Our new neighbors and their house layout decisions.

[boiler717]

There's a house two doors down from us that's framed out. They are super close to the creek and woods, so they could have some awesome views. It's the side of the house that backs up to the creek and woods.

First floor, two rooms next to the woods -- living room and office. Put windows on walls NOT facing the woods (street view an backyard and instead).

Upstairs, the put their master on the opposite side of the woods, giving themselves views of their neighbors. The kids bedrooms have the same backyard/street windows and zero wood/creek views.

The basement is where it gets really bad. The walkout is on the side, but by the front of the house, right next to the retaining wall. So you have to walk around the entire side of the house to get to the backyard. In the middle of the side, instead of tons of windows to take advantage of the gorgeous views, is a windowless bathroom!!!! Which chops up the entire basement. Then there is one small window.

They paid $40k extra to have this lot and probably $10k more to have a walk out. I think they threw that money away with their layout decisions. What do you guys think?

[thewop]

Huh. So does the kitchen/dining room face the woods? Maybe they're a family that spends most of their time in the kitchen?

[munkii]

I love looking at my neighbors and retaining walls. Nothing quite as beautiful.

[april37]

So weird. What a waste of a nice lot.

[boiler717]

Feb 18, 2013 10:10:54 GMT -5 thewop said:

Huh. So does the kitchen/dining room face the woods? Maybe they're a family that spends most of their time in the kitchen?

No, dining room faces the street. Kitchen faces neighbors.

[boiler717]

Basically all their windows look into their one neighbors (not us, we are two doors down) or the street. They have no neighbors on the side that faces the woods/creek and did no windows on the first or second floor. In the basement they did the walkout next to a retaining wall and a small window. The basement is super dark for a walkout because the walkout is blocked by the bathroom.

[TBM]

Feb 18, 2013 10:18:43 GMT -5 april37 said:

So weird. What a waste of a nice lot.

My thoughts exactly.

[boiler717]

And the walkout essentially goes out to a cliff. You have about 4-5 feet of space before the sharp cliff. I need to go back over and take pics for you guys!

[Deleted]

It's weird, but did they have grade issues or something that prohibited them from a better layout.

Also, everyone is different. Maybe they were thinking with street view they'd be able to keep a better eye on their kids out and about in the neighborhood. Or like Wop said they spend most of their time in the kitchen and wanted to face the woods then? When we built we hit gravel and clay which is a good thing but it kind of changed which way our house could sit.


I have a great view out all my windows (perk of the country). However, it's backwards a bit. My kitchen should be facing the front so I have a great view of the prairie/fields/gravel roads and my LR and office should face the barnyard instead. However, I wanted it reversed. I spend the most time in my kitchen and wanted to be able to see the coming and goings easily. Also, has my kids get older and we get a sunroom, they can run right off the patio door into the backyard to play or over to the farmyard to do whatever, without having to be in the front yard by the road. I also didn't want to be staring at my work from the LR although most people here would love that. As a result of this, our laundry room/bathroom looks kiddy corner into my MILS bathroom. It's not bad or obvious, but it's not right either.

I guess my point is, they have to live there..so if they're happy whatever.

[pitterwoo]

It sounds awful! They will probably regret it after they've moved in. Some people are just terrible at visualizing.

[boiler717]

Dairy, that's true about everyone having different priorities. My rationale last night was that they must be putting in an awesome wrap around porch so they didn't care about widows in the basement because the view would then be obstructed. I'll keep you guys posted.

[emjacobs]

I really don't see what the big problem is. It isn't the floorplan that you would have chosen but it is the one that they chose. If it just framed out how are you 100% sure where everything is going? You couldn't tell things definitively while our house was framed out for a while unless you had the blueprints. And even then things looked strange.

Maybe their layout is to best benefit their lifestyle / needs. Where does the sun rise / set in relation to having windows facing the woods? I don't know if having a ton of windows overlooking the woods and having a ton of blaring morning light is that great.

I guess I just don't understand the amount of judgement when you don't have to live there and don't know the reasons why they did what they did.

[Deleted]

Feb 18, 2013 10:53:56 GMT -5 boiler717 said:

Dairy, that's true about everyone having different priorities. My rationale last night was that they must be putting in an awesome wrap around porch so they didn't care about widows in the basement because the view would then be obstructed. I'll keep you guys posted.

Yeah, that could be true too. I'm not gonna lie, what you posted sounds dumb in my head too but I'm just trying to rationalize their thought process. I'm the weird one out on here a lot of times too, but I have reasoning so I always try to see the other side.

My patio door is in a stupid spot as well (so much so that people have commented) but it'll make more sense once my sunroom comes off of it and the deck wraps around the back of my house.

[boiler717]

My post was judgmental, but I was hoping to also get discussion going. I thought Diary had some awesome points about seeing kids etc. I liked the points about light. The woods are on the east side, so they are also missing on morning light. Most windows are on the street side, which faces north. I think splitting up the basement is a good idea, I just wouldn't split up light in a walkout.

I also think it's a pretty big deal if a neighbor makes poor layout decisions that essentially waste tens of thousands of dollars. Yes, I don't have to live with it. But if they sell their house before us, the value goes down. That reduces the comps for us. I think in any new neighborhood people are pretty concerned about how the house are coming in around them to make sure they are of similar value to theirs.

[auntie]

That is wacked.

I used to live in a house that was on a creek and had a park to the side. These were formerly summer "camps" and strangely close to one another.

My kitchen faced the street, which was sort of alley-like; I had the side window that overlooked the neighbor's bathroom removed when I re-did the kitchen- I'd spent one too many mornings looking at my neighbor's ass decend on his toilet. Seriously, who hangs a full length double hung window behind a toilet?

DS's room faced the street and park. LR faced the park/creek. Sunporch and MBR faced the creek/park. Family room (first floor) faced creek/park with exit into the largest part of the lot.

[teeah22]

Feb 18, 2013 12:05:34 GMT -5 boiler717 said:

My post was judgmental, but I was hoping to also get discussion going. I thought Diary had some awesome points about seeing kids etc. I liked the points about light. The woods are on the east side, so they are also missing on morning light. Most windows are on the street side, which faces north. I think splitting up the basement is a good idea, I just wouldn't split up light in a walkout.

I also think it's a pretty big deal if a neighbor makes poor layout decisions that essentially waste tens of thousands of dollars. Yes, I don't have to live with it. But if they sell their house before us, the value goes down. That reduces the comps for us. I think in any new neighborhood people are pretty concerned about how the house are coming in around them to make sure they are of similar value to theirs.

Sorry but this sounds kind of petty and like a way to justify being judgmental.  Maybe they are building their "forever" home and don't plan on ever selling it.

[Deleted]

Boiler I do like you a lot. I knew you were up for a discussion only.

I'm also with the PP. I'm fully aware house values and what your neighbors do are a big deal. However, if you're in the same development, with a similiar style house, similiar moneywise etc. I highly doubt their layout is going to affect your property all that much. It takes all kinds. Everyone is different. Maybe they'll live there forever, maybe they won't. Maybe the next buyer thinks they like do along with 3 others and they'll be a huge bidding war over that house down the line. It's not like they parked a trailer on a mud lot. KWIM? It's all relative. And just because it's not for you and literally stupid to a lot of people doesn't mean someone else won't love it.

[boiler717]

I'm sure they will love their home. But does that mean we can't talk about in a D&R board either? I would never say something to them about it or anything like that, goodness.

[boiler717]

Feb 18, 2013 12:53:50 GMT -5 @callmefia said:

Feb 18, 2013 12:45:17 GMT -5 teeah22 said:

Sorry but this sounds kind of petty and like a way to justify being judgmental.  Maybe they are building their "forever" home and don't plan on ever selling it.

Not only this, but it's a risk you take when building in a development. I don't know how many times I've read about builders going under and the lots get sold off, then all the sudden you have $500K homes with $200K homes popping up by Wayne or Ryan. We only considered lots in established neighborhoods because of this, although we would have been the Wayne or Ryan home anyway. 

Definitely. It's already happened once in this neighborhood. Our house and this house are considered junk by my next door neighbor. But we have less than 20 lots left and it's the fastest growing neighborhood in the country for the developer so I doubt they are selling it off any time soon.

[thewop]

Feb 18, 2013 13:59:48 GMT -5 boiler717 said:

I'm sure they will love their home. But does that mean we can't talk about in a D&R board either? I would never say something to them about it or anything like that, goodness.

  It's not that we can't talk about it, we surely can, but it kind of seems like you're quicker to attack and judge than to get a different perspective, KWIM? 

[emjacobs]

Feb 18, 2013 13:59:48 GMT -5 boiler717 said:

I'm sure they will love their home. But does that mean we can't talk about in a D&R board either? I would never say something to them about it or anything like that, goodness.

We can absolutely discuss it, by you didn't pose this as a lets discuss layouts, you plopped that information in dripping with judgement and opinions on how they are being idiots, they are stupid, and wrong.  It is hard to offer differing opinions when the OP has formed an opinion and is quick to pass judgement.

Also several of us live in houses, or have built houses, with 'poor layouts' and while I might not speak for everyone, I know for me it makes me feel like I couldn't post about by layout without having to worry that someone is going to judge the crap out of it and its lack of benefit to my neighborhood comps.

There is a difference in posting about a blog and something that they did that you don't agree with / like and posting about someone that you know that didn't offer all of their information to be talked about online.  These people don't know that their house is being talked about, and here you are talking about taking pictures and putting them online? Man if I stumbled upon pictures of my house on a forum that was posted by someone in my neighborhood I don't think it would give me a great opinion of the type of people that I live near .

Maybe I got the wrong feel from this today, maybe I took a bitch pill, I dunno.  Just my opinion.

[TBM]

It will be interesting to see what the house is like once it is finished.

In all of our house hunting, we have been seeing a lot of 'those' houses that don't make sense to us, where they have a great lot or great view and the house doesn't relate to it in any way that makes it seem worth the money to us.

In all likelihood, we are the people who probably are mostly likely to not make sense to other people. At first glance, anyway...I am actually extremely logical and think things through so that when people see it/walk through it/whatever, it makes sense.

[mrslch]

Well...this took a strange turn.

[thewop]

Feb 18, 2013 14:43:58 GMT -5 mrslch said:

Well...this took a strange turn.

LOL! It certainly did!

[boiler717]

Feb 18, 2013 14:29:49 GMT -5 emjacobs said:

Feb 18, 2013 13:59:48 GMT -5 boiler717 said:

I'm sure they will love their home. But does that mean we can't talk about in a D&R board either? I would never say something to them about it or anything like that, goodness.

We can absolutely discuss it, by you didn't pose this as a lets discuss layouts, you plopped that information in dripping with judgement and opinions on how they are being idiots, they are stupid, and wrong.  It is hard to offer differing opinions when the OP has formed an opinion and is quick to pass judgement.

Also several of us live in houses, or have built houses, with 'poor layouts' and while I might not speak for everyone, I know for me it makes me feel like I couldn't post about by layout without having to worry that someone is going to judge the crap out of it and its lack of benefit to my neighborhood comps.

There is a difference in posting about a blog and something that they did that you don't agree with / like and posting about someone that you know that didn't offer all of their information to be talked about online.  These people don't know that their house is being talked about, and here you are talking about taking pictures and putting them online? Man if I stumbled upon pictures of my house on a forum that was posted by someone in my neighborhood I don't think it would give me a great opinion of the type of people that I live near .

Maybe I got the wrong feel from this today, maybe I took a bitch pill, I dunno.  Just my opinion.

I agree I could have framed it better. I did say "what do you guys think?" in my post in hopes if generating discussion though.

My comment about my neighbors house is in no way judgement in on your house or anyone else's, though. It's a little unfair to punish me for someone taking my comments personally when they were really specific to the lot and house (not even a "ORB is so tacky!" type of thing that can offend others). I really felt like this was a specific type of criticism to the lot that wouldn't make other people feel judged, so I'm sorry you did.

I didn't call them idiots or stupid. I did say it was "really bad."

And even though I said I would take pics, it was more in jest. I would not do it. I had my phone with me when I was there and didn't take any.

[boiler717]

Feb 18, 2013 14:49:36 GMT -5 @callmefia said:

emjacobs I am right there with you. Many times I am uncomfortable posting about stuff because people pass judgement on homes that are far nicer than mine. It might be due to my oak kitchen or laminate counters in my bathrooms. Or maybe it's the cheap laminate flooring.
Or you know, my eventual kid will have cognitive defects because I followed my own Dr's advice.
It's always something...

Oh FFS. Differing opinions =/= judgment.

[emjacobs]

Feb 18, 2013 14:59:18 GMT -5 boiler717 said:

Feb 18, 2013 14:29:49 GMT -5 emjacobs said:

We can absolutely discuss it, by you didn't pose this as a lets discuss layouts, you plopped that information in dripping with judgement and opinions on how they are being idiots, they are stupid, and wrong.  It is hard to offer differing opinions when the OP has formed an opinion and is quick to pass judgement.

Also several of us live in houses, or have built houses, with 'poor layouts' and while I might not speak for everyone, I know for me it makes me feel like I couldn't post about by layout without having to worry that someone is going to judge the crap out of it and its lack of benefit to my neighborhood comps.

There is a difference in posting about a blog and something that they did that you don't agree with / like and posting about someone that you know that didn't offer all of their information to be talked about online.  These people don't know that their house is being talked about, and here you are talking about taking pictures and putting them online? Man if I stumbled upon pictures of my house on a forum that was posted by someone in my neighborhood I don't think it would give me a great opinion of the type of people that I live near .

Maybe I got the wrong feel from this today, maybe I took a bitch pill, I dunno.  Just my opinion.

I agree I could have framed it better. I did say "what do you guys think?" in my post in hopes if generating discussion though.

My comment about my neighbors house is in no way judgement in on your house or anyone else's, though. It's a little unfair to punish me for someone taking my comments personally when they were really specific to the lot and house (not even a "ORB is so tacky!" type of thing that can offend others). I really felt like this was a specific type of criticism to the lot that wouldn't make other people feel judged, so I'm sorry you did.

I didn't call them idiots or stupid. I did say it was "really bad."

And even though I said I would take pics, it was more in jest. I would not do it. I had my phone with me when I was there and didn't take any.

So you will post judgement on someone that you don't know that lives in your neighborhood but not about someone you don't know that posts on a forum?  Actions speak louder than words and when you criticize something even if you say "Oh but I would never say that about you!" the other person will think that you would do the same behind their back if they fall into the category.

Ex. You are out with a friend and she judges some random person about their weight and then says "Oh but you look great!" you are going to think that they are still secretly judging.

[boiler717]

Feb 18, 2013 15:04:07 GMT -5 emjacobs said:

Feb 18, 2013 14:59:18 GMT -5 boiler717 said:

I agree I could have framed it better. I did say "what do you guys think?" in my post in hopes if generating discussion though.

My comment about my neighbors house is in no way judgement in on your house or anyone else's, though. It's a little unfair to punish me for someone taking my comments personally when they were really specific to the lot and house (not even a "ORB is so tacky!" type of thing that can offend others). I really felt like this was a specific type of criticism to the lot that wouldn't make other people feel judged, so I'm sorry you did.

I didn't call them idiots or stupid. I did say it was "really bad."

And even though I said I would take pics, it was more in jest. I would not do it. I had my phone with me when I was there and didn't take any.

So you will post judgement on someone that you don't know that lives in your neighborhood but not about someone you don't know that posts on a forum?  Actions speak louder than words and when you criticize something even if you say "Oh but I would never say that about you!" the other person will think that you would do the same behind their back if they fall into the category.

Ex. You are out with a friend and she judges some random person about their weight and then says "Oh but you look great!" you are going to think that they are still secretly judging.

I said my post was judgmental of my neighbors. Not yours. You are implying that my comment about not having windows on a good view means I am judging your floor plan, which I know nothing about. That is what doesn't make sense to me.

Yes, I will probably continue to think anyone who spends $40k extra to have a house next to a picturesque creek and woods and can't see it from their home wasted at least some of that money.

[moolarkey]

I see that with waterfront houses, we're near a large river. I never understand people that build on the water and then don't make the wall that faces the water all windows . I'm sure it makes sense to them but it doesn't to me.

[pitterwoo]

This is weird. Maybe they have a good reason for their choices and maybe they will love it and live there forever and ever, but I think that it is very common that people spend all their time looking at floor plans but don't pay attention to site situation. These people may have just been happy to get this good lot facing the woods and never thought again about making sure that they specifically had the views that they want.

I've never built, but it seems like there are a million decisions to make that you might not even think about until it's too late. If these people, hypothetically did pick a bad layout because they weren't thinking about views I wouldn't think they are idiots at all. It's just an overwhelming process.