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I am thinking of buying a house that is about half a mile (1000 yards) from two highways (one on each side). The listing price seems fine. Will the close distance to highway hurts the resale significantly?
Also, if I want to buy the house, how to reduce the noise inside? I saw the house at night and could hear the trucks' noise inside the house...
It did not hurt my resale, however, that was in 2005. I think it all depends on your location. Some places, people expect to be close to highways. Check out the comps in the surrounding area and see what has sold, if anything.
I don't know how to reduce the noise, but I'm sure someone else does. Also consider the dirt and dust. Our last house seemed to get way more dusty than our house now.
Will the close distance to highway hurts the resale significantly?
In a word....YES. If you noticed the noise, so will any buyer. Most people do not want to live near noisy, busy highways, and the price will reflect that fact.
If it is really ONE THOUSAND FEET that is a pretty could distance. What do you mean by "highway"? Controlled access road? Busy street? Commercial traffic? Lots of variations.
In most desirable towns there are efforts to screen roadways with walls / plantings. If the property is yours to improve you could certainly plant a combination of shrubs, trees, grassy plants that can form an amazingly effective blockade against much sound. The US Dept. of Transportation has done acoustic research and found that thickly planted areas break-up and disperse sound far better than barrier walls.
As to the house itself well made double pane windows, or even triple pane glazing of sufficient thickness, is very much quieter than single pane glazing. You also want to avoid storm windows as they typically have thinner glass that tends to get be prone to rattling. Generally speaking if you can have smaller panes of glass in true divided lites this is a costly but effective way to hush noise. In noisy urban settings there are often office buildings that abut tremendously loud transit facilities or similar, with the right kind of glazing there is almost no noise transmission.
For outside areas it might make sense to landscape with a specific intent of creating an area that is protected from noise. If there is not enough area to have a solid wall of plants you may have to start with a fence. Generally the heavier the construction the less noise it will transmitt. Using 6x6 cedar timbers and solid board-on-board fencing is costly but can create an effective barrier. Inside the fence the use of water features that splash and gurgle can drown out quite a bit of noise. Even using plants that attract insects can be effective. Similarly feeders and houses for song birds may effectively replace traffic with 'sounds of nature'.
We are right up against a freeway in a metropolitan - and it didn't gurt it for us to buy...because I'm from Los Angeles and it doesn't bother me. Think of it as there will be buyers who don't care.
Also we replaced every single window in our house (because we had leaks etc) and we don't hear it at all in the house
I am thinking of buying a house that is about half a mile (1000 yards) from two highways (one on each side). The listing price seems fine. Will the close distance to highway hurts the resale significantly?
Also, if I want to buy the house, how to reduce the noise inside? I saw the house at night and could hear the trucks' noise inside the house...
Thanks!
Out here that would reduce your resale in all but the hottest of markets.
I would never buy a house so close to the intersate and why would you buy it if you are already talking about reselling it...is it a investment property...I would say "NO".
There is a beautiful community close to where I live and I do own a property in there but there is another sub community in there with many homes for sale and pretty good deals...at least that is what I thought until I went to look at one of the homes to discover that the noise is so loud since you can even see I-75 through the trees and knowing that the County is thinking about widening the interstate....which will make the noise be louder...that is why so many are for sale and also since that community was build in '06 and the ARM's have been reset and they are very hard for buyers to even get them to have a look at them although the houses are nice and good prices.
By the way this thread is also in the prof. section.
While I can't answer for the OP, I can address two of your concerns from my own experience, Bentlebee.
Quote:
Originally Posted by bentlebee
I would never buy a house so close to the intersate.
One of our prior homes was probably no more than 400 yards from the entry to a major interstate. There was a good buffer of woodland and other homes between us the the road (lots were tiny!). We could barely hear a thing, even when standing in the yard. Inside the house was pin-drop quiet. Our current house is nearly a mile from railroad tracks and we hear every train that goes past. My point here is, it all depends. On the house, on its construction, on the surroundings... When you make a general rule (I would never...) you may cut yourself off from a perfectly fine property. For the OP, best bet is to go sit outside and see for yourself.
Quote:
Originally Posted by bentlebee
why would you buy it if you are already talking about reselling it...is it a investment property...
Our family transfers a lot. Whenever we buy a home, our eye is ALWAYS on resale. We're not flippers or investors. We fully intend to live in the homes we buy. However, we know we'll probably sell within 5 years, so it would be foolish to not consider how difficult it might be to move it in a few years. For those of us who move often, it just makes good sense.
While I can't answer for the OP, I can address two of your concerns from my own experience, Bentlebee.
One of our prior homes was probably no more than 400 yards from the entry to a major interstate. There was a good buffer of woodland and other homes between us the the road (lots were tiny!). We could barely hear a thing, even when standing in the yard. Inside the house was pin-drop quiet. Our current house is nearly a mile from railroad tracks and we hear every train that goes past. My point here is, it all depends. On the house, on its construction, on the surroundings... When you make a general rule (I would never...) you may cut yourself off from a perfectly fine property. For the OP, best bet is to go sit outside and see for yourself.
Our family transfers a lot. Whenever we buy a home, our eye is ALWAYS on resale. We're not flippers or investors. We fully intend to live in the homes we buy. However, we know we'll probably sell within 5 years, so it would be foolish to not consider how difficult it might be to move it in a few years. For those of us who move often, it just makes good sense.
Hope that helps!
I did state that the experience I had with the homes close to the interstate is that there is a lot of noise...if the situation is that you can't hear much, than that is a different situation.
The OP stated that she/he could hear the interstate and since she/he made a thread about it, it shows there is a concern on their part...so why talking about reselling if you are concerned about buying in the first place since others can have a issue with it. If it wasn't an issue there wouldn' have been a question about it and if you are concerned as a buyer, most likely another buyer will have the same concern.
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