Pops and Scrapes

During my recent visit to Colorado I was fascinated by the discussion of "pops and scrapes."   This is Boulder parlance for developers who buy up small post-war houses and either add on by popping up the roofline, or scrape the house off the lot and build something much larger.  This photo, taken in a Denver neighborhood with my husband's cell phone camera, gives an idea of this phenomenon.

There has been sharp debate in Boulder (and in many other communities around the country, including Atlanta) about limiting the size and scale of these additions or rebuilds.  Folks in the smaller homes around the McMansion-style rebuilds resent the shadow cast by these larger homes, and want something more compatible with existing homes.

On the other hand, one Denver realtor we spoke with said that the sagging economy has largely put an end to this practice, because developers just can't flip these larger houses the way they used to.  In the meantime, though, many of these homes linger on the market.

Jamie Baker Roskie