irvinehomeowner
Well-known member
Recently we had a neighbor move in into our 'hood who has a kid the same age as ours and the usefulness of our cul-de-sac has improved exponentially. I talked to a friend recently who has an alley-backed garage and he also spoke about how nice that little "play street" is for the kids in his area.
It got me to thinking about the motorcourts of Montecito and I've grown to like the concept. It gives a mini cul-de-sac to the 4 or 6 homeowners without having to worry about parking on the street and unlike the alley homes, it actually brings neighbors closer together socially if they leave their front doors and garages open for the kids to access the house. I think Montecito II may work out to be a nice little family community, esp being across from the elementary school.
And I've never really been a fan of the alley garages and although aesthetically, the fronts of those type of house look better, I think you get more usefulness out of a motorcourt with driveway setup:
1. You can have backyards even if the homes are attached.
2. You have driveways to alleviate guest and street parking.
3. You have a little more separation from your garage and motorcourt.
Would I pay $100k more for that type of setup over something like Santa Cruz that has the front garage and motorcourt but no driveway? Probably not, but $50k... maybe.
It got me to thinking about the motorcourts of Montecito and I've grown to like the concept. It gives a mini cul-de-sac to the 4 or 6 homeowners without having to worry about parking on the street and unlike the alley homes, it actually brings neighbors closer together socially if they leave their front doors and garages open for the kids to access the house. I think Montecito II may work out to be a nice little family community, esp being across from the elementary school.
And I've never really been a fan of the alley garages and although aesthetically, the fronts of those type of house look better, I think you get more usefulness out of a motorcourt with driveway setup:
1. You can have backyards even if the homes are attached.
2. You have driveways to alleviate guest and street parking.
3. You have a little more separation from your garage and motorcourt.
Would I pay $100k more for that type of setup over something like Santa Cruz that has the front garage and motorcourt but no driveway? Probably not, but $50k... maybe.