 Garden homes & villas offer a low-maintenance luxury lifestyle
By BONNY OSTERHAGE
Photography by ROBERT FRENCH
The way we live as a society is
changing. We work more and play
less, which is why the last thing
many people want to do with
their precious downtime is spend it maintaining
a large home and yard.
In the past,
however, the only low-maintenance alternatives
to home ownership consisted largely of
apartment living, condominiums and tiny
garden homes with very little in the way of
luxurious amenities.
As with any shift in society, the laws of supply
and demand begin to take hold. And, as it
becomes more apparent that a growing segment
of the population wants a hybrid of luxury
and low maintenance, a new level of garden
homes and villas is beginning to take
shape.
This new breed of home is reasonably
priced, features high-end amenities, incorporates
a sense of community and is designed to
accommodate the way more and more people
are living today. “We are taking the concept of garden
homes to a new level,” explains Frank Sitterle
Jr., owner of Sitterle Homes.
Garden homes by definition are zerolot
line properties, but these homes don’t
have to be small. On the contrary, Sitterle
square feet. The term zero-lot line simply
means that one of the exterior walls must be
built on the property line.
In addition Sitterle Homes feature such modern design elements as high ceilings, tall
doors and a focus on the kitchen, master bed
and bathrooms and the great room, with several
different plans from which to select. A
bonus is that all of the landscaping and yard
work is maintained, meaning that residents
are free to enjoy themselves without the hassle
of tending to the yard, a concept that
Sitterle refers to as a “lock and leave” lifestyle.
“As people age or get further along in their
careers, they want to be free and have a good
time. They don’t want to be running behind a
lawnmower on the weekends,” says Sitterle. “Our homes are designed with the concept of
aging in place so that anyone can be comfortable
in them.”
 But these garden home neighborhoods are
a far cry from retirement communities. Sure,
they are popular among empty nesters looking
to downsize, but they also draw young
professionals, divorcees and anyone who
doesn’t want to deal with the upkeep of a
traditional single family home. And while the
garden home and villa communities are not
age- or child-restrictive, you typically won’t
find playrooms or large yards to accommodate
giant wooden playscapes.
What you will find are beautiful homes
with many of the same features commonly
found in high-end properties. “Our finish out is the same as in the million
dollar homes,” says Trish Najim of JO Custom
Homes, the builders responsible for the Villas
in Estancia community. “We offer a high-quality
product at a lower square footage.”
A villa differs from a garden home in that,
rather than being a zero-lot line property, the
average lot is one-third of an acre. The yards are large enough to provide ample space for pets
or even a small pool but small enough to appeal
to the same crowd of empty nesters and young
professionals who want to avoid the upkeep on a
larger home.
The stone and stucco exteriors, tile roofs, granite
countertops, rounded corners and other elements
are just a few examples of the attention to
detail that people have come to expect from larger
homes and are now demanding in these scaled
down versions.
But aside from the high-quality homes, what
many of these neighborhoods offer the homeowner
is a sense of community and an opportunity for
socialization that is often missing in our busy world.
Two of the Sitterle properties have amenity centers on site, complete with full-time lifestyle
directors whose sole purpose is to create and
schedule events for neighborhood residents.
Sitterle says that the residents often
travel together or arrange to go to the
movies or see shows at the Majestic.
 “It is hard these days to get out and
socialize,” he explains. “People are so busy
that they don’t even know their neighbors.” To further facilitate that feeling of community,
some properties feature alternative
pedestrian plans with walking trails behind
the houses, encouraging residents to stop
and mingle as they pass.
It is this aspect of his garden home
communities that many people find
most appealing. “There is a huge difference in cutting
streets through and building communities,”
Sitterle says. “We build beautiful homes, but
they are secondary to the lifestyle.”
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