Sure, they're gauche, but when you're looking for a place to raise a family that's near good schools, near a grocery, doesn't require a remodel or update, has room for you to work remotely, and you can't afford to just "buy land and build something that fancy magazine editors would approve of", then you're limited to "gauche McMansions". Could we live in a 2,000 sqft house that was built in 1940? Sure! Would it cost us our savings and sanity to bring it up to code? Probably!
