Tuesday, December 13, 2011

But where do you garden?

This home was on the front of the Oregonian’s Sunday Real Estate section. (photo by John M. Vincent / The Oregonian)

I looked at it with horror. Oh I’m sure it’s a well built home (if you like new construction) and the article points out the many quality details. But this 1,972 sq ft home sits on a lot just barely larger than the homes footprint. Where will the occupants garden? Upon reading the article I discover that no space to garden is actually a selling point, and what little yard there is (that L shaped ribbon of green) will be maintained by the homeowners association. This is pretty much my worst nightmare...

19 comments:

  1. I'm always slightly amazed when people tell me they have no desire to do ANY sort of yard word (including gardening). Take Norm's mom, for example...she shuns ANY form of outside maintenance...even potted plants are just too much of a commitment. Seriously, too, that house could be about 20-30% smaller...I can't imagine anyone wanting a house without at least a LITTLE outdoor space...who wants to be trapped in their house all the time...might as well live in an apartment. HOA is practically an obscene word to me.

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  2. LOL One man's meat is another poison. I do know people who prefer apartments and townhouses for the same reason. Of course for very busy, frequent travelers or for ill/disabled people it makes sense.

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  3. That is a really pretty house. I used to be horrified at houses like that, but then I realized that many people like to put their free time into something other than yard work, so it's great for them. The larger than average backyard was a big selling point for us when buying our house, both so the kids could run free and so I'd have room for gardening projects. To each his own, eh?

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  4. When I first moved into my house it took me a few years before I figured out that I wanted to plant something. This is probably perfect for a gardening junky who hasn't yet discovered their habit -- no pressure to do anything now, but there's still space to start experimenting when they feel the need.

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  5. Oh the horror! Seriously tho, what's the point of living in a home without garden space. Might as well live in an apartment at that rate.Even if you don't like to garden, I think almost everyone likes to lounge. I've been looking at some of the mini lots going up in town and it's ridiculous. Property value is through the roof around here and they just keep making the properties smaller and smaller. At that rate I'd move out of town if this was the only option.

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  6. Gross. Who wants to live without outdoor space?

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  7. Funny, I though exactly that when I saw the article myself. There is NO backyard!

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  8. No gardening space AND what is very likely a higher-than-the-moon home owners' association maintenance fee. Such a deal! ;-)

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  9. My first home was a nice little townhouse in Hillsboro with almost zero gardening space. It was perfect for me as a I got my career and family started. I had no interest or time for "yard work". Nowadays I feel differently of course but back then it was perfect.

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  10. They won't be selling any of those houses to you or any of your loyal fans...but they probably wouldn't want us as neighbors anyway.

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  11. #1 Anyplace with some lawn is an opportunity, since it is pretty much asking to be replaced with something interesting (HOA's notwithstanding)

    #2 If a serious economic/food crisis is in our future, places with no room to garden will see values drop way off.

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  12. That would be my worst nightmare too. When we moved here three years ago and started looking at houses, there were two deal-breakers. No HOA, because I eventually wanted to have chickens and many of them frown on that, and I didn't want anyone telling me what I couldn't plant. And we had to have at least 1/3 acre to garden. We didn't even bother looking at the many houses very like the one in your post. I can understand not wanting to garden, but not having any space at all to hang out outside, or to grill? Horrible.

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  13. I am sad that a greener, as in environmentally greener option isn't offered. Build apartments with a smaller, denser footprint. Then have a communal HOA green space.

    Leave the real green space for people who actively want to garden, with nature.

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  14. Such is the way on most modern builds are now. This is prevalent amongst new properties in the UK too, often the land area is too built up with very little 'garden' space.

    Hence that's why we opted for an older property when we moved here (1920's), you tend to get bigger gardens still on older properties.

    Saying that, you'd be amazed by the amount of property hunters who prefer houses with very small to almost non existent garden, less maintenance they say....

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  15. scott, naturally I agree with all of your points, especially the size of that house! I hope there is some sort of attempt to treat the roof run-off naturally. If all the homes in the development are that size, and the driveways and streets are all non permeable ... yikes!

    Nicole, I get that there is a whole group of people who don't want the upkeep of a yard/garden but this just seemed extreme to me. I would have thought a townhouse would be a much better option. Usually if you're going for a stand alone home you want a bit of space around it (or so I thought).

    VW, I guess the flip side is that if a non-gardener buys a home like this then it frees up a little more land for the gardeners!

    Alan, but do you think the HOA will let them experiment?

    Nat, exactly! What's the point of living in a house if you don't have outside space to enjoy?

    Heather, I wonder how many of the homes will sell?

    MulchMaid, when we were house hunting I wanted a ranch style home so bad! But so many of them here in NE Portland seem to be built on corner lots with no backyard. Maybe a 5 ft wide strip but that was it. So sad. We looked at a lot of them that were great houses but I just couldn't imagine my only garden being the space in the front of the house. You got a good one!

    Patricia, the author of the article pointed out that the HOA fee had not yet been calculated but they thought it would be in the $40 range...

    Ryan, HELLO! (yes I suppose I'm shouting) good to hear from you. You make a valid point...but for some reason I get that is the reason lots of folks go the condo/townhouse route. It just seems so much different to buy a freestanding home on a lot no bigger than the home. It's my mental hangup I guess.

    ricki, good point. Can you even imagine what the HOA would think of my front garden??

    Ian, #1 exactly...I wonder if they'd let anything change? #2 excellent point that I hadn't thought of.

    Alison, ha! I guess the driveway looks wide enough that they could probably pull a grill out of the garage!

    Elephant's Eye, the scenario that you describe actually is the more common one here in Portland. Maybe that's part of why this struck me as so odd.

    Mark and Gaz, thank you for bringing the UK perspective!

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  16. This home is much bigger than the townhouse I had. I get the small homes on small lots thing, but the big home with small lot thing leaves me mystified.

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  17. Ryan, yes..."I get the small homes on small lots thing, but the big home with small lot thing leaves me mystified"...I think that is what I was trying to say.

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  18. O.O *eereeerEEEER* NOOOOOOOO!!!! god I would start to die inside just being near to it :@

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  19. Horrible isn't it? In my fathers neighborhood in northern NJ every time an old house is sold it is torn down and one of these monstrous McMansions is put up in its place. They fill the entire yard and leave nothing but a patch of green grass. If there is any backyard at all it is usually entirely covered with decking.

    It should be against the law. People who want to live like this should just live in apartments. The sad thing is that even if people don't like them they don't want to put any laws in place preventing them in their neighborhood for fear that their home will drop in value.

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