[vvanders]

You haven't lived next to retired people with nothing but free time on their hands.

A large part of us moving out of the suburbs and somewhere rural was the adjacent retired neighbors always being in our business. I'm all for being a considerate neighbor but there's little substitute for a lot of space between you and your neighbor.

[logfromblammo]

Good fences make good neighbors.

HOAs make what's on your side of your fence potentially someone else's business again.

(And they frequently ban chain-link fences, even when they are a cheap, effective, and durable way to put up a fence that won't be popping rusty deck screws out of the slats in three years (or less!) and letting the dogs escape.)

[vvanders]

Yeah, except the city defines what's an acceptable fence height(3ft) and how much you spend(~$400) when you want to fix the fence that's falling over(via permit process).

(FWIW I have no issues with paying taxes but annoying to have to pay to fix something existing that's broken).

[rootusrootus]

Well, my next-door neighbors are retired, but they're not jerks.

I agree that more space is better. Once my kids are out of school (which is within walking distance currently) we will move farther out of town. Mostly because I get tired of listening to my neighbors' hobbies ;-)