Americans are really snooty imho. I suspect the snootiness is both the reason these houses exist (I have a bigger house than you) and the reason this criticism

Americans are really snooty imho. I suspect the snootiness is both the reason these houses exist (I have a bigger house than you) and the reason this criticism exists (I have a nicer looking house than you). I feel like it's a rather toxic cultural thing to care at all about other people's houses. Likewise with cars. It's also something that's not nearly as prevalent in mainstream culture outside the US (snobbery is the domain of the upper classes exclusively).