Is Berm in the backyard a bad thing or not? (houses, subdivision)

[lanjingling]

New to this forum and we think any advice/input in advance...

We are checking out some lots on west cary for a new construction, however in the subdivision we like the only lots left all have a berm in the back of the backyard(I had to google around to find what exactly is a "berm", at first we thought it is some kinda hill). The berm is 10 ft high and occupies almost 1/4 of the lot...

Now is this a bad thing? I guess the berm definitely is not as good as a wooded lot, but perhaps we can plant some flowers/shrubs to make it pretty? How about resale? Will most people actually dislike this feature...?

[mdp_az]

I'm not sure the berm is such a bad thing, but the red flag a berm throws up to me is what its hiding. Take a good look at what's on the other side of that berm and then decide if its worth it.

[Lindsey_Mcfarren]

You also have to consider how water is going to drain, if its going to come spilling down the berm onto your foundation then thats not so good. Personally I would rather have something more level or the use you can get out of it is limited

[sacredgrooves]

Originally Posted by mdp_az

I'm not sure the berm is such a bad thing, but the red flag a berm throws up to me is what its hiding. Take a good look at what's on the other side of that berm and then decide if its worth it.

I looked at a nice house with a berm in the back a few months ago...went up to the 2nd floor and looked out and it was blocking off the view of an old run-down cemetary lol.

One thing to make sure of is if the yard will have a nice swale to take water away as it rolls down the berm and towards your house.

[sneezecake]

Is the berm that way because it's the moved dirt from grading a sloped lot to flatten the front? If so, it takes away from the effective yard area BUT chances are there may be another house above that lot looking down on it, in which case you can plant trees on top of the berm and increase privacy.

It's not better than flat, but it's better than nothing - we looked at several lots with varying degrees of berm in them.

The other thing you can do is build very nice terraced planters/walls up the side of it.

[anonymous]

The only reason I can think of to build a berm is to keep an area from flooding. We've used berms to dam up steams and creeks on our property.

So if you buy a house on the other side of a berm, you're probably in a floodplain.

[DanielChang]

Many houses have berms if they back up to another street. It's not so much as for flooding as for privacy, so that you can use your backyard. Personally, I prefer it to backing up to my neighbor's backyard. I like the berm.

[anonymous]

Oh. We must be talking about two different things. The only "berm" I'm familiar with is synonymous with an earthen dam.

[lanjingling]

Thanks so much for all your quick replies! They do help to ease my mind a bit...
I'm guessing the berm I'm talking about is a slope of dirt for privacy..since on the other side of the berms are also just house lots in same situation as the lot we are interested in...the slope/berm kinda makes a very thick "wall" between two rows of home lots...

so in summary the bad sides are:
1. it takes away good yard sqft
2. it is not as good as wooded buffer

good sides are:
1. it adds privacy
2...can't think of another point...

so overall it is not such a bad thing....?

[JQ Public]

Not really sure about it, but you may want to watch out on how water may flow around it? Don't want water getting into the house?!