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Cul-de-sacs

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Ariba

Senior Member
Joined
Feb 8, 2004
Professional Status
Certified Residential Appraiser
State
Colorado
Promoted as reducing traffic and providing safety for children, cul-de-sacs are now being looked at as barriers that keep neighbors from knowning each other.

How do you feel about cul-de-sacs. :question:

A new lok at cul-de-sacs]A new look at cul-de-sacs[/URL]

Ron :lol:
http://www.AppraiserPlus.com
 
Ron - you know as well as I do that it really wouldn't matter if it was a cul-de-sac or a through street - all it takes is one A-Hole to start a war - that's what that sounds like. I've bought on cul-de-sacs and/or deadend streets for 30 years and never had a problem, except for that neighbors wife that almost busted into the house screaming and then grabbed a hold of me and wouldn't let go. Dang drugs wore off of her too soon. Good thing since I was married at the time and my wife was right there. :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:
 
This paragraph caught my eye.

""You can't live on a cul-de-sac in Highlands Ranch and not expect to see kids playing," resident Susan Hook is quoted as saying. "They ought to move somewhere where there aren't any kids."


I thought of the 55+ neighborhoods. The ones where you can legally discriminate
againts families with kids and people younger than 55.

Seems like a Kids only 55 or younger are in order. Do this and watch the old gummers start whining about that!

Dont be fooled by the cities like Charlotte, NC on there motives. They are doing there best to stifle suburban living and push people into high density urban centers using mass transit. There is a big fight going on here now over light rail. We dont want it and city fathers do!
 
Otis has it about right as far as I can see. I've never particularly liked them, but it is appraiser bais not market study - the lot sizes are hard to calculate - ;)

I also think that you tend to get a smaller lot with a cul-de-sac in this market. So... here's the thing, some people prefer a smaller lot. There's less to mow.

Another disadvantage is for party people. The number of cars that can park directly in front of your house is more limited than on a straight street. Driveways are also shorter making for less parking there, too (the advantage of that is less snow to shovel). I've seen cul-de-sacs where there were teenagers and the cars were routinely parked in the middle of the circle.

All in all, I have never found anything to indicate that they are either more or less marketable than homes on straight streets. Some people prefer them and some don't. As far as I can tell in this market there is no real overall difference. Of course, one of the reasons developers like them is that you can get a few more lots out of your parcel - especially if it is odd shaped to begin with.

I have noticed that most of the newest subdivisions around here are either square blocks or the more upscale wandering streets. Have seen a few cul-de-sacs used in those subdivisions, but have not seen a new subdivision around here that was all or even mostly culs.

Herein is one of the biggest bugaboos in appraising. You have to put your personal prejudices and preferences aside. I would not buy one, Eric would; niether thing has anything at all to do with appraising the property that is on one.
 
:rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

That is the most hillarious bunch of crap I've ever heard. Goes to show what happens when developers and city planners try to ponder pshycoanalysis. (sp?)

The shape of the streets has absolutely nothing to do with people's petty, self involved attitudes these days. The world we live in is not going to be simply transformed back into Wally and Beaver's neighborhood by changing the shape of the lots and installing front porches. What dribble!!!

How's about we start by considering the Mom's that used to stay home with Johnny and Suzie. They're there during the day, it was just natural that eventually the women met each other and often became cordial. When people moved into the neighborhood, they often got a welcome from the rest of the neighbors and goodies to make them feel at home. There were far fewer 'whackos' to worry about, no one even knew the term sex offender. Kids could safely hang out until the street lights came on playing kick the can or hide and seek. Trick or treating door to door was commonplace and no one worried about poisoned candy or kidnapped children (not until the 70's it did seem to become an issue).

Nowadays, both spouses work. There's hockey/soccer/baseball etc. practice wherever it can be squeezed into schedules, play dates (for cripes sake, we gotta pencil these in???), and so much else soaking up whatever precious little free time we do have, no one gets forced into talking to that guy across the street and realizing he's a human. No one has the backbone to take an issue that rubs them the wrong way directly to the person. Being diplomatic and adult is not a consideration. We weasles would rather pick up the phone and whine and gossip to the head of the HOA about the usually miniscule problems.

Take a look at your older block/grid street neighborhoods these days. Do those neighbors know one another any better? In many of ours, they install speed bumps to the point of nauseum and curbs in the middle of the street that prevent direct through street access because of speeding and drive bys.

Mr. and Mrs. Security camera in Highlands Ranch are the whackos if you ask me. Hey, don't like the kids doing something phyiscal, sportlike, and basically harmless for entertainment? I'll trade ya for a few gang bangers with spray paint cans. :angry:
 
My opinion? I'm pretty quick to give an opinion...i'm an appraiser, you know.

Cul-de-sacs were created to maximize the number of lots in a given subdivision without the boring straight thru road. I favor straight roads. I favor alleys and minimum distances between houses where fire trucks can get. Locally we had a fire that burned 4 houses because these cookie cutters were stacked 20' apart with vinyl or wood gables over plywood sheathing. Just happened to be a windy night and it burn three downwind.

Personally I favor straight streets as a requirement and offsets to avoid the long straight stretch of road let's-run-100-mph morons use. I also think it should be outlawed to let anyone build a driveway that is higher than the road surface to avoid runoff into the street; minimum setbacks from paved roads; engineered drainage and minimum drainage specs for any rural subdivision, rurban subd. or city subdivision; builders who build in subs that need drainage retention ponds should be required to post large bonds for the eventual kid who drowns in one or resident who drives off the road into one; no more than 16 septic fields in a section (640 ac.) - anything more requires a central sewage disposal system; and, I believe service corridors should be created that limit where you can build at the same time limiting government to those corridors. Abolish eminent domain per se.
 
B) I have lived in my house since May 1974. Moved fro a house 3 blocks away. Had been there since 1968. Most of my neighbors are retired and vegatating. We love it when a family with kids move in. That is rare but it does happen. I would just hate to live in an "over 55" community or a "retirement" community. I am 68, wife close to the same age(I know better than list her age ;) ) and we hardly see any of our long term residents that rea near our age or oldr. When we do, they are usually sitting in a chair on a porch and looking straight ahead. We still work 5 days a week, get out and do yard work(I have a 1/4 acre lot), mow it myself, and have a large Koi pond with loads of fish to be cared for. Live on a creek and have many, many ducks, geese, rabbits, squirels, etc. all in what is fast becoming the "Town Center"(Cities words, not mine). I see my next door neighbor on my left about twice a year. I think they are nocturnal. The lady on the right comes out every day, and lives all by herself in a big 2 story colonial, and still works. Please....send families of younger people and kids to my neighborhood.
 
have a large Koi pond with loads of fish
Do you eat any of 'em? I have a pond i feed catfish in. I keep thinking I am going to catch a few to eat, but, in a perverse way I sorta have gotten attached to 'em. Never name your food.
 
Hello - Me Again - DUH

From the FWIW corner. I love cul-de-sac location! No through traffic - get to know ALL your immediate neighbors good - Know the sounds of the vehicles that come into the cul-de-sac and not worry about who it is because it's the guy/gal across the street. Everyone watches out for everyone else. Most people spend the "get together" time in their backyards and on a cul-de-sac ----- guess what --- that's the biggest & most private area. I have never been broken into on a cul-de-sac, never worried too much about locking my doors on a cul-de-sac and have always gotten along with the neighbors.

This is more about getting news, looking for faults where there are none and trying to get someone new elected to an office. It's worked for all these years - why worry about or attempt to fix something that's not broken or doesn't require fixing? It's developers attempting to narrow side line set-backs so they can get a higher density per acre for each new development.

Oh Well :shrug: :shrug: :shrug:
 
Culdesacs are very profitable for the developers, they can squeeze in a few more lots in the tract and sell those same CDS lots to the yupsters at a premium, then when they get tired of no space, they sell them a 2 acre mini-estate with neighbors snobbier than they are.

Just an observation from the ranch, if you can't urinate in your front yard without having someone call the cops, you don't own enough property. :)
 
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