older homes may fit this bill, but often there are weird tradeoffs: eg. better quality finishes/construction, but no central air.

It's hard to find smaller homes that aren't also lower quality.

Undisciplined

This reminds me of other markets where the bottom option in a market simply doesn't exist. You can't really buy cars that are basic anymore. They all pretty much have what used to be considered top of the line features. 

kepford

Bigger homes = bigger mortgages, fueling the debt cycle