Here's something that certainly applies to a lot of odd urban lots in Ohio cities...

 

Builders Wedge Homes

In on Oddly Shaped Lots

 

By June Fletcher

From The Wall Street Journal Online

 

Looking for the perfect location for his dream house, Harold Thompson picked a Florida resort development with picturesque ponds and old-growth trees. Demand for lots is so high there he bought his third choice, a 1.7-acre parcel full of wet spots -- and in the shape of a horse's head.

 

Now comes the hard part: How to put a house on it. He's thinking about "pods" on the high ground with a walkway over the sodden areas -- maybe something in the shape of an "H." Says the retired architect, who spent $200,000 on the lot: "It's more challenging than a box, and more personal."

 

Full story at:

http://www.realestatejournal.com/buysell/markettrends/20060316-fletcher.html

Still, the funny shapes can take getting used to. Though banker Darla Townsend thought her 40-foot-wide home in Erlanger, Ky., looked cramped on its 55-foot-wide lot, she bought the home anyway for the open interior spaces. Now, she's adjusting to the view from her side windows -- the vinyl siding of her neighbors' houses, each about 20 feet away. "If you were claustrophobic, you wouldn't like it here," she says.

 

In Cincinnati, having 20 feet between you and your neighbors is pretty uncommon, except in the richest neighborhoods.  I've been looking at townhomes spaced anywhere from zero to five feet from their neighbors.  Funny how perceptions of lot size vary depending on where you live.

I wouldn't really care about having a crazy shaped lot because I don't plan on ever building any kind of fence. There are many odd shaped lots in Cincy because of the hills. I think it adds character :) Although it's obviously less efficient for urbanization and density