Hi!
I bought a patio villa in 2005 and it had a small oak tree in the front yard. The first thing I did was have it taken out and replaced with a Crape Myrtle. From past experience with oak trees, I knew that the yard was way too small for an oak. Why were they even planted in the first place?
Seven years later, I see my neighbors trying to do massive trimming of their oak trees (some of their trees are more than 7 years old). And little do they know that these trees are not to be kept trimmed into a round ball. It's just not healthy for them and there was a big article in the newspaper about this. The owners will spend tons of money, year after year, trying to keep these trees small, and it was never meant to be. It's a huge mistake.
The next biggest mistake is to have a Magnolia tree in the yard. They can grow to be very large in a relatively short time and will end up dropping a ton of large leaves (and something hard like cones from a pine tree). Not only will you be annoyed with it, but your neighbors will be annoyed as well, as the leaves will fly everywhere on a windy day. I know because I used to live next door to one. Of course they are cute as can be when they are small and the first few years you will say: "Oh, the leaves are no big deal." Ha! Just wait! Wait 'till it gets older and bigger.