Selecting the Lot for the New House

Renting is the temporary solution to the housing problem. We shall now assume

that you have decided to stay awhile and are ready to begin looking for a place

to build.

Photo owned by Cedwyn Davies

Where are we going to find that lot, so we can build the new house? No one

likes to drive forty miles through heavy traffic to get to work every morning and

back again at night. While it is not desirable to have the home in the same block

with the factory, or between the First National Bank and the Post Office, a house

can easily get too far away from the job, and distance can become a real problem.

Time spent on the road is practically wasted, and traveling long distances every

day costs a great deal of money in the course of a year, to say nothing of the wear

on a person's nerves and blood pressure.

Traffic is increasing so tremendously around our metropolitan centers, and will

probably get worse, that travel must be a big consideration in selecting a location.

To be near a main arterial highway or a freeway ought to be a partial solution, but

when so many thousands of others are all trying to use the same highway at the

same time, it seems impossible to build highways wide enough, or enough of

them to handle the traffic. Don't get too far away from your work

After you are satisfied that getting to and from work will not be too difficult, there

are other considerations. How will the children get to school? Be sure there is a

proper school not too far away, or that a school bus picks up the children in the

neighbourhood. Then there is the simple matter of shopping for the daily

groceries. Are suitable markets not too far away? If you have a preference as to

the church you attend, can one be reached within a reasonable distance?

Utilities

Although many people think that such things as electricity, gas, water, and

telephone lines come automatically, there are places where one or more of these

services are not available, and it is well to make a thorough check to see that all of

these are satisfactory and that their cost is reasonable.

If sewers are not available, you can usually get along with a septic tank, but this

will cost more than connecting to a sewer. If, however, there is a monthly charge

for the sewer, perhaps in time this would make things come out about even.

A good water supply is, of course, the first necessity. You wouldn't want a house

where you could not get good water and plenty of it. It is well to inquire about the

water supply. Is the pressure adequate during the dry season? Is the water safe to

drink, and does it taste good? Is the cost unreasonable? Is water rationed at certain

seasons of the year? Can you afford enough water to keep a good lawn?

Before you buy a lot, be absolutely certain about the water supply. Is the water

supplied by a private company, or by the city? Does the water come from wells,

streams, lakes or springs? Is there assurance of a continuing supply? If water is

from a well, is the water level dropping or rising?

A dependable source of electricity is also a must. What about the rates? To get so

far out that you try to generate your own electricity is only for those few hardy

souls who do not mind poor or indifferent service at considerable expense and

trouble.

Good telephone service is a necessity in our modern civilization. Be sure it is

available without your having to build or pay for building a mile or two of line.

Natural gas is now piped to many localities; and it is very useful, but where it is

not available, bottled gas can usually be secured. If not, oil can be used for heating

and for heating water. Or you can use coal, or even wood in some rural forested

areas. Or you can use electricity for heating purposes, if you insulate the house

properly. Many electric companies give very low rates for electricity used to heat

water, and often for heating the whole house. Gas is not an absolute necessity, but

it is well to give consideration to what will take its place.

Public transportation passing near the building site is a great convenience.

Everybody has cars nowadays, but some families have only one car, and when a man

drives it to work, what does his wife do for transportation? But if a man can take

the bus to work, he will save money, and his wife can have the car at home. Or if

both husband and wife are employed, the problem is greatly simplified if a good

dependable bus line runs near the place. There is usually less nervous tension

generated in riding in a bus than there is in fighting your own way through the

rush hour traffic.

The View

The view is not an absolute necessity in selecting a home site, but it can well be a

very important consideration. It must be admitted that there are not nearly

enough sites with magnificent views so that everyone can have one.

What an inspiration we get from a striking view! The rugged mountains with their

snowy caps, and the placid lakes, calm our troubled spirits, helping us to see life in

its true perspective. All our feverish hurry and hectic rush accomplish so little.

Photo owned by Oliver Dixon

What an inspiration we get from a striking view! The rugged mountains with their

snowy caps, and the placid lakes, calm our troubled spirits, helping us to see life in

its true perspective. All our feverish hurry and hectic rush accomplish so little.

Many home owners have to be satisfied with an ordinary level lot in a square block,

and large numbers of people do not consider a view to be worthwhile, or they

fear that it is out of the question for them. But in parts of the country that are not

level, where there is a choice of the different types of building sites, a person who

decides to do some thorough looking around and can use a little imagination as

to the possibilities of an unusual site, can generally find something different. Of

course, it costs more to build on a sloping site, but the difference is largely in the

labour involved, and a person with pep and ambition, can often find it in his

system to do the extra work for the extra reward of being able to live in a

better than average situation.

But most people have to be content with a more prosaic location. While we may

not be able to manage a breath-taking view from every window, the case is not

hopeless. If you can't find a view, make one. By proper planting to shut out

undesirable vistas and other planting to beautify portions of your lot, you can

make even a level lot in a square block attractive. Tell the people with view lots

that it is usually so foggy, or smoggy, or otherwise dismal that they do not get

much out of their view anyway, and that your view is close enough that you can see

it in spite of the smog.

But do try to get a lot that is large enough so that you can do something with it.

Perhaps you can buy what was originally planned as two lots and make it into a

very attractive place.

Suppose you can get only one lot 60' x 120' in size. You can still do a great deal

with it by careful planning.

The Lot in an Older Neighbourhood

It is seldom wise to build a new house on a lot in a section where most of the

houses are twenty or thirty years old. A vacant lot in such a section that was

somehow missed when the rest of the houses were built is usually cheap enough

that there is a temptation to buy it and build on it. Unless the older houses are

unusually well kept and in really first class condition, the neighbourhood will

become obsolete as a high grade residential district before your house has served

a normal life span.

How Much Should One Pay for a Lot?

How much can we afford to pay for a lot? Don't buy a cheap lot for an expensive

house. If the lot costs about one fourth as much as the house, you won't go far

wrong. Much depends on what you consider important. If your finances are so

limited that you must build a very inexpensive house, by all means find a cheap lot.

On the other hand, an unusually large lot, with a perfect view and close to where

you want to live, might be worth half as much as the house, or even more, if you

can manage the financing.

The cost of the lot is the cost of everything necessary to pay for before the

building of the house can start. This is mentioned because, although one lot may

seem less expensive than some other lot, when the levelling is considered and the

utilities that may be in and paid for in one place may have to be added in another

place, the price picture may change. Consider all the cost.

A person should always remember that it is cheaper to build on a level lot than

on a sloping one. This fact needs also to be considered in calculating the price of

the lot. This is not a reason, however, to shy away from a lot that slopes. Maybe

the house will be worth more if full advantage is taken of the slope. There is more

probability that a good view is available with a hillside lot, and the lot may be

less expensive to buy in the first place. If the lot is in a completely developed

subdivision, the view lot will be much more expensive.

Unusual Lots

Consider the lot that slopes away from the road that is situated on the low side of

the road. (Builders have generally shied away from this type, in favour of the one

above the road level.) The view is often better from the rear of the house. This

lends itself to the newly imported idea of putting the living rooms in the rear.

Why should a house face the street with the principal rooms in the front?

If you can build up or frame the floor so that the floor level is slightly above the

curb, and a basement or under story can just open out on a level with the back

yard, a very convenient and charming house can be built. Of course, if the lot is

large and you can contrive a winding road back to the house, the relation to the

street level is unimportant, just so your driveway does not become too steep for ease

in driving. The lower levels farther back could be terraced for games, or garden,

orchard, flowers, outdoor living, etc.

People under forty-five might do well to look for such a lot, while those over

sixty would be wise to plan their living on one level.

A lot that is just slightly two or three feet above the street is considered the ideal

lot. This often gives a good view without too many steep steps or serious grading

problems.

Despite the fact that a very steep lot above the street presents a rather difficult

problem, if it can be bought cheaply, or if it has an unusual view, or if it is near

where you would like to build, several things can be done to make it a suitable

building site. You could excavate, putting the garage under part of the house,

and have steps leading up into the house, or if the lot is large, by careful design of

the driveway maybe you could drive around to the rear, with a curved drive, making

the main entrance on the rear of the house.

Or you can have a second story that is really a ground floor at the back. You could

thus get a good view, from both the first and second stories and not seem so much

like you were living in a tall house.

Every lot presents its own problem, but a little thought and ingenuity will usually

solve the problem.

How much land do you need? Much depends on what you want to do with it. Do

you want a large house, one that is compact and small, or one that is rambling?

Naturally a rambling house of one story will take more land than a compact

house of two stories and a basement, to get a similar amount of floor space.

Do you want a swimming pool? A tennis court? A garden for flowers? Vegetable

garden? Orchard? A lot of approximately 10,000 square feet should be large

enough for the average family, and certainly 15,000 to 20,000 square feet could

accommodate almost any activity. A satisfactory house can be built on a lot of

6,000 or 7,000 square feet if outdoor activity is to be at a minimum.

Lots are larger now than they were forty years ago. The average city lot then was

about 50' x 100'. Many were even smaller. Houses were smaller on the ground

floor, being built with two or three stories and not requiring so much land.

A lot less than 60' in width is definitely too narrow; if you can find a lot 80' or

more wide you will have more freedom in planning the house and landscaping the

grounds. Get as large a piece of land as you can afford. If you can't pay all cash, you

can usually work out a deal where you pay for the lot in monthly instalments.

It is usually better to wait until the lot is paid for before starting to build the

house. As soon as you get the lot, you can begin to plan the house as well as the

way you are going to plant and landscape the lot. If you want an orchard or shade

trees, you can get the planting started, even if you can't build for a few years yet.

Get in mind the location of the house on the lot, and where you will want the

things to be planted so they will not interfere with the building work. It is very

difficult to preserve shrubs and small trees if they are in the area immediately

adjacent to the house.

If the lot is not level, the grading must be completed before you plant anything.

Look ahead instead of doing your work twice. Be sure you are doing everything

according to a master plan, so that when you get through you will have a place

that looks as if someone had planned it instead of just letting it grow at odd

times.

Since many cities are expanding rapidly, when you look for a lot don't look too

close in. Perhaps better and larger lots are available at less cost just a little

farther from the center of town. Try to imagine what the area will look like in two

or three years.

We have discussed mostly the things you want in and around your new building

site. What about those you would rather not have? Noisy highways too close to

your house can be a nuisance when you are trying to sleep on a restless night.

Railroad switching yards or the main lines of busy railroads can be equally

distracting. Factories that give off unpleasant odours or have noisy machinery are

not the best neighbours. You might also get tired of a view that overlooks dreary

prospects, gas plants, oil refineries, or factories belching smoke. Keep your house

a safe distance from these things.

The Soil and Land Structure

It would also be wise to check into the quality of the soil to make sure it will

raise shrubs, a good lawn, and also a garden if you wish to raise one. Of course, you

can have soil hauled in, but this cost must be added to the cost of the lot

.

Photo owned by Jonathan Billinger

Sometimes the substructure is such that it is difficult to get a good foundation for

your house. Beware of a lot that has been filled to a depth of several feet within

the last twenty years. Your foundation must extend below the fill to make it satis-

factory.

Be sure that you have the right lot, because if you build on someone else's lot,

you have built the house for him. The house belongs to the one who owns the

lot. In many foreign countries this is not so; people lease the land and build

their houses on it, and are free to move them if they wish, but in America the

house and the land belong together.

Making Sure that You Have a Clear Title

Not many years ago getting satisfactory assurance that the title to a piece of land

was really clear was a difficult proposition. The customer was given an abstract of

title, which was a large book consisting of copies of all the papers that had ever

been issued concerning a particular piece of land, from the original land grant

from the Federal Government, through all the changes of ownership, including

mortgages, liens, and delinquent taxes. Then the wise buyer took this to a lawyer,

who, for a fee, gave an "opinion" that the title could be considered satisfactory.

Then, sometimes when the property was all divided up into many small pieces,

some sharp lawyer would find a "cloud" away back in the title, such as some

distant heir, long since dead, had neglected to sign some paper or to have it

recorded. Then the title to every little piece of property had to be put through a

court procedure complete with advertising to "clear" the title.

Fortunately, the proposition is much simpler and much more certain now, although

more expensive. Since a title insurance company insures the title to the property

in the amount the buyer pays for it, he has no need to worry as the title insurance

company will be careful not to insure the title unless it is good.

The wise buyer nowadays will insist upon adequate title insurance when he buys a

piece of land in those parts of the country where this service is available. Where he

cannot get this insurance, the buyer will have to satisfy himself that the title is

clear, by some other means, perhaps by the abstract method.

Exact Boundaries Important

Be sure you know the exact boundaries of the land you purchase. In the "good

old days" when a few rods more or less one way or the other did not make much

difference, boundaries were not so important, but, with today's land values, a few

inches can be vital. When your lot is only 50' wide and you want to build a 40'

house with 5' clearance on each side, you need all the land you are entitled to.

In newly laid out subdivisions where the stakes are all in place, it is easy to find the

lot lines, whereas in places that have been surveyed some years previously so many

stakes will be missing that it may be hard to locate the exact corners. The

neighbours are just as anxious to find the correct lot lines as you are. If a stake is

missing, sometimes a little digging in the area where the corner is thought to be

will locate the point of the stake. Often if one is careful, the hole where the stake

has been can be found by a different color of earth or the decayed remains of

part of the stake.

It is always well to have the neighbour concerned help you locate the corner so he

can be more assured that the work has been done correctly. If he helps you, he

will see the evidence you uncover and will not later be inclined to argue so much

about it. If a corner is discovered and you agree that it is correct, by all means get

a piece of galvanized pipe three feet or more in length to drive in at exactly the

right place as a permanent marker. Drive the pipe clear down to the surface of

the ground or below and put a wooden stake by it. This way it can hardly become

lost again. Although sometimes a new survey is necessary, it is better to find the

original corners if at all possible, and it is certainly cheaper.

Land that has never been exactly surveyed, or a piece that is being divided, will

require a survey to locate the new corners and lot lines, which should be

permanently marked so they will never become lost.

Plot Plan

After you are sure that you know the exact boundaries of your land, you can begin

to make the plot plan. With the limited piece of land which you can get, careful

planning will be necessary to make sure that it is being used to the best possible

advantage. Find the true north and south, the direction of the prevailing breezes,

and of the strong winds, and decide which parts of the lot will be best for outdoor

living, where the garage should be placed to shelter this area if shelter is going to

be needed, or where the full force of the breeze will be necessary for maximum

comfort on hot days. The local climate and weather conditions will guide one in

planning the use of the lot.

Plan where shade trees can best be planted, where the vegetable garden will do

the best, and where the roses will best fit the landscape.

Outdoor Living Room

Outdoor living room does not need to be expensive; it may be any place around

your house, screened off from the road by a hedge or fence covered with flowering

vines or it may be in your back yard with flowers and shrubs hiding it from the

neighbours.

The place may be small with only a comfortable seat or swing or it may be large

enough for large parties, for a croquet court or other games, or a place for the

children to run and play.

An informal pool in one corner will add to the beauty and interest of the place. A

terrace with a table and chairs where the afternoon or evening meals may be

served would be inviting, in a quiet atmosphere, a little apart from the noise and

rush of routine daily tasks. Here one may rest and his soul will be refreshed.

More and more, we are learning to enjoy our gardens. Outdoor living in many

parts of the country is very comfortable particularly during the summer and fall.

The climate will determine the use to be made of the lot. Place the house and

garage to get the benefit of the weather you want, and to shelter you from that

which you find objectionable. Don't forget the benefit to be derived from shade

trees, both for the cooling shade in the summer, but also the improvement in the

appearance of the place. But don't make the mistake of planting them in the

center of the front lawn where they will obscure the house and interfere with the

view.

Use the Lot Efficiently

Keep the garage as near the street as possible, so as not to let the driveway take

up too much room. Keep the front yard as small as the required set-back will

permit so the room at the rear will be more spacious.

Facing the House to the Rear to Use Lot Efficiently

Consider the idea of facing the house toward the rear of the lot, with most of the

important living areas facing the rear. Then set about to plant tall shrubs along

the sides and rear of the lot, or at least where the view is somewhat undesirable.

Then flower gardens can be next to the tall shrubs, and the lawn can occupy the

center of the back yard. If you can afford a swimming pool, it can be the center of

interest. Put it to one side so that it will not take up most of the area, which you

will need for other activities. If you can't find a view, make one.

Building Your Own Home

If you want something that offers more opportunity for gracious living, for a more

leisurely approach to life, for a different type of entertaining, or perhaps you just

want a view, what you want to do is to build your own house.

If you want things the way you want them, if you are not satisfied with the

average house, if you want luxury but can't afford to pay too much of a premium

for it, if you do not like so much uniformity, if you are a rugged individualist (alas,

the breed is getting scarce), if you do not like the same level lots, the same lack of

imagination shown in the design of tract houses, the stereotyped way of living

associated with subdivisions, you want to build your own house.

Owning a home gives a feeling of permanence and security to a family that a

hired stopping place can never give. There is great satisfaction in planting a shrub

or painting a wall and knowing that you are doing it for yourself and not for

someone else. When you own the house, you can stay long enough in one place to

get the benefit of your work. You can locate a good garden spot and not feel that

the fertilizer you put on it will do more good for the next tenant than it will do for

you. The trees you plant will grow for you and not for the landlord.

If you like to live in your own house, if your home is your castle, if you would

rather be home than anywhere else, if a family enjoys being together, if a holiday

can be spent leisurely at home instead of dashing madly about the country

seeking excitement, if you would like to raise a few flowers and enjoy gardening, if

you like to entertain friends at home instead of taking them to the restaurant, if

you like to sit around your own fire in the winter evenings, if living is more than

mere existence to you, if you have children and they want pets, if you want your

children to enjoy their home, to be proud of the place where they live, to grow

up feeling that home is the most blessed place on earth, if these things are

important to you, then you need a house of your own on a good-sized lot.

Although not everyone can have a beautiful house on a large lot in an idyllic

country setting, overlooking mountains or lakes and still have it accessible enough

for everyday living, a few can. Why not be one of the few?

Even if a lot more thinking and a lot more work will be required in building your

own house, when you consider how many years you will have to work to pay for

the house you buy, perhaps in the long run there is actually less work in building

your own house in the first place.

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