Would you buy on a busy street?

chappers

pollyanna24 wrote: »

I also think you have to decide on whether it works for you and not worry about saleability in god knows how many years.

Absolutely, if the location of the property is going to have an effect on the price of the house when you sell, it is going to have an effect now, too.

We live on a side street just a matter of yards from a very busy street, in an area with a fair few students around and to be honest you soon get used to the noise. Obviously there are other considerations to take into account. But as Polyanna says I wouldn't be worrying in the differential in price as it is irrelevant

TBagpuss

It will probably be worth less than a simialr house on a quieter street, both now, when you buy, and later when you sell.

So the issue is whether it is right for you.

I'd be looking at:

- how far back is it set from the road? (a front garden allows you to have a fence or hedge between you and the road, for privacy and noise reduction
- is there off-street parking and how good is the access to the house - how hard will it be to get in and out from the gateway/drive? Would you have to reverse in/out?
- how big is the back garden?
- what is the lay out of the hosue and how much could you / would you change it?
- How suceptible are you to noise? Visit during busy times and see how mucg you notice in the bedrooms, in the living room, in the garden.

I grew up in a hosue on a main road- however, it was an old house, and although the wall of the house was right on the road, we had no windows on that side so noise wasn't really an issue. We had 6' high gates (privacey and noise reduction) and a big front yard with plenty of space to park and to turn around. Getting out of the gate could be tricky as visibikliy wasn't great, but a fish-eye mirror and pactice sorted that.
We did, however, have a large back garden which backed onto fields.

I would be more cautious about a mowe conventional house, and bear in mind that a lot of houses put the main living room, and the master bedroom, at the front, not the back, so think about how the road would impact on how you use those rooms which face the road.

Kynthia

wateva wrote: »

Hi,

I have found a lovely house with a big garden, however it is on a fairly busy street. I'm worried this may affect future saleability hence thought I'd ask if anyone has any pearls of wisdom to offer or share their experience of living on a busy road

Thank you

The current owners bought it; you're considering buying it; the neighbours bought theirs; presumably others have sold in the street without languishing on Rightmove for months? Yes a busy road will reduce your pool of buyers but not by that much. It's not something that only a niche few in the market would be interested in like a large family house with only a tiny courtyard garden, a town house with the kitchen on the top floor, on an unadopted road with no agreement on maintenance costs, or multiple neighbours right of way over your drive or through your garden, etc.

Davesnave

Depends what a 'fairly busy street' is, because it's not the same thing for everyone.

As a young person I lived in Kensington where I really enjoyed listening to the sound of diesel taxis thrumming through the square on hot summer evenings as I dropped off to sleep.

Like smells, sounds like that stay with you longer than visual memories, and that one still gives me a good feeling. Over 40 years ago, but I bet it's still the same.

It hasn't hit prices there. I couldn't even afford to buy one room in that house today! :rotfl:

Surrey_EA

wateva wrote: »

Hi,

I have found a lovely house with a big garden, however it is on a fairly busy street. I'm worried this may affect future saleability hence thought I'd ask if anyone has any pearls of wisdom to offer or share their experience of living on a busy road

Thank you

You'll pay less for a property on a busy road, compared to a comparable property that is in a quieter position, therefore in the future you'll sell it for less than a comparable property in a quieter location.

GoldenShadow

We live on a main road. The streetlights stay on, it gets gritted every time there is even a hint of snow, there is practically no crime if you exclude the supermarket(s). The quiet roads around here are where the (few) thefts are.

I don't like cul de sacs in particular so would always go for a 'road' which generally tends to be busy. There are houses just like mine on a quiet road and the ones on my road actually go for more because they are nearer the amenities.

askandyeshallreceive

I think you've got to decide, what does 'busy' mean to you.

Do you just mean sheer weight of traffic? Or the type of traffic. Some main roads are the main transit routes for all the emergency vehicles in your area so you'll have consistent noise from fire engines, ambulances and police cars going up and down at all times of the day and night.

If you have children/pets there's considerations there that heavy good vehicles rumbling past and younger children riding bikes up and down wouldn't necessarily be a good mix if there's not a garden.

Similarly you might want to consider on what appears to be a fairly reasonable street for traffic, there could be other noise generating activities that are worse than the traffic. Such as it being on a route people walk home from the pub on every Friday and Saturday night so you can enjoy them effing, blinding, drunkenly singing and swearing as they stumble home.

I've also lived in a flat right near a railway line. It didn't bother me, I got used to it and actually quite like it but it's different for everyone and if it is something causing concern, spend some real time there - not just the two minutes it takes you to walk inside from the car, and see how bad it is. Go at rush hour and also find out is it easy to join onto that road of a morning if it's the road you'd need to use to head off to work, or is it a standstill queue in the morning rush hour period?

On a slightly different note, I have a former colleague who makes sure she only ever buys houses that front onto roads that will see the attention of a snow plough/gritter in the winter months so she knows she can get to and from work successfully - probably not a bad way of thinking and will only capture roads that are indeed going to be more of a main road and a busier road. It's all well and good being in a quiet cul de sac. I was in one a few years ago when we had that really bad winter? Days and days I couldn't get out then when I finally could, I had to park streets away so that I could get my car and to and fro, then walk the remaining distance on foot.

Also, check the noise inside the house with windows open/closed and see how you think that is. Also, would you find the fumes a problem in a summer with windows open situation?

TBeckett100

When I used to live, it was a quiet lane. The posterior hole across the road used to fire up his bike at 5.53am most mornings and I used to wake with a jolt.

I have since moved onto a main road and even with the Window open, I sleep in every morning.

Missus_Hyde

We live down a quiet private road, in a fairly rural hamlet, which does, however, lead onto a busy main road. We get very little traffic down the lane (generally only when the sat nav has directed cars/vans incorrectly) but once out onto the main road, there is a steady stream of cars and lorries passing by. Actually driving out onto the main road from our lane requires a certain amount of technique; we've lived there over thirty years, and the traffic has increased greatly during that time, however, we've got used to doing it.

I don't notice any traffic noise (we are far enough down the lane for it not to affect us) and I make very sure that our garden is fenced extremely securely, so that there's no possible chance that our spaniel could get out onto the road and be forced to play "Russian roulette" with the traffic and cause an accident.

The plus side, as other posters have mentioned, as that the main road is always gritted during snow etc. and so we've never really had a problem getting around once we can get down to the end of the lane (we have a four wheel drive car which helps.)

Obviously, it would be lovely to have quieter roads around us, but as we're in the South East I fear that the traffic will only get worse, as the developers are hell bent on [STRIKE]cramming[/STRIKE] building so many new houses, which even if they're not on our doorstep, still greatly increase the traffic in the area.

Lily-Rose_3

TBeckett100 wrote: »

When I used to live, it was a quiet lane. The posterior hole across the road used to fire up his bike at 5.53am most mornings and I used to wake with a jolt.

I expect he was a renter who worked shifts and had a yappie dog. :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl: