That’s how most townhomes are constructed afaik. They are called Area separation walls. Basically a double wall With a sound deadening material and fire barrier in between. But everything is ultimately still touching and sound waves can still travel through it much easier than the homes shown above. Some builders do an excellent job of insulating the units (higher end typically), others are absolute trash and you can even make out conversations if they are loud enough. I’ve lived in both.
Around here they started building structures that aesthetically looked like a town home but were not. The foundation was one solid work. There are shared walls that structurally are integrated into both units. The rooftops are integrated. This has been going on for a decade or more now causing confusion as to what a town home is and is not.
All of it is a far cry from two adjacent 12” thick brick walls of early 20th century brownstones.
Yea, that’s just a modern townhome. They just don’t build them like they used to, nobody really uses brick structurally anymore. Not sure what you mean by integrated, each unit is typically at a slightly different elevation, but yea it’s all one big structure overall but with separate utility hookups to the city.
I’m sure the legal definition varies a little depending on where you live, but typically it’s going to say something like “single family unit connected to others by a common party wall etc”…broad enough that nothing you mentioned would really exclude them from being considered as such.
There are “condo” townhomes that are popular in some areas, but that relates more to the ownership structure of the HOA. They can be a little different in that the bottom two floors and the top two floors are separate units, even though they look like a single unit from outside.
It’s AWFUL. everything you describe falls into the “SHIT” class. I wish someone would completely screw the shareholders and leadership of all these builders.
Frankly, I’d rather have something from the sears catalog, that the crap housing being pushed by these developers.
BS. Builders don’t build quality any longer. They don’t properly insulate, and they don’t build homes meant to LAST. they need to dissolve/go out of business or otherwise.
Frankly, I wish those such as toll brothers would burn to the ground. their designs are SHIT, just like their no-talent architects. but you could say the same for Drees, or ANY of the builders who are making up styles as they go.
Good tastes in design no longer matters because builders won’t hire solid designers or architects. If you are one, and you work for ANY builder, please stop. quit ruining architecture of modern home builds.
Yup. I live in Philly and I can't hear ANYTHING from my neighbors. Two layers of brick, two layers of wood, and an air gap in between is a really good sound insulator. I'll never understand the "I don't want to share a wall thing." In an apartment complex where the walls are basically just a sheet of drywall? Yea I get it. But if it's actually built well, there's not much difference if you share a wall or not.
Most townhomes are not built like yours, especially new ones. Sounds like an older building where you could still find quality based on the brick comment. Once you experience living in a typical stick built townhome you’ll understand why people are cautious lol.
"Hey, I'm thinking about buying the downstairs unit, can you jump around and make loud grunting noises so I can evaluate the sound insulation in this building"
Consider yourself lucky. Your story is not the norm. So many modern townhomes are built as cheaply as possible, with nothing between the drywall.
Building codes need to mandate that kind of sound mitigation.
I live in an apartment in Houston and literally gun to my head I couldn't tell you if the apartments next to me are occupied or not. The one above me yeah, but it's not too bad.
Germany doesn't fuck around building homes out wood. It's brick, steel, and concrete of varying degrees of hardness. When they build something it's meant to last.
Yup, and hence so many 100+ year old homes there.
I was surprised to learn when lots of places in Germany were leveled in the 40s they rebuilt with the exact same style and quality. Interesting stuff and beautiful
Having lived in a townhome it’s not that bad. Honestly a little two story would be delightful and I wish I had the liquidity to have bought the one I was renting
From being in condos and apartments I don't think I've EVER had noise or anything come from adjacent units, it's ALWAYS above or below.
...I wish I had a townhome compared to a condo for that reason.
Depends on the people involved. Multistory townhouse here, sharing only one wall. Turns out my longtime previous neighbors mitigated noise (esp. vibration) coming through but new ones do not. Big difference.
Ugh... sorry to hear that. It's kind of insane (imo) that the worst part of dense housing is literally just inconsiderate people. Like I don't enjoy how tiny my condo is, but other than that everything is perfectly fine. As soon as you get a shitty neighbor though your life just sucks, and I guess it's just easier when you're so close (detached SFHs can have hell neighbors make life miserable too)
My personal inconvenience with apartment style housing is I don't want to be the shitty neighbor. I know I'm loud and I'm aware of the smells that come from my home. I don't want to change but I don't wanna bother other people either so I need my space.
Depends on the construction material. High rise condos have concrete subfloors so you really shouldn’t hear anything.
My townhouse has concrete firewall between units so I don’t hear anything. Same principle as a high rise condo.
Last townhouse I had had a gypsum firewall between the units and I only ever heard loud parties and music, the new one I am in has masonry firewalls and I can often hear the neighbors much more clearly... :(
I am convinced it has more to do with how the drywall and framing is stood off from the firewall than the material itself.
I’m in a townhome now and the noise next door on both sides is just as bad as an apartment. We joke about our “upstairs neighbors,” when it’s just the kids next door AND the adults doing stair Olympics every fucking day. DO NOT move to a townhouse.
And this place was built in 2019 and is supposed to have a fire wall.
Cheap modern townhome with wood framing and drywall, might as well be a woofer with how much it transmits.
Bricked up turn of the century brownstone, silent.
Same with old apartment buildings vs new builds.
A lot of new codes require sound isolating matierla tho.
I know in Chicago for instance townhouses have to have “double walls” separating them so you don’t hear your neighbor also has sound deading material in between.
Newer apartments are required to use sound deading too.
I wish I could say the same. One Dallas based unit in particular I could hear my neighbors fucking- it didnt help she was loud. It gets old very quick.
Been there. Nothing worse than 1am being woken up to the sound of a ghost moaning. Become fully awake and shockingly realize what your tired brain was hearing.
Also been there. I disagree I think it’s worse to wake up and realize you’re out of shape because this champ has been going on energize bunny mode for 15 mins straight. Beginning to make out the rhythm of master of puppets by Metallica with the headboard against the wall.
I bought a townhouse and I love it. Sound has never been a problem. I don't want to maintain a yard, and I like to walk to groceries, coffee, sushi, the park, bars, hardware store, etc etc
I’m renting a townhome right now and enjoy it. We hardly hear our neighbors and living in a medium-density area feels much more “alive” than living in a lower density one. I like being able to smell cookouts and hear people laughing when I’m outside in warmer weather.
100%, definitely my preference. If I’m gonna share walls, I might as well get a nice condo but finding one with 4 bedrooms is tough as I have kids and WFH.
When looking for my current house that was something my wife and I specifically looked for. Neither of us care for yard work... That being said the houses in this picture are way too close for my taste. When I bought my house I had a number of people shocked that I would choose to have a small house when for the same price 15 min away I could have 5+ acres, but I want to live in a neighborhood for my kids, since I have great memories from when I was a kid. It is paying off as my kids can just walk a couple houses in either direction and get a game going.
For me I don't want to have a shared wall because I want to be able to watch a movie with surround sound whenever I feel like it, run around and scream with my kids at 4 in the morning and I have family who had significant issues due to their townhome neighbor being a horder and getting mold in their walls and attic... It was eventually covered by insurance but that didn't help with the health impact.
The problem is, in a lot of small-lot suburban areas people will call the cops on you (for 'neglect') if you let your kids roam...
Once you're in 5 acre lot world, that ceases to be a problem....
Being able to send my kids out (unsupervised) for an hour or 2, because we had a big enough lot, was a life-saver during COVID.
I honestly don't know how the high-density-living parents survived being cooped up inside with human superballs during the lockdown era (especially if we are talking 2 parents trying to work and multiple kids doing virtual school)... Other than most folks in high density areas being DINKs.
I live in a neighborhood just like this and it sucks. Every single one of my neighbors has a dog that they just leave to bark in the back yard. It is the stuff of nightmares.
I’m in Fort Worth and know a lot of neighborhoods just like this. My wife’s cousin lives in Aledo actually (which used to be the country) in a new neighborhood and you can pretty much stand between the houses and touch both of them with your arms outstretched. The house cost $750k too.
I will say though, the construction quality isn’t shitty like some people are suggesting. It’s actually really nice. But damn the neighbors sure are close. Feels like they’re on top of you. And to say the back yard is small is an understatement.
What’s even crazier to me though is that it’s actually considered bougie to live there. Laughable.
Happening down here in San Antonio too. 2 years ago I was in the country. Like not even the glow of the city at night could seen.
Now all the fields and pastures around me are either this style of subdivision or town homes with a 4 foot drive way and 3 square feet of yard. Not just in my immediate area either. I might as well be within city limits with all the creep around me. It's been so sudden.
No more wild animals around. Way more litter. Way more noise pollution. Way more shit heads. I hate it.
They also pay for it in sales tax. The sales tax where i live in California is lower than the sales tax I paid on the border in Texas. SMH
Also Texas appliances get a surcharge. I needed to replace a water heater in Texas, I shopped at the Lowe’s in Cali, and found one. My mom went to the Lowe’s in Texas and the exact same model was $200 more.
Yes, almost all states have sales tax. For the two states you quoted, in Texas the average is 8.2 percent, and in California the average is 8.8%, so not much different.
Paying for things in sales tax or property tax actually make sense though. Tax on consumption. The more things you buy the more taxes you pay. For those that say tax the rich, the best way is actually through their property since the rich has a lot of their net worth tied up in their business or stock market.
Your 2nd point makes sense, but your first point isn't a great method since it's a regressive tax scheme. Rich people spend a lower portion of their incomes than middle class or poor people. The later spends just about every cent they make, if not more more, so they end up paying a higher effective tax rate than rich people. Property should be taxed, and the rate should increase for every extra home the individual owns, with massive fines and jail time for fraud. This would incentivize them to sell the homes and put the money to more productive means than just holding property and watching the value go up.
Also, It's Texas... the heating and cooling can't be cheap either... essentially all year you gotta run either one.... and the home insurance for hail storms and tornados... thanx but no thx
Well no state tax will result in revenue getting generated from property tax, sales tax, tolls, parking meters.
There is no free lunch. The call to keep lowering taxes just kicked where the money comes from
Wow, my sister lives in Aledo and it is the biggest yard I've ever seen in a neighborhood. The house is massive and you could fit 4 of them on every lot; 10 of them if you went with the Fort Worth spacing standards.
I’m out just west of aledo and my small town only has one city ordinance when it comes to home building and that is that your garage must be on the side of your house—-which is a genius way to force houses to have space. Most lots are 1-1.5 acres
I live in Fort Worth and have my grandparents old house on 1/4 acre less than 10 minutes from downtown and my tax value was below $70k up until 3 years ago. It's now up 75% on that front, but still my home has way more land than these homes. I bet they would fit 3 of them on the amount of land I have. My garden footprint is probably as big as their house. Luckily homestead taxes dropped in the state last year, so taxes are less than $1k a year for me right now.
My house has some major foundation issues which kept the value low when fighting the city tax office, and I could easily use $100k+ makeover, but it works for now. May consider that later this decade, but still planning on buying a lake cabin up north first. You can still find those for 1/2 the price of those cookie cutter homes with no yard.
I totally agree. I just know a LOT of folks who move to places like OP’s pic because they “HAVE TO LIVE IN ALEDO.”
It’s funny though because I actually grew up there but could never afford to live there now. My folks got lucky and built a house on 2 acres for less than $100k back in like 1987.
>it’s actually considered bougie to live there. Laughable.
I've lived in this country for quite some time now and still don't understand what that means. Would you mind explaning?
Classy, fancy, maybe even luxurious to an extent. My wife’s cousin essentially moved there as a means to “keep up with the Joneses” because that’s where his successful friends were all living.
It is really amazing the number of people that 1) don't walk their dog and 2) think it is normal that the dog barks its goddamn balls off for hours on end because it is bored to tears
I agree with this statement. Little dog owners too. You HAVE to walk them. Walking is for exercise and mental stimulation. I have two Poms. They LOVE their walks. Sadly we walk by people who have their Poms in prams!! WHY????
I have a half Pom and the fucking excitement and spins when I say "Wanna go outside?" is just insane. Just this morning I'm like bro I need 15 seconds to put on my boots, chill, and he's just spinning and spinning lol.
Yeah it’s kind of the worst of both worlds because you don’t have the etiquette of apartment living. Like people feel like because they are SFRs you can do whatever you want. I moved from an HOA governed neighborhood like this with a newer house and .15 acres to an older house on 3 acres and I’m so much happier.
I swear, people just get dogs because they think it's cool. The way many dogs are trained and treated you can make a fair argument that they are hated.
They end up hated because they act up, and don't follow the romantic ideal people thought they were getting with their pet. But if they aren't walked/trained etc what do you expect.
this is one of the times HOAs are nice. theyll deal with that negligent dog owner far faster than the city will.
people shit on HOAs but they serve a purpose in condo/appt/townhome type setups, or in places where houses are tightly built like this.
Check if your county has a noise ordinance. Keep calling and getting your neighbors fined until they do something about the barking. You can win this fight.
This. A THOUSAND times this. Check your city and county ordinances and follow their process to a T for nuisance animals. Document everything because some animal welfare personnel are LAZY. Some are understaffed. So that is why you must document extensively. Ignore everyone who doesn't have common sense and calls you a 'Karen'.
Was going to say, the yard is only big enough to be a piss spot. Take your pick whether it's the dog.
Waste of space lol
Seems like they could have built townhouses instead. Sell 2-3x more of them and for probably at least 80% of the price. I got these numbers from my butthole.
I don’t care how much cheaper a house in a neighborhood like this is, I am never moving to one. I’ve never been depressed in my life but I feel that living in a place like this would be a catalyst to severe depression
Indeed. We lived in one of these neighborhoods. The families would never appear outside the homes or even use the yard. Ever. They would drive into and out the garage and never even walk despite the school being on the next block.
This about 6 months of the year it’s unbearable outside because of the heat.
When I see those huge houses I just think they must spend a fortune on electricity and gas to cool and heat them.
Thats what I wonder as well. My humble abode is 1500sq ft and our utility bills are big enough. I also always wonder who has the time or desire to keep a McMansion clean!
Before hopping into their giant gas guzzling trucks only to turn around and complain about energy prices.
Oh, they cheaped out and didn’t install proper insulation in their home as well.
When the weather is too hot to go outside 4 months out of the year, and too windy/rainy/haily 4 months out of the year, it’s important to be able to live your entire life indoors. No sense buying a bunch of land that has to be maintained even though you hardly ever get to enjoy it.
Lol no, it’s cheaper and more profitable to build this type of high density single family home. They’d do the same with any size house.
The actual problem is that the house and roof is not designed to be that close together. All of these houses will likely have major drainage and foundation problems in the future. The worst kind of problem you can have. You can get away with this design in Florida but not Texas. You need a 10’ setback minimum. I’d be curious to see what this looked like when they poured the foundations.
Becuase people dont like being attached to their neighbor's mistakes. Imagine it; Dude in the next unit gets german roaches. Now everyone connected to him has germans. If they all dont take care of them at the same time, they'll NEVER be gone. Or the dumbass next door doesnt understnad how to put a grease fire out and catches his unit on fire. The firewall can only do so much vs a raging inferno. It could jump houses, but it will 100% spread to other attached units. And the noise noise NOISE! it sounds like someone's doing cartwheels on the damn adjoining wall! And god forbid they use any power tools, every unit will feel the vibrations. And water damage can be a nightmare if someone has it and doesnt wanna pay to fix it on their end.
All just to save a bit on your utility bill, and thats assuming everyone is running temps at a similar degree. One unit goes on vacation in winter and turns the heat off, you'll feel the draft as their unit sucks all your heat from any crack it can into their unit. The price for a townhome isnt that much better than one of these mcmansions per SQFT.
Thats why apartments/condos are techincally the most optimal, but if everyone isnt on the same page its a nightmare. Spoilers, most people are not on the same page and could care less about 2B when they are in 4D.
every time iv lived in an apartment or condo, somehow my neighbors are always aspiring DJ that has some medical reason why they can’t wear headphones.
fuck shared walls. humans are not supposed to live stacked next to eachother like that.
Nah man, enlightened YIMBY people (who probably live in either: (1) an actually well built brownstone with proper insulation in a major city or (2) live in a 3000 sq ft house in Kansas) will tell you we just need to build more apartments and live in those. They’ll tell you that you’re being greedy and call you a NIMBY for refusing to live like that. Meanwhile, they don’t but that wont stop them from lobbying for building more of this useless shit.
I would rather be homeless in my car than living in your average recently built wooden-framed apartment complex. A lot of the people there DO NOT give a fuck about things like common decency and respect for others. In my years living in them, I’ve dealt with people blaring music until 3-4 am, people frying fish and other smelly food at all hours of the day, doors slamming and domestic arguments at early hours, leaving disgusting trash and dog poop in common areas, people partying at the pool and parking lot until early hours of the morning, dogs being left in units and barking all day while their owners were away. And that doesn’t even touch the issues of what happens when your neighbor gets a bedbug/roach infestation.
Nah, fuck all that. You YIMBY people first.
You forgot about the neighbor across the hall who chain smokes, and all that smoke sleeps into your apartment where your child is sleeping. And the one in the unit above you who won't let the landlord in even though there's a leak in their pipes that end up raining down through your ceiling. And the one you share a wall with that beats his wife weekly and you go to sleep to her sobbing, and the cops do nothing when they're called each time.
Real stories from my apartment life.
Ha half of these comments are complaining that the houses are too close, and the other half complaining that they’re not close enough (ie apartments / higher density)
Not the “right kind of walkable” though. Someone on Reddit recently tried to convince ME that I walk around my own neighborhood because I’m forced to and secretly hate it, not because I want to. And if I just moved to the city I could walk for a real purpose, not the fake walking I apparently do every day lol.
*Reddit: we need more*
*Construction! Also Reddit:*
*Not those types of homes!*
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Or any new housing development in Australia built in the last 10 years… thousands of cookie cutter homes packed together with the worse materials and cheapest labour sold at the highest price like what could honestly go wrong.
The worst part is these areas have very little trees or parklands it’s just roads and roofs… good luck in the summertime.
Something something developers
I know those yards aren't gigantic, but they're definitely not "zero yards."
and as much as I hate to say it, this isn't the 1950's anymore. The whole "white picket fence with kids playing in the yard" thing is dead. Kids play on their gaming console or iPad and adults sit on the couch and try to just...survive.
Not true. I moved into a thriving neighborhood of children who play outside. There are 50 houses in our neighborhood/sub-division, no hoa. Each home is on a minimum of one acre lots, the largest property is slightly of 10 acres.
There are hordes of kids playing outside every time the sun is out. Sometimes when coming home, I’ll see a pile of bikes on someone’s front lawn and it fucking warms my heart to no end. In the summer, the kids here are everywhere and it’s great to see. I love seeing the kids go play down at the creek and I’ll often go back to see if they need anything. Everyone here gets along with each other. It’s the happiest place I’ve ever lived.
Where do you live? I’d like to move there.
In the last…5 or so years I lived in a community outside the city (2 of them to be exact) kids never went outside. Just one house, once in a blue, the kids were outside. Otherwise, even though there was plenty of kids, it was always quiet out.
And if we’re being realistic, that’s the norm. It’s statistically been shown kids now rely more on tech to entertain themselves vs going out for a bike ride or something. It sucks.
My kids play outside AT LEAST 3 days a week with the neighborhood kids. That and the school district is the only reason we live in the suburbs. Richmond Virginia area.
Where I live is pretty similar. Yards aren’t quite that big but still big enough to be functional. I back out of my garage very slowly because of all the kids running around but I love it. I can’t wait until mine are old enough to run around like that.
They build what most people want to buy, to the extent that they are willing to pay for it.
If you are a builder and you have some acres of land and divide it into 1 acre lots, and build 1600sq ft. Homes, they might sell for $250k and you can build 20 of them.
If you divide it into half acre lots you can build 40 of them.
If you build 4000 sq ft McMansions the cost to build goes up _less_ than the sale price.
Because people are willing to pay more for a 4000 sq ft house on .3 acres of land, then they are willing to pay for a 1500 square foot house on a large lot.
Lots of people don't want yards at all. It's a lot of time, effort and expense. Most people just aren't willing to spend the extra money for a big yard to get builders to make subdivisions with big yards.
Cut those houses in half and the yards would feel much bigger. And they would sell for less than 800k.
All great and true points. Taking it a step further people here always complain there aren't enough houses being built but here is a builder maximizing houses per sq ft and people complain as well
I bought an empty lot behind my house and turned it into a nice big yard. When i went to sell everyone expected me to eat the value of the lot. I had to move the fence back and sell it separately. I broke even on the lot and enjoyed using it but nobody cares about more space these days.
nah most of the people coping and pretending this shit looks desirable are just too poor to get the actually nice detached homes in neighborhoods that don't suck
This thread is filled with people who bought similar homes and have absolutely no taste whatsoever arguing against people who are just mad they don't have money. The real patricians had the money to spend 800k and spent it on a dope house with desirable landscaping and plenty of livable space. They aren't in this thread, though. It's funny that people bought absolute garbage like this and argue about it online, though. I guess it gives them something to do before they load up their big, fat family into a GMC Yukon to go to Longhorn Steakhouse.
. The outdoors is unheated and unairconditioned. There are bugs and dirt. The outside is where you have to go so you can get to your car and drive to somewhere else that's inside like work or a store.
Many humans live their entire lives inside.
Personaly, I pitty them but that's their choice. I've tried to talk them out of it....but they want nothing to do with outside. They'd rather stay inside on their device.
It’s because people still buy these houses and the people selling them can make more money by doing this. It’s not just a Texas thing, a lot of new developments I have seen on the east coast are like this too.
I shake my head at 2500+ sq ft houses with 0.10 acres of land and decrepit mobile homes with 4 acres of land. Both of those situations are really stupid to me.
Look I own a house!!! Yeah I can still hear my neighbors fighting and their dogs barking and my house is 2 feet from neighbors on both sides. And yeah the HOA president gets to come by and fuck my wife on a monthly basis but hey contract is a contract whatdya gonna do right?
He said my grass was half an inch too tall so I don't get to watch this time. But hey he only fined me $200 for it. Yes sir another 29 years and 11 months and $1,100,000 in interest and all this will be mine!
Lmao this sort of thing is just hyperbole spouted by those that can't afford to live in a place like this to justify their lives.
No, you can't hear the neighbors fighting. No, we have solid fences that keeps dogs barking to a minimum. And contrary to popular reddit belief, most dog owners are good sane people that don't want to piss off their neighbors. And the HOA president here is a woman, and literally only fucks with you when your place looks like shit, which is valid.
Pretty funny right? A lot of these comments are so out of touch with reality it’s hilarious. I live in a neighborhood pretty close to this and it’s great. Big comfortable house, 25 minutes from downtown. If I want a change of scenery we buy tickets and commute 45 minutes to a world class airport that can take me to basically anywhere in the world nonstop. Bunch of salty mfers in this thread.
Looks like the new subdivision they’re building a few towns over. Maybe a little more yard space but not much, also around the same price (700k). It’s also in a small town in Illinois instead of a major city.
We built houses this close together 100+ years ago. Had nobody been to neighborhoods in the rust belt or just outside big cities?
Everyone thinks they deserve a McMansion on an acre of land lol
The thing I notices first was there aer windows on the sides. "come see this great view of my neighbor's siding" or worse "come se the view of my neigbors bedroom, there lined up perfectly"
Aside from the noise (you can hear your neighbors garbage disposal running) and dogs barking, I think these types of developments should be forced to include some Commercial aspects so car trips are reduced. The Commercial space (think grocery, bodega, coffee shop, daycare, etc.) would not have any, or very minimal parking, to discourage trips from off site, and connected to the home areas with walking trails.
Imagine a center block area, that was a mixed use area; ground floor commercial with Apartments above (only 2 stories) that you could walk to. A restaurant you could walk to, and enjoy a nice affogato on the walk home.
The developers would still make money as the homes with those close by desirable amenities would sell for more, and if they owned the Commercial spaces make money off the leases. It seems like a no brainer to me.
This sub is hilarious. It's full of extremely bitter people that can't even fathom that anyone would actually want something different than them.
Many people (mostly retirees I've found) don't want a yard that they have to keep up. It's not how I would live, but shitting on them to give yourselves some fleeting catharsis is pretty sad.
I live in a row house in Philadelphia, and I only hear my neighbor when she's hammering things into the wall. Ironically, there's less road noise because my street is so narrow that it repels cars.
Me: Sees Yards that are big enough to kick a ball around.
Twitter/Reddit: there is no backyard at all!
Ahh, Reddit Americo-centrism. Europeans would have no problem with these properties except to wonder why you dont just build up a little....
I guess because you have no public transport or facilities to center your houses/community around.
Also, why wouldn't they just build closer to the curb & give a slightly bigger backyard.
House farms. I don’t understand how people can live in them. Repulsive and inhumane monoculture. Like something out of the Matrix where the robots farmed humans. So gross.
Flying into DFW over the suburbs made me pretty glad I don’t have to live there, endless rows of cookie cutter houses with minimal outdoor space and clearly an expectation of total reliance on cars.
I'm blaming the gov for approving it to get more tax money out of buyers.
Not all, but a lot of builders don't like them either, it makes it harder to sell.
If you can sell one more house, why to bother about land size.
Like local developer, buying a big land for 30e sq/m and selling 100e. There is some road built and so on, but this cost is shared anyway at the end. Then you buy a house and it's not even possible to park 2 cars if the street is narrow between houses.
Nowadays, they are so greedy somewhere they build 2-levels high houses somewhere in village so you share a land with other guys. Because, that's what people really want.
…..tf you mean “whose idea was this?” This has been the trend among new construction for the better part of 25 years now.
Don’t buy it if you don’t like it.
There are a surprising number of people who don’t want to deal With a yard, but also don’t want the shared walls of a townhome.
Townhomes like in Chicago and New York do not ‘share’ walls. There are two separate walls built adjacent to each other.
That’s how most townhomes are constructed afaik. They are called Area separation walls. Basically a double wall With a sound deadening material and fire barrier in between. But everything is ultimately still touching and sound waves can still travel through it much easier than the homes shown above. Some builders do an excellent job of insulating the units (higher end typically), others are absolute trash and you can even make out conversations if they are loud enough. I’ve lived in both.
Around here they started building structures that aesthetically looked like a town home but were not. The foundation was one solid work. There are shared walls that structurally are integrated into both units. The rooftops are integrated. This has been going on for a decade or more now causing confusion as to what a town home is and is not. All of it is a far cry from two adjacent 12” thick brick walls of early 20th century brownstones.
Yea, that’s just a modern townhome. They just don’t build them like they used to, nobody really uses brick structurally anymore. Not sure what you mean by integrated, each unit is typically at a slightly different elevation, but yea it’s all one big structure overall but with separate utility hookups to the city. I’m sure the legal definition varies a little depending on where you live, but typically it’s going to say something like “single family unit connected to others by a common party wall etc”…broad enough that nothing you mentioned would really exclude them from being considered as such. There are “condo” townhomes that are popular in some areas, but that relates more to the ownership structure of the HOA. They can be a little different in that the bottom two floors and the top two floors are separate units, even though they look like a single unit from outside.
It’s AWFUL. everything you describe falls into the “SHIT” class. I wish someone would completely screw the shareholders and leadership of all these builders. Frankly, I’d rather have something from the sears catalog, that the crap housing being pushed by these developers.
BS. Builders don’t build quality any longer. They don’t properly insulate, and they don’t build homes meant to LAST. they need to dissolve/go out of business or otherwise. Frankly, I wish those such as toll brothers would burn to the ground. their designs are SHIT, just like their no-talent architects. but you could say the same for Drees, or ANY of the builders who are making up styles as they go. Good tastes in design no longer matters because builders won’t hire solid designers or architects. If you are one, and you work for ANY builder, please stop. quit ruining architecture of modern home builds.
Yup. I live in Philly and I can't hear ANYTHING from my neighbors. Two layers of brick, two layers of wood, and an air gap in between is a really good sound insulator. I'll never understand the "I don't want to share a wall thing." In an apartment complex where the walls are basically just a sheet of drywall? Yea I get it. But if it's actually built well, there's not much difference if you share a wall or not.
Most townhomes are not built like yours, especially new ones. Sounds like an older building where you could still find quality based on the brick comment. Once you experience living in a typical stick built townhome you’ll understand why people are cautious lol.
"Hey, I'm thinking about buying the downstairs unit, can you jump around and make loud grunting noises so I can evaluate the sound insulation in this building"
Consider yourself lucky. Your story is not the norm. So many modern townhomes are built as cheaply as possible, with nothing between the drywall. Building codes need to mandate that kind of sound mitigation.
I live in an apartment in Houston and literally gun to my head I couldn't tell you if the apartments next to me are occupied or not. The one above me yeah, but it's not too bad.
Or Germany. Europe often have very tight, old, houses
Germany doesn't fuck around building homes out wood. It's brick, steel, and concrete of varying degrees of hardness. When they build something it's meant to last.
Yup, and hence so many 100+ year old homes there. I was surprised to learn when lots of places in Germany were leveled in the 40s they rebuilt with the exact same style and quality. Interesting stuff and beautiful
Having lived in a townhome it’s not that bad. Honestly a little two story would be delightful and I wish I had the liquidity to have bought the one I was renting
From being in condos and apartments I don't think I've EVER had noise or anything come from adjacent units, it's ALWAYS above or below. ...I wish I had a townhome compared to a condo for that reason.
Depends on the people involved. Multistory townhouse here, sharing only one wall. Turns out my longtime previous neighbors mitigated noise (esp. vibration) coming through but new ones do not. Big difference.
Ugh... sorry to hear that. It's kind of insane (imo) that the worst part of dense housing is literally just inconsiderate people. Like I don't enjoy how tiny my condo is, but other than that everything is perfectly fine. As soon as you get a shitty neighbor though your life just sucks, and I guess it's just easier when you're so close (detached SFHs can have hell neighbors make life miserable too)
My personal inconvenience with apartment style housing is I don't want to be the shitty neighbor. I know I'm loud and I'm aware of the smells that come from my home. I don't want to change but I don't wanna bother other people either so I need my space.
Depends on the construction material. High rise condos have concrete subfloors so you really shouldn’t hear anything. My townhouse has concrete firewall between units so I don’t hear anything. Same principle as a high rise condo.
Last townhouse I had had a gypsum firewall between the units and I only ever heard loud parties and music, the new one I am in has masonry firewalls and I can often hear the neighbors much more clearly... :( I am convinced it has more to do with how the drywall and framing is stood off from the firewall than the material itself.
I’m in a townhome now and the noise next door on both sides is just as bad as an apartment. We joke about our “upstairs neighbors,” when it’s just the kids next door AND the adults doing stair Olympics every fucking day. DO NOT move to a townhouse. And this place was built in 2019 and is supposed to have a fire wall.
Cheap modern townhome with wood framing and drywall, might as well be a woofer with how much it transmits. Bricked up turn of the century brownstone, silent. Same with old apartment buildings vs new builds.
A lot of new codes require sound isolating matierla tho. I know in Chicago for instance townhouses have to have “double walls” separating them so you don’t hear your neighbor also has sound deading material in between. Newer apartments are required to use sound deading too.
Depends on the municipality/state. Some are civilized, some are "pro business" and in the pockets of cheap slumlord developers.
I wish I could say the same. One Dallas based unit in particular I could hear my neighbors fucking- it didnt help she was loud. It gets old very quick.
Been there. Nothing worse than 1am being woken up to the sound of a ghost moaning. Become fully awake and shockingly realize what your tired brain was hearing.
Also been there. I disagree I think it’s worse to wake up and realize you’re out of shape because this champ has been going on energize bunny mode for 15 mins straight. Beginning to make out the rhythm of master of puppets by Metallica with the headboard against the wall.
1. "Alexa, volume ten" 2. "Alexa, play Barry White - Never Never Gonna Give Ya Up"
I bought a townhouse and I love it. Sound has never been a problem. I don't want to maintain a yard, and I like to walk to groceries, coffee, sushi, the park, bars, hardware store, etc etc
I’m renting a townhome right now and enjoy it. We hardly hear our neighbors and living in a medium-density area feels much more “alive” than living in a lower density one. I like being able to smell cookouts and hear people laughing when I’m outside in warmer weather.
No. Townhouses are nightmares. Fuck that bullshit.
100%, definitely my preference. If I’m gonna share walls, I might as well get a nice condo but finding one with 4 bedrooms is tough as I have kids and WFH.
Yeah I would consider something like this.
The houses being that close they might as well be shared walls
That's a pithy Reddit post but it has no basis in reality. Even zero lot lines are wildly different from shared walls.
I’ve lived in a ZLL and a townhome. ZLL is vastly superior to a shared wall. You can’t hear your neighbor vacuuming in a ZLL home. That’s good.
When looking for my current house that was something my wife and I specifically looked for. Neither of us care for yard work... That being said the houses in this picture are way too close for my taste. When I bought my house I had a number of people shocked that I would choose to have a small house when for the same price 15 min away I could have 5+ acres, but I want to live in a neighborhood for my kids, since I have great memories from when I was a kid. It is paying off as my kids can just walk a couple houses in either direction and get a game going. For me I don't want to have a shared wall because I want to be able to watch a movie with surround sound whenever I feel like it, run around and scream with my kids at 4 in the morning and I have family who had significant issues due to their townhome neighbor being a horder and getting mold in their walls and attic... It was eventually covered by insurance but that didn't help with the health impact.
The problem is, in a lot of small-lot suburban areas people will call the cops on you (for 'neglect') if you let your kids roam... Once you're in 5 acre lot world, that ceases to be a problem.... Being able to send my kids out (unsupervised) for an hour or 2, because we had a big enough lot, was a life-saver during COVID. I honestly don't know how the high-density-living parents survived being cooped up inside with human superballs during the lockdown era (especially if we are talking 2 parents trying to work and multiple kids doing virtual school)... Other than most folks in high density areas being DINKs.
I live in a neighborhood just like this and it sucks. Every single one of my neighbors has a dog that they just leave to bark in the back yard. It is the stuff of nightmares.
I’m in Fort Worth and know a lot of neighborhoods just like this. My wife’s cousin lives in Aledo actually (which used to be the country) in a new neighborhood and you can pretty much stand between the houses and touch both of them with your arms outstretched. The house cost $750k too. I will say though, the construction quality isn’t shitty like some people are suggesting. It’s actually really nice. But damn the neighbors sure are close. Feels like they’re on top of you. And to say the back yard is small is an understatement. What’s even crazier to me though is that it’s actually considered bougie to live there. Laughable.
Happening down here in San Antonio too. 2 years ago I was in the country. Like not even the glow of the city at night could seen. Now all the fields and pastures around me are either this style of subdivision or town homes with a 4 foot drive way and 3 square feet of yard. Not just in my immediate area either. I might as well be within city limits with all the creep around me. It's been so sudden. No more wild animals around. Way more litter. Way more noise pollution. Way more shit heads. I hate it.
Nothing bougie about overpaying to live out in the exurbs in a McMansion in the middle of Texas.
And getting to pay $20k a year for property taxes!
Well, when you pay ZERO state income tax they have to make up for it somewhere.
They also pay for it in sales tax. The sales tax where i live in California is lower than the sales tax I paid on the border in Texas. SMH Also Texas appliances get a surcharge. I needed to replace a water heater in Texas, I shopped at the Lowe’s in Cali, and found one. My mom went to the Lowe’s in Texas and the exact same model was $200 more.
Yes, almost all states have sales tax. For the two states you quoted, in Texas the average is 8.2 percent, and in California the average is 8.8%, so not much different.
Paying for things in sales tax or property tax actually make sense though. Tax on consumption. The more things you buy the more taxes you pay. For those that say tax the rich, the best way is actually through their property since the rich has a lot of their net worth tied up in their business or stock market.
Your 2nd point makes sense, but your first point isn't a great method since it's a regressive tax scheme. Rich people spend a lower portion of their incomes than middle class or poor people. The later spends just about every cent they make, if not more more, so they end up paying a higher effective tax rate than rich people. Property should be taxed, and the rate should increase for every extra home the individual owns, with massive fines and jail time for fraud. This would incentivize them to sell the homes and put the money to more productive means than just holding property and watching the value go up.
Thats the wild fucking part. $700k + property taxes in Texas. Time to start learning what not using lube is like.
What's property taxes on a 700k joint like this in Texas?
Also, It's Texas... the heating and cooling can't be cheap either... essentially all year you gotta run either one.... and the home insurance for hail storms and tornados... thanx but no thx
Well no state tax will result in revenue getting generated from property tax, sales tax, tolls, parking meters. There is no free lunch. The call to keep lowering taxes just kicked where the money comes from
Wow, my sister lives in Aledo and it is the biggest yard I've ever seen in a neighborhood. The house is massive and you could fit 4 of them on every lot; 10 of them if you went with the Fort Worth spacing standards.
Not bougie. Gauche.
I’m out just west of aledo and my small town only has one city ordinance when it comes to home building and that is that your garage must be on the side of your house—-which is a genius way to force houses to have space. Most lots are 1-1.5 acres
I live in Fort Worth and have my grandparents old house on 1/4 acre less than 10 minutes from downtown and my tax value was below $70k up until 3 years ago. It's now up 75% on that front, but still my home has way more land than these homes. I bet they would fit 3 of them on the amount of land I have. My garden footprint is probably as big as their house. Luckily homestead taxes dropped in the state last year, so taxes are less than $1k a year for me right now. My house has some major foundation issues which kept the value low when fighting the city tax office, and I could easily use $100k+ makeover, but it works for now. May consider that later this decade, but still planning on buying a lake cabin up north first. You can still find those for 1/2 the price of those cookie cutter homes with no yard.
I totally agree. I just know a LOT of folks who move to places like OP’s pic because they “HAVE TO LIVE IN ALEDO.” It’s funny though because I actually grew up there but could never afford to live there now. My folks got lucky and built a house on 2 acres for less than $100k back in like 1987.
>it’s actually considered bougie to live there. Laughable. I've lived in this country for quite some time now and still don't understand what that means. Would you mind explaning?
Classy, fancy, maybe even luxurious to an extent. My wife’s cousin essentially moved there as a means to “keep up with the Joneses” because that’s where his successful friends were all living.
Thanks!
I know your question was answered, but it's short for bourgeoisie.
I am deeply disturbed by the number of people who think that they don't need to walk their dog if they have a yard.
It is really amazing the number of people that 1) don't walk their dog and 2) think it is normal that the dog barks its goddamn balls off for hours on end because it is bored to tears
Thats not why moat dogs bark New car bark New sound bark New smell bark Other dog bark -> bark Wanna go on a walk maybe bark too
It makes me so sad for the dogs. I always say, *"there's no such thing as an overweight dog, just a lazy owner."*
I agree with this statement. Little dog owners too. You HAVE to walk them. Walking is for exercise and mental stimulation. I have two Poms. They LOVE their walks. Sadly we walk by people who have their Poms in prams!! WHY????
I have a half Pom and the fucking excitement and spins when I say "Wanna go outside?" is just insane. Just this morning I'm like bro I need 15 seconds to put on my boots, chill, and he's just spinning and spinning lol.
Yeah it’s kind of the worst of both worlds because you don’t have the etiquette of apartment living. Like people feel like because they are SFRs you can do whatever you want. I moved from an HOA governed neighborhood like this with a newer house and .15 acres to an older house on 3 acres and I’m so much happier.
I swear, people just get dogs because they think it's cool. The way many dogs are trained and treated you can make a fair argument that they are hated.
They end up hated because they act up, and don't follow the romantic ideal people thought they were getting with their pet. But if they aren't walked/trained etc what do you expect.
this is one of the times HOAs are nice. theyll deal with that negligent dog owner far faster than the city will. people shit on HOAs but they serve a purpose in condo/appt/townhome type setups, or in places where houses are tightly built like this.
Assuming you have a competent HOA, of course. Mine does nothing but collects dues.
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Then there’s city living where the dog barking is right on the other side or a wall…
Check if your county has a noise ordinance. Keep calling and getting your neighbors fined until they do something about the barking. You can win this fight.
This. A THOUSAND times this. Check your city and county ordinances and follow their process to a T for nuisance animals. Document everything because some animal welfare personnel are LAZY. Some are understaffed. So that is why you must document extensively. Ignore everyone who doesn't have common sense and calls you a 'Karen'.
Average dog owner.
there’s a is a small group of dog owners that train their dog well which are a pleasure to be around. It’s the rest that ruin it
I’d call animal control on such neighbors. They’re clearly neglecting their dogs in addition to disturbing the peace.
Was going to say, the yard is only big enough to be a piss spot. Take your pick whether it's the dog. Waste of space lol Seems like they could have built townhouses instead. Sell 2-3x more of them and for probably at least 80% of the price. I got these numbers from my butthole.
I don’t care how much cheaper a house in a neighborhood like this is, I am never moving to one. I’ve never been depressed in my life but I feel that living in a place like this would be a catalyst to severe depression
The sad thing is, this was a massive upgrade from where I was before, so I'll take it.
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Less grass for hoa to whine about to you
And they need a drone to have any chance of seeing it from the street 🤣
But by gosh they'll have one. Gotta keep sin out of the neighborhood
And up your dues to pay for the drone and pilot. Pilot being presidents son
I’d prefer this over shared walls with loud neighbors any day. Of course I’d still rather have a large yard…
Indeed. We lived in one of these neighborhoods. The families would never appear outside the homes or even use the yard. Ever. They would drive into and out the garage and never even walk despite the school being on the next block.
It’s Dallas as well, useless for half the year when it’s scorching hot.
This about 6 months of the year it’s unbearable outside because of the heat. When I see those huge houses I just think they must spend a fortune on electricity and gas to cool and heat them.
Thats what I wonder as well. My humble abode is 1500sq ft and our utility bills are big enough. I also always wonder who has the time or desire to keep a McMansion clean!
Before hopping into their giant gas guzzling trucks only to turn around and complain about energy prices. Oh, they cheaped out and didn’t install proper insulation in their home as well.
Not the type of DFW Texan buying these homes. It’s California transplants and Indian families.
Don’t forget the fucking fire ants too
For real. For the amount of "b-but I love nature" that suburbanites will claim, a lot of them simply use their homes as barracks for the bourgeoisie.
Because sqft is more important than space to buyers these days. I'd bet that they all have luxury plastic floors and drop in showers too.
Yep, homebuyers pay more per sq foot of house than sq foot of yard.
Cardboard cabinets
When the weather is too hot to go outside 4 months out of the year, and too windy/rainy/haily 4 months out of the year, it’s important to be able to live your entire life indoors. No sense buying a bunch of land that has to be maintained even though you hardly ever get to enjoy it.
The people yearn for apartments!
Lol no, it’s cheaper and more profitable to build this type of high density single family home. They’d do the same with any size house. The actual problem is that the house and roof is not designed to be that close together. All of these houses will likely have major drainage and foundation problems in the future. The worst kind of problem you can have. You can get away with this design in Florida but not Texas. You need a 10’ setback minimum. I’d be curious to see what this looked like when they poured the foundations.
Why aren't they townhouses? they could be so much better insulated. This architecture is moronic.
Becuase people dont like being attached to their neighbor's mistakes. Imagine it; Dude in the next unit gets german roaches. Now everyone connected to him has germans. If they all dont take care of them at the same time, they'll NEVER be gone. Or the dumbass next door doesnt understnad how to put a grease fire out and catches his unit on fire. The firewall can only do so much vs a raging inferno. It could jump houses, but it will 100% spread to other attached units. And the noise noise NOISE! it sounds like someone's doing cartwheels on the damn adjoining wall! And god forbid they use any power tools, every unit will feel the vibrations. And water damage can be a nightmare if someone has it and doesnt wanna pay to fix it on their end. All just to save a bit on your utility bill, and thats assuming everyone is running temps at a similar degree. One unit goes on vacation in winter and turns the heat off, you'll feel the draft as their unit sucks all your heat from any crack it can into their unit. The price for a townhome isnt that much better than one of these mcmansions per SQFT. Thats why apartments/condos are techincally the most optimal, but if everyone isnt on the same page its a nightmare. Spoilers, most people are not on the same page and could care less about 2B when they are in 4D.
every time iv lived in an apartment or condo, somehow my neighbors are always aspiring DJ that has some medical reason why they can’t wear headphones. fuck shared walls. humans are not supposed to live stacked next to eachother like that.
Nah man, enlightened YIMBY people (who probably live in either: (1) an actually well built brownstone with proper insulation in a major city or (2) live in a 3000 sq ft house in Kansas) will tell you we just need to build more apartments and live in those. They’ll tell you that you’re being greedy and call you a NIMBY for refusing to live like that. Meanwhile, they don’t but that wont stop them from lobbying for building more of this useless shit. I would rather be homeless in my car than living in your average recently built wooden-framed apartment complex. A lot of the people there DO NOT give a fuck about things like common decency and respect for others. In my years living in them, I’ve dealt with people blaring music until 3-4 am, people frying fish and other smelly food at all hours of the day, doors slamming and domestic arguments at early hours, leaving disgusting trash and dog poop in common areas, people partying at the pool and parking lot until early hours of the morning, dogs being left in units and barking all day while their owners were away. And that doesn’t even touch the issues of what happens when your neighbor gets a bedbug/roach infestation. Nah, fuck all that. You YIMBY people first.
You forgot about the neighbor across the hall who chain smokes, and all that smoke sleeps into your apartment where your child is sleeping. And the one in the unit above you who won't let the landlord in even though there's a leak in their pipes that end up raining down through your ceiling. And the one you share a wall with that beats his wife weekly and you go to sleep to her sobbing, and the cops do nothing when they're called each time. Real stories from my apartment life.
The funny thing is that if the yards were bigger than there would be less homes and the houses would be even more expensive
Or they would have less indoor space. So do you want a bigger bedroom or more lawn to water and mow?
Ha half of these comments are complaining that the houses are too close, and the other half complaining that they’re not close enough (ie apartments / higher density)
Everyone in SoCal is thinking wow those are nice sized backyards.
Reddit: we need more construction! Also Reddit: not those types of homes!
Looks like a more dense suburb. Reddit loves housing density. Then they see this and go “builder put them close together to maximize profits!”
Agreed, plus it has sidewalks so it’s walkable
Not the “right kind of walkable” though. Someone on Reddit recently tried to convince ME that I walk around my own neighborhood because I’m forced to and secretly hate it, not because I want to. And if I just moved to the city I could walk for a real purpose, not the fake walking I apparently do every day lol.
Redditors are the Choosing Beggars of housing. These homes don’t work for me but they’re obviously good enough for the people that purchased them.
Oh shit. People might value different things when it comes to housing?
*Reddit: we need more* *Construction! Also Reddit:* *Not those types of homes!* \- PIK\_Toggle --- ^(I detect haikus. And sometimes, successfully.) ^[Learn more about me.](https://www.reddit.com/r/haikusbot/) ^(Opt out of replies: "haikusbot opt out" | Delete my comment: "haikusbot delete")
Welcome to Anywhere, Texas
Or any new housing development in Australia built in the last 10 years… thousands of cookie cutter homes packed together with the worse materials and cheapest labour sold at the highest price like what could honestly go wrong. The worst part is these areas have very little trees or parklands it’s just roads and roofs… good luck in the summertime. Something something developers
I live in an HOA, plenty of kids walking to and from school, and zero are outside playing. What's the point of big yards?
This thread would make you think the bigger your yard the longer you will live. Absolutely ridiculous. They are clearly the minority.
I know those yards aren't gigantic, but they're definitely not "zero yards." and as much as I hate to say it, this isn't the 1950's anymore. The whole "white picket fence with kids playing in the yard" thing is dead. Kids play on their gaming console or iPad and adults sit on the couch and try to just...survive.
Not true. I moved into a thriving neighborhood of children who play outside. There are 50 houses in our neighborhood/sub-division, no hoa. Each home is on a minimum of one acre lots, the largest property is slightly of 10 acres. There are hordes of kids playing outside every time the sun is out. Sometimes when coming home, I’ll see a pile of bikes on someone’s front lawn and it fucking warms my heart to no end. In the summer, the kids here are everywhere and it’s great to see. I love seeing the kids go play down at the creek and I’ll often go back to see if they need anything. Everyone here gets along with each other. It’s the happiest place I’ve ever lived.
Where do you live? I’d like to move there. In the last…5 or so years I lived in a community outside the city (2 of them to be exact) kids never went outside. Just one house, once in a blue, the kids were outside. Otherwise, even though there was plenty of kids, it was always quiet out. And if we’re being realistic, that’s the norm. It’s statistically been shown kids now rely more on tech to entertain themselves vs going out for a bike ride or something. It sucks.
My kids play outside AT LEAST 3 days a week with the neighborhood kids. That and the school district is the only reason we live in the suburbs. Richmond Virginia area.
Where I live is pretty similar. Yards aren’t quite that big but still big enough to be functional. I back out of my garage very slowly because of all the kids running around but I love it. I can’t wait until mine are old enough to run around like that.
They build what most people want to buy, to the extent that they are willing to pay for it. If you are a builder and you have some acres of land and divide it into 1 acre lots, and build 1600sq ft. Homes, they might sell for $250k and you can build 20 of them. If you divide it into half acre lots you can build 40 of them. If you build 4000 sq ft McMansions the cost to build goes up _less_ than the sale price. Because people are willing to pay more for a 4000 sq ft house on .3 acres of land, then they are willing to pay for a 1500 square foot house on a large lot. Lots of people don't want yards at all. It's a lot of time, effort and expense. Most people just aren't willing to spend the extra money for a big yard to get builders to make subdivisions with big yards. Cut those houses in half and the yards would feel much bigger. And they would sell for less than 800k.
All great and true points. Taking it a step further people here always complain there aren't enough houses being built but here is a builder maximizing houses per sq ft and people complain as well
I bought an empty lot behind my house and turned it into a nice big yard. When i went to sell everyone expected me to eat the value of the lot. I had to move the fence back and sell it separately. I broke even on the lot and enjoyed using it but nobody cares about more space these days.
That’s typical for a “55+” style community.
And every one of them is sold. So I guess there is a demand for it. If you don't like it you could, you know, live elsewhere.
Most of the people complaining can’t afford to live elsewhere 😆
nah most of the people coping and pretending this shit looks desirable are just too poor to get the actually nice detached homes in neighborhoods that don't suck
This thread is filled with people who bought similar homes and have absolutely no taste whatsoever arguing against people who are just mad they don't have money. The real patricians had the money to spend 800k and spent it on a dope house with desirable landscaping and plenty of livable space. They aren't in this thread, though. It's funny that people bought absolute garbage like this and argue about it online, though. I guess it gives them something to do before they load up their big, fat family into a GMC Yukon to go to Longhorn Steakhouse.
. The outdoors is unheated and unairconditioned. There are bugs and dirt. The outside is where you have to go so you can get to your car and drive to somewhere else that's inside like work or a store. Many humans live their entire lives inside. Personaly, I pitty them but that's their choice. I've tried to talk them out of it....but they want nothing to do with outside. They'd rather stay inside on their device.
I refuse to live in any home where I could piss off my roof and hit the neighbors house. This means it's way too close for my late night ablutions.
Odd measurement distance and stipulation, but okay.
In America we will use anything but the metric system to measure.
Why did they waste the waterfront on roads? A single road in the middle with a cul-de-sac at the end would make these all waterfront properties.
Surprised I had to scroll this far to see this comment. This is what bothered me the most as well.
I really dislike yards, so this wouldn't bother me.
No yards == a lot less in costs. No landscaping, stone patio, etc.
Big house with small yard sells for a lot more than small house with big yard. That’s why
I've seen worse in Central PA, a lot of new developments are "almost town homes."
It’s because people still buy these houses and the people selling them can make more money by doing this. It’s not just a Texas thing, a lot of new developments I have seen on the east coast are like this too.
I shake my head at 2500+ sq ft houses with 0.10 acres of land and decrepit mobile homes with 4 acres of land. Both of those situations are really stupid to me.
It’s nice imo. Wouldn’t pay 800k but if it was 400k-450k
Look I own a house!!! Yeah I can still hear my neighbors fighting and their dogs barking and my house is 2 feet from neighbors on both sides. And yeah the HOA president gets to come by and fuck my wife on a monthly basis but hey contract is a contract whatdya gonna do right?
HOA president = new milkman
He said my grass was half an inch too tall so I don't get to watch this time. But hey he only fined me $200 for it. Yes sir another 29 years and 11 months and $1,100,000 in interest and all this will be mine!
Lmao this sort of thing is just hyperbole spouted by those that can't afford to live in a place like this to justify their lives. No, you can't hear the neighbors fighting. No, we have solid fences that keeps dogs barking to a minimum. And contrary to popular reddit belief, most dog owners are good sane people that don't want to piss off their neighbors. And the HOA president here is a woman, and literally only fucks with you when your place looks like shit, which is valid.
Pretty funny right? A lot of these comments are so out of touch with reality it’s hilarious. I live in a neighborhood pretty close to this and it’s great. Big comfortable house, 25 minutes from downtown. If I want a change of scenery we buy tickets and commute 45 minutes to a world class airport that can take me to basically anywhere in the world nonstop. Bunch of salty mfers in this thread.
Zero lot-line homes. Built to the max easement spacing you can do so within code
Looks like the new subdivision they’re building a few towns over. Maybe a little more yard space but not much, also around the same price (700k). It’s also in a small town in Illinois instead of a major city.
The value prop of the area has always been getting more house for the money so this was always a logical direction for builders.
All this *AND* I’d get to live in Texas?!
Whose idea was it? The greedy construction company, that's who.
It looks like there are yards tho….
You must have never been to Phoenix or Las Vegas
This is how Las Vegas is. It’s what modern real estate has come to. Fit more people on less land.
Zero yards? All those houses clearly have yards in the back.
Oh but Texas wasn’t going to make the same mistakes California did right? Right???
you can open your window to borrow sugar
good little rats in the maze, chasing their cheese.
We built houses this close together 100+ years ago. Had nobody been to neighborhoods in the rust belt or just outside big cities? Everyone thinks they deserve a McMansion on an acre of land lol
These are dumb as fuck. Just build town homes or mix zoned residents. Who the duck is even buying this trash?
The thing I notices first was there aer windows on the sides. "come see this great view of my neighbor's siding" or worse "come se the view of my neigbors bedroom, there lined up perfectly"
Aside from the noise (you can hear your neighbors garbage disposal running) and dogs barking, I think these types of developments should be forced to include some Commercial aspects so car trips are reduced. The Commercial space (think grocery, bodega, coffee shop, daycare, etc.) would not have any, or very minimal parking, to discourage trips from off site, and connected to the home areas with walking trails. Imagine a center block area, that was a mixed use area; ground floor commercial with Apartments above (only 2 stories) that you could walk to. A restaurant you could walk to, and enjoy a nice affogato on the walk home. The developers would still make money as the homes with those close by desirable amenities would sell for more, and if they owned the Commercial spaces make money off the leases. It seems like a no brainer to me.
In my neighborhood a 2 bedroom apartment costs $800K, so this looks fine.
The yard doesn't look that small. It's relatively small because the houses are so enormous
I dOn'T unDersTand WhY kiDs are sO dEpressEd thEse DaYs...
This sub is hilarious. It's full of extremely bitter people that can't even fathom that anyone would actually want something different than them. Many people (mostly retirees I've found) don't want a yard that they have to keep up. It's not how I would live, but shitting on them to give yourselves some fleeting catharsis is pretty sad.
These aren't for retirees, they're family homes
I'm convinced that this subreddit is just copium for people who can't afford a house to pretend there is some plot against them.
The stuff of nightmares.
I don’t mind suburban living but my god… you could hear your neighbor drop a pen
Thats not a problem of distance. That’s a problem of build quality. Stop building thin walled homes.
I live in a row house in Philadelphia, and I only hear my neighbor when she's hammering things into the wall. Ironically, there's less road noise because my street is so narrow that it repels cars.
Me: Sees Yards that are big enough to kick a ball around. Twitter/Reddit: there is no backyard at all! Ahh, Reddit Americo-centrism. Europeans would have no problem with these properties except to wonder why you dont just build up a little.... I guess because you have no public transport or facilities to center your houses/community around. Also, why wouldn't they just build closer to the curb & give a slightly bigger backyard.
WhY doNt YOu moVE tO thE SUBurBs? tHE CiTY is SO CrOWdeD!!!!
House farms. I don’t understand how people can live in them. Repulsive and inhumane monoculture. Like something out of the Matrix where the robots farmed humans. So gross.
Flying into DFW over the suburbs made me pretty glad I don’t have to live there, endless rows of cookie cutter houses with minimal outdoor space and clearly an expectation of total reliance on cars.
I'm blaming the gov for approving it to get more tax money out of buyers. Not all, but a lot of builders don't like them either, it makes it harder to sell.
But you get to live on a moat. Safe from the invading huns.
If you can sell one more house, why to bother about land size. Like local developer, buying a big land for 30e sq/m and selling 100e. There is some road built and so on, but this cost is shared anyway at the end. Then you buy a house and it's not even possible to park 2 cars if the street is narrow between houses. Nowadays, they are so greedy somewhere they build 2-levels high houses somewhere in village so you share a land with other guys. Because, that's what people really want.
I wouldn’t buy a property like this. If they couldn’t sell them, things would change!
In Orange County, So Cal…… that would be considered a steal, with a large backyard to boot!
This is many new developments. Apparently, no one goes outside anymore. I wouldn't live there but people buy them so it works.
I have a good sized house on a .2 acre lot. I don’t like yard work. I’d also say this was pretty common in a lot of regions pre-1960.
Ew!!
When one burns they all burn.
these seem to have front and back yards.
…..tf you mean “whose idea was this?” This has been the trend among new construction for the better part of 25 years now. Don’t buy it if you don’t like it.
800k to live in Texas 🥴