Homeowners are hopping mad about smaller homes going up nearby

Cutting corners is backfiring for home builders. From Reuters on Wednesday:

Builders desperate to put up smaller, cheaper homes are incurring extra expense and customers' wrath by redesigning communities, even when people are already living in them.

As the U.S. housing slump accelerates, homebuilders from California to New Jersey are now being forced back to the drawing board and the local planning board to downsize the American dream.

"You can end up with a lot of angry homeowners when you're midway through a project and try to change direction," said Jody Kahn of John Burns Real Estate Consulting, based in Irvine, California.

No kidding. The story details angry homeowners in Vacaville, Calif., who are fighting their builder.

Apparently this strategy has been employed in previous downturns after avenues such as pulling extras have been tried. OK, angry homeowners, would you rather have small homes built nearby, or no homes?  (See photo.)

--Lauren Beale

Thoughts? Comments?

Photo: A for sale sign stands in front of a home at the Idaho Club in Sandpoint in October 2008. The project turned into a nightmare for Sullivan Homes Idaho. The luxury builder recently went out of business after going an entire year without selling a single home despite being the "preferred builder" at the Idaho Club. Credit: Nick Geranios / Associated Press

Comments

[Danny]

Same size homes, lower prices. Now that would REALLY make the neighbors mad.

[syscom3]

It wouldnt bother me one bit. Might make an adjacent property owners own lot worth more, by having more space between homes.

[Thojifad]

Frankly, I'm in favor of homes in which the family members actually have a chance to pass each other going from one room to another. But maybe that's just me.

[k2polo]

NOTHING depresses existing new home values like an abandoned portion of the neighborhood. Good on the builders to down-size their next phases. The current residents should start understanding that their values are already depressed if there are unfinished lots..more so than finishing those homes with smaller homes and keeping the lot sizes the same. That would be the sticking point for me...lot sizes.

[Friday's Child]

All things considered, a smaller SFR may be a good thing. It means that the lots get built out, no need for 2nd set of dining room and living room furniture, and garage small enough to limit junk being piled up.....

[perks]

Come on, folks. Everyone knows that people who live in small houses make terrible neighbors! Under 2500 square feet = Ghetto.

Honestly. Those people are lucky to have a builder that hasn't collapsed entirely, leaving half-finished houses rotting in the sun.

[Quinx]

A very long time ago, people used to buy lots, hire architects and builders, and build individual, personalized homes to suit themselves. If we were really lucky, this real estate crisis would put a stake through the heart of the standardized, cookie-cutter, mass-produced, instant future-slums people have been bamboozled into thinking represented some sort of paradise, and we could relearn the pleasure of making our own choices . . . and screw the damn CCRs and to hell with what the neighbors think!