Welcome to City-Data.com Forum!
U.S. CitiesCity-Data Forum Index
Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > Texas > Dallas
 [Register]
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
View detailed profile (Advanced) or search
site with Google Custom Search

Search Forums  (Advanced)
Reply Start New Thread
 
Old 07-17-2010, 08:13 AM
 
Location: Edmond, OK
4,030 posts, read 10,721,165 times
Reputation: 4246

Advertisements

Growing up in Dallas, rear entry was all I knew. Back then, (60's and 70's) that was the sign of an affluent neighborhood. My grandfather was a developer and home builder back then, and he would never build anything with a front entry garage, because they were not considered to be nice. They were considered to be what small, cheap, track houses had, not custom homes. We never had problems with cars fitting down the alleys, and believe me, my folks drove a couple of real land yachts.

DH and I have had homes with rear entry, detached garages in the rear with front entry driveways, front entry garages, and currently we have a side entry, because we are on a corner in a neighborhood with mostly J curve drives. Most homes in this neighborhood have circular drives, so they don't have to park extra cars in the street. But I really hate it when the drives in front of the homes are full of cars. You spend all this money to buy a pretty house and landscaping it, then you cover the entire front up with cars.

All in all, I really like the look of a neighborhood with rear entry. I've never had any problems getting in and out, and I was driving a suburban part of time I lived in one. No ugly garages and cars parked everywhere. We have always been fortunate enough though to still have large yards when we have had them. I like having an alley to separate me from the neighbors behind me. We've had 2 houses without alleys, and I hated being so close to the neighbors behind us that we could here conversations they were having in their hot tub, or that there dog chased up and down the fence the entire time we were in our yard. I also love not having to look at all the garbage cans on collection day. Our HOA has restrictions against the cans being left out front, but I still hate looking at everyones garbage on collection day, and I hate having the garbage and recycling trucks going up and down the streets. It seems like it takes them all day to collect from our neighborhood. The best we've ever had was when we were living in Midland, TX. We had rear entry garages, and instead of everyone having their own garbage cans, the city provided big industrial dumpsters behind every four houses. All you had to do was carry your trash to the alley and throw it in the dumpster. The city came and emptied it twice a week. When we first moved there I was concerned that it would smell, but we lived there twice for a total of 17 years, and never was there an odor problem, even in 110 degree heat.

There were a couple of negatives to the rear entry garages however. The first was that we had teenage kids in our neighborhood who decided driving down the alley was a shortcut of some kind. They would fly down the alley like it was street. If you were trying to back out of your driveway it could be dangerous because everyone had 6ft wooden fences. You couldn't see them coming. If it were anyone else they would be driving slowly enough to see you and stop in time. Not the kids. They managed to smack into the back of DH's car as he was backing out. The only other problem is that you don't see your neighbors as much. They come and go behind a fence. You don't see them. That said however, we've also had neighbors with front entry garages, that would push the garage door opener button from 3 houses away, pull straight into the garage, push the button again before they even opened the car door, and not get out until the door was almost closed. We could see they were home, but so what. They still never had anything to do with the neighbors.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message

 
Old 07-17-2010, 09:02 AM
 
2,348 posts, read 4,798,486 times
Reputation: 1601
Quote:
Originally Posted by debzkidz View Post
Growing up in Dallas, rear entry was all I knew. Back then, (60's and 70's) that was the sign of an affluent neighborhood. My grandfather was a developer and home builder back then, and he would never build anything with a front entry garage, because they were not considered to be nice. They were considered to be what small, cheap, track houses had, not custom homes. We never had problems with cars fitting down the alleys, and believe me, my folks drove a couple of real land yachts.

DH and I have had homes with rear entry, detached garages in the rear with front entry driveways, front entry garages, and currently we have a side entry, because we are on a corner in a neighborhood with mostly J curve drives. Most homes in this neighborhood have circular drives, so they don't have to park extra cars in the street. But I really hate it when the drives in front of the homes are full of cars. You spend all this money to buy a pretty house and landscaping it, then you cover the entire front up with cars.

All in all, I really like the look of a neighborhood with rear entry. I've never had any problems getting in and out, and I was driving a suburban part of time I lived in one. No ugly garages and cars parked everywhere. We have always been fortunate enough though to still have large yards when we have had them. I like having an alley to separate me from the neighbors behind me. We've had 2 houses without alleys, and I hated being so close to the neighbors behind us that we could here conversations they were having in their hot tub, or that there dog chased up and down the fence the entire time we were in our yard. I also love not having to look at all the garbage cans on collection day. Our HOA has restrictions against the cans being left out front, but I still hate looking at everyones garbage on collection day, and I hate having the garbage and recycling trucks going up and down the streets. It seems like it takes them all day to collect from our neighborhood. The best we've ever had was when we were living in Midland, TX. We had rear entry garages, and instead of everyone having their own garbage cans, the city provided big industrial dumpsters behind every four houses. All you had to do was carry your trash to the alley and throw it in the dumpster. The city came and emptied it twice a week. When we first moved there I was concerned that it would smell, but we lived there twice for a total of 17 years, and never was there an odor problem, even in 110 degree heat.

There were a couple of negatives to the rear entry garages however. The first was that we had teenage kids in our neighborhood who decided driving down the alley was a shortcut of some kind. They would fly down the alley like it was street. If you were trying to back out of your driveway it could be dangerous because everyone had 6ft wooden fences. You couldn't see them coming. If it were anyone else they would be driving slowly enough to see you and stop in time. Not the kids. They managed to smack into the back of DH's car as he was backing out. The only other problem is that you don't see your neighbors as much. They come and go behind a fence. You don't see them. That said however, we've also had neighbors with front entry garages, that would push the garage door opener button from 3 houses away, pull straight into the garage, push the button again before they even opened the car door, and not get out until the door was almost closed. We could see they were home, but so what. They still never had anything to do with the neighbors.

Great information here, thank you very much. This really lays out the differences nicely.

I live in NE currently and all the homes here have either side or front entry. The only reason to choose side entry over front up here is so that the house has windows instead of garage doors. Garbage cans do tend to end up in front of the houses here, and it does look crappy, but people here don't hae HOAs or tend to care. I do personally, but alot of people don't mind it. It is especially annoying because there are two trash vendors on two separate days so you get the wheeled cans out there twice a week. But again, no HOAs here and the home owning culture is very different here. One of the things I am excited to get away from.

Funny thing about here and my experience with how Texas people feel about the neighborhoods here. We live in a nice NE neighborhood, some folks from Frisco moved here into a really nice home. They were gone within a year, back to Frisco. Really validates our decision to move to Texas, can't say I blame them either. I am from MA all my life and have grown tired of it here, aside from the it being the center of communism nice towns where people take pride are just to expensive to live in.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 07-17-2010, 09:37 AM
 
Location: Texas State Fair
8,560 posts, read 11,175,603 times
Reputation: 4257
Quote:
Originally Posted by skids929 View Post
Right, this is stating the obvious..The point I am making is that there is a high percentage of newer homes in the greater Dallas area with these problems. Yes I perceive having an "alley" in my backyard to be a problem to be a problem, or another home on top of mine to be a problem, but essentially will work our way around it before we buy. But the problem is it eliminates entire Cities for us if they zone that way, which stinks.
I don't really think that preferences for some are meant to be problems for all. If alleys and rear parking are problems that aren't going away then obviously you're considering a home in the wrong area, of which you are already aware.

If you currently don't have and in the future don't buy a home with rear alley parking then no problem exists. And if a Realtor tries to show you one then you should probably change Realtor.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 07-17-2010, 10:13 AM
Tta
 
Location: lake highlands
64 posts, read 222,347 times
Reputation: 33
Quote:
Originally Posted by FarNorthDallas View Post
I'm an alley person since that's all I've had since I was 3. I like it. It seems like front entry means having to share fences with neighbors and we don't do that. I like having the cars in back. I like the trash cans in back. I like just seeing grass and trees looking down the street. Two cars can pass each other in our alley - it's wide. There is less traffic on the street because of the alleys. Also, I like the added privacy in our driveway. I can wash my car in the driveway without an audience. And I like it that me neighbors don't see my every coming and going.
I'm jealous...where are alleys that can fit 2 cars passing each other?
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 07-17-2010, 11:55 AM
 
5 posts, read 15,723 times
Reputation: 16
Boy are you right! I live in Frisco, and while I could list many great things about it, the yards SUCK! I'll be graduating in Dec. 2011 with a degree to pursue my 2nd career, and will be high-tailing it out of here as soon as I can, for that exact reason. Even if you go even farther north of Frisco like Prosper or even Celina, which is very rural, you'll find that all the homes are being built the same way, acres of open land, but new developments with all sardine lots.

Suggestion - a former boss moved to Flower Mound, and he told me (about 2 years ago) that the city was mandating all future lots be a minimum of 1 acre! So great idea to move there! It's close to Dallas for the city amenities and VERY close to the airport and a lake, Lake Lewisville (also called Lake Dallas.)

Coppell - I see someone suggested Coppell, it's also a great town, but more "uppity" snobbish. They're the ones who constantly sue homeowners for breach of HOA rules, and also the ones who led the lawsuits against the state of Texas legislation called "Robin Hood" in which the wealthier school districts were required to share some of their tax revenues with the poorer ones. Some of the extremely right-wing congressmen come from this town too, but, that's pretty much all of Texas for ya.

Sorry I don't know about Fort Worth, we considered moving there once but the job fell through. I was told by friends that it was an older town and a friendlier, neighborhoodly feel, so don't know if that translates into better yards. Fort Worth has some great downtown stuff to do, and their arts district has better dance companies, orchestras, etc. than Dallas. Their zoo is incredible too, much better than Dallas. Plus, Arlington is right next door with the major league baseball team the Dallas Rangers, Six Flags, and the Dallas Cowboys opened their new stadium there with the ability to put on huge concert shows.

Hope this helps!
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 07-17-2010, 11:58 AM
 
6,578 posts, read 25,389,549 times
Reputation: 3249
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tta View Post
I'm jealous...where are alleys that can fit 2 cars passing each other?
I live in Dallas - north of LBJ and south of the Collin County Line in the Richardson school district.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 07-17-2010, 12:17 PM
 
Location: Texas
44,256 posts, read 64,104,614 times
Reputation: 73914
If meeting your neighbors is so important, why not try to catch them at some other time instead of using the 'they snuck into their house through the rear-entry garage' excuse?

You can have garages out front without it looking crappy. It's about design and imagination. Not to mention that a lot of houses here have them as swing entry and you can't actually see the garage from the street - you have to look at the house from the side. I personally can't stand the alleys; it would depress me every time I had to drive into my house that way. But that's just a personal preference.

There are all kinds of houses and neighborhoods in the metroplex - both with and without rear-entry garages. No one has to 'eliminate an entire city' because of the rear-entry garage.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 07-17-2010, 12:22 PM
 
37,315 posts, read 59,552,891 times
Reputation: 25335
new construction -- acre lot--Flower Mound= 850K+ home price I bet...
you are not getting that size lot unless it has a 4K sq ft house and a pretty big $$$ sign
currently running a search in Flower Mound for homes built from 1999 to 2010--there are over 40--cheapest one is 500K and it was built in 2001
the newer homes say 2007--are around 700K+
so just depends on whether or not your budget goes that high
regarding Coppell:
Coppell - I see someone suggested Coppell, it's also a great town, but more "uppity" snobbish
that is really harsh and all -inclusive--
there were other districts that tried to change the Robin Hood rules and if you pay school tax you should realize that the legilature made that law to keep IT from having to dip into its own pockets to make up the substandard education that poorer districts were providing--
the problem was that "poorer" districts like the Edgewood in San Antonio were notorius for being poorly managed/run--they often spent twice as much on per diem for staff traveling to conferences as other districts that has more locally produced tax income...
maybe that was one reason they had less to spend on their own students...
The "Robin Hood plan" is just theft--the people who are taxed at their local districts do so to increase the viability and opportunities for THEIR students--and they have oversight of their local district---
I have NO OVERSIGHT for districts that might derive funding from the Robin Hood plan--I get no vote at their school board elections and if I were to complain about policies in their districts I am sure I would get noone paying attention or acting on my complaint--
so it just stinks--and the policy change that the judge who finally heard the case made did not really decrease/prevent the problems associated with the original legislature law--
it should have been thrown out as unconstitutional and the legislature should have had to come up with a new funding plan out of ITS money--not my pocket...

Last edited by loves2read; 07-17-2010 at 12:33 PM..
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 07-17-2010, 12:24 PM
 
Location: Texas
44,256 posts, read 64,104,614 times
Reputation: 73914
Yup, there are plenty of houses with a good bit of land in every part of town as long as you have the $$$.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 07-17-2010, 12:30 PM
 
6,578 posts, read 25,389,549 times
Reputation: 3249
Also, I wanted to add, our alleys are maintained by the city of Dallas. In these new areas likes Frisco, it seems like the decision was made to transfer a lot of common neighborhood expenses to homeowners via mandatory HOA's (in exchange for control) rather than it being a city expense. So the subdivision maintains ponds, entry and other common areas, typical of any neighborhood, in addition to extras like swimming pools. In our area the ponds and most of the common areas are owned by the city of Dallas and the city maintains them with money from city taxes.

Also, in our area there were a couple of neighborhood developments that did build common swimming pools - 1960s when everything was new - that the neighborhoods jointly paid for, but years later both pools were eventually sold because as neighborhoods and people age, fewer people have interest in a common swimming pool and fewer people are interested in paying for something they don't use. So, now both pools are private and anyone can join who is willing to pay (about $500/year). I wonder how things will play out in Frisco, etc. as the neighborhoods age.

Anyway, I was just thinking that the lack of alleys in the new areas may also be related to their expense and who would maintain them - the city or the HOA. It just seems like people who live in mandatory HOAs are being taxed twice - once to the city and once to the HOA - but the HOA is responsible for things cities have traditionally paid for. But, I could be wrong. I have never lived in a mandatory HOA before.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.

Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.


Reply
Please update this thread with any new information or opinions. This open thread is still read by thousands of people, so we encourage all additional points of view.

Quick Reply
Message:


Settings
X
Data:
Loading data...
Based on 2000-2020 data
Loading data...

123
Hide US histogram


Over $104,000 in prizes was already given out to active posters on our forum and additional giveaways are planned!

Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > Texas > Dallas

All times are GMT -6.

© 2005-2024, Advameg, Inc. · Please obey Forum Rules · Terms of Use and Privacy Policy · Bug Bounty

City-Data.com - Contact Us - Archive 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37 - Top