Buying A Home
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Would you buy a home...

That is next to a major freeway?
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Re: Would you buy a home...

  • No.
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  • We considered a house that backed up to an access road for a locl highway but hated listening to trucks and cars in the backyard and back of the house so we passed.
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  • My H and I rent a townhouse back up to a major highway. We have lived here for the past 4 years and for the amount we pay, for the space it's great.

    BUT, we would never ever buy it. We never use the backyard because it's so loud outside and we hate the noise when we leave our windows open. Also, when they do night construction, the lights always keep me awake. 

    Not worth it at all. 

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  • You could not give me a house by a highway, no matter how nice it could be.
  • Close to? Perhaps.

    Next to? No way.

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  • No, we ruled out any homes close to major roads or highways.
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  • Our current house backs up to a busy road. Not a highway, but very busy day and noght. We will never be near a road again. You can't hear each other without screaming in the backyard. 
  • No way - for several reasons! 
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  • No!, Even if it doesn't bother you, think of the resale factor, especially if you don't plan on living there for the long term
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  • We're buying a home near Baltimore and the only thing dividing our back yard and 695 is one of those sound barrier walls.  We did hear a little bit of road noise when we're outside (and none inside the house) but not enough to deter us from buying the home.  We were there on a weekend and also during the week in the middle of rush hour so I feel like we have a fairly good idea of what it sounds like.  I'm really surprised that everyone is saying this is a dealbreaker!
  • I think it depends...for a lot people it probably is a deal breaker, especially if they grew up in the suburbs. Realistically a condo downtown is probably 5 times louder, so I think its what you are used to. We bought a house 3 blocks from a train crossing. So all night you hear the trains since they have to alert people before they cross the roadway. We moved from the city to the suburbs though and the train doesnt really bother us since its still much quiter then hearing the traffic from the 20th floor in the city, (and we would have stayed in the city if we could have afforded it!)
  • imageNiffa2003:
    We're buying a home near Baltimore and the only thing dividing our back yard and 695 is one of those sound barrier walls.  We did hear a little bit of road noise when we're outside (and none inside the house) but not enough to deter us from buying the home.  We were there on a weekend and also during the week in the middle of rush hour so I feel like we have a fairly good idea of what it sounds like.  I'm really surprised that everyone is saying this is a dealbreaker!

    The time that is the worst for us is at night time.  We can't hear cars driving by when we're in the house during the day,unless an emergency vehicle goes by. At night we hear everyone zooming by loud and clear. 

  • It would be a dealbreaker for us as well. I like a peaceful backyard myself.
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  • Personally, I wouldn't mind if there was decent space between the freeway and the house. I would also want to make sure there was a safe place for kids to play. I would be concerned with resale value though, so I'd want to make sure it was a place that I could stay in for a long time.
  • Nope.
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  • imageNiffa2003:
    We're buying a home near Baltimore and the only thing dividing our back yard and 695 is one of those sound barrier walls.  We did hear a little bit of road noise when we're outside (and none inside the house) but not enough to deter us from buying the home.  We were there on a weekend and also during the week in the middle of rush hour so I feel like we have a fairly good idea of what it sounds like.  I'm really surprised that everyone is saying this is a dealbreaker!

    Where I live, most houses backing up to the highways don't even have sound barrier walls. There is usually just a chain link fence, a patch of green space, then the highway.

  • No I lived in a house once 3 blocks from a freeway, even with a sound barrier fence I still remember being wakened up by semi-trucks using their jag (sp) brakes at night.  
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  • I lived in a home that backed a major highway. 

    We didn't spent a lot of time in the yard and I eventually became desensitized to the noise.  There were two side bedrooms that were on the side of the house that the highway was on, and if the windows were open it was constant zooming.

    To be honest, none of the above bothered me much but I was coming out of Manhattan so all I was looking for was space in a good school district.

    I "thought" this was going to be my forever house, but sometimes things don't work out and when it came time to sell, the highway was a HUGE issue for most potential buyers.  They loved the home, they loved how it was decorated, but the highway was a deal breaker for I'd say 99% of the people that walked through it.

    When we built the home, we had our choice between the lot that backed the highway and one that didn't.  The one that didn't had a $25K premium on it, so we passed on it. In hindsight I would have paid the $25K because we ended up losing that on the resale value, and then some.

  • no

    unless it was a multi million $ neighborhood wedged between the pacific ocean and the 101 hwy

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  • No. I don't want that much noise and I would be worried about safety with future kids. 
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  • Never, for multiple reasons. Most recent one that comes to mind is there is a study that was done that thinks there may be a link to pregnancy and freeway pollution that has caused a rise in children born with autism. 
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  • In my teen years, my dad purchased a home by a highway. But it went through a very residential area and we had another building between the backyard and the road. The only thing you can hear from inside the house is sirens.

    Unless the house I was buying was in an area very similar to this, I don't think I would even give it a second thought.

     DH and I went with the polar opposite and renting a house next to an Amish village, lol! 

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  • imageSwitzerland:
    Never, for multiple reasons. Most recent one that comes to mind is there is a study that was done that thinks there may be a link to pregnancy and freeway pollution that has caused a rise in children born with autism. 

    This.

    Even if the noise won't bother you and you're not concerned about resale, you should Google freeway pollution. There are a number of health risks, especially for children.

     

    image Lucy, 12/27/2009
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