because it was all we could afford in Seattle. I hated the feeling like my neighbors could all see and hear what we were doing. We've had a house with an acre and now live on about 1/3 of an acre (no longer in Seattle). The acre I like but is a lot of maintenance (it took 3 hours to mow...on a riding mower...and trim. That's a big chunk of each Saturday!) and it's not fully utilized for the most part. The 1/3 acre is not so bad. I'd like a little bigger but maybe not a full acre.