Bryan Sant wrote:
Seems like the market is bearing this strategy. If perspective home owners began to pass up these homes due to the lack of lot size, then developers would get the message and subdivide with larger lots. Some developers do actually do this, but the most do not, because the majority of home buyers clearly don't care.
I surmise that this hasn't happened because Utah's population is growing so fast. Demand has more than kept up with supply so developers get to "have their way" with the lots and landscape. I anticipate this to be the trend for the near- to medium-term. I'm not agreeing or disagreeing with what anyone has said on the topic -- just offering an explanation.
Or buyers could self-regulate and not purchase a home with an unattractive community landscape, and then complain about the fact later.
If you're buying a new home today, you don't have a choice. This is partly because of developer choice, but mostly because pretty much every tree along the Wasatch front was planted by humans. As a result, the only mature trees in the state exist only in older neighborhoods. Daybreak is poised to change this since every house has at least two maple or sycamore trees in front (most lot sizes are still too small for my cup of 1/4 acre decaff though).
1) Laws are passed in Utah that no lot may be smaller than 1 acre, no trees may be bulldozed, and no hill may be flattened. 2) The cost of building a new home skyrockets. The raw lot is more expensive, more curb, more pipe, more wire, more grass seed, etc. 3) The cost to buy a new home skyrockets to cover the new expense, so drastically fewer homes are sold. 4) Average families can't afford a stand-alone home so they end up buying a townhome/condo instead. ... ... 10) Nuclear holocaust
You forgot: 11) Profit.
Why not just buy in a city or community that has current rules on the books that meet your requirements without imposing those restrictions on me or anyone else who wants an affordable house firstly and a big lot secondly?
Because such a city does not exist in Utah for the reasons I outlined above. Bummer, eh? Check out North Carolina: Lots of inexpensive beautiful real estate. Try Charlottesville or the tri-city area (Red Hat is hiring in Raleigh, I believe).
--Dave /* PLUG: http://plug.org, #utah on irc.freenode.net Unsubscribe: http://plug.org/mailman/options/plug Don't fear the penguin. */
