5-26-11 Backcountry

It has always amazed me, this drive home along Wildcat Parkway, at the wide open spaces you can gasp at, right inside the neighborhood. The high school to my left, Mountain Vista, is aptly named.

But then, just down the hill, a half a mile, is the new construction in the very expensive Backcountry. According to their website, the prices range from $300,000 to $1.2M, but I'm hard pressed to spot very many in the 300K range. You also pay an additional $250 month sub-HOA fee for their rec center and access to the exclusive 400 acres of open space reserved for residents, which pretty much defeats the "open" concept. (The main HR HOA fee is about $30 a month for access to all the other thousands of acres of open space and 4 fully-equipped rec centers with rock climbing wall, indoor river pool, enclosed tennis courts, etc.)

But here is the most puzzling part of all to me. These are the lot sizes for the enormous homes:

This is actually some of the newer construction going on just this year. The first section of homes that were built out are even closer together, so much so that it appeared they were all condominiums. I don't get it. I'm sure the homes are lovely. But for that money, I'd much rather have a cabin in the woods with my own land.

To each their own, I suppose. This is just definitely not my own.