I loved living on the end of the street. The only con I can think of is you need to be very careful about the kids when they are out playing. Some "parents" seem to think that end of the road means they don't need to teach their child to move out of the way for cars and get po'd when you remind the kids that the road is there for the cars first them second.

My concern as living at the end of a cul-du-sac is people turning around, not realizing it is a dead end. Possible speed, driving in the driveway, lights at night etc.

I have lived in a cul-de-sac for many years. It's interesting, the cul-de-sac seems like its own neighborhood - the folks on the cul-de-sac definitely know each other better, and seem to watch out for each other more. Not sure why this is the case.

I really can't think of any cons. There are 22 homes on my street, and 6 that are truly on the cul-de-sac. Homes on the cul-de-sac are considered very desirable. My kids learned to ride their bikes at the age of 4 because of living on a quiet dead end street, and they played in the cul-de-sac more than they played in our yard (which can be tricky, as the previous poster acknowledged).

Whenever we have a neighborhood gathering, it is always on the cul-de-sac, and always seems to be organized by someone on the cul-de-sac. Cul-de-sacs seem to promote a different kind of vibe which is very positive, and very different than a straight pass through street.

I recently sold a house at the end of a cul de sac and that location was what the buyers liked best about the house. We also had one some years ago. It was very, very nice and truly it is hard to come up with negatives. Did people turn around some? I guess, but really very rare. Much more are than cars driving by a house not on the cul de sac. By the time we were at the cul de sac our kids were not really the age to play in the street any more and there were no other kids near us so didn't see much playing in the street. At our house before that there was a short cul de sac near us and kids did tend to congregate there so maybe that is a negative. But still the positives are just way, way stronger than negatives. Cul de sac was always helpful on resale.

I have lived on a cul de sac for 30 years. Our street is one short block long. The turn around traffic is no problem because people can just drive around the circular sac to turn around. There is no need to pull into someone's driveway. The front yards are pie shaped and small, but the back yards are wide. Because the front yards are small pie shaped wedges, there is not as much parking space at the curb for guests. That is about the only problem.

The cons I have noticed living in one of the houses at the end of a cul de sac - enjoying the hugest back yard :) and very little yard work in front.

There is very little curb, meaning very little on-street parking.

I have no LEGAL place to put bulk trash for pickup - I went around several times with the city's trash supervisors because bulk trash is supposed to be at least X feet away from the water meter and X feet away from any utility box and X feet from any driveway. None of these things are far enough apart on our lot to leave any legal space.

Our previous house was on a cul de sac, but without any of the cons noted above. The lots were a normal shape, and we actually had lots of extra on-street parking, because we had mountain preserve across from us instead of other houses.

Our part of the world has quite a few cul de sacs where the houses don't go all round the end, thus allowing for extra parking.

"I'm wondering about the cons of an end of cul-du-sac lot. It seems like it would be nice; what negatives am I missing?"

Here is some 'food for thought' regarding how some asian people feel about cul-du-sac lots.

What To Do If You Live In A Cul-De-Sac

A link that might be useful:

www.wofs.com/index.php?option=com_content&Itemid=46&task=view&id=460

I always really like living on a cul-de-sac. We used have the best block parties in the one I grew up on.

The only other possible con I can see is that cul-de-sacs are usually plowed last after a snow storm because priority is usually given to thru streets. That is true of the col-de-sac I live on now. That is actually kind of a big deal for my DH now after having gone through a couple of snows storms in the past 2 years where we got stuck in the house (because road wasn't plowed) with our power out.

Our trash truck has to make a 12-point turn (or so it seems) at the end our street, a small cul-de-sac. Poor driver. It's worse for every car someone has parked in there.
Difficult to turn around with a trailer, something our neighborhood does a lot with yard services and boats.

So many things I never would have thought of.

Thanks so very much!

While I don't necessarily live on the cul-de-sac, our large corner lot is on a very short street and the cul-de-sac is at the end of our backyard. Having young children, we've enjoyed having neighbors that are friendly and protective and are always on the lookout for anything that seems wrong. We're also fortunate to have very little traffic and street parking in our small neighborhood...leaving the children to have some extra enjoyment of the space the cul-de-sac provides for bike and scooter riding. I really love this aspect of our location and dread the day of living off the cul-de-sac.

The positives outweighed any negatives for us in our 'starter house' -- that we lived in for thirty years. lol

Our DS and his neighbor pals rode their big wheels around the traffic circle in our cul-de-sac. Neighborhood picnics were on the circle. Only people who belonged there drove into the street; you could see from the feeder cross street that there was no egress to another street. Backyards were larger than the norm. Ours backed to a churchyard so we only had two houses close to ours -- our next door neighbors.

The sole problem has already been mentioned: Snow plows got to us last. Our city finally bought some smaller trucks to plow circular runs.

I just moved 5 blocks to get on a cul de sac. Same subdivision, smaller front yard (good), very big back yard (better), little traffic (there are only 6 houses on the entire street), and strangely friendly neighbors--they all know each other really well.

We don't have snow and the garbage truck drivers seem pretty skilled. Street parking is probably a little tight, especially since 2 houses on the street are doing renovations and have contractor trucks out all the time. My father-in-law backed a trailer into my garage on the first try but I'll need more practice.

I grew up on a cul de sac and had no problems, even when we had 3 teenagers driving at once and my dad wouldn't let us park in the driveway, but every street is different. I've owned 2 corner lot houses and didn't like doing all the yardwork. I'd rather have the bulk of my yard in the back in case I don't have time to keep everything up one week. Corner lots can have the benefit of a side entrance garage which makes for a much nicer looking house. And extra snow shoveling. Been there done that!

Snow removal is likely to be slower since fewer people benefit.

Living in a cul de sac is for people who absolutely love people, don't mind sharing their property with the neighbors, and who are not territorial. I live at the end of a cul de sac. I must say, for a couple with no kids, we have not enjoyed it. Parents seem to think our yard and driveway are part of the deal/playground for their children. We keep a very neat yard and home. Our garage door has been very banged up from neighbor kids riding their bikes into it. The driveway has tire tracks all over it, and there is the constant rumble of "big wheels" being ridden up and down our drive. There has been one injury on the drive that resulted in our home owners being involved. This incident occured after asking parents not to allow kids to use scooters on our driveway. I would not recommend living in a cul de sac unless you love kids, neighbors, and are into being one of the goofballs! I would never buy in a cul de sac again.

We live at the end of a short cul-de-sac ...

PRO:
No through traffic, hence quieter, safer for kids

End lots can be HUGE because of the way divisions have to happen for frontage and setbacks.

Can close it off for a block party

Tiny front yard, huge back yard ... not much wasted on the neighbors (we don't have the problem mentioned of kids free-roaming through our cactus patch)

CONS:
Can be blocked in if the neighbors are having a party

Have to watch for kids.

VERY limited frontage for parking and trash ... we have gone several rounds with the city trash department because they didn't like where we put the cans, until we show them where the lot lines are, and show them the law and ask them "so ... show us where we can LEGALLY put them" and they concede that there is no place that satisfies every bit of the regulation.

Can be difficult for big delivery vehicles

We owned and lived in one of those pie shaped HUGE lots at the end of the cul-de-sac for many years. I loved it and the neighbors. The only thing I didn't like was it faced in the direction of all the winds, so every time the wind blew I had all kinds of trash and leaves at my front door! It was a funnel for everything that the wind could carry. Other than that, no cons. All pros!

We lived on a cul de sac for seven years and liked it. Never thought there was anything negative about it. I liked that when you're at kind of an angle to the other houses, you're not looking right in their windows.

We lived on a cul-de-sac where there were only 6 houses and I thought it was great for the kids. The street was far enough into the neighborhood so it wasn't used as a turnaround. There wasn't a house on the curved end, so it made it great for extra parking.

Being on the edge of a canyon in Ca, we did occasionally have coyotes come out, even during daylight hours, and had neighbors lose pets because they didn't have the sense to keep them inside. We also only had one neighboring house next door, which seemed to make it the perfect place to live. While we enjoyed and loved the house and location for 17 years, we paid $268 and sold during the upswing for a little over 1M. ;)

I live at the end of a cul-de-sac that spurs off a larger development. Love having almost no traffic going by the house. I've forgotten what road noise even sounds like. Occasionally you will see someone who is lost turn around, and at night the car lights do shine right in my bedroom window when that happens. That is about the worst con I can think of. There are 6 houses on our spur, and I love the very small neighborhood feel. Yes, the kids do tend to pool at our end of the street. Little kids riding their big wheels do not bother me, but all of our neighbors are great people and we don't have problems with folks not respecting other people's property.

I am surprised people would allow their children to ride in their neighbor's driveways. I always prefer cul-de-sacs if possible.

My friend has lived on a cul-de-sac for over 30 years. I asked her about it and she said it's great if you get along with your neighbors. Not so much, if you don't. They all get along now, but when her son was a teenager, he used to get blamed for things he didn't do by her neighbors and there were some very tense years. But, time passes, and they all get along now. I do notice a lot of kids in the street sometimes when I go over there. You really do have to watch out for the kids, and I wouldn't like that every time I come home or leave. I think if your privacy isn't a big issue to you and you're a "people person" you'd like living on a cul-de-sac. I think I value my privacy too much.

I just sold our home in a cul de sac. Lived there for a long time.

Yes, there are kids, and you have to be careful but I would argue no more careful than if you lived on the street.

We didn't have kids in our drive. Only the homes with kids had other peoples kids in their drives. Good parenting perhaps?

The front end of the pie shaped lot doesn't leave much parking for visitors. It can get annoying when the one neighbor kids girlfriend is parked right by your driveway day after day. But that usually is temporary.

We weren't all chummy but everyone did get along with everyone else pretty much. If you are really out there you might have issues fitting in but we were a diverse lot and except for one family who sold pretty quickly we didn't have neighbor problems.

In our area cul de sacs are desired and people will pay a small premium to live on one.

I live at the end of a cul de sac right now. I hate that there's no street parking that "belongs" to our house - we have up to four adults with cars at the house at a time (in-laws visiting). Also, Asian people don't think being at the end of a street (especially the end of a T-intersection) is good feng shui. It has pros, but when I was looking for our next house, I nixed all corner and "trapezoid" shaped lots (usually on cul de sacs). Now I have a beautiful rectangular lot with plenty of street parking I'm very happy with. Or will be, once we finish building our house there. :)

Not a fan of cul de sacs because of the lack of street parking. That would be a real problem for us at holidays and for graduation parties.

We live in a zero-lot-line community, but being in a cul-de-sac means we've got a lot more room and aren't looking in each other's windows. They don't look or feel like ZLL homes, and have larger lots by far. Plus, we have medians and parking in the middle of the cul-de-sac to ensure easy access, safer driveway back-up, and garbage/mail access. Of course there's always one tool who doesn't give a @#&$ about his neighbors and will park in the street instead of in the center parking, but you find jerks wherever you go. My cul de sac home has 5 pro's for every con. My house is set back from the street a bit, so it's easy to miss..but it's for that very reason a bit safer. I like it much better than homes I've lived in twice this size.

As a kid once, cul-de-sacs were cool.

I call em cul de sucks because they suck. if u like having parking issues, kids, roll away basketball poles at end of every drive, bikes lying in your driveway, noise, noise, noise and the garbage truck skipping u because the neighbor had a party then their great. In the older neighborhoods they are not bat because they will generally be limited to 4 driveways. But 6 is way too many leaving most front yards with about 10 to 15 feet. If u look through your local pva sales u will see that like corner lots, these lots tend to turn over more frequently. Like many of the comments imply, it’s not the lot that makes them great, it’s the neighbors - and they can make the very bad as well.

Been at the end of a cul-de-sac for 15 years. All positives, no negatives. In addition to the noise and traffic minimization, it's easier to form a small community with your neighbors and to look out for one another. We've also had zero issues with prowlers, burglaries, and porch pirates...I think a street with only one way out is something of a deterrent for these folks. And if anyone sees a strange car coming down the street it gets extra scrutiny.

Totally agree with everything Kudzu said. I posted on this five years ago upthread (how the heck do these super old threads resurface anyway?)-- and I still love this location.

Although the OP was brought back from the dead to go with Lisa's safety issue developers on both sides of the state line must have two entrances to any development that is currently being built. Depending on your area if you expand a development another entrance must be built.

Lisa-

Safety benefit as only one road in.... ;-)

kudzu tell that to the people whose apartment burned down because there was a wreck at the entrance of the apartment complex. Which is why the rules have changed here.

Many things in life can cut both ways, depending upon circumstances.

I absolutely love my dead end road for all the reasons outlined above. This is by far the best location I've ever lived in. It's peaceful, quiet, and feels extra safe to me. However if someone doesn't like the potential negatives, then I would fully encourage them to buy a different house. :)

maifleur-

If your example is true, rather than hypothetical, that incident is unfortunate. But such an uncommon situation wouldn’t be an issue with any residential cul de sac I’ve ever considered. There are a lot of other problems that are more likely to occur in any neighborhood than that, and some of them are more likely to occur in neighborhood with through streets, like speeding cars. Frankly, when I look for a house, how many escape routes there are from the neighborhood is not a priority consideration.

Kudzu I saw it so yes it is true. I do not know why but there was only one pickup truck with a person was trying to be extricated from but it appeared that it had rolled because the left side was flattened. The truck was across both lanes of the entrance. The fire truck trying to get to the fire tried to go over the curb but the decorative wall at the entrance did not allow enough room to go around the truck. I was the third car in line while waiting for things to clear.

We had a water main break just at the beginning of the circle. We could get neither in nor out. We were stuck in our houses for over a day until the street got fixed.

I currently live on a cul-de-sac now with my husband and my 7 year old son.

I thought I would love it and it would be safer for my son to play. I did like it at first, but after 6 months I feel very differently. I feel like I’m right back in high school. I’ve had a falling out with one of the neighbors and I’m starting to feel like an outcast. And worse my son is being left out too.

Be prepared for possible drama. Make sure you know the people you’ll be living next to. You‘ll be stuck with these people day and night. This will be my last cul de sac!

dnpglo-

How is that any different from living on a through street or in any neighborhood where you have a problem with your neighbors?

....and it's back again. Does anyone know how these super old threads end up on anyone's radar? Does someone really go searching on a forum for the words "cul de sac", so that they can revive old threads just to complain about something?

Still in the same house, at the end of the same cul de sac....still love it 8 years later. We even had a water main break and my life continued on unabated. Well, actually that's not true - the water pressure was so low I didn't dare take a shower, so I felt stinky for a few hours. LOL. :)

patriceny-

Some things will always be a mystery... ;-)

I know why old threads suddenly appear!

let’s consider this thread....

If someone goggles “living on a cul-de-sac”, one of the hits is to this thread on HOUZZ.

maddielee-

Understood. But it’s still a thread that started nine years ago, and there comes a time when it‘s best to start a new thread rather than adding on to an ancient one of already considerable length. ;-)

That sounds fine, except when I’m on my phone noting the date of a post isn’t easy.

maddielee-

Interesting...my iPhone always shows the date for every post.

Mine does too, but it’s not always the main thing I look at. Just giving a reason why old threads show up. Have a good holiday.

I found this thread to vent... We live on a through street with two dead ends. I used to tell my kids to ride their bikes down to the dead ends since the through street which I live on is dangerous. The two ppl that live at the end of each dead end are nasty and have dogs they send out so my kids can't even go down there and turn around on their bikes. just because you live on the end of the street-you don't own it- I pay the same taxes for my non- dead end street- I don't shoo anyone away for using town property in from of my house. My kids should be able to ride their bikes there- as my street front is constantly bombarded with walkers/bikers/cars....