Lotsa noise
This morning began with the screams of power saws and lots of banging pouring in the windows. The folks on the hill behind the house are at it again. At least they haven’t done anything to make my house shake today, but they surely are busy reconstructing their house.
Having a camera with a telephoto lens encourages nosiness, so I took a couple of shots out my bathroom window. The gaping hole in the side of the house used to be a small kitchen window. Though it’s hard to tell from the photographs, there is no kitchen left inside. They’ve ripped the place down to the studs. Somebody’s getting a brand new kitchen.
But that’s not all. They’ve dug a new basement and poured a new foundation on the other side of the house. There is a significant addition going up. It looks as though it’ll change the entire character of the house, making it more in line with the fancy new houses that were recently build along the rest of the street.
There have been three other homeowners in this general neighborhood area who have done the same. One family recently tore their house down to the foundation and started over, adding a new foundation, effectively doubling the size of their house. It was well done and it’s beautiful. Another house was a tiny ranch house that sat with blue tarps on the top after they removed the roof. It’s in the process now of becoming a two storey house, also with a huge new basement/foundation addition.
I’ve never seen activity like this since I’ve lived here. It’s kind of cool seeing the houses transform, but it’s out of the ordinary. They’re taking advantage of the low mortgage rates before they’re gone, I guess. I like the idea of re-doing what’s already there, instead of building something on a brand new lot, though.
Different topic: Have you seen spots on television advertising foreclosed houses? I’ve seen several here in the past few days.
House prices (locally) continued the upward climb last month. That probably has something to do with people deciding to take equity loans or refinances plus equity to enlarge or make new what they already own. More house for a ton less money with, maybe, instant new equity.
I just passed by the little ranch that, as of yesterday was still a one storey house. Today it is a two storey house. That went up fast. The front of the house downstairs is out of balance with relation to the top storey. I wonder if that will be addressed. Windows and door are all scrunched up on one side of the house, downstairs. Looks a little strange. One project at a time, though.
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I think there are a couple of things going on here. One is low mortgage rates, and the other is low home equity loan rates. At this point the owner is positively encouraged to borrow against the value of his house in order to blow the cash on a cruise; if he/she actually upgrades the house it’s an encouraging sign of common sense.
The teardown trend hasn’t hit us yet, but from what I understand it’s huge in places like LA.