kane

Exactly. When I was a kid the only people who had big houses were people who had a lot of money. Most people, even those that made a pretty good living, lived in smaller houses that were more cost effective. Of course, this was back in the day when a lender wouldn't give you a mortgage unless you brought home at least three times what the mortgage payment was going to be. These days (at least before the bubble burst and everything collapsed) a person could get a load for a house where the mortgage payment took up nearly all of their income.