, "China will ask its 1.2 billion people to observe three minutes of silence before sounding their car, truck, train, ship and air-raid horns in a collective cry of grief."

And in Mumbai, India, Forbes Magazine reports that Mukesh Ambani and his wife are building their dream home, a skyscraper palace costing almost two billion dollars. "When the Ambani residence is finished in January, completing a four-year process, it will be 550 feet high with 400,000 square feet of interior space. . . [N]o two floors are alike in either plans or materials used. At the request of Nita Ambani, say the designers, if a metal, wood or crystal is part of the ninth-floor design, it shouldn't be used on the eleventh floor, for example. The idea is to blend styles and architectural elements so spaces give the feel of consistency, but without repetition. . . Atop six stories of parking lots, [the] living quarters begin at a lobby with nine elevators, as well as several storage rooms and lounges." (Thanks to pro organizer Jeri Dansky for the link to the San Francisco Chronicle's online column by Mark Morford about this. Jeri must have been amused to read that, in spite of the enormous amount of space they'll have, the Ambanis still require several storage rooms!)

Now, obviously, on the global scale of things, my little complaint about hot weather hardly rates a blink of the eye when compared to the tragic natural disasters that have occurred half-way around the world. And I suppose that my modest townhouse would rate hardly the blink of an eye from the Ambanis as far as their definition of "suitable" housing goes, even though I find living here quite comfortable. But I'm hard pressed to think of a greater juxtaposition than that between the people, many already incredibly impoverished, who suffered through those disasters and a guy who's worth around $63 billion and is in the middle of constructing a home the size of a world-class hotel.

To get a little perspective, we can note that Mr. Ambani's net worth is over two-thirds the GDP of the entire country of Myanmar. But, let's stay closer to home: Mr. Ambani's hometown, Mumbai (formerly Bombay), is a huge, sophisticated metropolis in a country that is chronically beset by crushing poverty. According to IndiaOneStop, "India still has the world’s largest number of poor people in a single country. Of its nearly 1 billion inhabitants, an estimated 350-400 million are below the poverty line, 75 per cent of them in the rural areas." The nominal per capita income in India is $1,089.

I know that there will never be exact parity of wealth throughout the world, nor do I even think that's a particularly necessary or worthy goal. I have no problem with exceptional people reaping exceptional rewards (Mr. Ambani inherited his wealth, but that's another issue). However, to paraphrase Stan Lee, I do think that with great wealth comes great responsibility. Bill Gates and Warren Buffet, two incredibly wealthy individuals, have given away huge amounts of money through their own charitable foundations (yes, Mr. Gates lives lavishly, but even he didn't spend nearly as much on his house as Mr. Ambani is spending!). Perhaps Mr. Ambani has been generous with his wealth, too, although if he has, it may have been handled privately; a brief review on Google provided no indication of charitable giving.

So, I've been pondering the quirks of fate that lead some of us to be born in favorable or unfavorable circumstances. I've been wondering about the randomness of natural disasters and our vulnerabilities when they strike. But of all these juxtapositions, there's one that I find the most mystifying:

When so many people are so needy, how can anyone build a $2 billion house?

© 2008 Cynthia Friedlob

Real Estate Fantasyland Questions

There are standard eight-inch white ceramic tiles on the floors of the bathrooms, the kitchen and the foyer of our townhouse. A little basic math easily demonstrates that a set of four of those tiles is a bit larger than one square foot, but it's just about the right size for the average person to stand on comfortably. Would you be willing to pay more than $12,760.00 for a space the size of those four tiles? How about if you had a fabulous, unobstructed view of the ocean? Any takers?

The LA Times "Home of the Week" this past Sunday featured a house in South Laguna with a 270-degree "breath-stealing" ocean view and an asking price of $31.9 million. The house has 2,500 square feet of living space with the bare minimum of amenities one might reasonably expect in a home even in a much lower price range: "cathedral-vaulted ceilings, hardwood and marble floors, skylights, a bay window and a double-door entry. There are hand-painted tiles in the kitchen and a hand-painted mural on a wall in a private courtyard . . . a wet bar, air conditioning and two-car garage."

But there's that view. A spectacular experience, undoubtedly. And yet, is it worth $12,760.00 per square foot? The listing agent suggests that "it obviously makes most sense as a turnkey, fully furnished vacation home for two or three, if you prefer."

So at that price it's not even expected to sell as a primary residence? It's just a little "get-away" spot at the beach?

Is anyone else noticing a dramatic disparity between this listing and all the latest news about the rapidly-increasing number of foreclosures homeowners are currently facing? How many of those homeowners simply took on mortgages that they couldn't afford in order to maximize the size, or perhaps the location, of the home they purchased? I suspect that they thought they were maximizing their "lifestyles" as well. Instead, they made bad financial decisions in order to get "more" and now many of them are going to end up not with "less," but with nothing.

I also suspect that what those homeowners really wanted was more quality in their lives, not in their lifestyles. With a little thought, they might have figured out that in order to achieve the quality they were seeking, they didn't need a fancier house, or better views, or marble countertops and restaurant-quality appliances in the kitchen; what they needed was more time, more enjoyment, more peace of mind.

Maybe the buyers of this pricey beach home will end up with more of what they want. But I wonder . . . .

© 2007 Cynthia Friedlob

What Makes a House a Home: Debt and Laundry

Big surprise. The housing boom is not booming anymore, at least in most of the country. During the boom, many homeowners, including a great many first-time buyers, took advantage of easy credit (especially sub-prime loans for people with less than stellar credit histories) and loans that were structured primarily for the benefit of the lender (such as interest-only loans). While property values were climbing and interest rates favored homeowners, many people took out home equity loans to get extra cash to pay for home improvements or, I suspect in a lot of cases, just to buy more stuff.

And now, with money tightening and refinancing interest rates no longer on their side, these folks are stuck and often can't make their home equity loan payments. According to a July 3rd press release from the American Bankers Association, delinquencies in this debt category rose to 2.15% in the first quarter of this year, an increase from 1.94% last year. It's a situation that presents an ironic twist on the old rule about gambling in Las Vegas: the House always wins.

Another ironic twist is that the very next day, "Independence Day," an article by E. Scott Reckard and Andrea Chang in the LA Times about consumer debt indicates that independence is the last thing many consumers are achieving. They cite information from David Jones, president of the Association of Independent Consumer Credit Counseling Agencies:

". . . anecdotal evidence reflects more people under financial stress. . . . [CCCA] members were reporting more debt-ridden consumers unable to make monthly payments, often on mortgages with adjustable rates that now are ratcheting higher after initial teaser rates ran out."

In previous decades, people sacrificed in other areas of their lives in order to pay their mortgages and hold onto their homes. That's no longer the case. Todd Emerson, president of Springboard, a nonprofit consumer credit management organization in Riverside, California, comments:

"People today, in order to keep themselves alive, they're paying off their credit cards first rather than paying off their mortgages first in order to keep an open line of credit. . . . Many of those homeowners bought expensive properties with a 'figure it out when they get there' mentality. . . . Trouble is . . . they never figure it out."

So the final irony is that after reading all about the debt problems plaguing homeowners, I recalled that a recent LA Times (June 28) had featured this Home Section's trend update for those who want to be considered fashionable:

"Is That Evian in the Washer? Conspicuous consumption creeps into the once-humble laundry room, where stone floors, chandeliers and other luxe touches are in."

Writer Janet Eastman's article explains:

"Now that kitchens are equipped to impress a chef, bathrooms look like spas and closets can hold a diva's wardrobe, the laundry area is ready for its close-up. It's moving out of the garage and into a larger space often near bedrooms — the starting and stopping points for most laundry. The room is being outfitted with warming drawers for clothes too dainty for dryers, rotary presses to iron sheets and laundry sinks with whirlpool jets to clean bulky comforters.

And for those who miss the simplicity of a clothesline? A $3,750 indoor air-drying unit promises to deliver something close to a fresh-breeze scent."

Stone floors? Chandeliers? An indoor air-drying unit? After many years as an apartment dweller, when we moved into a house I was thrilled simply to have laundry facilities that didn't require leaving the premises. Now that we're in a smaller townhouse, I'm still thrilled about that wonderful convenience and I cope quite comfortably with a washer and dryer hidden behind louvered doors in the first floor powder room. But, as is often the case, the perspective of the wealthier denizens of the Los Angeles area is different:

"In some estates in Bel-Air and Beverly Hills, the laundry rooms are 400 square feet or larger, allowing a maid and professional ironer to work together — not a concern for most homeowners."

No, most homeowners don't have to worry about the hired help struggling to function in cramped quarters. And because perspective is always important, I have no doubt that plenty of New Yorkers would have a few choice words to share about laundry rooms of that size. Four hundred square feet does make a pretty fine apartment in Manhattan.

So, what we can conclude from all this is that consumers are paying off credit cards first, thereby jeopardizing ownership of their homes, but if they own homes and want to be cool, now's the time to fill up those credit cards to make their laundry rooms elegant. Okay, maybe I do still have one more irony left in me: doesn't it sound like a lot of homeowners are being taken to the cleaners?

(c) 2007 Cynthia Friedlob

Small House, Big Benefits?

Most of us who are fortunate to have enough to be considered at least "middle class" are aware of the fact that we can live with less than we own. In fact, many of us did just that prior to reaching our current level of comfort. Usually we got where we are by working hard, working long hours, sometimes working two jobs (or our parents or grandparents did so on our behalf).

But we believed that we needed "more" and we were willing to do whatever was necessary to achieve "more." A bigger place to live was often at the top of the list. We wanted more space so that we could . . . what? Fill it up with more stuff? That's the way it's worked out for many of us, and it hasn't been a particularly satisfying experience. Often, it's backfired big time and now we're trapped by our possessions, figuratively and sometimes even literally, in homes that function as emotional and financial prisons rather than the havens they are meant to be.

What if we decided instead that we wanted more free time and more cash in the bank? Would we be willing to give up more house? Obviously, not everyone can scrunch down comfortably into a minuscule living space, but for some intrepid avant garde members of the small house revolution, a tiny living space is their ticket to freedom.

The Small House Society is not kidding when they say "small." Jay Shafer, one of the co-founders, is featured in AmericanProfile.com, chatting about how happy he is in his one hundred square foot home in Sebastopol, California. One hundred square feet is the equivalent of a ten-by-ten bedroom in a typical bungalow. That's definitely not a whole lot of space. Jay is a designer, writer and professor specializing in sustainable housing and urban architecture. He runs Tumbleweed Tiny House Company, the source of general information, building plans and books about his "compact" houses.

John Edmunds lives in a six hundred square foot house in Cloudcroft, New Mexico, a result of quitting his corporate job and deciding to live a more economical life. His website, DreamSmall, shares interesting stories and comments from contented owners of small living spaces.

An NPR "All Things Considered" story by Cheryl Corley features not only Greg Johnson, President of the Small House Society, but also Mississippian Julie Martin. Ms. Martin's home was destroyed by Hurricane Katrina and the housing situation throughout the entire gulf area is still abysmal. But Ms. Martin worked with Schafer to develop and license a Gulf Coast Model small house especially designed to withstand hurricanes. She calls it an "anti-FEMA trailer." It's a unique and practical solution to an incredibly difficult situation. (Check out this related article by Craig Le Moult for Columbia News Service not only for its small house information but also for a great photograph of the tiny houses built in San Francisco after the disastrous 1906 earthquake.)

The NY Times has an article by Bethany Lyttle which also touts the merits of a small house as a second home. The use of pre-fabricated or even completely pre-built models makes "choosing a house start to resemble buying a car." Well, let's hope it's not as traumatic as that can be!

The Small House Society website makes clear that small is relative: "The Small House Society is a voice for the Small House Movement. That movement includes movie stars who have proudly downsized into 3000 square feet, families of five happy in an arts and crafts bungalow, multifamily housing in a variety of forms, and more extreme examples, such as people on houseboats and in trailers with just a few hundred square feet around them. Size is relative, and mainly we promote discussion about the ecological, economic and psychological toll that excessive housing takes on our lives, and what some of us are doing to live better. It's not a movement about people claiming to be 'tinier than thou' but rather people making their own choices toward simpler and smaller living however they feel best fits their life."

So, even if you are quite certain that there's no way you would choose to live in truly diminutive housing, it's an interesting exercise to try to figure out just how small your home could be and still contain everything of importance to you. Is it possible that a relatively pint-sized house could pay off in enormous benefits to you and your family? Would you feel confined or liberated? One thing is certain: you'd have absolutely no room to accumulate excess stuff, but you'd definitely accumulate plenty of interesting memories.

(c) 2007 Cynthia Friedlob