Buzzword: Teardown

What it means. During the last housing boom—remember that carefree time?—the teardown proliferated, as homeowners and builders razed countless properties to make way for new, often dramatically larger abodes. But in some circles, teardowns were not a welcome occurrence. "Across the nation a teardown epidemic is wiping out historic neighborhoods one house at a time," according to the National Trust for Historic Preservation. In 2002, the organization published an entire book on the subject, Protecting America's Historic Neighborhoods: Taming the Teardown Trend. By 2006, the housing bubble was leaking serious air, slowing new construction and teardown activity.

Why the buzz? Teardowns have returned, but it's no longer undesired or historic homes that have a date with the wrecking ball. These days, with the air completely out of the last housing bubble and the real-estate market a mess, brand-new houses are being leveled in what you might call Teardown 2.0.

Consider the case of Victorville, California, located 100 miles north of Los Angeles. Hoping to cut its losses, the bank that owns 16 houses in a planned community there won't try to sell the homes in a moribund market and decided to demolish the homes. So far, four luxury McMansions have been demolished and teardowns are scheduled for another dozen nearly finished houses.

Some of the building materials from today's teardowns will be reused or recycled—turning 2x4s into landscaping mulch for example. But "it's a waste of a lot of resources and perfectly good construction," said Ron Willemsen, president of Intravaia Rock and Sand, the company handling the Victorville demolitions, in this article in the Los Angeles Times.

Across California, developers have abandoned almost 9,400 other homes, according to the Times' article. With the explosion of boomburbs/boomburgs nationwide, what's happening in Victorville could spread to other areas, so don't be surprised to see Teardown 2.0 launch in your town.—Daniel DiClerico | e-mail | Twitter

Essential information: Find out how long it takes for a totally neglected wood-frame house to fall to the ground.