Demolishing Homes In Maplewood

At the turn of the 20th century, there were disputes between architects, Louis Sullivan and Henry Hobson Richardson. Which style of architecture best fit the American character?  Richardson, referred to one of Sullivan's creation which was in the gothic style.

"The man and his house are an absurdity."

That quote is best applied to St. Lawrence.

This really makes me sick. How could our township leaders allow this to happen.? I had a Christmas card from a member of the previous family. She could not believe this could happen in Maplewood. Are we going to fix our laws so it does not get repeated.?

 A lot of people wrote letters,etc but no one listened.

galileo said:

This really makes me sick. How could our township leaders allow this to happen.? I had a Christmas card from a member of the previous family. She could not believe this could happen in Maplewood. Are we going to fix our laws so it does not get repeated.?

 A lot of people wrote letters,etc but no one listened.

How could such a law be composed? "Be it enacted that architectural designs of an assholic nature are to be prohibited in the Township of Maplewood"

Then it gets tricky.

"Assholic design is defined as....... and.... or ....."

According to an architecture neighbor many towns such as Short Hills have strengthened their rules. Such a tall house is out of keeping with the neighborhood.

.

There are ways to tighten up the building codes.

I doubt it will happen though. Maplewood has a history of rolling over for developers.

Maybe I'm just too old, but I do not understand the appeal of having your kitchen in the living room.

Right there with you Max…

max_weisenfeld said:

Maybe I'm just too old, but I do not understand the appeal of having your kitchen in the living room.

More like having your living room in the kitchen.

Everyone ends up in the kitchen anyway, so why not make it comfortable?

Unbelievable asking price for the house.  Interesting to see what the assessment is.

FrankEastCedar said:

Unbelievable asking price for the house.  Interesting to see what the assessment is.

Real estate tax is around $36,000 per annum….

For only $1.9m, you can own the ugliest house in Maplewood.

I do hope you all drop by the house when a new family has settled in. Maybe bring them a casserole or Bundt cake and welcome them to Maplewood. 

Please be sure to show them how to set up an account in MOL so they can read about what a horrible home they’ve moved into and what suckers they are. 

The funny thing to me is if you look around town there are plenty of houses that don’t fit a particular esthetic, even for their specific neighborhood. But they’ve been here a while so they just kind of become part of the landscape. I’m sorry this particular house is not to your taste, and it seems like the developer tried to get away with big code violations initially, but at what point are we just piling on needlessly?  Shouldn’t we be moving on to talking about matzoh Brie or something?

We should all show up with a basket of fruit… Passover is still a way off.

We need more new builds with front porches, this box is cold and uninviting. 
Times have changed since we used to sit on the porch and watch the neighborhood kids play. But just like how we now have these “open concept” homes trending after people started getting flustered with too many people hanging out in the kitchen, we continue to evolve into cold uninviting creatures into our shells.

I did a walk through - they really maximized the space.  

I didn't like the kitchen - and I do tend to like open modern concept, but it didn't have the space to make this effective.

Overall, the amount of square footage and # of bedrooms doesn't make sense for the amount of parking.  I would think you would need to convert part of the backyard into a driveway(from Ridgewood) - not sure what code regulations are for this. 

It felt like there were 2 primary bedrooms with en suite (plus 3 more bedrooms.  Which in itself is odd.

Color is drab, but they probably just do it to make things neutral.

The original house on that property was SO cute! I don't know what it looked like inside, but I would so much rather have seen it get a remodeled, freshened interior and perhaps a modest bump-out kitchen or other ground floor space at most. But I suppose that doesn't bring in the bucks for the flippers.  Sad!

And a two-car garage would have been nice!

Corrected: The original house was nice. And they raised five children in it.  And had two cars.

Dave ' They raised 5 children, 4 boys and a girl. !!!!!!!!! There were 2 cars.

mrincredible said:

I do hope you all drop by the house when a new family has settled in. Maybe bring them a casserole or Bundt cake and welcome them to Maplewood. 

Please be sure to show them how to set up an account in MOL so they can read about what a horrible home they’ve moved into and what suckers they are. 

The funny thing to me is if you look around town there are plenty of houses that don’t fit a particular esthetic, even for their specific neighborhood. But they’ve been here a while so they just kind of become part of the landscape. I’m sorry this particular house is not to your taste, and it seems like the developer tried to get away with big code violations initially, but at what point are we just piling on needlessly?  Shouldn’t we be moving on to talking about matzoh Brie or something?

It's one thing, after somebody buys the house. This is about the flipper.

Not a bad flip eh, buy it for half a million… sell it for two million…

Didn’t we have a thread about vultures and capitalism somewhere?

Flipping itself isn't immoral.  They did have to spend money, so it's not pure profit.  And there is always risk involved.  The question here is just how poorly the design fits in to the neighborhood.  Frankly we have no idea if the work was done well or not, so that's not a judgement we can render.

DanDietrich said:

Flipping itself isn't immoral.  They did have to spend money, so it's not pure profit.  And there is always risk involved.  The question here is just how poorly the design fits in to the neighborhood.  Frankly we have no idea if the work was done well or not, so that's not a judgement we can render.

easily made 1,000,000 profit. That’s for starters…

I don't get the shower/tub thing. You have a tub in the shower enclosure? Wouldn't that just create a mess of the tub every time you took a shower? And a big ol' window facing right into the neighbor's windows? 

Jaytee said:

DanDietrich said:

Flipping itself isn't immoral.  They did have to spend money, so it's not pure profit.  And there is always risk involved.  The question here is just how poorly the design fits in to the neighborhood.  Frankly we have no idea if the work was done well or not, so that's not a judgement we can render.

easily made 1,000,000 profit. That’s for starters…

No profit until it's sold.

When we moved to Maplewood (years and years ago) one of the main things we loved was the charm of the  houses and how the houses looked different from each other, but seemed to complement each other. There was so much charm in how the different neighborhoods looked. It wasn't cookie-cutter, but it was a lovely and eclectic mix. This house has no charm, at least not to my eyes. It looks like every other house that HGTV is currently showing - same finishes, same design elements, same colors and same styles. It would never interest me, but I am sure someone will buy it. And I don't get the "wet room" appeal of the tub in the shower enclosure, either. I can see myself bending down to  pick up the soap and hitting my head on the side of the tub or some other klutzy move. 

In my wildest dreams would I have imagined a flipper making one million dollars profit on a remodel in maplewood. That’s how insane it is now, and of course they will get some people from NYC who will love the open concept in the living space and the open concept bathroom…. HGTV has transformed the way people buy houses. This developer is catering to New York buyers. I’m thinking he might not get what he wants though. Way overpriced. 

mrincredible said:

I do hope you all drop by the house when a new family has settled in. Maybe bring them a casserole or Bundt cake and welcome them to Maplewood. 

Please be sure to show them how to set up an account in MOL so they can read about what a horrible home they’ve moved into and what suckers they are. 

The funny thing to me is if you look around town there are plenty of houses that don’t fit a particular esthetic, even for their specific neighborhood. But they’ve been here a while so they just kind of become part of the landscape. I’m sorry this particular house is not to your taste, and it seems like the developer tried to get away with big code violations initially, but at what point are we just piling on needlessly?  Shouldn’t we be moving on to talking about matzoh Brie or something?

And again, I wouldn't make fun of the buyers for buying that house. Maybe it's all they can afford.

I would easily take this house for $550K cheaper over St. Lawrence: https://www.trulia.com/home/576-prospect-st-maplewood-nj-07040-52634699

jamie said:

I would easily take this house for $550K cheaper over St. Lawrence: https://www.trulia.com/home/576-prospect-st-maplewood-nj-07040-52634699

that’s a much better buy. Even if you have to upgrade the kitchen and bathroom you’re still getting so much more property for your money.