Benefits and Negatives of Infills

[ThePenIsMightier]

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If you are going to build sometime stupid like that. Build it better.

What!!? It's modern! Get with the times, Boomer!


I also agree with Euro Trash on the like-minded people. (Except the cunt stains...)

[ExtraSlow]

Suburbs often have more kids of the same age, families at the same stage in life, which is a pro and a con. Schools is another that can be a pro or a con.

Community facebook groups are a con. don't join those.

[Cagare]

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Suburbs often have more kids of the same age, families at the same stage in life, which is a pro and a con. Schools is another that can be a pro or a con.

Community facebook groups are a con. don't join those.

Our kids are at St. Joseph and we like that schools which is one of the reasons we are considering building in the north inner city. But we find in our immediate area they have a lack of kids to play with, but with 4 parks in a 5 minute walk.

Made the mistake of joining the nextdoor app, deleted that fast.

[Mitsu3000gt]

We live in an infill duplex.

Pros:
- Being so central trumps almost everything else (for us) - 5 min drive downtown, ~20 minute maximum drive to virtually anywhere in the city, close to main arteries like 17th, Crowchild, Sarcee, Deerfoot etc. and getting out of the city to the West is super easy. The amount of time you save not driving is time is huge and that can be spent doing stuff you actually enjoy. Wasting 1-4hr of each day in traffic or on transit is something I will never do again.
- Most commonly needed stores are ~2-5 mins away, such as grocery, Canadian Tire, Home Depot, etc. Everything is just so close and often there are multiple locations to choose from.
- Generally your neighbors are going to be other professionals with similar ideals/lifestyles
- It's literally the only way to own a new home inner city, so if that's your goal you don't have much choice haha
- No real size penalty compared to an average standalone home (4bdrm, 2,500+ sqft of living space is easy to find even in duplexes)
- As the city size increases and the sprawl increases, inner city homes will probably only become more desirable
- Our utility bills are almost unbelievably low, which is probably a combination of a new/efficient home plus sharing a wall
- Most of them have developed basements (a requirement for us)
- A duplex is typically going to be cheaper than a standalone property of the same vintage that would be built to the same size and standard, so it lowers the barrier to entry for a lot of people
- Schools and parks seem to be everywhere which is generally a positive I think
- You probably have access to a Fiber internet connection
- No cellular dead zones like there are in the burbs

Cons:
- Expensive for your lot size
- Sharing a wall, though I literally have never heard our neighbors and he claims he can't even hear my home theater (which I almost don't believe), so I very often forget we share a wall. I know our party wall is built beyond spec so that may help. YMMV here as there are obviously differences in party wall construction and neighbor habits.
- Property taxes are usually pretty high, ours are ~$5,400/yr
- No driveway (pretty much forced to go to a car wash). This is actually the single biggest con for me personally and would be the #1 thing I would look forward to if we ever move.
- Detached garages (some may find this a pro, but I think more often than not it's a con). One extra door to open when your hands are full of groceries, and you have to go outside when it's cold to access the recycling bins, less secure, etc.
- Having to drive through an alley to get into the garage sucks in every season (mud pit in the spring, doesn't get plowed in the winter, dusty in the summer)
- Guest parking is all street parking, and in general driving around in inner city neighborhoods is a bit annoying because the way people park kind of makes many roads effectively a single lane. We actually have tons of parking around us but it's very street dependent, so it's something to consider based on the individual property.
- 'Narrower' overall house shape - not nearly as bad as when builders try to put two standalone homes on one lot that could have been a duplex, but they can still feel a bit hallway-like without a good layout. We looked at some that still feel a bit like you're living in a hallway.
- You will never have a huge back yard (a pro for some I suppose)
- If you end up with a shitty neighbor, it's probably going to be worse being attached to them. We made a point of meeting our neighbors before buying and thankfully they are awesome and a similar age to us.
- If the neighboring home is an old shitty rental from the 50's, and especially if it's a duplex or multi-unit rental, its probably going to be there for a very long time (rather than being turned into another infill). Renters usually don't like to take care of the property either, so that may be an issue for some, or make your place less desirable if selling.
- Depending on where you are, there will be more homeless people around and also higher crime rates than the burbs
- Tons of dog walking traffic and most dog owners allow their dogs to shit and piss on your lawn


If you have the money, a detached infill is obviously the best of both worlds but IMO *only* if it's a proper lot and not a duplex lot. When you see those identical standalone homes built next to each other on a duplex lot, the houses are literal hallways because of the space they need to leave between by code, and we weren't a fan. With a duplex, obviously the compromise is sharing a wall, but the width you gain is very noticeable inside the home. We didn't have a $2M budget though so we bought a duplex

Just reading some of the other comments, so far we have had no issues with natural light, guest parking, or garage space, I think that is very property/neighborhood dependent.

I think for most people it comes down to getting a brand new home with all the latest features & efficiencies, but also inner city. An infill is the only way to get both of those things, and that seems to outweigh almost any con as none of the cons are that bad. Also several of the cons are things you can avoid by doing proper due diligence.

[ExtraSlow]

Need those sweet 60' inner city lots and to build a big bungalow with front attached and rear detached garage and then you are living the dream.

[tirebob]

I can't get past the one negative not matter the positives... That one negative is fucking neighbours so close you can smell 'em!

[Cagare]

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Need those sweet 60' inner city lots and to build a big bungalow with front attached and rear detached garage and then you are living the dream.

That is the dream. The other option I have seen is a paved alley and if you have a big enough yard put a garage door through to the back yard with a combined driveway/patio.

On the topic of yards, I have found it mixed depending on where you go in the City.

[Recca168]

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One more pro - we are surrounded by like-minded people with similar lifestyles so we quickly made friends and our kid has lots of similar aged kids running around (to the point where a guy is going to get fat since there are back alley beers on a daily basis, especially with the weather turning). I think the paved back alley is a gamechanger.

EDIT: and once you are this close to work I can't see how someone moves further away

ES what neighborhood are you in

I lived in an infill for 10 years. Ended up moving the the burbs a couple years ago.

A paved alley would have been great. If the street does not have a paved alley way, it is quite a PITA. The alley had to be repaired twice a year. You would get these massive ruts/potholes every couple of months. Getting the alley way paved was not really an option. A neighbor looked into it and I recall the city requiring there be no construction for six years on any of the adjacent lots before considering it. If the block isn't already all infills you'll have a new construction every year.

[prodigydud]

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Need those sweet 60' inner city lots and to build a big bungalow with front attached and rear detached garage and then you are living the dream.

+plus a nanny suite on top of the detached garage

[Tik-Tok]

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+plus a nanny suite on top of the detached garage

Thought about doing this to our garage, but it would block so much sunlight, and just be an eyesore IMO. Maybe on a pie lot it would be ok, but not a normal rectangular one.