By Colleen O’Connor
Have you notice them? Recently renovated, remolded, sold, or added on granny flat homes that are almost identical, white houses with black trim.
Is it the work of a new Kardashian fad among home buyers and sellers? Or a massive discount on the exact same paints from an overstocked source?
Perhaps it is a rage among the Home and Garden fans. Rarely is there a developer or contractors name prominently featured on any of these homes.
Or, as some assume, a yet to be identified business or conglomerate buying up fixer-upper houses (often on hard to develop lot sizes; canyons, narrow lots, and/or squeezed parcels) in many of the best neighborhoods in the city.
One source suggests it is a hedge fund dedicated to turning all the purchases and remodels into rentals. Now the hottest real estate on the market as there is no limit to rent increase hikes.
Also, Airbnbs are thought to be behind the not so slow corrosion of once “Mayberry-like” neighborhoods, full of actual neighbors, not transient occupants.
Mission Hills (canyon and granny flat behind)
In any case, drive or walk around your neighborhood. See how many you can find. Just a small sample follows from Point Loma and Mission Hills.
Join the hunt and the mystery. Who? What? Where? Why?
{ 9 comments… read them below or add one }
No agonizing over over what color to paint it?
My guess is it’s the Southern California version of ‘gentrification gray,’ an all-purpose color scheme that communicates “For Sale” without the gauche sign, https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/nov/19/san-francisco-painted-ladies-victorian-houses-gray
We are there!
Simple answers: popular culture, herd mentality, lack of creativity.
Drive through some old San Diego neighborhoods like North Park, South Park, Talmadge….then compare them to Saber Springs or East Lake.
Gross.
FF – please explain. What did you see that made you say “gross”?
My house is grey with white trim and a dark grey (almost black) roof. Looking out my windows I see three others that have the same color scheme, plus one that is medium-dark grey with white trim. Is black the new white ? An architect once told me it was SOP to paint the trim a lighter color than the body in an effort to draw the eye and accentuate the more interesting shapes.
I love this black/white look. My old house in Pasadena recently sold for 2.3 million, the entire interior was painted white, it looked great, far better than when I lived there.
There is a lot of information online about white paint for houses. One prevalent comment is that white makes things look bigger.
Just another house trend. 10 years ago, everyone built (or changed the look when they flipped old) homes in “Tuscan” style. 10 years before that, it was “Craftsman”, a decade before that “Spanish” was super popular…
In a while we will get something new. Till then is is white with black trim. If they want to be fancy, the black and white gets a wood accent (like a teal gate or wall of horizontal paneling.).