Would you buy a house next to a bypass?

Intel1982

Hi there,

We've seen a house we are interested in in our budget, I'll attach the site plan - the house we like is plot 50 . It faces onto a bypass and worrying that this would put people off if we sell it on in future! House is not new, it's about 6 years old.

Thanks.

Intel1982

This is it on street view 

housebuyer143

Yes, I wouldn't buy a house next to a bypass. But then I wouldn't buy any house close enough to hear a road like that. 
Others don't care though so while you will limit your market, it shouldn't stop you selling it.

Intel1982

housebuyer143 said:

Yes, I wouldn't buy a house next to a bypass. But then I wouldn't buy any house close enough to hear a road like that. 
Others don't care though so while you will limit your market, it shouldn't stop you selling it.

Thank you, the road doesn't bother me but we would only be planning to stay there for 10-15 years until the kids are grown up and then would be going for something cheaper again so want something that will sell easily when the time comes! 

user1977

Bit too close for comfort for me. I've lived a bit further away from a motorway, and at least that was just white noise in the background (and not visible), but that seems close enough that you'd hear individual vehicles going past.

Also (having figured out the location) seems a weirdly isolated housing development - don't like the sort of place where you'd feel obliged to get in the car to visit the nearest corner shop.

gwynlas

The sellers and their neighbours all bought there and you are considering it, with electric vehicle use increasing noise and pollution levels  should go down. I would not  buy there personally but if I did live there I would be planting a substantial hedge as a sound barrier.

Section62

Intel1982 said:

We've seen a house we are interested in in our budget, I'll attach the site plan - the house we like is plot 50 . It faces onto a bypass and worrying that this would put people off if we sell it on in future! House is not new, it's about 6 years old.

Rather than a solid acoutsic fence the developers have gone for a cheaper 'gappy' fence, which unfortunately means there will be more road noise than would otherwise be the case.

It is also unfortunate that this property is opposite a gap in the established trees/hedge along the boundary between the development and the road.  The trees would add quite a lot of noise absorbtion, but it will take time for the new planting here to get established to a level where it effectively reduces noise.

If you were buying for the longer term (say 10 years) then it probably wouldn't be too much of an issue as the situation would probably be quite a bit better by the time you come to sell.  But for the shorter-term the few houses near to the gap in the trees will be disadvantaged compared to others on the development.

Also worth mentioning is the part of the road nearest to the houses is in fact a slip road onto the main road from another main (Axx) road. Vehicle noise tends to be worse when the vehicles are accelerating, which they are likely to be doing coming down the slip road and joining the main carriageway.

The other thing that could potentially be an issue is the industrial estate on the other side of the main road - it looks more like light industry and distribution/retail rather than heavy industry, but the noise from vehicle reversing warnings can be really irritating, so I'd want to check on a busy weekday what kind of noise (if any) comes from there.

Section62

gwynlas said:

The sellers and their neighbours all bought there and you are considering it, with electric vehicle use increasing noise and pollution levels  should go down. I would not  buy there personally but if I did live there I would be planting a substantial hedge as a sound barrier.

At higher speeds much of the road noise is from the wheels on the road rather than engine noise, so the switch to EV's probably won't make a great deal of difference to the noise from traffic on the main road.

Emmia

And EVs are not "pollution free", the heavier vehicle weight means that tyres wear more quickly and that wear releases particulates into the air. 

I'm not sure I'd buy it, but if I did then I'd be putting in a substantial hedge

Section62

Emmia said:

...
I'm not sure I'd buy it, but if I did then I'd be putting in a substantial hedge

In this case I don't think that would be possible - the OP would need to check the title plan, but I suspect the land where additional planting could go isn't theirs.

However, the developer has already done a fair amount of new planting (on the 'A' road side of the wooden fence) so it would be a case of waiting for that to get established.

RHemmings

I wouldn't want to buy a house positioned like that unless financially I had no alternative. If you buy the house at the correct discount from typical market value for a house of that type, then you might be OK because you can sell it at a similar discount. However, I see quite a few houses with value-reducing problems where the sellers still want full no-problem market value for them. 

Following on from what @Emmia wrote, here's an article on the pollution risk from tyre dust. 

https://www.imperial.ac.uk/news/243333/prioritise-tackling-toxic-emissions-from-tyres