When my husband, Rick and I were searching for what would become our first home in Spring Texas, we did our homework. We viewed numerous houses, checked out subdivisions, and when we had narrowed our choice down to three homes I created a spreadsheet of the pluses and minuses for each of the homes.
Anyone who knows me would not be surprised that I created a spreadsheet. I can’t help it. I love numbers. So much so that I majored in Accounting in college.
Back to the pluses and minuses. My analysis included cost of home ownership (taxes, annual HOA fees, price of home), school district, the homes amenities, floor plan, and their locations. The home we chose and still live in today was a great combination of all of the above and the home’s pluses far outweighed the pluses of the other homes we were considering.
One of the attributes I rated as a plus in my housing analysis was a corner lot. Not that I am anti-social but I liked the idea of having one less neighbor. If you are familiar with the lot sizes especially of the newer subdivisions in Spring Texas you would understand why I wanted to have a little more room between me and the neighbors.
The funny thing about pluses and minuses is sometimes a plus is really a minus in disguise. Slowly but surely the minus will reveal itself. As was the case in my discovery of the minus sides of living in the house on the corner.
In exchange for less neighbors, I received more streets and more sidewalks. Due to our house’s floor plan, more streets became a minus of living on the corner. Our master bedroom is located on the street side at the back of the house. Plus our house is located at the end of a long street. Yes, we do live in a residential subdivision with a 30 mph speed limit but if I owned a radar gun I know I would be clocking a lot of the cars that fly by bedroom at a speed much higher than 30 miles per hour. Good thing I am not a light sleeper because otherwise the additional road noise would be bothersome.
My subdivision is home to a lot of dog lovers. Big dogs, small dogs, fat dogs, and skinny dogs, I see them all when they are out for a walk with their owners. The majority of the time the dog’s owners have a little or big plastic bag in their pocket ready to pick up after their pet. The dogs must know when their owners do not have a plastic bag because they seem to wait until they reach my side yard before they do their business. Maybe its my own fault because I have made my side yard look too park like. Or maybe its because I have twice the sidewalks of other houses and thus my chances increase. What I do know is I rarely receive dog presents in my front yard while I frequently receive them in my side yard. A minus of living in the house on the corner.
When its time for me to move to another house would I want to live in another house on the corner? Absolutely!! I would just be a little wiser knowing that some pluses can also be minuses.
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