re: The appeal of living in a McMansion development with the houses 10 feet apart?

quote:

---

You can have acreage that is no maintenance or minimal maintenance.

---

And I would be paying for acreage that I would never use just to say I have it.

quote:

---

The lack of privacy would be the dealbreaker for me

---

I lived in a townhouse before. I knew the girls that lived right next door to me, and never met anyone else in the neighborhood and never saw them unless I was out jogging or checking the mail. I don't see how a small yard compromises my privacy unless I decide to blast porn on my home theater or have sex in the backyard.

South Caddo Parish used to be pastures and cotton fields. You could live in the country and literally be ten minutes from downtown Shreveport. Now it's all subdivisions. Sad!

If I’m living in a rural area then I agree I’m not buying in shitty subdivision. I’m also not living in a rural area where the nearest decent restaurant or grocery store is thirty miles up a one way highway.

We have 3 fairly decent grocery stores within 5 miles. And really, how often do you go out to a nice restaurant?

quote:

---

What qualifies as a McMasion vs a real Mansion?

---

McMansion 101

You're welcome.

Zero lot equals zero yard work

quote:

---

Some people don't want to maintain a yard. I personally wouldn't want to live somewhere like that, but it's pretty simple to understand why some would.

---

Exactly!

I’ve lived on 2 acres and had to mow and rake and bag leaves and water, etc. I eventually found acreage to be pointless. I can see some people want the privacy but I don’t care about that. It feels otherwise pointless unless you grow crops or something. I’ve also lived in houses with virtually no yard. It’s very easy to maintain. Often times those hoods are in a convenient location, as well. Or new construction, which again is easy to maintain.

My McMansion has a ditch pond behind it with a wall of woods along a creek on the otherside of the pond. In short, when looking out of my back windows (of which I have a bunch), it looks like I am out in the country. On the other hand, I have neighbors across the street. Currently, there aren't any houses on either side of me. That will change and I'm not looking foward to that day. I'd like to buy them but the owners arent selling as they want the view of the pond/ woods too. My hood only has 26 lots on a singular, dead end street. I'm less than a mile from downtown (Covington) so I can't beat the convenience. It works great for both me and my missus (city girl).

TLDR

McMansion in a hood near downtown
= Happy wife.

Woods and pond with NO neighbors behind
= Happy me.

Used to drive through parts of University Park, and Highland Park, driving to work in Dallas. The lots were small because the original houses were already close together, but not mansions. The real estate is the best available and taxes got out of hand, so some people moved. Lots of those original houses were torn down and replaced with much larger homes since the 80's. Some blocks are all new houses. They look way to close to each other. They reach the ally and cover nearly the whole lot. Below are a couple of screenshots pf Greenbriar Drive from Google Maps.




Looks like the whole neighborhood is newer homes now. These houses sell for $2.5-3,5 million.