Should I buy house with mobile phone mast at end of garden?!

marleyboy

There are plenty of other houses to choose from that don't have a mast staring at them. You will find the one eventually.

ElsieMonkey

PasturesNew wrote: »

The thing with tick boxes is you end up with so many that no property in your budget will ever tick them all.

Then along comes "something a bit iffy", such as a phone mast, or a short lease, or subsidence, or non-standard construction - and suddenly it's on your radar as it's in your price bracket.

If it didn't have the mast there it'd be way out of your budget ....

And that's why it's so difficult to decide.

Fact is - it's cheaper than it would be if there were no mast. Many people are funny about masts. When you come to sell again you will find fewer buyers.

Also, with a mast, you can never be sure that there won't suddenly be a big new study saying they're the worst thing ever .... causing its relative value to drop further.

I'd not buy it.

I don't actually have many boxes to tick; 3-4 bedrooms, a bit of a garden, that's about it! And for our budget we're looking at complete doer-uppers. I don't think this property is priced due to the mast. It's actually at a price comparable to others in the area in similar states of repair.

I agree with you about your reasons not to buy it. I think you're all clarifying my inner concerns to be honest - which is a good thing. Oh well...back to the drawing board and the search continues!!!

ElsieMonkey

marleyboy wrote: »

There are plenty of other houses to choose from that don't have a mast staring at them. You will find the one eventually.

Thank you Marleyboy. I know (hope) you're right Just liked this one as it has a good size garden for a change (a lot in the area we're looking in tend to have small gardens).

marleyboy

If your after a large garden OP, avoid new builds.

steeeb

ElsieMonkey wrote: »

OMG that is VERY true. If I was living there, and in X amount of years they decide they DO cause health issues, I'll feel sick with worry and ant to get out that house asap (but as you've said, it would then be difficult to sell). Thank you, I do think you're spot on and I seriously need to consider this. In fact, I think the thought of that is enough to put me off to be honest (very annoying though as I thought this house could have been the one)!

Don't forget the flipside in that the house might already be priced due to the 'risk' of this - others may also be put off and it being harder for them to sell and therefore it'd have lower offers.

Same thing as would you buy a house next to a cemetery? Some won't, some will. The house will likely be worth less than if it wasn't next to a cemetery.

I'd perhaps keep the house in mind but widen the search some more. You never know in a month or 2s time you might see something better. You might have seen 20 houses that aren't as good and decide actually this house IS for you.

It depends how "right" this house is, how quick you'd like to move etc.

ElsieMonkey

steeeb wrote: »

Don't forget the flipside in that the house might already be priced due to the 'risk' of this - others may also be put off and it being harder for them to sell and therefore it'd have lower offers.

Same thing as would you buy a house next to a cemetery? Some won't, some will. The house will likely be worth less than if it wasn't next to a cemetery.

I'd perhaps keep the house in mind but widen the search some more. You never know in a month or 2s time you might see something better. You might have seen 20 houses that aren't as good and decide actually this house IS for you.

It depends how "right" this house is, how quick you'd like to move etc.

Thanks Steeb, good advice. However, knowing what I'm like (a bit of a worrier...and I have to admit a bit of a phobia of death and serious illness), I think the uncertainty over the health concerns of such things, and the fact that the government etc. tend to announce U-turns of such things from year-to-year, would always make it NOT the house for me, no matter how cheap the price could be. Some may think I'm being over the top, but the uncertainty would actually impact my enjoyment of the house from day 1 I can imagine. I think I may actually cancel my viewing - no point wasting anymore time on it. A shame, but we're moving into rented once our sale completes, which will give us 6 months to find the right house for us, so I'm not in a massive rush.

davidmcn

ElsieMonkey wrote: »

knowing what I'm like (a bit of a worrier...and I have to admit a bit of a phobia of death and serious illness), I think the uncertainty over the health concerns of such things, and the fact that the government etc. tend to announce U-turns of such things from year-to-year, would always make it NOT the house for me, no matter how cheap the price could be.

But what if there's a similar u-turn about a feature of the house you buy instead? Are you sure you're not just going to find something else to latch your worries onto?

cells

why are people afraid of a far away radio mast that is somewhere around 10-100 watts however are happy to put the same radio waves from their mobile right next to their face or use wifi on their computers and routers? And yes I understand the mast in Question is just at the bottom of the garden but that is very far away compared to your mobile stuck to the side of your face

There is no risk from such low power non ionising EM devises and if there were you would want to get rid of your mobiles and other EM gadgets well before you worried about radio masts.

sunshine is more harmful, seriously!

ElsieMonkey

davidmcn wrote: »

But what if there's a similar u-turn about a feature of the house you buy instead? Are you sure you're not just going to find something else to latch your worries onto?

I'm not that bad!:rotfl:

cells

ElsieMonkey wrote: »

Thanks Steeb, good advice. However, knowing what I'm like (a bit of a worrier...and I have to admit a bit of a phobia of death and serious illness), I think the uncertainty over the health concerns of such things, and the fact that the government etc. tend to announce U-turns of such things from year-to-year, would always make it NOT the house for me, no matter how cheap the price could be. Some may think I'm being over the top, but the uncertainty would actually impact my enjoyment of the house from day 1 I can imagine. I think I may actually cancel my viewing - no point wasting anymore time on it. A shame, but we're moving into rented once our sale completes, which will give us 6 months to find the right house for us, so I'm not in a massive rush.

the fear will cause you mischief so move on

there will be no 'u-turn' as electromagnetism is well understood. its not a new drug that needs testing for a couple of decades. Also as noted you like most people probably stick a mobile phone up to your face. You probably do not consider that to be much of a risk and it isnt. Just like the mobile phone mast is just a more powerful version of your phone but instead of right next to your face its a lot further away.