Probably my favorite thing about my neighborhood is that it does not have a bunch of rules.
Prior to this, we lived in a townhome community where you had to ask permission to even plant a shrub in your front border.
I understand the need to control the community more tightly when the houses all touch each other, but I am still glad to be free of that!
Of course, this comes with some downsides; because there are no rules, some of the houses in my neighborhood are sort of a disaster. A tightly-run community association would crack down on that in a hurry.
But the upside is that we are free to do whatever we want (as long as we’re not breaking laws) on our property. We can plant bushes, take down trees, paint our door whatever color we want, add a fire pit, build a fence, and so on.
And also, we don’t have to pay community association fees. My frugal heart likes that.
So, overall I think that the upsides outweigh the downsides.
We do have an HOA, but it is only $100/year and in Florida, I don’t think it is all bad as houses can get moldy, overgrown, etc. VERY quickly.
My favorite thing is that our neighborhood is on a main road, but a quarter mile back from that road and there is only one entrance and exit. So, we don’t get a lot of through traffic and it is a great place to walk. It is an even mile if you walk around the outside perimeter which is perfect for a nerd like me. 😉
I like that we have Live Oak trees in our yard. Our neighborhood itself is pretty standard Florida………
That my closest next-door neighbor on our side of the country road is more than a mile away? Just kidding. The view. But we have the view because there are no houses to obstruct it.
There are no rules in our neighborhood, either. 🙂
I don’t really have a neighborhood, in any case, but one advantage to where we live is that it’s only 1/4 mile from the paved road, and the post office. My husband has to have a post office nearby for his work, and the paved road being so close means we have high-speed internet. Some of the women I know who live on some of the more-remote ranches have to drive up to 23 miles of “ranch road,” which means unimproved dirt, just to get to a paved road. And then another 20 miles or so to get anywhere on the paved road. Now THAT is rural.
No rules for us either! We live in the mountains. They are mostly 5 or 10 acre plots. 15 years ago we live in a neighborhood with a tiny yard. It wasn’t for us.
One of my favorite things about the neighborhood is also one of my least favorite things: We live right on a main road. On the plus side, we never have to worry about long delays because of snow, downed trees, etc., because our road is considered priority. On the other hand, because it’s a main road, cars zip by at top speed so we have to be extremely careful pulling out.
We live just outside our city limit on about 13 acres…great because our road is paved and we can get anywhere in town in about 10-15 minutes…also ours is a dead end road so not as much traffic as otherwise. Two downsides…(1) there is a lumber mill across the road just up from us so log trucks drive near us but not past and (2) someone is building a house within sight of our house (approximately 200 yards) on a half acre that is surrounded by the edge of our property. We do love that the back of our house faces our woods and we have lots of big windows so we have a great view all year round.
No rules in our neighborhood, either, and we appreciate that, as my husband has a race car, and I have a sailboat, and we have trailers in our driveway and an additional detached garage, things that aren’t allowed in most of the neighborhoods near us with covenants and HOAs.
When we moved here we wanted to live more out in the country, but God provided a home near the edge of town. There are a number of things I’ve grown to love about it! We have sidewalks that make it easy to go on walks with strollers or wagons or little kid tricycles. We’re a mile from a park with a pond that has geese and ducks every summer and a mile from a park with a playground. We are maybe half a mile from a small college and in the summer it provides a beautiful place to walk to with the kids for a picnic and to play outside.
My favorite thing about my 1960-ish, edge of suburbia neighborhood is…
the NEIGHBORS! Now, when I mention how some really let their properties go without maintenance, some pretty serious substance abuse and mental illnesses, some “groups” who can’t seem to get along with others, it might sound negative. But, as people, most are really cool. We moved here 35 years ago, thinking it would be a “starter home”, but ended up staying. My two closest neighbors have been here years longer. Behind me, is a new young family, who raise chickens! We, as a neighborhood, are learning to appreciate some differences, to accept that we might not look alike or talk alike, but we can borrow a cup of sugar, watch out for and help each other. It’s nice, and I’m grateful.
We have an HOA but I think its been somewhat shuttered over the pandemic. The upside is that people have more time at home to spruce up their yards and such. I like that my house is is a nice neighborhood for the part of Austin I am in, convenient to many places, and will sell for a bundle when we decide to boogie. Which will be in the next couple of years – hello, country life!
I love the street names in my neighborhood, they are flower/tree themed. I live on Magnolia and surrounding streets are Lilac, Azalea, Evergreen…..