A contractor who built very very very expensive homes at Lake Tahoe told me that the west facing back yard is the one that will get more use, be more desirable. I'd rather have that and look at awnings and plantings to provide some shade.

I would pick the second one; but I am on the Texas Gulf Coast, warm/hot/humid. I cannot imagine living in Nevada with a west backyard1

In our house the kitchen and master bedroom face west and get very hot. We do have A/C, but when you are in the kitchen and cooking it can be miserable.

The living room, and 2 bedrooms, plus an addition face east and our deck is in partial shade in the afternoon, which makes it nice to sit out there on hot days, plus it faces the lake.

Our last house faced north and south and I liked that, but sometimes the house would be too dark.

Agree with new-beginning. I'm in S Fl and having a back yard face west is heat intensive. Our best orientation here for the back yard area is SE in most instances.

But, since you are in NJ, you would have different criteria as you don't have the hot sun like we do here. It's possible that a back yard that faces west in your cold climate is just what you need to help mitigate energy costs for your long winters.

Hi TJ - I find this tool helpful as well.

https://www.suncalc.org

Put in addresses of each home and compare.

I agree with earlier comment that proper orientation is better then adding shade items later to yard.

Morning sun is mild (good for coffee) and afternoon sun bakes.

Do you want to have a pool in the future? You’d need a sunny yard.

Passive solar houses have most of their windows facing south. those are the best for heat in winter and keeping cool in the summer. it doesn't sound like either of these houses have that. I grew up in a house in the upper Midwest that had bedrooms and family room on the west side. it was miserably hot in those rooms in summer. current house has south/ north windows and it's wonderful. our back yard is on the north side. it gets a lot of shade, which is actually great in the summer since we can sit out there and not bake, even in the middle of the day.

But, since you are in NJ, you would have different criteria as you don't have the hot sun like we do here.

Summers in NJ can be just as bad as they are in FL. I would pick the N/S house.

And adding shading later will never completely mitigate bad orientation.

I did not comment when this was originally posted but I did wonder at the statement of if the yard would be too hot for children to play in. Unless there is shade on one side but not on the other if it was too hot for children to play on one side it would be too hot on the other side. Being in the Midwest where our normal, whatever that is any more, Summer temperatures are high 90s F it is up to the parents to decide when it is safe based on age to play outside.

The second question would depend on how many windows, their size, and amount of roof overhang if the house faced the South. A maximum a roof can reach beyond the walls here are 24 inches which is fine since it does shade the windows. Many newer houses have little or no overhang so no shading of the window to decrease the amount of sun entering a house.