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Interested in a house close (1000 ft) to the tracks. Want to know how bad is the train noise in the night, particularly when the train horns.
Also I am struggled in making a decision to purchase a house in the Estates of Princeton Junction. It does have lots of advantages like close to train station, relatively new home, seems to be good community, etc. however, the drawbacks are also obvious like very small lot (like 6000sqft for 3000sqst house), and close to rail tracks. Will these drawbacks affect resale value.
Your advise and information will be greatly appreciated.
I can't address the Princeton Junction train but for the past 30+ years I've lived 4 blocks from the train tracks in Belmar and after hearing the train horn for the first few weeks the noise just blended in and really haven't heard it for years.
And anyway I've always thought hearing a train horn was a benefit of living in a small town.
You will hear the train from the Estates of Princeton Junction, some of those big homes that back to the woods also back to the tracks. Interesting, when those homes were initially marketed (in 2004-2005) there was a 20K lot premium for "backing to the woods".
Are there trees or other homes between the house and the track?
We replaced our builder grade windows with Pellas and that made a huge difference in noise transfer but we live a bit further away.
As mingus said some people get used to the noise after a while.
Check the train schedule, there are few trains running in the middle of the night. I believe they start again around 5 AM during the week and after 9 AM on the weekends.
That neighbourhood has been pretty stable, especially the big houses. There was a suit filed against Toll in 2013 by the HOA about some deficits in the infrastructure and water infiltration (in the townhomes), don't know how that turned out.
When I lived in NC, I was a few blocks from where the train crossed the road and could hear the whistle blow very well inside my house. That track had trains running on it every few hours, day and night. In the year that I lived there, I never did get used to the sound and it woke me a couple times per night just about every single night. Drove me nuts. I guess it just depends on how noise sensitive you are. I'm very sensitive to noise and sleep lightly, so it just didn't work for me. From this and other experience, I refuse to purchase a home near railroad crossings, stop signs or high schools with large football fields. YMMV.
I thought I responded, hope this is not a duplicate. Anyway, the homes there have held their value so it's not a detriment.
The lots are small, but if that is not an issue for you then go for it.
Trains do not run all night long, and do not blow the whistle all the time. I would say that the best thing to do si to try and stay in the house for an hour or so (even day time there will be probably 4 trains all together both directions) and see what it sounds like from inside.
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