Would you buy a house next to a railway line?

COOLTRIKERCHICK

it might be worth trying to find out how long it was on the market before these owners bought it..

if it is empty and you make your mind up that you are def going to put an offer in, then i would go in for a very low offer first..maybe start off at 100k, some people might laugh at that, but its a buyers market, plus you can allways go up, you can never go down with your offers:D

picklepick

I wouldn't but mostly because of my cats. I dont suppose the noise would bother my too much. I grew up on a main road with buses chuffing up and down and drunk people stumbling about under my bedroom window!

You need to think about this in the long term aswell, the fact that you're posing the question in itself means that you're obviously concerned about it and so will be a lot of other people. Will this drastically reduce your chances of selling it yourself in the future??

DVardysShadow

hethmar wrote: »

Just toying with the idea but seen a pretty little place surrounded by woods and with a stream and no near neighbours :j BUT next (and I mean may be only 10 ft away) to a railway line separated by a high hedge. Its been on the market since March (though agent said July ).

Would trains passing perhaps every half an hour or more bother you? I dont want to buy somewhere which I cant sell if I want to in the future (yes, I know at the right price anything sells but obviously, dont want to sell at a loss).

Has been on at £175k since March- is it worth a cheeky offer? And what would that be do you think? Needs updating, small rooms but potential for extension.

Sounds like you like it, so if you do, then others would also consider it. So worth a cheeky offer.

Plus, given the state of the housing market, people feel able to look at other properties and pass this one by. With a busier housing market, this one would probably get more attention and would not be so discounted.

So if you came to resell, it might be difficult in the present market, but I imagine you would outperform the market if you sold in a more active market. You might need to do some visible work to it to overcome the recorded value of a purchase on the internet, of course. If you think you can live with it long enough, it sounds like an opportunity.

Mrs Shadow and I looked at a pair of cottages which had been knocked into one near the railway - and were amused at the agents description and the attempts to conceal the existence of the railway - despite them being originally built for the railway. Lovely location and plot. We would have bought, but within 5 minutes of looking, we saw what a mess had been made of the work on the place.

hethmar wrote: »

Well, value wise, had it not been for the railway, I think it would be £100k more in that area. I was thinking of downsizing to it. Love the setting, always wanted a stream in the garden and the bonus is no neighbours. Had lovely neighbours for 20 years but one died and the nightmare began when the new people bought the house.

That is a hefty discount - if you are confident on this, then it sounds worth setting a top price on your bidding plan, not too remote from the current asking.

COOLTRIKERCHICK wrote: »

it might be worth trying to find out how long it was on the market before these owners bought it..

if it is empty and you make your mind up that you are def going to put an offer in, then i would go in for a very low offer first..maybe start off at 100k, some people might laugh at that, but its a buyers market, plus you can allways go up, you can never go down with your offers:D

£100k sounds like a timewaster offer. If it were worth £275k away from the railway, I think you would seriously damage your ability to be taken seriously enough to negotiate. Although I agree with the sentiment that you can't reduce an offer as easily as increasing it.

The other factor is if there isa mortgage, then there may be no room to take an offer below a certain level.

COOLTRIKERCHICK

£100k sounds like a timewaster offer. If it were worth £275k away from the railway, I think you would seriously damage your ability to be taken seriously enough to negotiate. Although I agree with the sentiment that you can't reduce an offer as easily as increasing it.

The other factor is if there isa mortgage, then there may be no room to take an offer below a certain level.[/QUOTE]

agree maybe a little bit too cheeky:D, but i do know a few friends who had the ready cash, and have gone in with seriously cheeky offers and with a little bit of haggling have bought themselves some bargins, and at not far off the original cheeky offer...

If this property was a total bargin at 175k it would have been snapped up even if this uncertain times of property prices...plus with the huge cuts backs in the public sector... this could also mean even less buyers in the future... and more properties being sold/repossessd... I personally think property prices will fall even further... so please bare this in mind if you are going to make an offer...

hethmar

Helpful stuff thank you guys. Yes, in an active market, as we know, anything and everything was snapped up. IF we did move there then it would be perhaps 10 years before we got to thinking of living in a more central town position due to dotage. So may be it would sell well.

Tomorrow Im going to have a mooch round the place (its empty and a good distance from the nearest neighbours which is a hotel/spa). And I will see what the noise is like. Of course, the idea that freight may be going by during the night is another thought. May be go to the nearest village and see what locals have to say.

Many thanks for the input. If I had twice the money to punt obviously I would be looking for something without this hassle, but then we all have to cut the cloth ...........

If it proves ok, may be £145k?

COOLTRIKERCHICK

hethmar wrote: »

Helpful stuff thank you guys. Yes, in an active market, as we know, anything and everything was snapped up. IF we did move there then it would be perhaps 10 years before we got to thinking of living in a more central town position due to dotage. So may be it would sell well.

Tomorrow Im going to have a mooch round the place (its empty and a good distance from the nearest neighbours which is a hotel/spa). And I will see what the noise is like. Of course, the idea that freight may be going by during the night is another thought. May be go to the nearest village and see what locals have to say.

Many thanks for the input. If I had twice the money to punt obviously I would be looking for something without this hassle, but then we all have to cut the cloth ...........

If it proves ok, may be £145k?

good luck with having a mooch around...

be realistic when you are looking round...is there double glazing? as dont forget the noise is going to be mutted inside the house..

once you have had a look outside etc... and ok with that, then make na appointment to have a look inside... make sure you look for any structual damage whick potentially has been caused by the railway/trains...... If you are still interested then, have a FULL survey done... and then work out how much any repairs are going to cost... and then base your offer price on the work and hassle of it being done..

I personally would start off lower... ( are you a cash buyer?) if so.. this is like dangling a big fat juicy carrot in front of their eyes.. and you will have more power with your lower offer....

Keep us informed of your visit, and if this house is really for you..

Nixer

I lived in a flat with a branch line (that stopped running at about 11pm) at the bottom of the garden (30 metres or so) for a while and another one where the line (again branch, last train at about midnight) was further away (about 400 metres). Both were fine and being near the station was handy and I quite liked seeing trains clack past. I was a fairly light sleeper at the time but it wasn't really noisy and I got used to whatever noise there was. I didn't get any shaking of the building though (very near station so trains not going fast), that would be a no no for me. I probably wouldn't live near one at the moment because I have a cat.

However my friend lived within earshot of Brighton station a long time ago and they did something to the roof there so for a while you could hear the tannoy announcements all night. Every time I stayed there that kept me awake.

Good point about the whistleboards, there's a village on my way to work who have complained because the trains hoot at 1am and wake them all up. Look for footpaths that cross the track.

If you can't find a freight timetable is it worth parking up somewhere near in the late night for an hour or two or even all night and seeing what comes past? You would lose a bit of sleep for one night but better than losing lots of it if you are the type that wouldn't get used to it.

hethmar

Well, back from the look-see on a cold, foggy day - not the best day for looking at a place in a wood really We couldnt get in the back gardens as the gates were locked. A train went by when we were there and it wasnt too bad at all, only about 3 carriages long and passed very quickly - though the beeping of the crossing gate could be a bit annoying all the time I guess.

But its not a goer. The plot is a lot narrower than it looked in the photos and there is not a lot of scope for a decent extension really. BUT the really off putting thing for us was the cctv camera (plus notice about same), the active burglar alarm, the sign saying "dogs loose" and the barbed wire on top of the garden gates and all along the side of the garden next to the railway line. It felt may be they had had problems with burglary in the past - and if you are that out in the wilds, not something you would be too happy about contemplating especially on cold, dark foggy days!

Never mind, we can discount that and continue looking.

Very grateful for the helpful input people.

DVardysShadow

hethmar wrote: »

... BUT the really off putting thing for us was the cctv camera (plus notice about same), the active burglar alarm, the sign saying "dogs loose" and the barbed wire on top of the garden gates and all along the side of the garden next to the railway line.

This is probably more the reason for the asking price being 175 instead of the 275 you felt that sort of property could be worth - rather than the railway.

COOLTRIKERCHICK

cheaper properties are allways worth a look, it could have been it would have been good for you.

as for the colditz look, i am not saying it is, but it could have been the previous owner was into a bit of dodgy dealings, and needed to watch their back..

we went to see a house locally and this had neighbours etc.. and they had cameras etc... after talking to the neighbours that we knew.. they were raided by the police twice, and done a moonlight flit, because of hteir 'dodgy' dealings....

Hope you find a 'bargin' soon...:T