Back yard vs Side yard

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YMMV

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Hi, I am inspired by the other thread on desired features of houses. I am also interested in learning about desired features of the lot. Do you prefer back yard or side yard? Say there are two lots of same size of 7000 sqft, which of the following would you prefer?

Lot 1: all the lot is in the back yard. A deep back yard.
Lot 2: 70% of the lot in back yard and 30% in side yard.
 
I would prefer lot 2.

For instance, since it's 7000 sf lot, you would probably have like 50 ft to the back wall if your side yard is like 5 ft on each side. On the other hand, I would rather have 10 ft on each side and 30 ft to the back wall.
 
I assume in lot #1, there is still sufficient side yard to store trash bins and such?

I tend to favor larger backyard so you can put in a decent sized storage shed, dwarf fruit tree and garden area.
 
Also depends on neighbors. New homes in Irvine today are so close so a large side yard (and back yard would help).

I lean towards #2 to give me distance from both the side and the back.
 
I actual prefer #1, as my current house has a sideyard (11' setback), but I find it wasted as I spent minimum time over there.
 
YMMV said:
I actual prefer #1, as my current house has a sideyard (11' setback), but I find it wasted as I spent minimum time over there.
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It's like IHO said, it's not about space usage, but distance to the neighbors. My Eastvale home had 10' on one side and 12' on the other side, so it was a really nice distance to the neighbors. The back yard was still almost 40 ft. Our lot was almost 9000 sf. It was 80' x 110' lot and we had a 3 car wide garage also.

When we first moved to Irvine, our sides were 5' on one side and 3.5'. It was a bit uncomfortably too close to the neighbors. Our current home is a bit better. Both sides start at about 6', but grow wider, reaching 8-10' toward the end of the house. I would have preferred the whole side yard was just 8-10' from start to end, but it's Irvine, so...
 
YMMV said:
I actual prefer #1, as my current house has a sideyard (11' setback), but I find it wasted as I spent minimum time over there.
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If you don't have a large garage, you could put a storage shed in this space if you don't "use" it. We set up a dog area in our side yard.
 
I see. People want side yard mainly for privacy reason. For a deep backyard without side yard, homeowner sacrifices privacy but gain more effective and flexible use of the space. It is a trade off.
 
CalBears96 said:
I would prefer lot 2.

For instance, since it's 7000 sf lot, you would probably have like 50 ft to the back wall if your side yard is like 5 ft on each side. On the other hand, I would rather have 10 ft on each side and 30 ft to the back wall.
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Don't you think 30ft is a little short for back yard setback? No enough for a pool.
 
YMMV said:
Don't you think 30ft is a little short for back yard setback? No enough for a pool.
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30 ft is way too deep for us. Our current home has a 22 ft back yard setback and we're using up 7 ft for retaining wall, so that leaves 15 ft from the dining room side to the retaining wall. The Great room side is about 23 ft to the retaining wall.

We have no reason to want a pool. Unnecessary maintenance and just a waste of space. And the community pool is less than 3 minute walk away. Our son is already off to college and when he's home on break, he can use the community pool, which is way bigger too.
 
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