House near motorway - would you buy?

Jenny.W

demontfort wrote: »

My advice is, if it's next to the M4 in the Royal County of Berkshire then buy it......you can't go wrong. I hear the Queen often spends her days driving up and down this most regal of motorways :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

We'll be ok then :rotfl:

maninthestreet wrote: »

As a suggestion, try knocking on a few doors in the same street as the property you are interested in, asking if they are disturbed by the motorway noise or not. This what I did when I was considering purchasing my current home.

Me too....we are moving from a cul de sac to a "regular" type road and I knocked on a few doors to get some opinions. Even offered tea and cakes too . We received positive feedback which helped us with our decision to buy our dream house

Every house has its compromise I guess....

Davesnave

lessonlearned wrote: »

Given the high population density of our small island and the sheer volume of traffic on our roads I think it is becoming increasingly difficult to escape traffic noise.

We shouldn't forget air traffic either.

When viewing houses in a particular part of Wales, not noted for busy motorways or even A class roads, we couldn't help noticing the frequent roar of high-flying passenger planes. Eventually, I came to the conclusion that we were in a plane lane for outgoing aircraft, still climbing and accelerating as they headed for the Atlantic.

We didn't buy in Wales, but although this area of Devon also sees its fair share of high flying jets, they are nowhere near as noisy or noticeable. Again, I can only conclude that most planes in this air lane are either cruising or decelerating.

There's not much that can be done about plane lanes, but it's maybe something to consider if moving to a new area.

chickaroonee

You're right about plane noise, and it's not necessarily where you'd expect it as you say.

We used to live less than 10 miles from a busy airport and saw quite a few planes but the noise wasn't too bad. We now live 30 miles away but get much more noise! It doesn't interfere with day to day life but it does amuse me how much louder they seem to be here, even though we're further away.

rrtt

Davesnave wrote: »

We shouldn't forget air traffic either.

When viewing houses in a particular part of Wales, not noted for busy motorways or even A class roads, we couldn't help noticing the frequent roar of high-flying passenger planes. Eventually, I came to the conclusion that we were in a plane lane for outgoing aircraft, still climbing and accelerating as they headed for the Atlantic.

We didn't buy in Wales, but although this area of Devon also sees its fair share of high flying jets, they are nowhere near as noisy or noticeable. Again, I can only conclude that most planes in this air lane are either cruising or decelerating.

There's not much that can be done about plane lanes, but it's maybe something to consider if moving to a new area.

Quite right - where we live now is considered to be 'remote' by most people, but that didn't stop the RAF trainee fighters using the house and barn as a mock 'bombing run' coming up the valley at sometimes less than the legal minimum of 200 feet that they're supposed to stick to Thankfully they stopped doing so a few years ago tho you still get them low flying locally.

Another noise nuisance to watch out for in rural areas is bird scarers - one house I viewed had a mock shotgun blast going off every 15 mins in a field next to the house, which I only realised when I walked my dog for an hour in the woods opposite the house ... so be careful if viewing in winter, as the scarer may only operate in spring/summer ... if you have babies or are elderly or on shift work, you might not appreciate a big bang waking you or yours up just as you/they've drifted off ...:D

Davesnave

Ah yes, the Tornadoes use our church as a marker (target?) the Fat Alberts seem to think we are in need of aid (except they never actually drop anything useful!) and the helicopters often pop out of the valley beside us having pretended to drop off the commandos down in the forest.

But I don't mind all that....so long as I hear them coming!!!! :eek:

Rain_Shadow

Rain_Shadow wrote: »

I lived for over 16 years about 400m from the M6/M62 junction. Never caused me any concern. The constant low hum of that sort of traffic tunes out very quickly.

Tancred wrote: »

400 metres is quite a distance away!

Well it was the best advice I could offer, sorry. It is one of the busiest bits of the motorway network and only open fields between me and it.

But my parents, who lived in the country, really noticed it the first time they visited. It took them 24 hours to tune it out.

Cissi

pops5588 wrote: »

Darn it, was hoping for something more colourful than that

Pops5588, you're a real... POPSICLE! Colourful enough?

OP, everyone has their own "compromise points" that they're prepared to live with. As you've found out, the majority of posters on here wouldn't touch a house that close to a motorway with a barge pole, and that's probably what you'd find among the general population as well. But there will always be someone willing to make that particular compromise AT THE RIGHT PRICE. Personally I find that £285 would be far too high if similar houses in a better location have asking prices of £320. For something as major as being right next to a motorway I'd want to get a price of at least 25% below what other similar houses have SOLD for (not asking prices) as I think you'd struggle to sell it again for less of a differential.

And since you did ask for opinions (even though you don't seem to want the answers if they aren't what you hoped for): no, I'd never, ever consider living that close to a motorway. We used to rent a house one road away from a busy South-West London dual carriageway - so with 2 houses and 3 gardens (including our own) between us and the main road) and wouldn't have considered buying this house due to its location, even though it was perfect in every other way. The dual carriageway was incredibly noisy and smelly, plus it meant crossing a huge, ugly roundabout whenever we wanted to go anywhere. A motorway would be a total no-no for me - I wouldn't even view the house.

And no, we're in no way "country bumpkins". We ended up buying a very similar house in a town location that suits us much better (still in SW London). It's actually on an A road, but a much less busy one (not a dual carriageway, traffic calming and pedestrian crossings outside, no lorries thundering past, mostly residential traffic). There is even a bus stop outside next door's, but it's an "on request" one, only used by a handful of neighbours - and it means an easy way of getting to the train station, and to the two nearest large "towns" with shops, cinemas etc, so we see it as a bonus. We have a large, mature front garden and drive which shield us from the road - we can't even see it from the house. The road leads to the local high street, so we're 10 min walk away from a lovely range of shops and restaurants. All of this suits us perfectly as we love the hustle and bustle - and the houses either side both recently sold very quickly for full asking price (a lot more than we paid 4 years ago). However it may still not suit everyone as we all have a different tolerance for noise etc. This is the level of noise that we're prepared to live with - anything more and we'd have sacrificed something else instead if necessary. I suspect that very few people will be happy to live next to a motorway - they obviously exist, but the price would have to be VERY competitive.

Empty_piggy_2

All I can say is that I have been in that position. I was having second thoughts about buying a property on a busy-ish road due to noise etc. I went ahead with the purchase as other people/friends convinced me I was being over cautious and picky and "you will get used to it". Well within two days of moving in, I realised I had made a BIG mistake. The noise was bad enough, and constant at that, but when HGV's went passed the front windows would shake.
I think you should go with your instinct, if you are asking the question then obviously you already have your doubts. Walk away, there will be other houses.

Tancred

Well, after having read all of the comments I am now withdrawing from the purchase. I have found an alternative elsewhere, and will go for that one
I am completing on my sale on 1 July and will rent back from my landlord buyer for no more than six months (hopefully more like six weeks).

If anyone is wondering where I had intended to buy, it is at this postcode: RG6 4AH. One of the houses backing on to the B3270 and M4. The deal breaker for me isn't the garden noise (I'm not an outdoors person at all) but the fact that the background 'drone' noise can be heard in the conservatory, which also acts as dining room. This would annoy me in the long term - and I don't see how it could be resolved.
It's a damn shame because the house itself is VERY nice!

robatwork

Tsk. Some people will do anything to get onto streetview http://goo.gl/maps/TrR0d