Ordinary Homes of the United States

  Time period: Late 20th century to present Location: Rural areas and exurbs Barndominium, sometimes abbreviated as barndo, is a fun but inaccurate word that combines Barn and Condominium.  In reality, barndominiums are standalone houses in rural or exurban areas, multifamily barndos are basically unheard of. More accurately barndos are barnhouses - they combine the wide open spaces and storage areas of a barn with the insulation and residential finishes of a house. The idea started in Connecticut in the 1980s for people who own horses for recreational riding.  In the original example, the houses were detached from the horse stalls, which were sold condo-style in a large shared barn located near the houses. Later developments, especially if they were a single custom home, would combine the house and the barn. The idea found even greater popularity in the 21st century in the South, Midwest, and West, and with modern variations where the barn holds boats, cars, workshops, a...

  Time period: 2020s and onwards Location: California California state law allows a single-family home to become three homes: 1. The main house, which can be whatever size allowed by zoning 2.  An attached or detached Accessory Dwelling Unit (ADU). Can be any size, cities must allow at least 800 square feet (enough for a 2-bedroom, 3 if you squeeze it) 3. An attached Junior Accessory Dwelling Unit (JADU), of up to 500 square feet. Example of a house with a Junior ADU and a regular ADU on a 5,000 square foot, 50'x100' lot.  Total of 3,800 square feet of living space with 3 homes with a total of 7 bedrooms (4 in house, 2 in ADU, 1 in Junior ADU). While California state law as of 2022 also allows up to 4 homes ( double duplex ) using Senate Bill 9, the ADU+JADU route is currently more popular, for two reasons: First, fees and code requirements are lower for ADUs. Second, many cities have put up barriers to using SB9 - this is in the process of being corrected by cleanup ...

  Time Period: 1980s to present Location: Suburbs, exurbs, and rural areas nationwide Mass produced mansions for super-sized American dreams Key features - Over 3,000 square feet with 4 or more bedrooms - Designed to impress: double height entrances and other decorative features on front of house - 2+ car garage While houses have always been a way people show off wealth, and owning a house has been central to the American Dream since the beginning of this country, several factors came together in the 1980s to create the McMansion. Clothing, which had traditionally been a primary way of showing off wealth, was becoming less important, outside of a handful of places such as New York City. Casual fashion had gone mainstream, and a drop in clothing costs relative to income meant that even the middle class could afford fancy clothes if they wanted. Homes, though, were still expensive enough to remain a status symbol. Another factor was the 1986 Tax Reform Act, a Reagan-era tax cut for t...

  Time period: 1980s to present Location: Southern California, especially Beverly Hills Live like royalty on a sixth of an acre Key features - Grand entry - Large space with high ceilings for parties and events There's a saying that in real estate, the best deal is to buy the worst house in the best neighborhood. This is especially true if your plan is to knock down the house and build something larger.  When zoning prohibits more than one home per lot, that means a mansion. In 1979, after the Iranian Revolution, people fled Iran and moved to Los Angeles. After rebuilding their lives, by the 1980s, some had started successful businesses, and were at the point where they wanted to build a big house with room for entertaining and extended family. At 5,000-6,000 square feet, Persian Palaces are comparable in size to a McMansion in the outer suburbs where lots are 1/2 acre or larger.  However, Palaces are located on smaller lots - a typical lot in Beverly Hills is 50'x150', a...

  Time period: 1990s to present Location: Houston, Texas In a city with few zoning restrictions, this is the housing type that the free market found most profitable. Key features - Detached 3-story house on 1,400 square foot lot (such as a 35' by 40' lot) - Typically built by subdividing a larger lot into 4-10 lots, with larger subdivisions containing up to a few dozen houses. Small lot homes answer this question: Why should one be required to buy 5,000 square feet of land, if they only want 2,000 square feet of house? Houston is famous as by far the largest city in the US that doesn't have zoning. However, while there are a few odd sights, such as skyscrapers next to single-story houses, for the most part, it looks like any other US cities.  That's because while Houston doesn't limit building height or what type of business or home you can build, it does have development standards. These include minimum parking requirements, which are similar to most US suburbs, as...

Time period:1990s to present Location: Northern New Jersey The Bayonne Box combines urban living with parking.  It is named after a North Jersey city located across the Hudson River from New York City. Key features - Large house with parking on a small urban lot (typically a 25 foot to 40 foot wide by 100 feet deep lot) - Three-story building with garage and front yard parking - Typically has a large home, may also have additional apartments North Jersey cities were built out like most northeastern US cities: neat rows of narrow houses.  Faced with a few decades of falling population caused by factory closures and white people not wanting to live in racially integrated cities after the Civil Rights Act banned housing discrimination, there was very little new housing construction from the 1960s to the 1990s. Boosted by new immigrants plus city living becoming trendy again, North Jersey's urban cities started to grow again in the 1990s. Whether it was suburban dwellers returning...