Since I've been knocking on doors this election season im reminded again how much I hate the San Francisco style house where nobody lives on the ground floor.
The worst versions are like this one, common out in the sunset, where you're just faced with a garage door and a gate. When someone answers the door they often open the front door at the top of the stairs where you can't see them and shout down, or just open the front window above you. I don't blame them for this, I wouldn't want to have to go up and down the stairs for no reason, it's just a very separated and isolated suburban type experience created by the obsession of stuffing car storage into everything we design.
Maybe I'm naive and idealistic but if I ever buy a house I want to be able to greet someone face to face when they come knocking on my door, even if they're some annoying canvasser I don't actually want to talk to.