Sometimes, Less Can Be More

For some people, small lots are just the right size.

by Nicole Dell

How do you get McMinnville area realtors to laugh? Tell them you have a lot for sale with 5,000 square feet or less. This will also provoke chuckles and even the occasional belly laugh from builders and developers. They think they've got the home-buying public all figured out.

Maybe they're right, but I'm willing to bet there are at least a few folks out there like me, who think there ought to be something for everyone.

Now, no one would claim that there isn't a place in our community for large homes on large lots. What puzzles me is why we don't recognize the equal validity of small lots. I mean really small lots.

Two years ago, I bought my first house. I couldn't afford much, and since I'm single I didn't need much. I found a little house on South Cowls Street that I just fell in love with and wrote the offer to purchase it before I had ever been inside.

My home is quite small, but it's the size of my lot that really makes people shake their heads.

Does size matter?
What can someone do on a smaller lot like mine? Well, the house takes up about 1,000 feet, the carport another 300. With the rest of it, I have room for 16 varieties of tomatoes, strawberries, pole beans, snow peas, radishes, basil, chives, two cherry trees, two plum trees, a flowering dogwood, a good-sized camellia, a large deciduous azalea, a filbert tree I share with my neighbor, and some unnamed shrubs right up next to the house that are so big I can walk through the front rooms in my skivvies without drawing the shades. If that's not enough, I still have more lawn than I can find the time to mow.

Small is not for everyone, but I think small lots work in my neighborhood for a number of reasons. First of all, we have a nice mix. There are little homes like mine, and there are some of the largest and most splendid homes in the city, set on great big giant lots. Most of the homes are very different in style, but we have a lot of neat stuff like tucked-away garages, shared driveways and cool porches. Lots of people use their shrubs for a bit of privacy, and sometimes the shared driveways are a pain, but for the most part, people on South Cowls wouldn't live anywhere else.

Small lots create great neighborhoods
Smaller lots help create wonderful neighborhoods. The fact of the matter is, small lots are not a new idea. The smallest lots are in the oldest parts of town, which despite their sagging sewer hook-ups are exactly where many of us choose to live. I'm not alone in thinking my densely developed neighborhood lacks nothing in appeal or livability.

I know you've been wondering exactly how big my lot is. Three thousand six hundred and eighty-eight square feet --give or take a foot or two. Seriously. You can scoop your jaw up off the page now.

I've seen huge cities and remote tribal villages and everything in-between. After traveling all over the world, I have decided that this is the place I always want to come home to. Of all the places I've ever been, I like my little house, my tiny yard and my narrow street the very best.