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Right now I live in a townhouse along a 6 lane highway where the speed limit is 45. The downside for me is that it's often not pleasant to sit outside on my small patio.
On the other hand, when it snows, I get out much sooner than some of my neighbors elsewhere in the complex. I kinda like seeing the traffic, and I actually like looking over at the convenience store on the corner.
I'm getting ready to sell and move out of state, and I'm sure some will not want the TH due to the highway, yet several of the townhouses in my row have sold within 10 days, none have taken more than 2 weeks.
A house is more than just a collection of sticks that you live inside, it's part of a community as well. How can you expect to be part of a neighborhood if you're planning on leaving? When you have kids it will be a lot easier if you already know the neighborhood and have friends there. Since you're already planning on moving out in five years, try to get a house in the area you're planning on moving to in five years. It will save any worry about what the house will be worth in five years, too.
It takes us about a year to get completely settled after a move, I can't imagine planning on doing it every five years. Military folks go from one military neighborhood to another, so they have a support group for this sort of thing. Moving into a neighborhood and then leaving after just a few years doesn't do much of anything for either your or the neighborhood's sense of community.
Speed limit is 50MPH. Its 3 lanes in both directions and traffic routinely does 65-70MPH when light. Take note of businesses and homes right on the side. You literally merge from a dead stop into 65MPH traffic. Looks like a highway right? But there are houses and businesses all up and down it. Your driveway goes out to this.
BTW...houses directly on this road still sell for $300K+
Last edited by BostonMike7; 02-19-2016 at 12:56 PM..
No. Absolutely not. But I buy homes with resale in mind. I'm a realtor, and the homes that are on main rds here are pretty much sale proof. They bring a low price per sf, and sit on the market for ages. Too many people will absolutely not consider them. Why would you want a house that would be very hard to sell in the future? (And even if you think it will be your forever home, that rarely happens. Job loss, medical problems, divorce can all make selling a home a necessity.
Visit that street at that property at 8, 10, 11 o'clock at night. It might be deserted after 9 o'clock. They often are. My parents lived on a main road. After 9PM even in that car-oriented area, road noise was not an issue during regular sleeping hours (unless you sleep past 6 or so). Narry a car driving by after 9 o'clock PM and quite quiet after 9AM as well. So it depends.
Depends on just how busy it is. I don't mind having some traffic but I wouldn't want to be on a road where I couldn't easily get in and out of my own driveway.
But remember, that good price is because it's discounted due to the location and proximity to the road, and that same discount will apply when you go to sell it. If it's an other wise good house in a good general location, you will be able to sell, but it will likely take longer and you'll get less than your neighbors even a block further away from the road.
I agree with the other posters. We had a house for almost 5 years on a busy street. I loved the house itself but I couldn't open the windows on a sunny day because of all the road dust (which coats everything). Getting in and out of the driveway at first was only a minor annoyance but eventually it began to bother me after sitting in the driveway for five full minutes at a time. People would drive by with stereos blaring, the bass rattling the windows and I was always cleaning up garbage they threw out the window and into my yard, including glass beer bottles that sometimes hit the driveway and shattered. Nothing like sweeping up broken glass in the morning before you leave for work when you're already late! A house on a busy street is also easier to "case" IMO, someone cased our house and waited for us to leave then broke in, taking our electronics and anything else they could grab in a matter of minutes.
Our current home is a few streets away from a main road and we are much happier.
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