That blister pack on Meadowcroft has a contract

32 Meadowcroft Lane, in foreclosure, vacant, and currently asking $7.795 million, started at $9.5 in May ‘20. These owners bought it “new” in 2014 for $8.2 million, after it had sat on the market unloved and unwanted since May 2011, when builder Mark Mariani set it upon the waters at $12.750.

I’ve never been a fan of this house’s design or construction. Why the turret, and for God’s sake, what’s up with that second-floor appendage on the south wall? As to construction, Mariani was (in) famous for bringing in a crew of 100 and throwing up his buildings in weeks or a few months. That may be more efficient, but I’ve never been persuaded that it yields the better home. When I first toured this one, for instance, I noticed that the still-unfinished floors had swollen and jammed the closet doors shut. I’m sure that was corrected later with extensive sanding, but the reason for the warping in the first place is that, while most builders bring their stacks of flooring into a house and let them sit for a few weeks to adjust to the ambient humidity, Mariani liked to nail ‘em down the day they arrived on-site, and deal with the warping later.

And I don’t know whether that’s a worse technique than the traditional approach, but the whole speed-building process unnerves me, a bit.