Some of us like a little breathing room. Which we have in the house we just bought. More work? Of course. But I just had a BBQ here last weekend and it was pretty awesome. Our garden is pretty awesome. I'm already clearing the space where we're going to build a fort for my son. When he gets older he'll have an actual backyard (and side yard, and small orchard, and large gravel driveway) to play around with. I loved that as a kid, he may very well too. I don't really get homes like you linked which have such a large front yard. I'd rather stick the house closer to the street and have a sweet ass back yard (which is what we have, large drivethrough driveway notwithstanding).
Mentioning the property tax thing is misleading. Get an expensive 3k sq ft house on a tiny lot and you'll be paying more than I will in my 1.4k house on a lot 4x your size. At least in California.