Onlooker sparks outrage with photos of bizarre mansion: 'Gives me the creeps'

A "newly renovated" home was absolutely roasted for its bizarre lack of landscaping.

The post appeared on a popular subreddit dedicated to mocking over-the-top houses called McMansions. A user shared photos of a large, blocky home with a stark, empty yard, sarcastically captioning it, "Newly renovated with 'lots of landscaping.'"

OK, let's be real. The house itself is a choice, but the "landscaping" is what's sending people. It's basically a few lonely shrubs in seas of stones, looking like a just-opened fast-food restaurant.

Jokes aside, this is a perfect example of a trend that is quietly a massive problem. This raising-an-eyebrow post is all in good fun, but it points to how excessive and wasteful modern home design can be. Oversized houses are notoriously expensive to heat and cool because of their cavernous rooms and high ceilings. 

But it's not just about high utility bills. According to the American Enterprise Institute, McMansions contribute to the housing affordability crisis, as they replace smaller, affordable homes — and can cost three times as much.

This isn't the first home to get called out online. A Chicago-area McMansion went viral for its cold, "sterile" interior that made it look soulless and corporate.

But there are solutions to this wasteful excess. Cal Poly Pomona students, for example, designed the Roots House as a game-changing, sustainable, and affordable alternative. Even big builders are finding ways to be more sustainable, with a startup bringing solar-powered streetlights to new D.R. Horton communities.

For houses this large, solar panels are the ultimate home energy hack, as they can bring the cost of energy down to or near $0. EnergySage provides a free service that makes it easy to compare quotes from vetted local installers and save up to $10,000.

Commenters on the post had a field day.

"Gives me the creeps. Looks like a true crime house," one person wrote.

What's your preferred style of yard? Nicely cut grass 😎 Wild grasses and flowers 🌼 Xeriscaping 🌵 Fake grass 🤷 Click your choice to see results and speak your mind.

Another user called it: "Institutional. Blocky."

Someone else summed up the yard perfectly, asking, "Is the landscaping in the room with us?"

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