Well if they’ve got one…
Friday, 18th November 2005 by Alex Turnbull
It's tough keeping up with the Joneses... In this Californian community the latest trend is apprently having a tennis court in your back garden.
It doesn't seem that this is an isolated case either, tennis court communities are springing up all over the place.
In fact, in this suburb in New York the tennis courts are obviously built at the same time as the houses - you can see the tennis-shaped plots of land which still need to be surfaced. In fact several of the swimming pools are empty too. Maybe these houses are too expensive for normal people to afford...?
Thanks to Steve, Nate Nelson and brando.
About the author
Alex has decided that his title will be Senior Vice President of Stuff.
I think private tennis courts have been in vogue in affluent California for a long time now; the trend has probably spread to New York.
I can’t speak for whether or not normal people can own these (I sure can’t), but it astounds me the raw number of communities where the properties that are clearly in the million-plus range. Take, for example, Huntington Harbor, a suburb of LA, where nearly every single house is waterfront property.
And here in the PNW where I live, a standard 3/4BR house can easily run close to half a mil now. This is probably due to the “real estate bubble” going on in the US.
In the hills of Malibu, you will find homes with a tennis court PLUS swimming pools standard.
Well I have to say this is obvious considering the area of LA you are in. I know people from that area and they are quite rich.
How many tennis courts do you get? I get around 50.
“Million-plus” means nothing in California. Every two-story tract home sitting on a tenth of an acre (that’s tiny) in the flatlands of my neighborhood in the Santa Barbara area falls into that category.
I am mildly surprised at the number of houses with their own tennis courts, as tennis is on the decline in America. It just can’t compete with “cartball.” A ppssible explanation, echoing some of the prior comments, is that private tennis courts are likely to be found only on the most expensive properties (that’s a fair characterization of the New York neighborhood shown in one of the pictures).
I read somewhere (bearing in mind this was about British properties) that a tennis court adds more worth to a properties value than a swimming pool. I suppose they are easier to install and maintain but have the same “lifestyle enhancing” effect – but i’m sure they are status symbols only and, as Peter says, people dont actually play on them. From an enviromental point of view it seems a shame that green space is paved over for no good reason. I am i right in thinking Americans dont value their gardens as much as Brits do.
Following up on Northern Git’s comment, backyard swimming pools are not as high-status as might be expected because they are available in all different sizes and all different price levels. Very few people have pools built to Olympics specifications. Inexpensive above-ground models are vastly more common and can be spotted in even the most ordinary working-class neighborhoods. They’re obviously not suitable for lap swimming, but work okay for playing around in the water, especially for children. A backyard tennis court, in contrast, is an all-or-nothing proposition, being worthless if not built to regulation size.
If you look closely at the NY image, you will notice virtually no trees on the properties. This is a new development. That is why some of the pools are not filled yet.
Funny, I can see my house in the first photo, and I didn’t realize most of my neighbors even had a tennis court (Maybe I should get one too!). The area, Chatsworth, is not really a wealthy area though, there are some million dollar houses but it’s mostly upper middle class families that there. The average price of a house in this area is $600,000. which by current California standards in not that expensive. A two bedroom condo/townhouse goes for about half that.
I have never seen so many tennis courts in a row WOW!!!
I once saw a tennis court. Does that count?
This new development is in/near “The Hamptons”. The Hamptons is a long-time favourite place for rich New Yorkers to have summer places. The rate of development shown is still somewhat surprising as there is a lot of NIMBYism in that part of the world.
I was checking out this picture and noticing the color of the green around it. This pic had to be taken in early spring where the majority (unless you have it heated all year round, bucu bucks$$$) of the residents have their swimming pools slightly drained and covered.
Most of the homes you see are lived in, just that no one really goes swimming in NYC between the months of october thru mid June. Too cold otherwise