I'm trying to find something less expensive than what I have now—less expensive across the board, but still in an attractive area. On the surface, this would fit the bill and be about 1/3 larger than what I have, plus a first floor bedroom for an aging parent. I'm in no rush, but I am curious to see if I could make this work.

I'd spend my money on the inside first. That's what you see and use. It comes down to how much money you want to put into it.

I'm in a similar situation. Just purchased a mcmansion looking house. It will be beautiful inside when we finish renovation. I cringe a little when I read all the mcmansion criticism on houzz. Not every home is an architectural masterpiece. That doesn't mean it it's awful! I'm not interested in spending a ton of money that would never be recovered to make the exterior less mcmansiony. It is what it is.

The house you're considering is nice! But it might be difficult and very expensive to change it to something it's not.

You don't have enough to fix up your current house but the fixes you want to make to the potential new house are many and costly too. Have you priced the fixes to your current home? Do you have a pretty good figure in mind? How does that compare to changing the exterior and interior of a new house? Additionally, what is the condition of the new home? Not that houses built in 1990 can have their own handful of problems depending on the construction.

I've heard from many sources that painting brick is not a good idea as it traps moisture. Perhaps it depends on the area you live in.

There is more to the story than just fixing up my house or moving somewhere less expensive. There are factors here including property taxes and desired lifestyle changes at play here too. Nothing is set in stone. My current home needs a larger footprint, and obviously when you start building onto a house is when it gets the most expensive and inconvenient. I've been in my current home for 23 years.

Limewashing is not painting. There's a huge difference

There should be a law against horizontally stretching real estate photos. I can't tell whether the can lights in the bathroom are misaligned or the photo is just that skewed. Also, lol at the trendy gray walls and the beige tile floor - you KNOW those walls were 90's beige until the stager painted them.

Yeah, it looks dated, but in good shape (superficially, at least). So hopefully just a matter of updating finishes. Honestly, I think the exterior is fine as is. The larger trees are a huge plus for the landscape, too - they go a long way making the house feel more established.

Re: criticism of McMansions. Architecturally, this one is just fine, and it that regard, it all comes down to taste. I'm too lazy to care what other people's architectural tastes are here. However, the pitfalls with these houses is usually the high energy bills (due to large size and two-story interior spaces like foyers and great rooms), and also high cost for repair and periodic maintenance resulting from a combo of size, design, and potential issues with

construction quality. A really good inspector is in order.

I mean, I'm a fellow old house owner (1910, though I suspect it's actually 1901), and having grown up in crumbling old houses, I'd rather take the devil I know over the one I don't, bit then my husband and I are masochistic weirdos who decided that our very first foray into homeownership would be a huge fixer upper Victorian. We lucked out and somehow this house is in shockingly good condition for being in its original unrestored state (except for the bathroom, which was completely redone... in 1935), so no falling plaster here. No HVAC problems either, but mostly because there's no V or AC, only H, which is a near infallible hot water radiator system. Sucks about all the issues with your current house, dude. :(

If I were you id be asking myself to i need a very large mcmansion. A ssmaller home usually means cheaper maintenance...

It's a very personal decision. I could never live in that house. It's much too big, open, and doesn't have the architectural style or details that I like. The projects that you are considering, copper gutters, replacing all the windows, repainting the entire exterior, are very expensive. You need to ask yourself if the purchase price plus the renovations are worth what you'd get in the end. It's still going to look essentially the way it does now.

Also do you need a home that large for your family? Are there interior projects that will require investments of more funds? The kitchen and bathrooms look to be of the 1990s vintage also. Do you have "rainy day" money--as someone said these homes are not built to last--and you may be signing up for more than you bargained for.

This home is 1000 square feet larger than my current home. If I was doing an expensive addition, that's close to what I would want to add (master suite, mudroom, kitchen, and family room). It is a lot newer and appears to be in better shape. Here is my current home:

That is a hella sweet porch. I wouldn't want to leave that behind. (A must-have criteria for my husband and me when we were house hunting was a front porch.)

Why do you need to add so much square footage? That house doesn't look that small.

DRhe old house definitely has the charm, but. I understand the Square footage upgrade. I sold my last house and my new one is 1500sf larger with no additions to the family, love the extra space!

“No HVAC problems either, but mostly because there's no V or AC, only H”
Funny!
Your current house is lovely omoikane; I would sure pick that over a more (too?) spacious aging McMansion.

The porch is really nice, but it does not get used much. Did I mention that it has views of a park and a lake? :-)

My house is just a bit under 4000 square feet. However, the kitchen is miniature (think apartment-style) with no real way of enlarging it. The powder room is an afterthought. There is no mudroom and no space for one unless we wanted to put it down the stairs from a side entrance. We did finish the basement and put in a half bathroom, billiards room, laundry closet, two storage closets, and a family room. There is no real master suite. The master only has a half bathroom and a small closet. There are three other bedrooms on that floor. We could combine two into a master, but people seem to value four bedrooms on a single floor here. The third floor has a suite with a large closet, but the bathroom only has a clawfoot with handheld sprayer. There is really no way to put in a shower. There is a large cedar closet on the third floor too.

Yeah, I'm in solidly in the old house with known problems over the new(er) house with unknown problems, BUT I'm not the OP.

Another consideration is the major change from and old neighborhood, which, if the house was built in 1914, is designed to be walkable and close to amenities and public transit because few people owned cars, to a new suburban/exurban neighborhood far from the city center (or anything that isn't other similar houses) where car ownership is absolutely required because your grocery store is now miles away instead of blocks away.

When my husband and I were looking at houses, we looked at a few in late 30's/early 40's neighborhoods, which were prewar but after HUD started pushing for car-dependent development that stymied through traffic with pointlessly meandering streets and cul du sacs, and was far away from the urban core. We'd been living in a highly walkable old neighborhood and after seeing these more suburban houses and realizing I'd have to walk for a couple of miles to escape to a business district with a cafe, I vetoed all those houses, even though they were turnkey and reasonably priced.

Yes, we'd miss living in a neighborhood that is so spectacular that it is on the National Register—though my home is not landmarked itself. Our household lives a car dependent life anyway, and we have a four car garage right now with three cars. This house is in a newer subdivision in a slightly older nearby suburb—go figure! What we lose in neighborhood walkability, lakefront, and charm, we gain in proximity to the woods and the expressway. It's a lot to think over. Feel free to keep the suggestions coming. I'll be taking another look next week!

I don't think you like the house in question. It looks in good shape, wonderful spaces, decent finishes for the time, all very livable. Many people would like it, but all you see is dated, tacky, weird. That means you're going to spend another 100k updating interior finishes and still not really like the exterior. It may be a good deal, but you don't like the house. Keep looking.

obviously you thought About updating your existing house, maybe pursue that further.

4k square feet and no way to enlarge the kitchen or add a mudroom? Holy moly that's a huge house lol and you want 5k . are multiple generations living in the house?

If you can't afford to update your house how can you afford more house?

Would not paint the brick or use copper gutter.

You could change the lights after adding to the forward facing gable: You might consider adding a two story front porch roof with a balcony above the front porch. The balcony could be accessible via patio doors to replace the arched window above the front entry.

If you truly want to remove the McMansion from this home, you'll need to change the roof lines but wouldn't do that unless and until the roof needs changing. If and when you do decide to change the roof lines, connect the larger center part of the house with the right wing with one "L" shaped steep roof and no hip corners. If that left wing is a garage, would leave it as is.

This home is less expensive than our current home is worth. The property taxes are also slightly lower in this municipality. It's about 20 miles from where we live currently, but it's considered the same collection of 'burbs.

There is no access to the arched window above the door.

We would absolutely prioritize the interior over the exterior. However, I wanted to know if anyone had any other ideas different from mine for the exterior. As far as the interior, I'm thinking millwork, millwork, millwork—and maybe working on the kitchen, baths, and maybe the carpeting.

I do not want to take on any major mechanical or structural changes after this 23 year money pit experience. I'll contact some other contractors about our current home. The last contractor I spoke to about 1 year ago told me that construction would be $180-300 per square foot. That's more than the 1990s house is selling for per square foot!

I don't usually weigh in on these McMansion discussions, but I think this house is better-looking than many in the genre (the nice trees and landscaping definitely helps) and I do concur with either lime-washing the brick, or painting it to lend a more established appearance. If it was me, and with the limited budget in mind, one other thing I'd also do is shell out for new, true divided light windows (i.e. with real muntin bars) on just the street facade.

I think your current home is gorgeous, and a view of the lake and a park are fantastic. I can't imagine needing more than 4,000 square feet, but we all walk through life on our own path.

I do get wanting modern conveniences. While we never had the $ for a McMansion, we have owned several newer construction homes, mostly for those modern conveniences (first floor laundry, master suite, walk in closets, etc...).

Things to look for....quality of the doors. I can't see any of the doors in the photos. Our current house is our first with solid wood doors vs. hollow wood doors on the interior spaces. That solid wood makes a HUGE difference. This was a surprise to us. You could have all the space in the world, but with a hollow door, you are going to hear everything going outside it.

Agreed! The quality of the construction is more important to me than the size of the house.

Agreed. And if/when you combine poor quality construction AND large house it can lead to very expensive trouble down the road. I’m not saying this particular house is poorly built, but that is generally a presumed part of the McMansion package

The kitchen needs major work. Bad cabinets and backsplash. Possibly counters and floors depending on your taste and ability to work with existing features.

Due diligence and a thorough inspection is always recommended regardless of whether it's a McMansion or a cabin. Back to the original poster's question. Have you considered something like painting the exterior trim black. I've seen this on a couple of homes, similar vintage and they looked pretty good. I did this quickly with preview, you get the idea.

You see these huge monstrosities in San diego and the problem is the size. Affording a 5000SQFT house and affording to live there are two different things.

You see so many of these use and they literally have zero furniture. Look in SD Zillow at 1.5 mil houses and you will think does anyone live there? A simple mattress on the floor and an IKEA dresser. They can't afford to heat or A/C but HEY LOOK AT US !!!!!

That said if you have the cash and its a great deal why not? You can easily turn an unwanted house into a real mansion but know the investment required. Thats a $50-75k roof. vs $8-10k

Wow! That looks pretty too. I think a dark trim and a limewash could look very nice.

In addition to considering the quality of the construction and does the location work well for you, some other things you should ask yourself before making a decision is how much house do you actually need? Would you be better served with a smaller home, perhaps w/more land around it enabling you to have a pool or a garden or just more privacy and/or lower taxes? Could you build the home you actually need for less than you could buy one?

From what you shared you are not being evicted or forced to relocate. I think you should wait for something a bit less McMansioney. A lot of people wait for spring to put their house on the market.

I'm shopping. I saw another house yesterday and it only had grilles on the windows. The property taxes were too high and it was a bit large and did not have a bedroom on the first floor.

Saw this one too today. Finishes are nicer, but the first floor bedroom is small, not a real suite. It also only has a three car garage. It's significantly more expensive—an additional $300k. Crank-out windows are really annoying. Why are they a thing?

This photo from the original house and top candidate is not stretched. The recessed lights are indeed misaligned/asymmetrical to those who wondered.

Is it the same builder for all these McMansions, I wonder? The same brick. The same roof shingles. The same windows.....

I know that two of them have the same builder and they are next door to each other. The one with the high property taxes is a mile or two away. I have asked for the name of the builder of the two adjacent, but no one has delivered so far. The two adjacent properties have the same roofing shingles and both were replaced within the last 15 years. One was replaced in 2005 and 'refinished' last year. The other was replaced in 2015. Both of the adjacent houses looked very well maintained. Major mechanicals all replaced within the last 10 years—same water heating equipment that I have in my home.

I can’t imagine the same person liking the one you have now and the one you want to buy. And it kinda sounds like you’re not wanting advice from posters here about corrections to the McMansion, as much as convincing you should buy it.

It’s irrelevant if it’s a good deal if it’s not your kind of house.

Maybe you could post photos and layout of your current house and let posters go all out with ideas on that one, before you make a decision.

>Maybe you could post photos and layout of your current house and let posters go all out with ideas on that one, before you make a decision.

I have an old house. I can echo op's concerns about changing the kitchen/downstairs bath layout. It would be less expensive to build a new home than to fix the kitchen and bath. Kitchens used to be afterthoughts. And in the case of my house, I'm not even sure there was running water in this neighborhood when it was built. So the downstairs bath is probably an afterthought.

I'll have to clean my kitchen to try to get anything resembling good photos. My kitchen is a tiny abomination.

This a photo from a few years ago. Not too much has changed.

It is a lovely house. But because of its size, the cost of what you would like to do, interior and exterior and particularly if it needs new windows, maybe it isn’t such a bargain?

Property taxes are usually based on property values at the time the current owner bought the house. For instance I just bought my house last year my taxes on it are 4,300 the previous owners were 1,300 so you can't go off of what the current taxes are if your location has some kind of homestead exemption in place.

Are you in California? Our property taxes here in my state aren't anything like that. Our assessed values aren't equal to market values. They are also MUCH higher than almost any other state. In a 'low tax' municipality an $750k home easily packs $20k in annual property taxes—and there is no end in sight.

I live in Florida. I'm just saying taxes on a house with current owner might not be the same as your taxes will be on that same house.

In general, our taxes increase, but they do not increase because of a transfer or sale price. This home's annual property taxes have had a net increase of approximately $4k in the past 12 years, taking a small dip during the housing crisis (and probably an appeal or two).

We have now looked at this property several times, and we have decided not to purchase it. We are looking at other options. We just decided that it was not to our liking. It was going to cost too much to update relative to the owner's price demands and there are better options in this range. One of us is currently very taken with a home built in the 50s that was gutted and added onto in the '90s and '00s. The finishes on it are much nicer.