Would you buy a house near a highway?? (Lexington: best neighborhood, condos)

[Juniper5]

Run away very fast. A good home in a "great" school system near any highway or major road will never sell better then the average home on a "great" lot in a decent school district. It's all priced in. Now more then ever you can get both a great town and a quite street. Keep looking. We lived near I95 in Ct for 5 years and it was aweful. Really aweful.... even though the house was not that close to I95 we still heard it every night. It's a big deal, trust me.

[miu]

I have friends in Boca Raton with a house next to the Florida Turnpike. It really didn't seem that bad to me. Again, having living in the city for many years, I am used to street noise. Otherwise, what would bother me is living near train tracks as the vibration and noise from the occasional train passing through would be much more annoying than the constant background noise of a highway.

[sonarrat]

I've walked underneath raised overpasses and not even realized I just walked under a freeway. I almost bought a house here in California that was 300 feet from I-580, and I didn't even realize it until my partner pointed it out. But I've worked in an office that faced Highway 101 and I could never not hear it.. that was deafening.

[lrfox]

I'd say it really depends on the highway and the set up of the property. I think the worst sound I've ever lived near is trucks "jake-braking" in the middle of the night on back roads, so the highway is a welcome blessing when compared to that.

I lived just off of Route 24 for a while and as a result of the trees, other vegitation, and the highway being at a different grade than the houses, there are no problems with noise. This question is not a good general one, because every house is different. I would suggest going to the houses, talking to the neighbors, AND finding out what kind of traffic frequents the roads (if there's a lot of 24 hour trucking, it's going to be louder). It can work, or it can be terrible, it's really dependant on the individual property.

[MassYankee]

Well this kind of thing is personal taste of course, so I don't think there is a "right answer"...


But I'd agree with 2 observations made already

• property value depends on location - that's for sure true. But, if it's priced appropriately now, I suppose that should be self-correcting - i.e., you might sell it for less than the same house elsewhere, but you'll also buy it for less
• trees planted on your property (obviously between the noise source and your rooms you'll be in) can help to mitigate street noise quite usefully.

...and add an observation of my own - at one time I lived about 1/4 mile from a railroad crossing with the main street of the town (which I lived on). The trains were required by law to blow their horns, which were LOUD, every time they came through that crossing. At first, I noticed it quite a bit, but within a few weeks, my brain kind of tuned out that noise as something not worth paying attention to, and I rarely noticed it anymore.

[CJ Lindquist]

We have lived across the street from the PA Turnpike for 18 years. The toll road is behind the backyard of the houses across the street. We paid about a third less than we would have for a similar size home in the same (excellent) school district at the time. This price ratio has remained in tact over the 18 years. We could not have enjoyed such a large family home and on a street having no local traffic for the kids to ride bikes etc. otherwise. We do not hear the noise inside the home unless we really listen very hard for it (turn off TVs and stop talking etc) and then only upstairs and it is a white noise. I am told that if the turnpike was not flat near us we could hear trucks braking etc. The shifting of speed causes most of the unpleasant noises that are possible near highways. Also, your husband is right that the sound travels up. 99% of the time, we are unaware of living near the turnpike when in the home, and when we are aware, it is not at all bothersome. Outside, if you listen for it, you can hear it. But honestly we must have stopped listening for it because its only in the front yard and at night that we are ever really aware of it, and it does not bother us. Having said all that, the turnpike is about to widen. They will put in sound walls at the same time, which are advertised to cut the sound in half for those living closest to the turnpike (at least the first row of homes - our reduction we are told will be about half that much.) As my husband and I are planning to downsize in the next few years, we are wondering if living through a couple years of construction will be worth it. For another young family this would be another equation. But since we were planning to downsize anyway, perhaps we should move a bit sooner and avoid living through the construction period. On the other hand, the sound absorption walls will likely add value to our home, so perhaps we should wait and sell following construction. Anyone have a comment on that?

[mdovell]

There's a number of factors that need to be considered
1) do you have kids or are planning to have kids. That would be my first real concern

2) Can you check with police to see how frequent accidents (of all types)are?

3) Are there any bars nearby?

4) How is it in the snow?

5) How are lighting conditions? Is this a place where there's solar glare in the morning? Is there any public lighting?

I know someone that lives right by the commuter rail. He has a fence and in all honesty it isn't as loud as what I thought it would be..and it's gone in less than half a minute...maybe even a quarter

I know another that lives by a highway at least on the side (not the front). It's fenced..no accidents have occurred.

I grew up near a main road..I don't even think it had a crossing section unless you walked a quarter mile up it. But it was only two lanes and the speed wasn't much...there were accidents but it was rare.

[breezy1]

We're renting a house that is VERY close to the PIKE and the commuter rail. After this experience, although I don't mind renting because I know we'll eventually be moving to buy a house, I would never buy a house close to the highway and/or train. I really dislike the highway noise. And the train is very loud - blows the horn loud enough to wake you (even with windows closed). You do get used to the highway noise a bit when indoors, especially when all the windows are closed. But I hate being in the yard with the constant traffic noise in the background. And I would never get used to the train noise.

I know that the owners had a hard time selling the house - and since the house is in great shape (totally remodeled) with a 2-car garage and central air (hard to come by in Newton), I suspect that its proximity to the highway and train noise made it hard to sell, so they decided to rent it out.

[Braunwyn]

I live on a double yellow lined road. Traffic isn't constant, but I can hear when motorcycles go by in the summer if I'm in the front of the house. I wasn't keen on it when we bought the home, but it's nothing like Rt 2, the pike, or any 'Rt' type roads. I don't think I could deal with being that close to rt 2. That road gets crazy during rush hour. I still would prefer a quiet side street, but my main problem is that the speed limit is 30-40 mph on our street. With that said, the house is up and back a bit. We can't hear anything in the back of the house. We have 0.6 acre and plan to fence in the property for the dog and future children. Also, there was a significant price difference when looking at comparable homes on quiet streets. That will be reflected when we decide to sell.

[mmyk72]

Also consider that you will likely have to keep windows closed even when weather is nice. That kinds of turn some people off. And that means running the AC more - a little higher electric bills.

If you have young kids or anyone with asthma, consider that pollution will be higher. Many new research have demonstrated that ultra-fine particulates (from car emissions) can harm lung function and these are higher next to HWY or major roads.

When it comes time to sell, the pool of potential buyers will be narrower so expect the house to sit on the market longer even at a reduced price. This is a bigger issue if you move soon (less than 6-7 yrs) vs this being your forever home for the next 30+ yrs.