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Give these homeowners an inch and less of a backyard
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Publishing date: 11.07.2008 |
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In new and more dense, urban environments, for many buyers, common space becomes the new backyard. Chicago Tribune, July 11, 2008
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Jennifer Lister served her time. As a kid, she helped mow and rake her parents' lawn in Wilmette. So when she and her husband, Eric Masters, who grew up with similar chores, bought a home in 2006 where they could raise their children, now ages 1 and 4, they chose a townhouse, sans yard, at Belgravia Group's HartlandPark in Chicago.
"We have a playground and open field a half-block away," said Lister. "Why take care of a yard when we can have this space right here?"
Thanks to millions of home buyers who echo Lister's sentiment, the Great American Yard could go the way of the wooden toboggan slide and the Sunday drive. For many of today's home buyers who opt for multifamily homes, common space is the new backyard.
While moving to single-family houses in the 'burbs, where big yards abound, was automatic for millions of Baby Boomers when they married and had kids, many of their children, including Lister and Masters, have no such intention. "We'd rather be in the city, where we can walk to everything," said Lister.
Lot sizes for new, single-family houses shrank from 1976 to 2006, according to the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB). During those decades, the percentage of houses on lots less than 7,000 square feet (approximately one-sixth acre) grew to 35 percent from 18 percent. Those on 11,000-square-foot (one-quarter acre) dwindled from 41 percent to 32 percent.
During the same 30-year period, the average house size grew to 2,469 square feet from 1,700, thus gobbling up more of the yard.
"It's a combination of things," said Steve Melman, economist at the NAHB. "Baby Boomers want less yard and no maintenance. The 20-somethings want proximity to entertainment and jobs instead of suburban houses with big yards. The last thing they want to do is mow. The middle group between, with kids, wants some yard but doesn't have all weekend to ride a riding mower. They have soccer matches to get to."
The families that used to comprise that yard-loving segment have changed, added Jim Schwab, senior researcher at the American Planning Association in Chicago.
"Two incomes mean they have less time for lawn maintenance," said Schwab. "They have fewer kids who need the yard and fewer kids to help mow it. This doesn't even factor in the rising cost of gas, which makes the cornfield subdivision with big yards less attractive and close-to-public-transportation, in-town homes with smaller yards more attractive."
A yard in the city
Count Chicagoan Jason Hums and his wife, Sonia Callejas, among this demographic. They wanted a yard, but within the city.
"When we bought our house in 2005, a nice yard was right up there on our must-have list, after air conditioning," said Hums. "Some of our neighbors have added on [to their houses] in the back and lost their backyards, but we added down, finishing the basement, instead, so we would still have the yard. It's where we hang out with our son, who is 9 months old. For us, planting flowers and herbs is relaxing."
Meanwhile, common spaces, be they in single- or multifamily developments, are "more intentional now," said Schwab. Instead of a retention pond, many of the new common areas have natural drainage systems and communal amenities.
"Some planners and developers are learning to work with the landscape," said Schwab. He points to Prairie Crossing in Grayslake and CoffeeCreekCenter in Chesterton, Ind., as examples.
While the sprawling yard hasn't vanished yet, consumers cite other priorities. In its 2007 Profile of Buyers' Home Features Preferences, the National Association of Realtors reported that 50 percent of buyers considered a "backyard/play area" to be a "very important" feature of their home purchase. But it ranked well below central air conditioning, walk-in closets and having two or more spaces in their garages. When asked which features they were willing to pay more for, the backyard was even farther down the list.
In addition to air conditioning and huge closets, the buyers ranked plenty of other things higher than a yard on this list, including hardwood floors, granite countertops, a kitchen island and a porch.
"One of the biggest issues we've dealt with [in land planning] is bridging the difference between what [home] buyers want and what's available," said Schwab. "It's like the lettuce in the grocery store. If that's all that's there, you have lettuce salads, but if the stores sell more types of greens, you buy different kinds. In some areas, houses with big yards are what's available."
And many community ordinances were written during the decades of suburban sprawl, so they include such rules as generous house set-back requirements. "Some communities are behind the times in changing their codes," said Schwab. "Often, they are archaic and need to be rethought."
In addition to the kiddie crowd, another group of homeowners that yearns for at least some green space is dog owners. As dog people know, it is much more convenient to let your dog outside your back door when it is 10 degrees and 10 p.m. than it is to put on his leash and trek down the street to a park."We're seeing an increase in dog parks and dog-friendly community spaces," said Betsy McFarland, director of communications for the Humane Society of the United States. "But we don't hear from many builders asking how to make their developments more dog-friendly."
Actually, the Great American Yard is a relatively recent invention. In the 1800s, the backyard was no place for a family get-together because it stank. Literally. That's where the outhouse was and where we, pre-refuse removal services, we tossed our garbage. City dwellers' houses were close to the street, with minimal front yard. In rural areas, a yard was a luxury because every inch of turf meant sacrificing crops or livestock pens. Only the rich had sweeping lawns.
The front yard, though smaller than today's suburban model, took preference because it announced the homeowner's wealth and, as Henry David Thoreau said in "Walden," was the "path to the civilized world."
Then the advent of indoor plumbing and the post-war housing boom changed all that. Folks quit building front porches and seeded bigger and bigger bac yards.
Now, the future of the yard hangs in limbo. For many of today's home buyers, the lush lawn is nice, as long as someone else mows it. For others, it is as relevant as the Sunday drive.
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