But let’s face it — people want clean updated, spacious interiors.
In San Diego, you can buy an old house in Normal Heights or you can buy a new house in the new master-planned suburbs.
Zoning makes remodeling and adding on to the old Normal Heights house too costly and onerous. So people take the path of least resistance. So we end up with sprawl.
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Correction – YOU want clean/updated/spacious… Not everyone prefers that.
I have friends who own in University Heights – they love their older spanish style house. At one point they were considering moving to a big house in the burbs… they decided it would lower their quality of life even as it increased their square footage.
Other friends of mine live in Kensington. They’ve decided to add on to their craftsman era home because it makes more sense for their lifestyle. The love the lines and charm of their older house. The did the number crunching on hiring an architect and doing an addition vs selling/buying. Adding on was the better move for them. (He’s an engineer -so the numbers were scrutinized closely.) It was cheaper to add on than to move – NOT more onerous as you describe.
It has a very charming spanish style bungalow in the front, and a very contemporary loft style 2 br home in the back. All in the walkable neighborhood of Kensington. Based on the style you like – I could see you liking the modern loft. Personally, I prefer the cove ceilings, built-ins, and retro tile, arches, etc, in the front house.
