Living on a busy street (South Amboy, Washington: rental, houses, neighborhoods)

[ducmonster1221]

I'm curious about those who have and what they think. Would they ever do it again? It's not like a major highway, but the road is pretty busy in a non urban area (Warren). There is a decent backyard from what it looks like and parks close by.

The house is also set back from the road.

[focus282]

As long as the house has a driveway and/or a garage it really isn't all that bad in terms of noise. My in-laws live on a busy street, but their house is set back, with a long driveway. They get annoyed that they can hear the traffic when sitting in the back yard/on the front porch in the summetime, but, honestly, you get used to it. One thing to consider, though, is if there will be a lot of big-rigs/motorcycles driving by, because those you can hear even inside of the house.

My wife and I rented on a main street too, but our rental house didn't have a driveway and it was a nightmare. Our cars got hit on 3 separate occasions. 2 times the mirrors got knocked off, and another time someone slammed into the back of one car so hard that it hit into our other car, causing a total of $17,000 in damage.

Another thing I would think about when considering living on a main street is the potential for theft.

When my wife was still living with her parents (on a main street in North Brunswick) her car was broken into and the stereo was stolen (the car was parked in the driveway too!).

Also, when we were living on a main street in South Amboy, our car was broken into and our iPod and GPS were stolen from the center console.

Both houses were in parts of the neighborhoods that were considered "safe", but I think the fact that they were on main roads contributed to the thefts -- ease of access and ease of escape for people looking to break into cars.

Just some food for thought...

[stradivarius]

We lived on a busy street for 10 months while we were looking for our current home. It was convenient in many ways, but would never do it again, especially since we have two young kids. Noise, traffic, lights, voices, not much space, difficulties of parking, getting in/out of driveway, etc. Too stressful.

[ducmonster1221]

I'm not sure *how* busy it is, b/c I'm not from that area but I can share where it is via a PM if you know the area... It looks like it has a good driveway that you don't need to back out onto the busy street. I don't think big rigs go through it, but I'll ask around.

[Karen123RE]

Is it Warrenville Rd or Washington Valley? Both of those are pretty busy roads. Can't imagine large trucks would be going up and down Warrenville as there is a steep hill that leads down to Rt 22.

[Kthnry]

You may find that you are less likely to meet your neighbors and strike up friendships when living on a busy street. (If that matters to you.)