Houses with Shared Driveways -- Pros and cons please

[Anonymous]

I didn’t buy one bc I was concerned it would be harder to sell

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:deal breaker.

that's dumb.

[Anonymous]

I know myself well enough to know that it would drive me nuts. My neighbors share a main portion of a driveway that splits into 3. I’ve heard enough complaints from one neighbor to turn me against ever sharing a driveway.

[Anonymous]

Never. My parents have one. Neighbors always parked in it and get annoyed when we do. Also, who repairs it? My parents refused to pay and only put in gravel because we never got to use it and they refused to do anything, including gravel.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:deal breaker.

Pretty much this. In the Deep South where snow isn’t an issue, I wouldn’t care. Snow removal and maintenance would be the dealbreaker

[Anonymous]

Had a shared pipestem at my last home. Other that my neighbors being complete idiots, I liked it. Our HOA covered plowing, so we only had to do a small amount in front of the garage. The set up of our house with the garage in back was much more square feet than the other versions with no pipestem.

Sold the house quite easily.

[Anonymous]

This mixes cars/driving and houses/property. Two things that Americans are assholes about.

[Anonymous]

I love ours. When we bought the house I considered it a negative, but now I like that our house is really far off the street so my young kids can run around and I am not worried they are running into the street.

As they get older they run and bike and play in the really long shared driveway. We know our neighbors' routines, so kids know when to look out for them and get out of the way.

The negatives are more driveway to shovel in snow - we have a snowblower, and farther to take out the garage cans.

I would buy the house again, and would definitely buy another house with a shared driveway.

[Anonymous]

OP here: Thanks for the replies, gave me a lot to think about. We absolutely love the house, neighborhood -- exactly what we are looking for, except the driveway situation. The price of the house is a little lower than normal for the neighborhood so either it's because of the shared driveway or the owners really need to sell. Dh is against it due to the driveway so I guess we'll pass and keep looking.

[Anonymous]

We share a driveway with another house. It's a nice large space which is good for the kids. We get along great with our neighbors and it's a huge win for us. Honestly if we didn't like the neighbors, it wouldn't be a deal breaker. We can go days without seeing each other.

[Anonymous]

Cautionary tale about shared driveways:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/inside-the-great-chevy-chase-driveway-war/2015/06/08/e3979136-0ba2-11e5-a7ad-b430fc1d3f5c_story.html?utm_term=.b361e76653e6

This was in Chevy Chase. I think the driveway was finally paved.

[Anonymous]

Unless your neighbor is perfect, there will be issues at some point.

However, it may be a necessary sacrifice to make if the house otherwise suits your needs.

[Anonymous]

Looked at a listing in a neighborhood we love where the driveway was shared, and decided against going to see it because of that. I was having visions of having to call a neighbor to get them to move their car to get ours out, and other drama. In that case the house wasn't actually set back from the street--just the garage was, so there was no real benefit for privacy either. It's worth considering that even if it isn't a dealbreaker to you, it might be to others when it comes time to sell. The house I looked at was also listed below market, though, so as long as you're getting a good deal, it could be worth it if you're okay with the potential for frustration.

[Anonymous]

We share a driveway in our CCMD neighborhood. Ours is set up so that each home owns half. It's totally fine. We rarely see each other. When it snows we just shovel our own side. Sometimes we will bring in the other's trashcans if they've blown down or something. Honestly, I feel happy just to have a driveway! Some houses around us only have street parking.

[Anonymous]

I will never buy....no PROs...ever