Houses with mature trees - desirable or not?

[Anonymous]

I love trees. I love mature tress but not near my house.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not desirable if on your lot, desirable if between your lots and neighbors. You'll need to consider cutting them down if they are on your lot even more so if close to the house

When we built our new hours we cut all the trees down and have much less maintenance inc gutters

That's exactly right. Your safety comes first. Most trees around here are poorly maintained.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not desirable if on your lot, desirable if between your lots and neighbors. You'll need to consider cutting them down if they are on your lot even more so if close to the house

When we built our new hours we cut all the trees down and have much less maintenance inc gutters

Horrible. That would be big negative for a lot of buyers

+1

I wouldn’t buy a house with no trees. Or only small trees.

[Anonymous]

Mature trees are very desirable in parks, but very undesirable within 20 feet of houses where they fall and kill people.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Mature trees are very desirable in parks, but very undesirable within 20 feet of houses where they fall and kill people.

This is paranoia. The actual chance of being killed by a falling tree is very low.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Mature trees are very desirable in parks, but very undesirable within 20 feet of houses where they fall and kill people.

This is paranoia. The actual chance of being killed by a falling tree is very low.

Sure -- but the chance of a falling branch or tree damaging your house, car, fence... is NOT low in an area with many mature trees. It happens regularly during DC summer storms all over my neighborhood.

[Anonymous]

I bought my house because of the mature trees both on the street and in the yard. I have a strong dislike for new construction homes and subdivisions because they lack trees, which give character. I have no idea why anyone buys a lot without trees.

[Anonymous]

Desirable

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Mature trees are very desirable in parks, but very undesirable within 20 feet of houses where they fall and kill people.

This is paranoia. The actual chance of being killed by a falling tree is very low.

+1

Sounds like some kind of uncontrolled anxiety.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I bought my house because of the mature trees both on the street and in the yard. I have a strong dislike for new construction homes and subdivisions because they lack trees, which give character. I have no idea why anyone buys a lot without trees.

You clearly have never spent $4,000 to have a one single dead tree taken out of your yard.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Trees are often given more credit than they deserve. Many of the touted benefits are half truths, which make it even more misleading. Trees have their benefits, until they start impeding on maintenance, quality of life, or safety. That's why there are parks and agricultural reserves - to have trees for environmental benefits, but away from personal property.

The first issue is that trees are dark, at least compared to other things that might blanket the land, such as grass or snow. As a result, planting more trees typically makes the land darker. Since dark surfaces absorb more heat, a dark tree-covered surface will trap more of the Sun’s heat – and warm the local climate.

As a result, there is a delicate balance between trees’ ability to take in CO2, reducing warming, and their tendency to trap additional heat and thus create warming. This means planting trees only helps stop climate change in certain places.

Specifically, according to a 2007 study that has been repeatedly confirmed, the best place to plant new trees is the tropics, where trees grow fastest and thus trap the most CO2. In contrast, planting trees in snowy regions near the poles is likely to cause a net warming, while planting them in temperate climates – like that of the UK, much of Europe and parts of the US – may have no net effect on climate.

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20200521-planting-trees-doesnt-always-help-with-climate-change

Omg you are crazy. Talk to an actual botanist.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Trees are great, until they fall on your house.

We had a tree looked at by an arborist who assured us it was healthy and didn’t need to be removed. It fell less than a year later and did some damage. The roots of mature trees also get into drain lines and cause all sorts of sewage issues.

There are a lot of trees in old neighborhoods that are coming to the end of their lifecycles and they are dangerous. It can cost $2-8k to remove each tree.

So while I love trees, I would see large trees in old neighborhoods to be a liability.

Yup, lots of the neighborhoods around here are getting to an age where the mature trees are starting to die. I see it a lot.

Yup -- this is true in many close-in Arlington neighborhoods. I have had a neighbor's mature silver maple drop a giant branch on my fence. I had a mature cherry tree fall over during a storm in my own yard (miraculously not hitting any structures). A neighbor had a branch fall on her playing children during a perfectly calm day (child ended up unconscious and in the hospital, but recovered). A mature Oak down the block blew over and was completely uprooted during a storm. Neighbor's tree dropped a branch on my car, cracking windshield. Same neighbor had a sycamore fall on their house during a storm. None of these trees were visibly dying, and several of these folks used arborists to maintain their trees. My general feeling is that mature trees are desirable only when they are 50+ feet AWAY from any structures. Tough to do in places like Arlington when most lots are only 50 feet wide.

All this tells me is you live in a neighborhood where they don't maintain their trees

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Trees are great, until they fall on your house.

We had a tree looked at by an arborist who assured us it was healthy and didn’t need to be removed. It fell less than a year later and did some damage. The roots of mature trees also get into drain lines and cause all sorts of sewage issues.

There are a lot of trees in old neighborhoods that are coming to the end of their lifecycles and they are dangerous. It can cost $2-8k to remove each tree.

So while I love trees, I would see large trees in old neighborhoods to be a liability.

Yup, lots of the neighborhoods around here are getting to an age where the mature trees are starting to die. I see it a lot.

Yup -- this is true in many close-in Arlington neighborhoods. I have had a neighbor's mature silver maple drop a giant branch on my fence. I had a mature cherry tree fall over during a storm in my own yard (miraculously not hitting any structures). A neighbor had a branch fall on her playing children during a perfectly calm day (child ended up unconscious and in the hospital, but recovered). A mature Oak down the block blew over and was completely uprooted during a storm. Neighbor's tree dropped a branch on my car, cracking windshield. Same neighbor had a sycamore fall on their house during a storm. None of these trees were visibly dying, and several of these folks used arborists to maintain their trees. My general feeling is that mature trees are desirable only when they are 50+ feet AWAY from any structures. Tough to do in places like Arlington when most lots are only 50 feet wide.

All this tells me is you live in a neighborhood where they don't maintain their trees

So basically every neighborhood except a selection of extremely wealthy ones?

[Anonymous]

We live in a new subdivision & would like some large trees in our yard. Mature-looking ones. Can these be bought?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We live in a new subdivision & would like some large trees in our yard. Mature-looking ones. Can these be bought?

Yes, but very pricey.