Have you noticed there are no fences in new neighborhoods?

[RoxMonster]

I think every single house on my street has a fenced back yard. With a dog, it would be an absolute deal breaker if we could not fence.

I have noticed in my city that new neighborhoods often don't have fenced yards. Not sure if it's because HOA forbids it, or if the residents just haven't gotten around to fencing yet/don't want to fence. I will say, my neighborhood has a total mish mash of fencing (some chain link, some wood privacy, some white wood low fencing, etc) and it doesn't look the greatest. But I don't care. I would still rather have fences.

[demelza]

I've noticed new housing developments around here often don't have fences for their backyards. I always thought that was weird especially if you are a dog person - fences are awesome. I always figured they wanted their backyards to appear larger than they are.

[bugandbibs]

In our neighborhood about 95% of the house have backyard fences and around 20% have a fenced front yard. I believe the rule is that fences within 30ft of the street can't be over 3.5 ft.

[aimeedyan]

Our previous house, in Texas, was new construction and a 6 ft privacy fence was standard on all homes. Course... the lifespan on those are just not that long and people typically suck at maintaining (and they come down way too easily in high winds!) so they often look tacky.

Here in North Carolina, we've seen a mix of fences when house hunting. Our neighborhood was built in late 70s and split rail is the norm. I've seen 1 house with a privacy fence but that's it. Not everyone has one, though, but most seem to.

I wasn't sure I'd like the split rail since it doesn't really offer any privacy but we have so many trees and a large lot that it doesn't bother me at all.

Fence is necessity for us due to dogs. The first house we were under contract with had no fence and we were putting one in before we moved in. That deal was a no-go and we bought a house that had one already, thankfully. They are pricey!!

[Norticprincess]

We ruled out one builder when we were looking. Any development thy were doing the fences were a max of 36". I laughed at them and asked how we were suppose to contain the dog with a fence I could step over, the dog could jump. Same one had options for houses without garages, but didn't allow sheds. It was very odd.

[jackie011]

We put in a fence almost a year after building our house. The only HOA (which I consider more of a group of people who just get together to keep up on what's going on around the 'hood, but I know there are plenty of uppity types who view it as a much bigger deal) rule stated no chain link fences. Without kids or pets it wasn't a high priority on our list. But, we were approached by a group of homeowners who were all planning to install fences and asked if we wanted to join in. We did it, figuring it would be cheaper that way than any other way, and have never regretted it. I like that five houses in a row all have the same fence material, and it looks great! I kind of wish the HOA did require this type of fencing because the few people on our side of the street that do not have the same fence really stand out.

As for no fences, it may be a cost issue. My aunt & uncle live in a pretty fancy subdivision on a CC golf course. We were there one weekend and I realized all of the neighbors had dogs and the dogs were all outside, but no one had a fence. She said no one had a fence because the only fences allowed in this neighborhood were wrought iron fences and they are super expensive (coming from a woman who owns a $650,000+ home in the midwest).

A friend installed a fence in her neighborhood, despite the fact that the HOA repeatedly told her not to install a fence and threatened a law suit.  Guess what- three years later they are still battling.  It's insane!!