Garages along alleys in Dallas area (Grapevine, Atlanta: fit in, HOA, crimes)

[Soccernerd]

Why do most of the houses in some of the north suburbs have attached garages that back up to alleys? Older houses by me have detached garages that are accessed by alleys. Subdivisions of all ages in the northern suburbs have them. Other locations in DFW do not. What are the reasons for having them? They seemed kind of interesting, but it seems like it'd promote a lot more on street parking (which I do not really like). They ultimately don't seem to make any difference.

[TeamLynn]

Bonus for the garage/ally homes is it seems to keep the fronts cleaner....you don't see as much street parking, but depends on the neighborhood and age....get 4 drivers at home and 2 cars go in the street. So that's typically when they're about 20 years old...

When you have front enter for sure everyone parks in front or on the street....this tends to make it look busier/dirtier/ you see the trash bins out on trash day and other days.

I think sometimes the front entry neighborhoods are more friendly though...people see each other...know what kind of cars each other drive, etc. I've lived for 30 years in a couple of different ally garage nieghborhoods and have a few neighbors I've never seen once.

[CMC_TX]

Originally Posted by Soccernerd

Why do most of the houses in some of the north suburbs have attached garages that back up to alleys? Older houses by me have detached garages that are accessed by alleys. Subdivisions of all ages in the northern suburbs have them. Other locations in DFW do not. What are the reasons for having them? They seemed kind of interesting, but it seems like it'd promote a lot more on street parking (which I do not really like). They ultimately don't seem to make any difference.

The alleys have an aesthetic benefit in that they keep the front elevation of the home cleaner without a large portion being a driveway and garage door. You also avoid seeing trash out front on garbage day.

As suburbs age, the miles of alleys do pose a maintenance nightmare when they reach the point of requiring repair. Unless the neighborhood is gated, maintenance is the responsibility of the city, so you're adding miles of concrete that will deteriorate and require attention.

Crimes of opportunity are easier to commit with alleys since it's easier to go into an open garage without being noticed etc.

I do think households with teen drivers either have to play car musical chairs with an alley or have some cars parked in front, which I'm not a fan of. To avoid this issue, I chose to move to a heavily regulated HOA community with parking restrictions, which is really all you can do if that sort of thing is bothersome.

[ChristieP]

Grapevine has no alleys due to the maintenance and upkeep.

[WorldKlas]

I think homes are more attractive-looking if the garage cannot be viewed from the street; obviously many agree because of the huge amount of rear entry garages in the DFW metro area.

[UnfairPark]

I've lived in homes with all three types of garages, front, alley and j swing. I think it all depends upon how good is the neighborhood, what's an issue in a lower end neighborhood, is usually a non-issue in higher end ones. My personal favorite is j-swing, best of both worlds.

If street parking bothers you then important thing is to be in a neighborhood where every house has 3-4 garages and HOA restricts street parking.

[Soccernerd]

Originally Posted by TeamLynn

Bonus for the garage/ally homes is it seems to keep the fronts cleaner....you don't see as much street parking, but depends on the neighborhood and age....get 4 drivers at home and 2 cars go in the street. So that's typically when they're about 20 years old...

When you have front enter for sure everyone parks in front or on the street....this tends to make it look busier/dirtier/ you see the trash bins out on trash day and other days.

I think sometimes the front entry neighborhoods are more friendly though...people see each other...know what kind of cars each other drive, etc. I've lived for 30 years in a couple of different ally garage nieghborhoods and have a few neighbors I've never seen once.

Originally Posted by CMC_TX

The alleys have an aesthetic benefit in that they keep the front elevation of the home cleaner without a large portion being a driveway and garage door. You also avoid seeing trash out front on garbage day.

It might look more attractive, but wouldn't it take away area from one's already small backyard?

Originally Posted by WorldKlas

I think homes are more attractive-looking if the garage cannot be viewed from the street; obviously many agree because of the huge amount of rear entry garages in the DFW metro area.

Originally Posted by UnfairPark

I've lived in homes with all three types of garages, front, alley and j swing. I think it all depends upon how good is the neighborhood, what's an issue in a lower end neighborhood, is usually a non-issue in higher end ones. My personal favorite is j-swing, best of both worlds.

If street parking bothers you then important thing is to be in a neighborhood where every house has 3-4 garages and HOA restricts street parking.

My family and I are actually moving to Atlanta, but Dallas was our runner-up. Perhaps if I had to do it all over again, I would have moved to Dallas after college because I think it's a great place to build a career.

Anyways. We're looking at houses in Atlanta with three car garages in preparation for when the kids have one (which they will have to share in high school). Not only do I want our cars to be inside at night, but I think it looks kind of bad to park cars on the street. There are HOA rules in our current neighborhood in St. Louis that forbid nighttime street parking, and I'm sure it'll be easy to find such neighborhoods with HOAs in Metro Atlanta that do the same.

[Soonhun]

A garage takes away from either the front yard or the backyard. I don't think most people care about which.

[BigDGeek]

Originally Posted by Soccernerd

Why do most of the houses in some of the north suburbs have attached garages that back up to alleys? Older houses by me have detached garages that are accessed by alleys. Subdivisions of all ages in the northern suburbs have them. Other locations in DFW do not. What are the reasons for having them? They seemed kind of interesting, but it seems like it'd promote a lot more on street parking (which I do not really like). They ultimately don't seem to make any difference.

Our alley means a clean frontage for our home (without it being marred by a 2-car garage or driveway) and privacy for when we want to have our garage door up all day while we're cleaning or doing work outside.


It also means we don't have trash bags/bins sitting out front twice a week.

[Aggielina]

Originally Posted by TeamLynn

I think sometimes the front entry neighborhoods are more friendly though...people see each other...know what kind of cars each other drive, etc. I've lived for 30 years in a couple of different ally garage nieghborhoods and have a few neighbors I've never seen once.

I moved into my first rear garage house 3 years ago. I won't say I love it, but it's not as bad as I thought. And instead of seeing all my neighbors from the front, we just happen to meet them in the back!

I agree that the garbage cans in the back makes the neighborhood look nicer. We had to put ours out front last year for about a month while the city was reconstructing our streets and the garbage trucks couldn't access the alleys. It really did look bad.

For me, the worst thing about back alleys is worrying about my kids running into them. The fences block the view, so you can't see if a car is coming. I've been very tempted to get a gate across the driveway. A friend told me about a 6 yo she knew who ran into the alley to get a ball and was hit and killed by a car. Now I'm super vigilant when I'm out back with my kids.