Patrick.net

Dream House

By Peter P   Follow   Sat, 14 Jun 2008, 10:04pm   2,630 views   73 comments
Watch (0)   Share   Quote   Permalink   Like   Dislike (1)  

With more homes on the market, perhaps buyers can even have a choice of architectures, layouts, or other crazy details.

Relax for a moment and try to visualize your dream house. Is it a Tudor? A Victorian? A Mediterranean? A Cape Cod? A Ranch with a prominent garage?

What do you like about that dream house? What do you hate about other styles?

Do you prefer an attached garage or a detached one? What is the ideal size? How important are energy-saving features?

Just keep imagining your dream house and it will come to you*.

*Not Law of Attraction advice :)

-- Peter P

Most Liked Comments

1. Peter P Follow Befriend (4) 117 threads 17,655 comments Premium

   1   10:33pm Sun 15 Jun 2008   Share   Quote   Permalink   Like (2)   Dislike   This house looks pretty good: http://www.sothebysrealty.com/PropertyDetails.aspx?R=4100006145&in_merch=Showcase%20Property

2. GammaRaze Follow Befriend 287 comments GammaRaze's website

   2   7:36am Sun 15 Jun 2008   Share   Quote   Permalink   Like (1)   Dislike   I grew up in a house with a large garden/yard. That is what I hope to have, someday.

3. DennisN Follow Befriend 4 threads 1,056 comments Boise, ID

   3   8:53am Sun 15 Jun 2008   Share   Quote   Permalink   Like (1)   Dislike   I'm with Eliza. My present home is organized around a 25' x 25' x 14' "great room" that comprises kitchen, dining, and living areas. Since I'm single this plan works best for me, as I can cook and chat with guests simultaneously. It has a large marble fireplace opposite the kitchen, so my friends on a cold night can sit on an upholstered bench in front of the fireplace and chat with me. The home theater room and half bath are upstairs. But I'm also with ozajh. My present home cost less than 2x my last salary.

4. Peter P Follow Befriend (4) 117 threads 17,655 comments Premium

   4   9:08am Sun 15 Jun 2008   Share   Quote   Permalink   Like (1)   Dislike   I’d really like to own and live in the Palace of the Legion of Honor in Lincoln Park. I would prefer to live in a compound with multiple, smaller buildings instead of a single, huge structure.

5. DennisN Follow Befriend 4 threads 1,056 comments Boise, ID

   5   9:18am Sun 15 Jun 2008   Share   Quote   Permalink   Like (1)   Dislike   For a European dream house, I'm thinking of the fortress Hohensalzberg above the city of Salzburg. Good security, great views, and a convenient funicular railroad to take you downtown.

6. FormerAptBroker Follow Befriend 1,378 comments

   6   3:51pm Sun 15 Jun 2008   Share   Quote   Permalink   Like (1)   Dislike   You can see a video of the home I've wanted to buy since I was a kid at the URL below. On Caddy day I used to walk off the 12th fairway and look around the property thinking of the changes I would make after I bought the place. Back in the late 70's I remember guys telling me that "the home would probably sell for a MILLION dollars" (but I never did find out who built the home). Last year it was on the market for $18mm http://www.turnhere.com/sampleplayer2.aspx?filmname=apr_floribunda

7. Peter P Follow Befriend (4) 117 threads 17,655 comments Premium

   7   1:25pm Mon 16 Jun 2008   Share   Quote   Permalink   Like (1)   Dislike   It would solve hunger, poverty, social injustice. It has already been invented. It is called Free Market.

8. Peter P Follow Befriend (4) 117 threads 17,655 comments Premium

   8   1:48pm Mon 16 Jun 2008   Share   Quote   Permalink   Like (1)   Dislike   What about this? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motionless_Electrical_Generator

9. Peter P Follow Befriend (4) 117 threads 17,655 comments Premium

   9   2:04pm Mon 16 Jun 2008   Share   Quote   Permalink   Like (1)   Dislike   Anyway, realistically, I think solar energy is the future. Currently, any source of energy, with the possible exception of atomic power, directly or indirectly, efficiently or inefficiently, comes from the sun (or the moon). sun - plants - dinosaurs - oil moon - tides sun - climate - wind

10. Bork Follow Befriend 28 comments

    10   3:30pm Mon 16 Jun 2008   Share   Quote   Permalink   Like (1)   Dislike   TOB, >Simply reciting junior high school physics doesn’t make the possibility of >water powered locomotion go away Yes it does. Junior high school physics need to be completely rewritten in order to accomodate water powered locomotion. It is not a mere innovation we are talking about, it's a complete revision of human knowledge about the world around us. While I am all for that kind of breakthrough it has to be based on something solid (just like Einstein's theory of relativity was based on facts and observations that were not completely covered by classical physics). As much as I share your desire for cheap and clean energy the second law of thermodynamics is stronger than both of us. Let's settle on more realistic goals - like orbital power arrays or mega-kite windfarms.

11. Peter P Follow Befriend (4) 117 threads 17,655 comments Premium

    11   4:13pm Mon 16 Jun 2008   Share   Quote   Permalink   Like (1)   Dislike   Question: What unusual features will your dream home have?

12. Randy H Follow Befriend (5) 44 threads 4,602 comments Los Altos, CA Premium

    12   4:15pm Mon 16 Jun 2008   Share   Quote   Permalink   Like (1)   Dislike   Here is my Zillow rant about the absolutely worst "best" house you've ever seen. And it's only $5.5mm. Click through, you won't believe it. Trust me. (The link is in my first comment on there).

13. Bork Follow Befriend 28 comments

    13   4:16pm Mon 16 Jun 2008   Share   Quote   Permalink   Like (1)   Dislike   And on topic ... I like the speedingpullet's house, its "green" side anyway. Solar panels, windmill and my own well were always on top of my list. With enough money and a bit of imagination you can easily build your own "platinum LEED" house, especially in California, where sun energy is abundant.

14. Randy H Follow Befriend (5) 44 threads 4,602 comments Los Altos, CA Premium

    14   5:17pm Mon 16 Jun 2008   Share   Quote   Permalink   Like (1)   Dislike   If you scroll down, someone later posted a NYT article about that house which gets even more bizarre. Be sure to scroll through all the pics. Unbelievable. Trust me, you've never seen anything like that. It makes the Winchester House look reasonable.

15. Duke Follow Befriend 1 threads 533 comments

    15   6:11am Tue 17 Jun 2008   Share   Quote   Permalink   Like (1)   Dislike   TOB After a few threads of thoughtful and (to my mind) accurate posts, why marginalize yourself with such insanity? It is okay to dare to dream. All of us want a breakthru. But, umm, this isn't it. Look, beyond my 'quoting junior high pysics' lies even more physics. There are a ton of interesting candidates out there for cheap clean energy - my favorite of which would be fusion. If we give up torroidal magnetic containment for super-heated plasmas, and try something more original like inertial pellet feeds that are lazed for a sorta-pulse-fusihion we may get our breakthru in my lifetime. CERN is likely to prove parts of string theory as we are devising experiments that will prove particles jumping to higher dimmensional spaces - and heck that 'may' be useful in energyproduction. We are creating better and better thin film coatings as well as doping compunds to get higher and higer Solar Array effecienecies. And yes, there are gas saving improvements. As there are in other technologies. The real problem with all of these ideas s that they are not cost effective. And thus they are not pursued. As gas raised the bar of what is economical we will dust off old ideas and retest the market with them. But please, lose the conspiracy thought that the oil sheiks or the secret societies are killing great energy ideas. The only thing killing good ideas is economics. Any maybe bad policy about research in the US.

16. justme Follow Befriend (2) 33 threads 3,458 comments

    16   7:43am Tue 17 Jun 2008   Share   Quote   Permalink   Like (1)   Dislike   By the way, I just saw that Volkswagen has headed down the diesel-electric-hybrid path. Have a look at http://www.greencar.com/features/vw-tdi-hybrid/

17. justme Follow Befriend (2) 33 threads 3,458 comments

    17   3:52pm Tue 17 Jun 2008   Share   Quote   Permalink   Like (1)   Dislike   Sure, platinum is very commonly used as a catalyst. One property of platinum is that it is good for adsorbing (note: adsorb, not aBsorb) other elements on its surface, e.g. O and H). I remember this from freshman chemistry, but a real chemist can tell you lots more about this. A catalyst can help electrolysis become more efficient (less loss in the process), but it does not remove the fundamental principle that you still have to put in more electric (or whatever) power than you get out in H2 chemical energy produced. So, yeah, I think Genepax is complete bunk. Especially the part about claiming that the "car runs on water". Like I said, so do a steam engines and old trains, but it misses the point rather completely.

18. Eliza Follow Befriend 187 comments

    18   10:32pm Sat 14 Jun 2008   Share   Quote   Permalink   Like   Dislike   I like the idea of a largish main living area encompassing cooking area, dining area, and family living space. Private rooms and sleeping rooms on the sides. That would be, what, 70's contemporary?

19. Peter P Follow Befriend (4) 117 threads 17,655 comments Premium

    19   10:39pm Sat 14 Jun 2008   Share   Quote   Permalink   Like   Dislike   That sounds nice. However, I probably do not need both a family room and a living room. Somehow I really hate Ranch homes built in the 50's. They look like glorified garages. I definitely prefer a detached garage. In fact, I want the garage to be semi-hidden.

20. ozajh Follow Befriend 217 comments

    20   4:22am Sun 15 Jun 2008   Share   Quote   Permalink   Like (1)   Dislike (1)   Hah, one person's dream . . . I am totally the opposite of Eliza. I prefer defined and separable living rooms rather than an amorphous "living area". (OK, I accept having a casual space off the kitchen is probably a good idea for families.) But basically, my dream house is one which costs under 3 x income.