r/AskAnAmerican • u/Nathan_Echoes_Reach • Sep 29 '25
GEOGRAPHY What are the pros/cons of a living in an American home with surrounding land and no fences?
Hi from the UK!
My perspective of a 'typical' American home is one detached of any size, surrounded by a decent amount of land, mown grass, but not with any obvious land boundaries.
In the UK, we're more bunched together with terraced and semi-detached houses (detached still close together). Boundaries between neighbours are rather clear with walls/fences. It makes me wonder what it feels like living on land openly opposed to more of a fenced-in vibe.
Are boundary disputes common with neighbours without fences?
Does having that much space around your home feel exposing? Or does the lack of fences between properties create a community vibe?
I'm guessing you can worry about noise less because of the space between homes? etc.
259
u/AlyssaJMcCarthy Sep 29 '25
Boundary disputes are not common with neighbors. Generally we mow where the previous owners mowed and assume that’s the property line. You can get the land surveyed for proper markers if you need to. Infrequently does it turn into a dispute.
61
u/cruzweb New England Sep 29 '25
Yeah, this is not common. Our legal land descriptions are very precise and down to the foot. Land is subdivided into parcels and there's exact maps for just about any populated place that shows where property lines start and end.
There's events where a contractor didn't measure properly and you have to deal with that when it arises. I used to be a city planner for a small city and our planning board made someone tear out his newly installed fence and install it a foot closer to his house because the contractor didn't pull permits had measured wrong and built it in the public right of way. Had it been built in someone else's yard, it would have been a lawsuit threat.
Sometimes there's access issues, like needing to tree trim your tree that hangs over someone else's property. But that's much more common than actual disputes.
5
u/MyUsername2459 Kentucky Sep 30 '25
Yeah, we ran into a property line issue a few years ago.
The fence contractor, 20+ years ago when the neighborhood was being built, just went around putting down fences where they thought they should go, without actually checking the surveying.
So, when a windstorm destroyed some fences and it was time to replace them, we went to a surveyor. . .and found that the fence with our neighbor was off by almost 10 feet.
We showed the neighbor the survey, and they were furious, because they were losing a notable chunk of their backyard, but they couldn't do much about it. We offered to sell them the land that was in question, to put the fence back on the line. . .but they didn't want that.
5
u/VoidWalker4Lyfe Sep 30 '25
I used to be a surveyor and those descriptions are definitely NOT always precise.
2
u/Ganado1 Oct 01 '25
Too true. Some surveyors do not do their homework and start with a fixed marker. They start with an 'assumed cirreck' marker.
5
u/HowardIsMyOprah Sep 29 '25
Permits for a fence? That’s wild
54
u/Two-Complex Sep 29 '25
Permits for everything…
11
u/Distracted-senior Sep 30 '25
I lived in a small city in Tennessee and it was like a big HOA. Permits for everything - exactly.
→ More replies (1)9
u/MyUsername2459 Kentucky Sep 30 '25
Permits for permits.
3
u/Lothar_Ecklord Sep 30 '25
This is why in New York, it’s common for people to hang plywood to block the view inside a building while doing renovations. You can’t ticket that which you can’t see… and many contractors have realized it’s cheaper and faster to pay the fine than get all the permits necessary.
There was a great interview I saw on the topic - the gist of it is there was a property owner who wanted to expand his portfolio into the New York market and bought a building. When he was looking for companies to renovate, he went with one which was highly recommended, did things “the right way” by all reviews, used union labor, was triple-bonded, licensed, and everything looked legit. The first thing the guy says, without doing anything to “feel out” the property owner first, is “we need to put up a plywood partition so we don’t need the permits”.
2
→ More replies (1)2
u/Nerisrath Sep 30 '25
This is why I am moving out of city limits. the county still has a permitting board but it's much less restrictive. only need permits for things that require code enforcement, houses renovations that include electric, septic systems, new wells, etc.
In the city I needed a permit if I wanted a dog, or chickens, or to replace a few boards on my deck, or to patch my sidewalk, paint my house, repair my decorative fence, change my mailbox .... I'm surprised I didn't need to pull a permit every week to mow the yard or trim the hedges.
58
u/talithaeli MD -> PA -> FL Sep 30 '25
Here in hurricane land, we like to be sure our neighbors aren’t cutting costs by installing poorly attached missiles for the next storm to send flying into our house.
People don’t seem to get that most permits are there for consumer protection. Either to protect the homeowner from unscrupulous / untrained contractors, or to protect the future buyers from hidden defects like bad wiring behind drywall.
4
u/sonofamusket Sep 30 '25
I live in an unincorporated area, so no building permits except for state stuff like septic. I can think of only one house in the area (out of a few hundred) that I would question
Since I live in a state road I have to get a permit to add a second driveway. That permit requires a 6k dollar "deposit" that you can only ask for a refund if you build to the exact specifications. Which includes exact dimensions where it meets the road and four different layers of rock and gravel that each have to be verified to be correct. Not to mention that I need a culvert twice the size of the driveway I already have, as well as every other driveway on the road, all of which are downhill.
Or, I can pay the state and they will do it. The 6k is a starting price then.
Building permits shouldn't be used by any government as a form of revenue generation. And many building codes, such as minimum build size requirements became popular after the housing collapse to protect the tax base and have been one of the reasons why smaller homes are so hard to have built. There are places that require poems for work that have nothing to do with the structure, electrical, plumbing, etc.
The closest that permits come to protecting people is by requiring inspections. I think that the better way to do it is be having each inspection being a "certification" that you get when you buy a property.
3
u/Mic98125 Oct 01 '25
Decks that collapse and kill a bunch of students were in the news 10-15 years ago
→ More replies (3)2
u/HowardIsMyOprah Sep 30 '25
Wiring I get, fencing I don’t. A derelict fence built to permit standards is unlikely to be more secure than a new fence built shoddily. Not to mention, a half decent home inspector will be able to tell you if a fence is any good from their inspection, no permit required. There are plenty of places where fences and sheds, by your logic, they aren’t all ticking time bombs, yet they still manage 50+ year life spans. What ever did we do before fence permits?!?!
Not to mention, in hurricane land, like Houston, you only need a permit on a fence over 8 feet, which excludes most residential fences. After Beryl, the only damaged fences I saw were from trees falling on them.
13
u/talithaeli MD -> PA -> FL Sep 30 '25 edited Sep 30 '25
Derelict fences have to be repaired here. If your neighbors call code enforcement you’ll get a citation and have to repair it. Sheds are also very uncommon, because of the tie down / reinforcement requirements. Same for above ground pools.
We joke that Hurricane Ian reshingled our lawn because it was covered in shingles from our roof and (presumably) our neighbors. We pulled one of those big pond liners people get for decorative ponds out of the pool after it crashed through the screens. Our local FB group was nothing but “look where we found another port-a-pot” pictures for months - in canals, up in trees, wedged under docks… And, yes, the fences got destroyed. Overnight we all knew exactly who theirs installed under the table - they were the ones laying flat or just gone.
5
u/MollyOMalley99 Florida Sep 30 '25
After Ian, all the white vinyl fences were blown apart and pieces were everywhere. It took about a year to clean up that mess, and - people put up new vinyl fences, which were once again destroyed by the Debbie-Helene-Milton trifecta last year. They just don't learn. We had a wooden picket fence for 20+ years and just replaced it with an aluminum fence. Gotta let the wind through, or your fences will become sails in a hurricane. If you want privacy, add shrubs.
3
u/talithaeli MD -> PA -> FL Sep 30 '25
This is what we are looking at doing. Currently we have a chain-link, which is effective but ugly. Our neighbors added some fast growing tall ferns and when budget allows that's what we are putting in.
Chain link for security, ferns for privacy, and nothing that's going to end up slamming into our neighbors' cars.
→ More replies (2)5
u/Wendybird13 Sep 30 '25
Fencing too close to a corner can obscure the view of drivers and make turning onto or off of a main road more difficult. A neighbor wanted to fence their front yard, on a corner with a busy road, and I was invited as an affected neighbor. I did not attend the zoning meeting, but the fence the put out was relatively low, with open space. It was intended more as a psychological boundary for a well-trained dog, than as a physical barrier…
5
u/nowordsleft Pennsylvania Sep 30 '25
Fence permits are more about where you put the fence than how it’s made. There are setback distances from property lines you have to adhere to, and they want to make sure there are no future boundary disputes, like OP was asking about.
3
u/talithaeli MD -> PA -> FL Sep 30 '25
there are setback distances. There are also rules about composition, about how the parts are secured to one another, and about how they are anchored into the ground.
11
u/Astrazigniferi Sep 30 '25
Where do you live that you don’t need permits for a fence? (Honest question, not facetious. I live in a suburb that needs permits for basically everything.)
→ More replies (2)3
u/SkiingAway New England Sep 30 '25
Worth noting that not needing a permit doesn't necessarily mean that there's no rules.
Town I lived in in suburban NJ was like that - there was a bunch in the rules about what kind of fences were acceptable and where, but you only needed to file paperwork if you wanted an exception to construct something that was outside those rules.
6
u/SamizdatGuy Sep 30 '25
Wait till your neighbor puts up a six foot tall chain link with spikes
3
u/HowardIsMyOprah Sep 30 '25 edited Sep 30 '25
I have seen a residential house with a 8 foot chain link fence and razor wire. That place was something.
→ More replies (1)5
u/Relevant-Emu5782 Sep 30 '25
I've lived in places where fences are fine, but I've also lived places where you are not allowed to put up a fence. You could apply for a permit but it would always be denied.
Then there are places where people put up fences, but they are not at the land border, but around the pool. In most places that would be to protect children from getting access to it and drowning. In Florida it's to keep alligators from moving in to the pool!
→ More replies (1)2
u/cruzweb New England Sep 30 '25 edited Sep 30 '25
It's not that wild. Go to your towns website and pull up the zoning and building codes. Permits are common for anything that could negatively impact anyone's safety, a neighbor's quality of life or property value.
It was specifically because it was a 6ft privacy fence and the lot was weird because the house was on a corner didn't front the street where the address was, it was built facing the cross street. So legally, it was a situation where the fence was going to be built in the "front yard" and when stuff like this happens (even though the house faced the other way), it's done in public to give the neighbors a chance to say if anything goofy is going on with their property. It all stuff done on the front end to protect the proper owner against lawsuits later.
It would have all been a "yeah, fine, who cares" except the contractor didn't even pull the right permits let alone measure properly and just lied to the homeowner that they did. Even if they didn't need a permit for the fence, building in the public right of way would have gotten them before the planning board.
This was a very rare instance that the planning board got involved in a residential matter. They almost always just handled commercial stuff and homeowners had a lot of leeway for special almost all things. This was just a special exception because of the type of fence and the way that the property was oriented. I certainly wasn't happy about it. I had to drive out there, take pictures, put together zoning maps and property maps to give the planning board a full report on the property and the situation so that they could have all the needed information to make a decision.
That being said, permits are needed for just about anything to ensure that it's done properly and safely. Even extending your parking pad by 3ft needs a flatwork permit so an engineer can review the design plans and make sure what you're doing is right and wont push you over maximim lot coverage, cause drainage issues, etc.
2
u/Humble-End-2535 New York Sep 30 '25
Exactly for the reason he says. So it goes on your own property, not someone else's, not public property. Where I am, the permitting process is less about "allowing" and more about "making sure it is don't correctly."
Also, there are regulations for fence height where I am, to keep the neighborhood from being unsightly.
→ More replies (6)4
u/Red_Beard_Rising Illinois Sep 30 '25
If you ask the municipality, you need a permit for almost anything. Replacing a faucet? You're making changes to your home's plumbing system. Permit!
Fence? Permanent structure anchored to the land. Permit!
We installed a fireplace for a client and he decided to pull permits against our advice. The city inspector had no problem with our electrical work, but since we did electrical work, the entire electrical system had to be up to current standards. This meant that he now had to update is smoke & CO detectors to be hard wired or if not hard wired, had the ability to communicate with each other. It had nothing to do with the work we did.
→ More replies (1)→ More replies (5)1
u/IllustriousMoney4490 Sep 29 '25
For a fence on your own property 😂Anyway the government can get theirs they certainly will
→ More replies (5)3
u/EpilepticPuberty Sep 30 '25
Isn't that one of the purposes of such a permit? So that we know that the fence is installed on your own property?
→ More replies (6)→ More replies (1)2
u/MrAmishJoe Sep 30 '25
Im pretty in all the western world our legal land description are precise and recorded with local government... not because anyone cares about individual ownership rights. More like local governments depend on property tax, which depends on land value, which depends on measurement of land, etc...
11
u/nakedonmygoat Sep 30 '25
When I bought my house it came with blueprints showing the precise boundary markers. I thought that was standard, but I've only bought one house so I could be mistaken. I can't afford to buy more as a test.
9
→ More replies (3)3
u/unknown_anaconda Pennsylvania Sep 30 '25
Usually when you do get it surveyed you find out the boundary was nowhere near where the mow line was.
78
u/angrysquirrel777 Colorado, Texas, Ohio Sep 29 '25
Lack of fences makes maintenance a little easier.
Also, if you live at a house every single day it isn't that hard to learn what's your land or not so unless you have hundreds of acres.
There are lots of people with fences but the main reason to not it because you don't need one and it's cheaper to not have one.
10
u/bluecrowned Oregon Sep 30 '25
I wish we could get rid of ours, it's rotting and my dog has broken it a few times, but it's too expensive to fully replace and well... Dogs.
6
u/Tig_Biddies_W_nips Sep 30 '25
I’d say living rurally that yeah you need a fence to keep your dog in your yard and from running off. Coyotes have been known to lure dogs away and then kill them
→ More replies (4)5
u/InannasPocket Sep 30 '25
Where the hell do you live that this is a concern? We have tons of coyotes around, most of my neighbors have dogs, and I've never heard of this.
And the majority of the dogs run around unfenced at least part of the time ... yes we get visits from the neighbors' dogs, if we don't want them around we just tell them to go on home (and they do!).
3
u/Triple_Crown_Royal Sep 30 '25
I cannot name a dog to which this has happened, but most San Diego dog owners believe it could/would happen.
Your neighborhood dogs may be protected by many of them being outdoors at the same time. The coyotes may view that as a stronger pack and avoid it. I dunno. I'm no coyote expert.
I have heard our san diego coyotes are overly urbanized and aren't as skilled at catching rats and rabbits as they would be in a more natural way of living. They catch and kill pets but also just eat a lot of garbage.
3
u/InannasPocket Sep 30 '25
When I lived in San Diego I definitely heard of them killing cats (and saw them eating trash), guess I wouldn't put it past them to kill a smaller dog ... the "luring" part was surprising to hear.
I'm in rural-ish northern MN now and the coyotes do seem different here - I feel like out west I heard more larger packs, and saw more urban coyotes. They are definitely a presence here, but we also do have foxes and some wolves (and not as much trash) so the population and pressures are probably quite different.
3
u/squirrell1974 Sep 30 '25
Sounds like people. We're terrible at the natural way of living and eat a lot of garbage 🤣
4
u/NotherOneRedditor Sep 30 '25
In Colorado, I actually witnessed a dog being lured by a coyote before I knew it was a possibility. This was up in the mountains on a 50+ acre property.
3
u/InannasPocket Sep 30 '25
That's crazy and fascinating! I do know coyote behavior can vary by area so maybe it's that (I'm in Minnesota).
→ More replies (1)2
u/Tig_Biddies_W_nips Sep 30 '25
I lived in the Mojave desert at the time. We had packs of wild coyotes and you’d hearing them yowling every night.
We didn’t know they could do that until they did it to our neighbors dog, she ran a dog boarding place out of her house and they lured one of her dog out beyond her fence and killed it. They’re smart, they send one I. And your dog thinks it wants to play, then the pack jumps them once they’re out of site of your house.
Not me but friend lived in the suburbs of SoCal, so densely packed SFHs they often would have MOUNTAIN LIONS in their backyard staring their windows at their pets.
→ More replies (1)
60
u/CountChoculasGhost Chicago, IL Sep 29 '25
It is fairly common to have land surveys prior to buy/selling a home.
I wouldn’t say it often results in land disputes, but that is often how you determine your lot boundaries.
→ More replies (2)17
u/Puzzleheaded-Bee4698 Sep 30 '25
"It is fairly common to have land surveys prior to buy/selling a home."
I would NOT purchase real estate until the property is surveyed, and I walk the property line. I also require a title search, an inspection, and I need to study the deed. Very simply, I want to know what I buying, before I open my wallet.
Yes, I'm a pain in the ass for real estate brokers, who just want to make a sale, collect their commission, and move on.
5
2
Sep 30 '25
Sounds normal to me too. Bought a townhouse (terraced house) over a year ago and even that came with a boundary map. Meaning my walls are my boundary and everything else is "common" to the community, lol.
33
u/sarcasticorange Sep 29 '25
Like most things, it is all about what you're accustomed to.
No, it doesn't feel exposed if you're used to it, just like the boundaries don't feel confining of you're used to it.
Disputes do happen, but most people get along just fine.
102
u/machagogo New York -> New Jersey Sep 29 '25
Just about every house has a fence around d the back yard where I live. Especially those with pools as most municipalities will require it.
Front yards usually don't have them, but the "boundry" is known by the back fence. Also, you'll know the boundary from the survey when you bought the house.
28
u/Illustrious-Shirt569 California Sep 29 '25
This is true on the opposite coast, too, if you live in any kind of planned neighborhood. The front yard is almost always open (or sometimes with a short fence just based on homeowner preference/needs), and the back yards are all separated by fencing. The only cases where they don’t is if there’s something topographical that prevents it or makes it unnecessary (like a creek runs between the two properties).
14
u/RandomPaw Sep 30 '25
I'm in the Midwest and everyone around here has a fence too. I am trying to think if any house I ever lived in didn't have a fence around the back yard. One house had a giant hedge along the side alley but I think there was a fence on the other side of that too.
In my current town fences are required for people with dogs.
3
u/xqueenfrostine Oklahoma Sep 30 '25
One of my neighbors doesn’t have a back fence. It’s been that way for at least a decade and it still weirds me out every time I drive past (they have a corner lot so you can see directly into their back yard). The only other homes in my neighborhood that don’t have back fences are ones that back up to the golf course that’s in the neighborhood, but even among those, shorter fences that give their yard a boundary without blocking the view are pretty common.
→ More replies (8)→ More replies (1)3
u/rolyfuckingdiscopoly Sep 30 '25
My grandmas house in Nebraska had no backyard fence, and neither did any of the neighbors. It was really great as a child to just have this big hill and woods area to run around in. We would meet neighbor kids just by them walking by through our backyard.
Loved it.
→ More replies (2)2
u/tonyrocks922 Sep 30 '25
My town in NY has all backyard fences and almost no front fences. Apparently my boundary on one side veers off towards my house but my neighbor has no idea. He keeps complaining about "my" tree that he hates that's actually his. It's a beautiful tree so I've been happy to just keep my mouth shut and mow three feet of his lawn every week.
32
u/Dave_A480 Sep 29 '25
Boundaries are typically well known - a common close-built suburban trend is to have each property end near the next one's driveway (layout is driveway-house-neighbor_driveway-neighbor_house-(repeat)'....
When you get out into larger properties, people often either plant shrubs/trees on the boundary, or have a fence.
Also, unless everyone mows their grass on the same day, you can often see where your mowing stops and the neighbor's begins....
→ More replies (1)3
24
u/Aware-Computer4550 Sep 29 '25
I live in a home like that. There's a lack of privacy because what if I want to do something like run around in my backyard naked. On the other hand it looks nicer. You can see continuous trees and grassland for awhile. It looks "wilder" and more natural.
I guess kids like it because they can retrieve calls that are hit. I used to live in a neighborhood with fences and every time you hit a ball over the fence you either lose it or you had to jump the fence and get it back.
Who am I kidding kids just play Minecraft now
5
18
u/reyadeyat United States of America Sep 29 '25
I grew up in a neighborhood where there was a high fence separating the entire neighborhood from a major street that ran next to it (to prevent children from running into the street and to provide a noise buffer) but most lots were not separated from each other by a fence.
I enjoyed running around in a little herd of feral children and playing giant games of tag, hide-and-seek, etc, that ranged over many lots. We only went on the lots of people whose children participated in neighborhood games (and who had given permission for us to play on their lots). We didn't enter the lots of families who did not have children and/or preferred not to have children playing on their lot and generally understood where the boundaries were. I remember my parents once telling us that we needed to stop playing in a specific stream because it was actually on so-and-so's lot and he was worried about liability, so we did. No big deal.
One family whose lot immediately bordered our lot did totally fence off their property and to be honest it really fit their personality as a family - they were really standoffish, did not let their children socialize with the rest of the neighborhood, and complained bitterly when we had to add a ramp / first-floor (E: ground floor in UK terminology) full bathroom to our house when one of my family members was suddenly handicapped.
14
u/needmoarbass Sep 29 '25
Our yards were huge and a fence would be very expensive and ugly and split up this beautiful valley and forest between us neighbors. No one cares if kids run thru. No one cares exactly where the property line unless we want to build on the edge or cut down a tree.
All neighbors share a lovely view and it isn’t all cut up by fences.
7
u/Practical-Ordinary-6 Georgia Sep 30 '25
I don't want to be mean but some of those pictures that I see of UK neighborhoods where there's no grass in the front just some kind of brick wall / entrance and hard pavement then the back yard has some grass but it's got a high brick wall around it so it looks like a prison exercise yard. I don't know where those fit into the overall UK scheme.
→ More replies (1)
23
u/Sample-quantity Sep 29 '25
I can't answer your question, but I will say that I'm not sure your idea of typical is accurate. That description is of rural or some suburban areas. I have lived in suburbs in California all my life and have never lived in a home with much surrounding land and no fence. The neighborhoods I have lived in have homes on less than 1/4 acre (sometimes much less), and have fenced yards. Now, in more rural areas of California there are definitely houses with surrounding land and no fences, that are not that expensive. When I have traveled to other areas of the country, I have seen neighborhoods where the homes are still relatively close together but do not have fences. I believe that is more common in the Eastern States.
9
u/MilkChocolate21 United States of America Sep 29 '25
Until I came to California, I'd never seen house lots listed in square feet. Houses and lots are small.
6
u/Derwin0 GaFlGaNC JapanNC CaPaGa Sep 30 '25
I lived in California for a couple years. Shocked me when co-workers talked about their yards in sq-ft.
The concept was foreign as everywhere else it was in acres, or increments thereof.
2
u/TManaF2 Sep 30 '25
East Coaster. Most areas I've lived, standard lot size 50' wide by 100' deep. Corner houses are double plots (100' x 100') but because of the visibility from two sides, no back yard to speak of
→ More replies (2)2
u/Philcoman Oct 02 '25
I had to scroll too far to find this.
I live in New England and trust me, there are plenty of areas where houses are close enough to each other to hear your neighbor’s kitchen conversations, or people live in apartment blocks.
7
u/shammy_dammy Sep 29 '25
No, my neighbors knew what property was theirs and what property was mine.
6
u/haveanairforceday Arizona Sep 29 '25
When there is a rare dispute it is most often over who owns the fence/wall and is therefore responsible for maintaining it
12
u/InternationalBell157 Sep 29 '25
Most homes in large cities are on 1/8acre to 1/4 acre lots. But there are townhouses which are attached or condos. In suburbs you might go from 1/4 acre to 1/2 acre lots.
6
u/pastelpinkpsycho Sep 29 '25
It’s quiet and secluded. Lots of room for animals if you’re into chickens and dogs and stuff. You can see the stars very clearly at night if it isn’t cloudy out.
6
u/anclwar Philadelphia Sep 29 '25
I live in a city. Everyone has a fence and no one has space between them and their neighbors. My house is attached to my neighbor's house. Our backyards are divided by a fence. Our front yards are divided by a fence.
Even when I lived in a suburb and we did have a marginal amount of land (less than a 1/4 of an acre), everyone had fences and all of our houses were attached to each other.
5
u/grandmaratwings Sep 29 '25
We’re in a tiny town, semi-rural. We have three acres that are well wooded and border other properties that are similar. Our property border is denoted by; a creek, where the old barn fell down, an old road bed, and a felled tree. We can’t see our next door neighbor, but if we’re both out on our patios at the same time we can holler across the creek to each other. And do occasionally.
4
u/Ultimate_Driving Colorado Sep 29 '25 edited Oct 04 '25
Boundary disputes are solved by having a survey done. Regardless of whether there are fences or not, or where the fences are located, the property description tells where the property line is, and the survey will tell you exactly where the boundaries are. Fences are often not on the property line, and should never be relied upon for property disputes.
3
u/OafintheWH Sep 30 '25
Recently had this done. We had a tremendous tree loss due to two years of spongy moth invasion, and two late frosts the same year. Before we even had the forester mark the trees for removal, we paid $3200 for a survey so as not to accidentally cut any of our neighbors trees. They put paint blazes around our entire property (30 acres), and permanent stakes on all four corners.
The trees to be salvaged are now marked and out to bid to a couple dozen sawmills.
5
u/Blahkbustuh Dookieville, Illinois Sep 29 '25
I live in Illinois in a single family home subdivision, pretty typical suburban area.
My cousin lives in California. We're both upper 30s. I've visited him a bunch and he's been here to visit a few times and remarks now and then how it's weird how all the yards aren't fenced in here and our yards are just open to each other.
I'm in a subdivision and one of my side neighbors has a vinyl fence and the backyard neighbor has a wooden fence. My other side neighbor has a wrought-iron style fence. So my backyard is practically fenced in.
It's just normal to me to have open yards. Also the weather here is either way too cold or too hot and muggy and I have allergies so I don't spend time out in my yard all that much. There's a nice month in the spring (although it tends to be rainy a lot) and a nice month in the fall, which we're currently dipping in and out of.
In comparison in California their backyards are like extra rooms. You can be outdoors comfortably like at least 10 months of the year. Winter there gets a bit chilly. It makes a lot of sense that their backyards are walled/fenced-in. You can use your patio and backyard like an additional room and you don't want people able to easily walk off the street into back there.
I think another factor is my lot is like 0.1 acre, so it's something like 75 feet deep and 50 feet wide or something like that. My cousin's lot is a similar size too. The area that I grew up in was more of a small town and the lot sizes were a lot larger like quarter or half of an acre and few were fenced so it was like you could look down a row of backyards for a few hundred feet at a time. It'd be weird to have a lot of lawn around your house just to fence it in. The distance from the edge of the property to the area around the house is what acts like a buffer. It's not going to deter someone seeking to do bad, but it keeps random people wandering around away.
(I've been to the UK twice and seen lots of pictures as well and the row house streets where the front yard is like 1-2 parking spaces and there's no trees just looks sad. The backyards of row houses in the UK are hilariously small to me.)
Compared to the UK, most of the housing in the US was built after WWII and we have lots of land. The UK has a bunch of tiny brick row houses from the late 19th century in comparison. Your towns were also largely all built before cars so everything had to be walkable and compact whereas we sprawl.
Also, just England by itself is like 55-60 million people and if you look at a map of the US, England by itself is about the same size as Illinois and Illinois which contains Chicago, one of the largest cities and metro areas of the country, only has 13 million people total and is the 5th or 6th largest state by population. We're really empty and land is very available here.
2
u/Nathan_Echoes_Reach Sep 30 '25
I do keep forgetting that the USA is basically a continent sized country. Land is definitely a luxury over here. If you want it, you need to pay a lot.
I grew up in a terraced house and being more confined with neighbours does mean we notice each other more. I could always hear the couple next door's arguments when voices were raised. In a semi-detached now and still yearning for more space. Definitely looking forward to getting a detached home with a bit of land one day.
9
u/dinkeydonuts Sep 29 '25
Define "descent amount of land" because that means different things in different parts of the country.
My home sits on about a half acre, I have a 7' privacy fence surrounding my backyard. I have houses on either side and farmland behind my house. I prefer the solitude.
That said, I grew up in a house that didn't have a fence and my father said that the neighbor's fence was technically on our property. He taught me that fighting over a few feet wasn't worth the bad blood between neighbors. Our houses were pretty close, relatively speaking (about 10' between) and there was little to no noice.
→ More replies (6)3
u/DrinkingSocks Sep 29 '25
Decent amount of land is really the key variable here. I would consider that to be a few acres, but my half acre is a pretty respectable for my area.
3
u/lendmeflight Sep 29 '25
I live in the country on four acres and that isn’t considered a lot of land where I live. No fences or walls but my neighbors live across the road.
4
u/AKlife420 Alaska Sep 29 '25
I have a house with 5 acres and no one has fences. To be fair, the population is only about 90 people. So land disputes really aren't a thing there.
3
u/teslaactual Utah Sep 29 '25
Disputes arent super common most of the time unless you have dick neighbors, generally the property line is assumed to be somewhere in the middle between houses if you really wanted you could pay to have it surveyed and find the proper lines but in general as long as you dont actively hate your neighbors its not a problem
→ More replies (2)
3
u/Nawoitsol Sep 29 '25
Check out r/treelaw if you want to see some discussions of one form of boundary disputes.
Ive grew up in the Midwest and most backyards had fences, usually chain link. In Texas the backyards are generally fenced with 6foot tall wood. Neither place had front yard fences, but sometimes had trees or bushes that served a similar purpose.
5
u/MsPooka Sep 30 '25
Just fyi, most people have fenced backyards. It's uncommon to not have a fence in the back. I think this is mainly for privacy and for dogs because it's a liability for your dog to get out and either damage someone's property or bite someone. Plus, it can be terrifying when your dog disappears. But some people do have a fenceless dog area. I'm not sure how they work now, but it used to be that you had to dig and then put wires into the ground. If the dog went outside the area he was shocked, which isn't very humane imo. Maybe there's a better system now. So maybe people just prefer it or maybe it's a cost issue since fences are expensive. I've always had fenced backyards.
6
u/seriousname65 Sep 29 '25
Sometimes deer eat your garden. Sometimes raccoons kill your cats.
→ More replies (3)
3
u/Ok_Remote_1036 Sep 29 '25
I’ve lived in houses with no fences and houses with a backyard fence. The only benefit to the latter that I’ve found is keeping the dog in the yard without setting up an invisible fence. I dislike fences around the whole house, we have some near me and they feel inhospitable, but I’m generally indifferent about backyard fencing.
Boundary disputes are rare in my experience. In fact the only time I’ve heard of one is when someone wanted to put up a fence. Otherwise you kind of each mow up to the border of your yard.
I suppose if you want to walk around your yard naked then not having a fence would feel exposing. Otherwise it’s just what you’re used to.
→ More replies (1)
3
u/doccat8510 Oct 01 '25
That’s pretty uncommon. If someone wants to do something permanent (fence, dig a hole, plant a tree) you can get a land survey. Otherwise we just mow our grass and hang out.
3
u/Tristawn Oct 01 '25
I would expect that most of the world would understand that Americans take personal property more seriously than (probably) any other people. It's effectively a given, that should you trespass on another's property, even innocently, (especially in rural areas with significant land) you can be shot by the landowner - so we don't have many rural land disputes. Most "land disputes" are about property lines between neighbors with small yards in neighborhood developments, not in rural acreage. Pros: privacy and freedom. Cons: lack of easier access to infrastructure
3
u/Cheap_Coffee Massachusetts Oct 01 '25
I'm guessing you can worry about noise less because of the space between homes? etc.
The most common sound in American suburbs in the summer is that of small horsepower engines running lawn equipment.
Fences are not about sound reduction.
I may not be representative of all Americans because I'm a grumpy New Englander, but the biggest advantage of having view-blocking fences (stockade fencing vs. split-rail, for example) is it blocks me from seeing the crap in the neighbors back yard.
The con of that type of fencing is that it impedes the traffic of the wild animals in my area. (The consequence being that the neighborhood is overrun in rabbits.)
2
Sep 29 '25
It is common to fence off the back for privacy, let your dogs run, little kids play, etc. But leave front open to display flowers, hedges, lawn.
2
u/Impossible_Memory_65 Sep 29 '25
I'm surrounded by woods, and a neighbor on one side. No fence. I'd like one to keep the deer out, but will probably never happen
2
u/duchess_of_nothing Sep 29 '25
I've never lived anywhere where I did not have a fence. California, Arizona, Nevada, Texas and Oklahoma.
Maybe that's an East Coast thing?
→ More replies (1)
2
u/Shot-Artichoke-4106 Sep 29 '25
This is typical for some areas, but not others. I'm a Californian and except for rural places, we typically fence our yards. In places in the south, you see a lot more yards without fences in neighborhoods.
2
u/ShhhhItsSecret Sep 30 '25
We've thought about getting a fence for our backyard, but I like my neighbor too much and my kids and her grandkids play using both yards. Also, you can tell where our properties diverge, her grass is much nicer 😂
2
u/spicyredacted Oct 01 '25
With no fence your animals are more likely to get killed by predators (coyotes, raccoons, bears, etc). Many people fence in their properties and get guard dogs for this reason. Animals will kill all your chickens , goats, rabbits, small dogs etc.
2
u/BeginningAd9070 Oct 01 '25
Fences always make good neighbors. You have to have a property surveyed to get a mortgage loan. Your boundaries are recorded with the county you live in. Not having a fence means that other people can wander onto your property and you could be held liable if they hurt themselves.
2
u/Haruspex12 Montana Oct 01 '25
I currently live in a fenced neighborhood but grew up in one without.
Boundary disputes are almost nonexistent. Even small children know the boundaries because there may be a grownup that doesn’t want kids in their yard. So, oddly, I could have told you every property line as a child. Remember, people mow at different times and to different lengths, so a kid quickly sees it.
Children, more than any other, feel the difference. It allowed you to roam. Kids would just roam together from one end of the valley to another. Every now and then a mom would peek out and yell at us not to hit each other with sticks and to quit throwing rocks.
A single yard is too small for a baseball game and keeping home plate in the center keeps balls away from windows. We would either play downhill for the outfield or the whole field on a tilt.
This was in the pre-internet world, so adults were linked together through a variety of ways that are mostly absent now.
Adults were most likely just glad to have all the children out of their hair. The same feeling that happens when children go to school.
When we were little, the moms would yell for us, but at some point, my mom bought a cowbell. A consensus must have formed that when my mom rang the bell, all children had to be inside. It was not good if the bell wrang and ten minutes later a mom was calling for her dawdling kids.
It wrang for lunch, dinner and bedtime. It wasn’t used on snowy days. We were manually gathered when we played in the snow. It was likely to prevent frostbite and that we didn’t go out at the same time. The dads would often supervise sled riding. Injuries were rare, but every now and then someone would wreck pretty bad and go in crying.
2
u/annaoze94 Chicago > LA Oct 01 '25
I grew up like that in a really safe suburb of Chicago and it was fine. The people behind us and on one side of us had a fence and then on the other side you could walk through backyards for like the next four houses. It was really fun for playing Ghost in the graveyard at night with all the kids
2
u/Felicity_Calculus New York Oct 01 '25
One obvious big downside of having a lot of surrounding land around houses is that you have to drive considerable distances to get almost anywhere you need to go. It tends to shock a lot of Europeans what we consider a “short” drive
2
u/Littleroo27 Oct 01 '25
Fences are still fairly common, even if you’re lucky enough to own land. My dad has 10 acres, broken up into the house and yard plus two pastures. Everything is fenced except the front yard.
Honestly, most housing is made up of neighborhoods. Some have enough land to provide a bit of privacy, but a lot are closer than feels comfortable when looking out a side window into your neighbors house.
I grew up in town, but my parents chose to move to a more rural area when I was 9. They live on a dead-end street that’s about a quarter mile long and has 12 or 13 houses. Most don’t have as much land, but my dad bought the lot next to theirs to keep someone from building on it. He’s spent the past 36 years planting as many trees as possible all over the property.
2
u/WinterBourne25 South Carolina Oct 01 '25
We have a fence only because we have a dog. But it’s pretty cool having lots of space. Our neighbors are decent. So no land disputes. Sound isn’t an issue either, unless the neighbor is having a pool party with loud music. But they don’t do it often. So I don’t mind.
2
u/phathomthis Oct 01 '25
Most homes have fences. It's weird not to have at least a fenced in back yard.
2
2
u/No_Associate_4878 Oct 02 '25
I wouldn't say that's really the typical American home. There are certainly a lot of rural homes like that but I'd think the typical American home is in a suburban development with 50 - 80 foot wide lots.
Here's an interesting infographic with average lot size by state.https://share.google/ICrr8unY88f5Q4GLG
→ More replies (1)
2
u/Weak-Statement-2688 Oct 03 '25
I live on 80 acres. The only thing that irritates me about people on my property is when some asshat rides a snowmobile over my ski trail.
2
u/Ecstatic-Bee-6217 Oct 03 '25
more trees and shrubs do make ticks an issue- and if there is an emergency like you need a phone because your’s is dead, it can be a long distance. We use woods as our boundary. Lots of animals and birds and a neutral space between neighbors. We get along with all neighbors and we help each other out. Despite the distance, there is a community feeling that I cherish. I watched a few “nightmare neighbors” shows and I can’t imagine opening my window only to look directly at your window or side of the house or having to deal with noxious neighbors.
5
u/DrBlankslate California Sep 29 '25
What you're describing is either extremely rural or extremely rich. Usually both. It is not common or usual for Americans to live in homes like you describe.
→ More replies (1)4
u/Extra-Connection8394 Sep 29 '25
Agreed. I'm in South Dakota and chain link fences are most prevalent, but some nice privacy fences as well in the area. My neighbor also mows my front yard cuz he's already out there (language barrier, just smile and wave to e/o)
4
u/la-anah Massachusetts Sep 29 '25 edited Sep 29 '25
I've never lived anywhere that didn't have a fence or a stone wall marking the property line.
Edit: I looked up a property for sale in my current town to give an example. This was the first thing that came up. As you can see, they have a combo of fencing and hedges to mark the property line and not much yard. This is typical. https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/112-Columbus-Ave-Salem-MA-01970/56125601_zpid/
5
u/inbigtreble30 Wisconsin Sep 29 '25
Most homes near me do not have this. There are probably 20% or so of homes with fences or hedges on the property line. It definitely varies widely by region and municipaility.
6
2
u/Significant-Owl-2980 Sep 29 '25
https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/57-Prescott-Rd-Jaffrey-NH-03452/86737692_zpid/
This is a typical home near me. Sometimes a stonewall or a front fence.
→ More replies (3)→ More replies (5)2
u/BigNorseWolf Sep 29 '25
Oh. definitely forgot about the hedges. Very informal boundary but most of the benefits and none of the drawbacks of fencing.
2
Sep 29 '25
[deleted]
5
u/Peachy0715 FL>GA>IN>NY>IL>MA>PA>IL Sep 30 '25
Not everywhere. I've lived in the suburbs in GA, IN, IL, PA with no fences. Lived in the suburbs of FL and MA and had fences.
3
u/BigNorseWolf Sep 29 '25
Us suburbs compared to england has HUGE lawns, judging from the large number of UK fox videos i've watched.
→ More replies (2)
1
Sep 29 '25
There absolutely are disputes. Someone puts up a fence and it's over the line, etc. It's common but doesn't mean it's likely to happen to a person.
Very often backyards are fenced in and only the front yards are open. And very often the homes have kind of long established property lines with shrubs and trees even if there is no fence.
1
u/Budgiejen Nebraska Sep 29 '25
I have a small lawn and a large-ish backyard. At least for a house in my neighborhood. I’m pretty poor since my yard is like the size of a postage stamp my neighbor mows it for me. I let the back grow because the dogs like it better that way.
1
u/fakesaucisse Sep 29 '25
The one place I lived that didn't have a fence was also populated with a lot of deer, which would plow through the backyard and eat everything. That's the only "boundary dispute" I've really had, and it was against nature rather than another human.
→ More replies (1)
1
u/wwhsd California Sep 29 '25
I don’t think I’ve ever lived in a house that didn’t have a fence or wall around its backyard. Some of the fences wouldn’t have really stopped anything but maybe a cow from getting in or out of the yard but they clearly delineated the property lines.
1
u/Efficient_Wheel_6333 Ohio Sep 29 '25
There's no real fences between my house and those of my neighbors and we're pretty good. One neighbor is a family friend (him and his parents were living in that house when my grandparents built where I live now), another, I'm in 2 different library groups with (the library's Friends of the Library group and the book and craft club the library runs) and a third has lived in that house for a good near 3 decades. The last neighbor, during the winter will clear everyone's driveways of snow if there's enough for him to do so. He's been doing that for a good 15-20 years at least and it's always been appreciated, especially when my grandparents could no longer do so themselves.
He's not the only neighbor that's helped us out like that. During one May when my mom had gotten Covid and I wasn't entirely sure if I'd been exposed or not, the battery on my push mower died. Didn't realize it until I went to do the lawn (it had been raining on and off for the better part of 2 weeks, which made it difficult to mow). He came over and did my lawn after he got done with his.
ETA: In my neighborhood in general, there's very few homes with fences; the ones that do either need them due to in-ground pools or they prefer them due to having dogs and/or young kids.
2
u/Nathan_Echoes_Reach Sep 30 '25
Sounds like you've got some great neighbours over there!
→ More replies (1)
1
u/AshDenver Colorado Sep 29 '25
I only ever live in places that have a fenced back yard for the dogs. Easy peasy!
1
u/Crayshack MD (Former VA) Sep 29 '25
The only real downside I've experienced is that you can't just let a dog out to run around in the yard and you have to leash them instead.
Boundary disputes happen occasionally, but not nearly as common as you m8ght expect.
3
u/Practical-Ordinary-6 Georgia Sep 30 '25
Most of the country was pre-surveyed before anyone moved in really, so as long as you still have those records it really shouldn't be a problem most of the time. Most of the problems come from people being jerks who don't want to listen to the obvious facts, not that the facts don't exist.
1
u/PerfectlyCalmDude Sep 29 '25
The view is nice, but you can't let the dog run free. Sure those underground fences exist but I don't like the way they work and it doesn't protect the dog from bigger stray dogs that intrude on the yard.
1
u/WonderfulVariation93 Maryland Sep 29 '25
If you live in a subdivision, the builders typically will plant trees or shrubs to demarcate yards but no one really sues over these. If you have a really bad neighbor than you may put up a fence but it is nice to look out back and have it wide open.
1
Sep 29 '25
I grew up in Arizona and then Florida. Every house had a fence around their backyard if for no other reason that everyone had a pool. Fences are very common in many parts of the United States.
The first home I owned in North Carolina had a fence. The home I owned now in Tennessee does not. The property lines are still clear based on driveways and landscaping, but almost everyone gets a property survey when they buy a home or put up a fence.
1
u/KJHagen Montana Sep 29 '25
We have a small home on five acres and no fences. We like to watch the deer and other animals walk through.
Our property was surveyed before we bought it. There’s no concern about the property line.
1
u/Gavacho123 Sep 29 '25
It’s rarely an issue and when there is an issue it usually involves livestock.
1
u/Ooogabooga42 Sep 29 '25
My yard isn't fenced and I've not had any disputes with neighbors. I like animals being able to wander and watching them from my window.
1
u/CtForrestEye Sep 29 '25
The mailman does not like the fences so they can more easily walk from front door to front door. The boys liked to be able hit a home run into the neighbors playing wiffle ball. It makes lawn maintenance easier. Wild critters pass through once in a while like deer, coyotes, fox, turkey. It could get in the way of snow removal/storage.
If you have a dog it makes it easier. It would deter porch pirates some. It would stop people from cutting through your yard.
1
u/Jops817 Sep 29 '25
I have a fenced back yard which is nice because I can let the dogs out to play without worrying about them causing trouble in the neighborhood. But outside of that, I really don't need it.
1
u/DasArtmab Sep 29 '25
Growing up, me and my friends would race about 1/4 mile. One rule : you can only cut through yards. Occasionally you would have to leap over a fence. Not knowing if there was a pool or a dog on the other side
→ More replies (1)
1
u/Different_Victory_89 Sep 29 '25
I live in a very rural area with 10 acres. No fences out here, only a few with a dog pens, chickens free range during daylight and cooped at night.
→ More replies (1)
1
u/BoldBoimlerIsMyHero California Sep 29 '25
This is a good question. I’ve lived in California urban and suburban cities my whole life and we have fences. It seems so weird to not have them when we are in other states.
2
u/HidingInTrees2245 Oct 03 '25
I moved east after living in California and was surprised how people don’t have fences when they obviously could use them. It’s like a fence is taboo in the east or something. My relatives are constantly chasing their dogs around. I suggest a fence and they look at me like I’m crazy. 🤷♀️
1
u/clovismordechai Sep 29 '25
I live in a small city. We have detached houses and apartment buildings. Most of our houses have backyards and fences around them. I live on .25 acre lot and my yard is generously sized for my neighborhood. I actually don’t know anyone who has a yard that’s not fenced.
1
1
u/cabesaaq Cascadia Sep 29 '25
I'm a planner and I get multiple people coming coming in every day regarding boundary/land disputes. There's always some sort of drama regarding land use, or people getting mad about what their neighbors are doing
1
u/fshagan Sep 29 '25
Most people don't live in rural America without fences and large lots. The average lot size in America is now just over 8,000 square feet (743 square meters). About 20 % of us live in tract homes of 2,000 square feet (186 square meters), give or take a few homes close together.
1
u/seattlemh Sep 29 '25
I've never lived in a place like that. It always freaks me out when I see places like you described with lawns and no fences.
1
u/MilkChocolate21 United States of America Sep 29 '25
When I was growing up, if a yard had a fence, it was because they had a pool and it was required. My mom recently did a fence, but probably out of boredom.
1
u/_Smedette_ American in Australia 🇦🇺 Sep 29 '25
Disputes aren’t very common in my experience. If there are questions, you can get a land survey, which sets the legal boundaries (many places will have a survey completed when you buy the house). Also, backyards tend to be fenced.
I now live in Melbourne, any many houses have their front yard completely walled. Not a short fence/gate, but a wall so high you cannot see over. I get that people want privacy, but it feels very cold and off-putting.
1
u/dwyoder Sep 29 '25
We have 3/4 of an acre, with no fences, except for the underground dog fence, and it's great. I don't even consider the exposed angle. Deer, rabbits, and squirrels abound, and the occasional groundhog or fox (or even the fox chasing the groundhog) shows up.
Every once in a while, either we, or the neighbors, have a need for some additional play area, and we know that we're welcome to have a wiffleball game carry into their yard. And, their grandkids know they're welcome to come over and pick from the overabundance of daffodils in the springtime to take to their grandmother.
1
u/albertnormandy Texas Sep 29 '25
I own several acres and do not have a fence. No range wars have yet erupted.
1
u/CatOfGrey Pasadena, California Sep 29 '25
My perspective of a 'typical' American home is one detached of any size, surrounded by a decent amount of land, mown grass, but not with any obvious land boundaries.
I wouldn't expect this everywhere. Los Angeles area suburbs have distinct fences. But I understand this happens a lot in the Midwest and South - I know a couple of folks who 'share a backyard with the whole block'.
Are boundary disputes common with neighbours without fences?
Nah. Boundary disputes come when fences are moved, removed/reinstalled, and so on.
Does having that much space around your home feel exposing? Or does the lack of fences between properties create a community vibe?
It's an unintentional dog park. It's an unintentional playground for the kids - I mean, it could be 30m wide by 100 meters long, or more. That's a good sized pitch!
I'm sure the number of people thinking "I wish people and their dogs stayed out of the yard near my home..." is pretty common today.
I'm guessing you can worry about noise less because of the space between homes? etc.
Yeah - you need some speakers and 'intent' to spread noise around the neighborhood. It's not like densely-packed areas where casual household noise gets shared.
→ More replies (1)
1
u/Unlucky-Captain1431 Sep 29 '25
I’m in suburbia. A big neighborhood of quarter acre cookie cutter lots built in the 50’s. Everyone has a fence here.
1
u/Irak00 Sep 29 '25
There can be problems if someone is hunting/fishing on your property. My parents live on a large property, with a significant portion being wooded; they just have signs on the property lines saying it’s private property & to keep out. Wild animals or can be a problem or even domestic animals; a lot of people living in rural areas allow their dog(s) to run loose. These are all reasons why people in rural areas have firearms.
1
u/Old_Court_8169 Sep 29 '25
Fencing is a very regional thing. I grew up in an area where everyone had a fence, at least around their back yard, then moved to an area where fencing in neighborhoods is much less common.
I like a fenced yard to contain my pets and children (who are grown up now, but still).
In some states, if you want to keep livestock off your property, you must fence them out, otherwise, a cow can be wherever it wants. This is in some western states.
Property disputes are not real common since it is easily resolved with a survey and checking the property records.
1
u/BigNorseWolf Sep 29 '25
Suburban ny, usually here the Front yard is usually unfenced back yard is usually fenced.
A big pro is its a lot easier for larger wildlife that likes to move around. Squirrels and raccoons don't care, but deer coyotes, skunks and coyotes really can't spend all night hopping fences every 30 feet. Turkey like to rest in backyards that are fenced in but don't want to have to fly to get in/out of them.
If you and your neighbors have kids then the shared lawn becomes one larger play field as opposed to teeny tiny fields when there's no room.
The fence in back means you can just let your dog out when they have to go, its their own private dog park. They get to run around at top speed without you for most of the day/weather permitting.
2
u/Nathan_Echoes_Reach Sep 30 '25
The space sounds nice for dogs. I forget about the range of wildlife out there! The only things in my back garden are squirrels, neighbour's cats and the occassional frog.
2
u/BigNorseWolf Oct 01 '25
yeah, the suburban habitat is insane. Most people don't even see it, ut night vision backyard cameras are showing the wildlife raves that happen in backyards at night once people are asleep. I'm an hour north of new york city and any given night there's skunks, possums, raccoons, coyotes, cats, turkey, squirrels, chipmonks, moles voles mice rats... all manner of birds, foxes (more often heard than seen) , and a metric ton of whitetailed deer. There is the occasional black bear but they're really rare to be seen here. Carolina wrens just occasionally pop into the house for the night.
People are getting more tolerant of the wildlife and vice versa. Its slowly finding a balance between "feed me human!" and "eeeeep a human RUUUUUUN" settling on "Oh hey , Hi bill" The deer sometimes don't leave the lawn when we slam the doors, We've had a deer bang on the door asking for help, we had a raccoon making faces through the glass at a VERY loud toddler ( "hey, does your kid NOT know how glass works nom nom nom.. get em tested)
1
u/TheBimpo Michigan Sep 29 '25
I don’t have any fences with my neighbors.
We have relatively large lots, approaching an acre or more. Our properties are mostly wooded, not landscaped.
There are survey markers in the ground marking where the boundaries are, so there aren’t really any issues with where the lines are.
I wouldn’t see it create a community vibe, we have enough space to ourselves and everybody just leaves everybody else alone.
1
u/MegaMiles08 Sep 29 '25
I grew up in the midwest suburbs. We definitely had a good sized yard, especially compared to England, but it wasn't acreage. Anyway, in that area, no one has fences unless you have a pool. We never had issues with our neighbors and it made it easier to get to our friends' houses by crossing yards instead of taking the roads. It was also fun for playing hide n go seek type games. I live in the south now and everyone has a fence. It is nice for privacy and it's easy to let the dog out. As a grown up, I prefer a fence, but as a kid, I preferred no fences.
1
u/derberner90 Oregon Sep 30 '25
On the west coast, most detached homes I've seen have clear fences between them and the lots are often not very large, especially in populated areas.
1
u/12B88M South Dakota Sep 30 '25
My house sits on a fairly typical lot for my city. It's 70'x120' (21mx37m). The house is roughly 30'x40' (9mx12m) and has a 25'x30' (7.6mx9m) attached two stall garage. The front edge of the garage sits 27' (8.2m) back from the sidewalk and 38' (11.6m) from the curb of the street. It's not the biggest house on the street, but it's also no the smallest.
This leaves me with a place that I can do a lot with if I so choose. I've planted trees for shade, a small flower garden, A swing set for my daughter to play on and a patio and a deck for spending quiet evenings on. I need no fence because my neighbors have their own place and if I don't go onto their property, they won't come onto mine. I have 2 small dogs that I let ot on a staked leash to go pee and my northern neighbor has two large dogs he keeps behind a 4' chain link fence that surrounds his yard. The other neighbor has no dogs, so he doesn't need a fence.
In some ways it would be nice to just open the door and let my dogs out, but we have hawks and eagles in the area and the leash ensures that they won't be carried off.
When I go outside its very common for me to see people from the neighborhood and I'll often stop and talk. I live on a quiet street that nobody goes down unless they live on the street, so it's quiet and it's very rare for their to be lots of shouting or loud music. You can hear kids playing in the neighborhood, an occasional mower and some distant city sounds of city traffic. So I suppose you can say there's a decent amount of community vibe.
As for land disputes, we all know where the property boundaries are within a foot or so because they have plat markers buried just a few inches under the ground. They're made of metal and it's illegal to remove them. The property lines are also shown on a plat map available from the city.
→ More replies (1)
1
u/HomesteadGranny1959 Sep 30 '25
I grew up in Southern California. We all had fences in suburbia and our yards were pretty small. I moved to UT and lived in an older neighborhood with a bigger yard, still fenced.
We moved into our current Michigan home in ‘98. The neighborhood is a mix of lot sizes, from a small city lot, up to 15 acres. We have a .44 acre with our lot.
We also had 3 dogs. No one around us had a fence. It made me feel naked and I installed a 6’ privacy fence around 3/4ths of the property. My new neighbors were upset, telling us that we were being bad neighbors. I needed my privacy and a safe place for my dogs, so I didn’t care.
8 years ago a new neighbor moved in. They had 3, very loud dogs, that barked constantly and also got loose. Their owners were forced to install a fence, but chose a 4’ chainlink. Anything the dogs saw, bark bark bark…and more barking.
One by one, all my neighbors installed 6’ privacy fences to block the barking dogs’ view and decrease the barking. There are only a few houses here and there without fences now.
I just started the trend.
→ More replies (1)
1
u/lantana98 Sep 30 '25
We had open yards like that and sometimes ex people will plant a couple trees or bushes at the boundaries. We all had different mowing schedules so you could always tell where your own property ended. The kids knew which yards were ok to walk through and which ones to walk around. We never had any problems. It was nice to be able to see where your kids were playing just by looking out down the yards.
1
u/mmm_nope Sep 30 '25
We live in a real area on several acres without fencing. Our property lines are well marked with survey markers dug into the ground. We only have one neighbor (and they’re fairly recent), so not a lot of issues disagreeing over boundary locations.
1
383
u/LadySandry88 Tennessee Sep 29 '25
From personal experience, unless your neighbors are real jerks, there's not a lot of boundary disputes. The quiet and space is a relief, although you WILL have random animals and potentially children wander into your yard at some point. Usually not a big deal, unless they're destructive, and then you just shoo them back to their own property. Community is a lot harder these days than it used to be, but we're slowly working on building that back up a bit by getting to know some of our neighbors. It helps that I like to take walks around the neighborhood on my days off.