So, when we looked at houses.. I checked out the backyards. I wanted to make sure they were big, and they were safe. And as a rule I was delighted to discover they were neither. Wait I meant "not at all delighted."
Don't get me wrong, we saw some truly beautiful backyards. And, I became educated on local topography. Who knew about all the hidden hills in Plymouth-Canton?
We saw some truly awesome houses that had back decks overlooking streams and ponds... where the backyard sloped at pretty much 90 degrees and the deck was up hundreds of feet in the air.
Oh how delightful to think of my kids reaching off the edge and falling the mile and a half down to their death in the (presumably) crocodile infested waters below. But man what a view. If we didn't have kids, and didn't plan to, or our kids were both over 15.. some awesome awesome decks with amazing views. A few overlooked Ansel-Adam-like swamps scenes. Very cool. I would have been out there every morning and night, having a drink and taking in the excellent scenery. Have a latte with nature. Take some photos and sell them to postcard companies.
But, very much NOT the back yard for a family with two young boys.
If they didn't fall to their deaths they would definitely vanish in the swamps never to be seen again. Raised by swamp rats.
Another thing I noticed was all the back yards that backed right up to busy roads. Or busy roads ran to the side if the house was on a corner. We're talking... 45 cars a minute whipping by at speeds of 45-90mph. Not cool!
One yard in particular was the oddest. The location was right off the M14- Beck Road interchange and I mean right off it. The backyard went about 5 feet out, level, and then rose at a 45 degree angle until it was higher than the house. I'm guessing you could open up the second story window and leap out towards the backyard and hit the hill and slide down it into your back door. You literally looked out your back window and saw a wall of grass. I climbed to the top and looked down and it was M14 below. In all its glory. Hey, in winter, my kids could climb a cheap chicken wire fence and then toboggen right down to M14 into some 90mph traffic!!
No thanks.
Another yard was off an 80's house and you had woods. I mean.. 1 foot out from the sliding glass door, a thick nest of trees. A gateway right into Grizzly Adams territory.
That lot would have been PERFECT for a nature lover. I love nature, but not quite that much. Plus the interior of the house was from the 80's. I wanted my kids to have some land to run back and forth over.. so this didn't quite work either.
Finally, we had to wonder about the families who bought the houses whose back yards ended in a 10 foot brick wall where industry and commercial zoned mega-plexes lay on the other side. I'm not talking a shop or two. I'm talking a huge mega-building with 1000 spots, and as you look right and left... more huge mega-buildings. Like living right behind a Meijers or an IKEA. Our agent pointed out that some of these situations were because people bought houses in undeveloped areas.. and then the commercial zones appeared all around them later. Wow would that suck! Talk about a golden opportunity laying a giant sized toxic egg. Best of luck selling those houses! Yow.
Next up: Crazy Basements.
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
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