It was inevitable.  Those large, showy, super-sized palaces are beginning to languish in  their average neighborhoods like so many  beached whales.  Dubbed McMansions, they were cookie cutted out with four of more bedrooms, large baths, three car garages just in time for baby boomers who needed their own space from teenaged offspring.

That was then.  Now it's empty nest time for the boomers.  Making the transition from 2.5 kids to no kids isn't what it used to be.  Younger replacement couples are having fewer children.  That means  less interest in hotel-like housing.  Heating and cooling costs are rising.  Electricity is up 12% and natural gas rose 43%  nationally over the last few years.  McMansions are not yet a hard sell, but they're  getting there.  

The news is both good and bad, literally depending upon which side of the fence you're on.  Just last week, a section of a giant  newly built McMansion was ordered razed in  Nashville.  The owners had placed it it too close to the lot line.  This time the neighbors won.  Here's a trend to watch.  Stay tuned. 

Popularity: 14% [?]