We are listing our house in a couple weeks so we have been casually looking at real estate. My DH says that having sidewalks in front of the home (in the home's neighborhood) is an absolute non-negotiable. I don't think it's too big of a deal as long as the home is on a quiet street or has a big, flat patio or driveway where the kids can play.
Do you have sidewalks?
kiwi / 657 posts
Yes, but only one side of the street does throughout our neighborhood, so half our neighbors don't. Our driveway is very slopped and super annoying, but it's still our go to play area.
watermelon / 14467 posts
No. It doesn't bother me unless these heathens who drive too fast are out. We have a big yard, but they scare me when LO and I are walking the dog.
The neighborhood across the street has them but people park on them all the time so I end up in the street anyway.
pomegranate / 3890 posts
Nope we kive in a development and mkst neighborhoods around here do not have them. Not a big deal at all to us. We kive on a quiet street and the kids play on our porch and yard and decks.
wonderful cherry / 21504 posts
Well we live in the city, so yes. But when we move to the burbs I would or that under nice to have but not essential.
cantaloupe / 6687 posts
It's not non-negotiable to me at all. I think a lot of typical neighborhood homes will have sidewalks but a lot of custom homes built on a larger lot won't have sidewalks or older homes on larger lots that have mountain/water views.
@Rainbow Sprinkles: You know the group of ladies we did our shopping date last weekend, 3 of them have gorgeous homes without sidewalks (mountain view, water view and lakefront). Not weird at all that their homes don't have sidewalks. They all have large driveways
pomelo / 5607 posts
No, but I wish we did. It's hard to go for walks. We won't buy a house without again unless its otherwise perfect.
pomegranate / 3521 posts
No, but we are on a cul de sac so not really an issue with cars speeding by. The side walks start down the street (several houses down) not really an issue. I love living on a cul de sac.
apricot / 448 posts
Yes, we do now. But looking for our next house... If it has a long drive way or is on a culdesac, then sidewalks aren't as important to me.
GOLD / wonderful coffee bean / 18478 posts
No, but it's not necessary in our quiet neighborhood. It would be important to me in a busy one though. I love taking walks around the neighborhood.
wonderful pea / 17279 posts
We don't at our current house, but that was on our nice to have list we gave to our rental. The home we're moving into has sidewalks on our side, but not the other side for awhile.
pomegranate / 3231 posts
I grew up in a nice suburban neighborhood without sidewalks and never thought of them as especially necessary. It was a quiet street without too much traffic, and we rode our bikes all around the neighborhood with no issue.
I live in an urban location now and so of course we have a sidewalk. But we have no yard.
GOLD / kiwi / 605 posts
around here a lot of older developments don't have them-- our rental house doesn't have sidewalks anywhere around it-- but our current house which is more "in town" does
hostess / wonderful honeydew / 32460 posts
Half our street does, the other half (older homes) doesn't.
The city required that we add a sidewalk when we built our house.
pineapple / 12053 posts
we do now but where we lived before, it was only on part of the streets and we walked daily in the street. just part of the culture!
nectarine / 2210 posts
No, but we're in Louisiana and most neighborhoods don't have the, because of the amount of rain we get. Moving here from California it took me a while to get used to it.
persimmon / 1322 posts
No, we don't. I'd say about half the neighborhoods around here have them, but it's also a quiet area. Definitely not a big deal to me. We go on a walk every evening and the only time we're concerned about sidewalks is if we walk along a busy road.
nectarine / 2173 posts
Yes, we do. Neighborhoods without crosswalks drive me nuts! There are a lot of them in my area. Although we live in the suburbs, living somewhere walkable was very important to us.
apricot / 441 posts
We don't - our neighborhood is not little kid friendly. But I don't mind too much, we have a big backyard and walk to the park often.
pomegranate / 3706 posts
@sandy: @Rainbow Sprinkles: you already know we don't! Our cul-de-sac is safe and quiet and we don't miss them.
wonderful pomelo / 30692 posts
Nope. We live on a short private road with only about 15 houses. We're constantly going on walks around the neighborhood and walking down the road. A sidewalk would be totally unnecessary on our road and look ridiculous.
nectarine / 2951 posts
Ha! I've never even considered this to be an issue! Interesting!
We do not have sidewalks on our street, but we aren't on a main road. Around us, only houses on main roads have sidewalks for safety.
wonderful pear / 26210 posts
We do not have sidewalks and I wish we did. Even though our street is not a pass through street, there are still people that come down rather quickly. I know sidewalks are for walking, but when people park on the road, my son has to drive his bike into the middle of the street and I hold my breath every time.
Eta: I hold my breath because what concerns me is if he falls in the middle of the road while riding his bike. Kids sometimes need a little extra time to get up, shake it off and move their bike.
pear / 1737 posts
Nope. They are only on one side of the street in our neighbourhood. I guess to save space? They happen to be on the opposite side of the street for us. I find it a bit annoying, but it doesn't really matter and makes snow shovelling better!
persimmon / 1458 posts
We do and I like it but our development is circle so we get no through traffic. When our kids are riding bikes we ride in the road and feel completely safe. It's a small development.
So my answer would be depends on the type of development it was if sidewalks would be a deal breaker for me.
clementine / 854 posts
No, but our street is pretty quiet. In the summer, there are tons of kids out playing hockey in the street so if cars do drive down, they have don't have a choice but to be slow.
pear / 1961 posts
We do now, and our new house does too. I grew up without it, and our first house didn't have it. It's a pretty high priority for me to have it -- not only is it safer for kids, but it indicates a more walkable neighborhood!
pear / 1809 posts
Yes, we have a sidewalk in front of our house, and all the houses in our neighborhood do. The style of houses are similar to those in Charleston with large front porches and small lot sizes. The sidewalks help keep our neighborhood walkable and encourage the kids to keep off the road.
persimmon / 1483 posts
Our side our the street does not have a sidewalk and it's not a deal killer but it's kind of annoying simply because our street does have some through traffic and people are forever walking across our lawn rather than cross the street to he sidewalk. I can't see this being a problem on a quiet street though?
wonderful kiwi / 23653 posts
I do now, but growing up I never did and it was never an issue.
pomelo / 5220 posts
Yes but we are in the city. I grew up in the burbs and I think it was only on one side of the street, hard to remember.
cantaloupe / 6687 posts
@erinpye: as many times as I've been to your house I have never noticed there were no sidewalks in your neighborhood!
honeydew / 7917 posts
I prefer sidewalks. We use it all the time to take strolls around the neighborhood, and I wouldn't feel as safe without it. I've been to neighborhoods without sidewalks, and I'm not a fan.
hostess / wonderful persimmon / 25556 posts
Yes, our side of the street has a sidewalk but the other side of the street does not. I would prefer we didn't have the sidewalk on our side because kids sometimes accidentally trample our ground cover we planted near the sidewalk but it's not that bad. We like having one.
pineapple / 12793 posts
Yes, but we live in a major city.
Growing up we didn't have them in the burbs.
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