Dream home near sub station

martindow

bigfreddiel wrote: »

For a long time smoking cigarettes was actually promoted by the medical profession, and the tobacco manufacturers claimed there was no scientific link between smoking and cancer.

Also asbestos was a wonder material with many uses like spreading bags of loose asbestos granules in your loft for insulation, too fake snow used on your Christmas decorations.

So be sceptical when anyone says things are totally safe, no evidence of danger etc, especially from an expert!

Cheers fj

Maybe, but the thing is when buying a house with a nearby sub station some people will be put off. Whether they are right to be cautious or not it is a factor which can affect the saleability of a house. it is much like busy roads, nearby railway lines, etc. which worry some people but not others.

merrydance

Working in an estate agents I know this does put buyers off, same as pylons do. Does the price you are paying reflect this?

Davesnave

merrydance wrote: »

Working in an estate agents I know this does put buyers off, same as pylons do. Does the price you are paying reflect this?

Never mind Joe Public, there's a few estate agents who don't appear to notice things like power lines and telephone cables, judging by the number who give these prominence on their Rightmove shots.

"Stick the camera out of an upstairs window, shoot and to hell with composition," would seem to be their basic philosophy.

I bet the hapless people who employ such 'professionals' don't ask for a price to reflect their ineptitude!

ManuelG

I keep reading this thread title and putting 'Looking for a...' in front of it.

merrydance

Generally when the public are buying a house Davesnave they do a drive-by and do notice pylons and sub-stations. I have never sold a house on it's photos. They may entice but the public are not stupid. Vendors expect us to show their houses in the best possible way.

Davesnave

If you read my post again, you'll see I was referring to power lines, including telephone cables, which most older houses have, not pylons or sub-stations. Many EAs still make these more prominent in their photogarphy than they should, and I believe this is off-putting.

Recently, Western Power spent a minor fortune removing overhead cables from our little town centre and re-routing them under the road; something I didn't realise would be possible. The difference is amazing. The claustrophobic feeling these engendered was mainly sub-conscious, because it only became truly apparent when they were gone.

No, of course photos don't sell the house, and it's honest to include a pylon somewhere in the pictures, if it's nearby. However to get a drive-by in the first place, one has to show the house in the best light. As a reasonably skilled photographer, I don't see this happening consistently, except with up-market property.

Here is one example of what I mean, and these are updated photos, as the original advert was worse in this respect:

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-51415553.html

Yes indeed, vendors should expect EAs to "show their houses in the best possible way."

merrydance

Ah yes see what you mean.

somethingcorporate

There is an electrical substation in a village near where I run that buzzes very loudly. It may be faulty but it's been like that for 2+ years and would be a constant noice if you were out in the (country) garden. They've just build a couple of £700k+ houses next to it so hopefully it won't be too offputting...

Nasqueron

bigfreddiel wrote: »

For a long time smoking cigarettes was actually promoted by the medical profession, and the tobacco manufacturers claimed there was no scientific link between smoking and cancer.

Also asbestos was a wonder material with many uses like spreading bags of loose asbestos granules in your loft for insulation, too fake snow used on your Christmas decorations.

So be sceptical when anyone says things are totally safe, no evidence of danger etc, especially from an expert!

Cheers fj

But crucially as soon as these things were known, the science changed and reported it. This is the point, it's all well and good referring to stuff like cigarettes and smoking but these things don't mean that electricity or microwave is some way suspect or that you can draw a link - what you are doing is classic scaremongering.

Cigarettes were suspected to be a cause of lung cancer in the 1930s, it was and were known to be harmful as early as 1940 thanks to a study in Germany. The industry paid an awful lot to hide the science or make it sound suspect (the old "science is not proven" argument) and it still came out eventually.

The national grid was dreamed up in 1916 and started to be built in 1926 with the first pylon in 1928, by 1933 1 in 3 homes had electricity and it was 2 in 3 by 1944 yet no studies have ever come out, no whistleblowers, no scientist refusing to take money - there are no health risks, period.