A Surreal Estate Market: Nesting Mania

| Print Post This | Like (0) | Comments (0)

COUPLES WHO PREFER "House Hunters" reruns to sex. People who describe their granite counter tops in hushed, near-religious tones. That head honcho at your office who, before the current housing slump, got into a mega-bidding war for his McLean major-mansion — the one with seven bathrooms. The signs are everywhere: This is a country in the throes of what can only be described as nesting mania. It's a condition Newsweek writer Daniel McGinn examines in his new book, "House Lust: America's Obsession With Our Homes" ($25, Currency Doubleday). We chatted with him about the fantasies and realities of real estate.

» EXPRESS: Say you're a doctor treating house lust: What are the symptoms?
» McGINN: I'd check to see if the patient had been reading the Sunday real estate listings, watching HGTV, and if they knew exactly how much the house next door to them sold for. House lust is a condition in which people are hyper-aware, not just of their own homes, but of those around them.

» EXPRESS: Your book says people talk of nothing but real estate at parties. Earlier generations would've found that rude, right?
» McGINN: I don't think they talked about real estate in quite the same way. The Internet has a lot to do with that. Now, not only can you see a listing in the Sunday paper; you can go to Realtor.com and see all the houses in the country that are for sale. There's been a general lowering of inhibitions about what sort of things people are willing to talk about with their neighbors. You talk about sports, the weather and real estate — politics and the war is too divisive.

» EXPRESS: Why have people been buying such ginormous places?
» McGINN: Part of it, apart from lifestyle, was that it seemed like a good idea to buy as much as you could [during the boom]. But I think the days when some of these houses had plant-potting and gift-wrapping rooms may be over.

» EXPRESS: So, will there be a backlash against McMansions?
» McGINN: There will always be a segment of the population that wants to live in homes like that. Whether there will be a big market for them in the next five years is hard to say.

» EXPRESS: You also talk about people who live in "microhomes," aka apartments that are as small as just 130 square feet. Do you think they're happier than McMansion dwellers?
» McGINN: Small space is a challenge. If it weren't for the cost, I think most people would want more space. I think someone who rents might get a more bitter version of house lust in that case.

» EXPRESS: What's the wildest property you saw when writing the book?
» McGINN: I toured a house in Newton, Mass., that had an indoor, underground swimming pool carved under the backyard. And in Florida, I saw a model home that was about 10,000 square feet.

» EXPRESS: Granite counter tops and home theater systems have trickled down from high-end homes to middle-class pads. What's the next thing we'll all have to have?
» McGINN: I think closets and garage storage, that kind of thing — anything having to do with storing stuff more smartly. And in a lot of high-end homes I saw, there was a lot more being done with showers than in the past — steam showers, multiple shower heads.

» EXPRESS: Why do we like HGTV so much?
» McGINN: I think there's just something in us that's interested in seeing inside other people's homes.

» EXPRESS: Where do you think house-porn TV will go next?
» McGINN: One of the things that surprises me is that HGTV doesn't go inside celebrities' homes much, like on MTV's "Cribs." I think they think their network should focus on homes like what their viewers might live in, not Celine Dion's place.