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I never minded traffic noise. I'm always a little shocked when I watch things like house hunters and people cross a fantastic home in a great neighborhood with a great price off their list the second they see it's on a busy street due to the noise. But everyone has their preferences. You have to go with yours.
For me, construction noise would bother me more than anything. Traffic noise has kind of a constant sort of flow to it and there's something kind of soothing about the doppler effect. Construction noise has a lot of sporadic stopping, starting, high pitches, whining, and vibrating and there's no fade in, fade out since it's stationary.
So I'd likely cross a place off my list if it's in the middle of a construction zone before it being on a busy street as far as noise goes. I don't like being on a busy street more for being that much closer to car accidents. How many homes on main roads have I seen a car go smashing through on an icy winter's day? More than I care to count lol
I spent alot of time at my older sister's house when I was growing up. She lived on a busy two lane road. Her lot was fenced in, so parking was outside the fence. I never thought about it until now, but I have nothing but happy memories and would not rule out a house on a busy road for me. I do not remember hearing any traffic noise while inside the house, and, as kids, didn't pay any attention to it when playing outside in the fenced yard.
It gets back to how you live and what's important. A yard full of playing kids probably won't care. A couple that enjoys sitting outside and having a quiet conversation will.
Also, not all busy streets are created equal. If you have loud buses, dump trucks, semi trucks or motorcycles going by, it's a lot more annoying than just ordinary traffic.
It's just a matter of personal preference. Some people don't like to waste time going through housing lanes to get to the street. I have lived on a busy street in past and don't see any reason for me to cross off any house because it's on the street. Some people may find it a deal beaker but to each it's own.
I have never lived on a busy noisy street, so I don't really know what it's like.
However, I can see some possible advantages to it. I am a single retired person with no pets, so I'd think one's neighbors on a busy street would also have no kids or pets due to the traffic dangers. That could be nice from my point of view. Traffic noise doesn't bother me, and I spend no time in the yard anyway because I hire someone to do the mowing. And just think of the savings! It seems to me that houses on busy streets are maybe 10% cheaper or more.
I can say all this, but when buying my present house I did not select one on a busy street. My reasoning at that time was that such a house would present a tremendous problem at re-sale.
It's not for anyone else to understand why someone makes the decisions they do with regard to living in a particular location. If you don't want to live on a busy street, don't move there. If someone else chooses to do so, who is anyone to say "Well, I would never do that so I don't understand why you would choose that"?
Who would actively choose to buy a house on a street with constant traffic noise? And booming drive-by bass attacks on top of that. I can't imagine wanting to live somewhere with nearby (non-sporadic) traffic going over 25 MPH, even if it was mostly in the daytime.
Do such homes tend to get discounts, and is it worth it? Some say they "get used to the noise" but I could never screen it out. Do some people actually prefer a lot of bustle and noise because it makes them feel like a part of something?
I don't know if folks actually choose to live in a noisy area. When we bought our home there was a dead end street behind us with not one house on it, no houses up the hill from us and it was really quiet here as we were surrounded by senior citizens. First change, the lady next door who is now 91 sold the property on the dead end street and there are now 6 new homes on it. Next, they sold the property up the hill and there are at least 8 new homes on it. The lady who lived below us passed away and we now have neighbors with 3 dogs who get tossed into this little pen during the day and BARK incessently. The city also has a motorcycle ordinance that won't allow them to drive thru our local park or past it so now they ROAR up our hill to get to their destination..amazing dumbness on our city's part.
Often times there are homes right in the heart of a city that are discounted so people buy them and Yes I do believe that some people do like all the noise of the city. Its all in what you prefer. We would prefer it quieter and have talked about moving to the coast of Rhode Island..Watch Hill area very gorgeous and QUIET there.
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