Homebuilders

It’s time for a rant.  I know, there haven’t been many lately.  Guess I’ve just been too complacent about things.  But you know we are always looking at new houses (whether on the internet or in person), and lately I’ve narrowed the search to only include properties of 5 acres or more.  I can’t stand this tiny little yard.  So, in the last few weeks I’ve found plenty of nice houses that are affordable and on 5+ acre lots.  Most of these lots are long, skinny parcels of land.  What I don’t understand, what I never WILL understand, is when you look at an area that has, let’s say, ten long skinny properties side-by-side:  why are all the houses right up at the road, within a stone’s throw of each other, with these long tracts of land extending back behind them?  It seems to me the whole point of having 5+ acres is to get some privacy from other homes.  Right?  At least, that’s why we are looking for such large lots.  Yet on the lots around here, which you can easily look at via Bing Maps’ bird’s-eye view, all the houses are clustered near each other, up near the road, with long skinny plots of land sticking out the back.  That’s not the kind of place we’re looking for.  The only reason I can guess is that it’s cheaper to hook up things like electric/water/etc. when you don’t have to go so far back from the main road…but if that prohibits a sale of the property (because nobody wants to live that close to a neighbor) then I really don’t see that the economy is worth it.

OK, rant over, let me know if you have any other ideas about why this might be the case.