If you can’t take the heating costs, get out of the McMansion

This fall’s high gasoline prices put a dent in the sales of huge SUVs. AdFreak wonders whether this winter’s steep home-heating costs might exert a similar effect on the market for McMansions, whose bigger size (and hence, bigger heating requirements) makes them the real-estate equivalent of gas guzzlers. Rising interest rates were already starting to prick the housing-price bubble, making a big house a riskier investment. Add in the heating-cost factor, and house-shoppers who’d otherwise buy a