McMansions Then & Now

Today's Chicago Tribune has an article about how new construction McMansions are making a comeback in the Chicago area.   Yesterday in my email I received two listings for sale in the area.  One - a McMansion from 1920.  The other - a McMansion from 2005.    What were McMansions called before we had McDonald's?

I just find it interesting that the concept of building a much much bigger home than one's actual needs is not a new concept.  Like many other things, nothing is new today; nearly everything has a precedent in history.

The other aspect that you see repeated in real estate through any decade in any community is that one home that is larger, designed more extravagantly than any others in the area.   This is the home of the person who needed to tell the world through their home's design (or lack thereof) that they were successful.

Today you can tell the world that through your Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat accounts....for free....every five minutes if you want.

I have always thought it was just an interesting aspect of ego to use real estate and design as a method to display success.   Logic, current pricing conditions, modesty - these don't enter into the decision to build.  Then one day, often not that much later, there is a need to sell this trophy property.  At this point do many of these homeowners get surprised that someone isn't snapping up their high-end property in two seconds?  Do they seem surprised that the market for a $2.5 Million dollar home in a neighborhood of $850,000 homes is limited?

I'd love to hear your thoughts on this.

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