Learn Me: Living on a busy street / freeway.

OK very off topic but kind of on.

The wife has found a home that she absolutely loves, I love the fact that it has a 4 car garage 500 amp service and a view out over the ocean. Parking for alomst 15 cars and ~500sqf of additional storage under the house. Its 500-800K less then the cheapest knockdown in the area and its twice as big as the rest with better views needs about 75K to bring it up to spec.

Look at this garage

Only issue is its ~1/4 mile from the freeway. There is nothing between the freeway except for a small city street and the cliff that the house sits on top of. DB readings in the back yard were at the loudest 65db. Inside the house 45-49 with the AC off.

Other then the garden I could care less about the outside but is this going to kill me in the long run. Its ~56db in our home with the windows open and about 42 with them closed because the freeway is about 1/2 mile further away and it does not bug me in the slightest and we have city buses going by every hour during the week.

Link here as I doubt anyone else here is looking.

http://www.brenthaywood.com/SanDiegoRealEstatePhotography2/Brandywine/i-gSzQFTb

That is a very cool house.

Any chance you could put up shrubs or trees on the edge of the property to reflect/absorb/disperse some of the sound? I've lived on really busy streets before and it's something you get used to a certain extent, but it's not a good thing.

I could definitely put up a shrub wall which will help a little bit. I have in the past installed plexiglass walls at other peoples homes to do sound absorption. Maybe a 6 db difference, which would put it as quiet as my current home but would run ~25K to do it in materials.

I grew up in a house 200 yards from I81. You get used to it so that when you move out to the country the din of crickets over absolute silence is what keeps you awake. Jake brakes are soothing.

Sorry Weary, you are the stupidest human on EARTH. Period! WTF are you thinking?

Really. Your wife doesn't deserve you and you should punch out now. Get out. GTFO.

Dummy.

Call me when you're packed.............

That's a nice garage!

If wine cellar comes fully stocked you can be drunk enough for long enough that it won't matter for a while.

But my feeling about location is that you always have to live with something but you don't have to live with everything. The perfect house doesn't exist but most of them have one glaring flaw. So in this case it is noise. But you say you are used to noise. Seems like if it is a constant din from a busy highway it would be background after a while. The worst noises are the ones that are intermittent. Then you notice them. Like my berkeleying neighbors three berkeleying barking berkeleying dogs for example.

914Driver wrote: Sorry Weary, you are the stupidest human on EARTH. Period! WTF are you thinking? Really. Your wife doesn't deserve you and you should punch out now. Get out. GTFO. Dummy. Call me when you're packed............. That's a nice garage!

She is picking furniture already so she is on board. Thought I would ask the collective wisdom of the board what they thought before I sign the offer letter and put 200K into escrow.

Very nice house. Can't get over the cost. I live near the hwy too and the noise is "normal" to me now.

Sine_Qua_Non wrote: Very nice house. Can't get over the cost. I live near the hwy too and the noise is "normal" to me now.

Terrifyingly its cheap. Three streets up and with a slightly more southern view and it would be 2.1-2.2 million for the same house. People pay 700K for knockdowns around me with no view. The 701 SQF house behind us, which is falling down, brings 2400-2500$ a month in rent and has a wait list each time it comes up.

Trust me if Biotech was prevalent in the midwest I would be there.

In reply to wearymicrobe: is there a guest house? Will you rent it to me?

HappyAndy wrote: In reply to wearymicrobe: is there a guest house? Will you rent it to me?

Seriously you could live under the house in the guest bedrooms, and I would never see you.

I lived about 50 yards from a very active train track and directly under the main final descent path for the airport in Houston when we moved down here. It took me about a month and I never noticed it again. No house is perfect and you're saving a TON by making this compromise.

That is a hell of a deal!

That house is pure crap. A real dump. You need to look elsewhere and buy something better. What exactly was the address it's at? A friend of mine, yeah that's it, a friend was looking for something. Seriously, I used to live right next to train tracks in my youth, after a while you don't even notice. I live on a busy road now, and the only thing that drives me nuts is trying to get out of the driveway during peak traffic hours.

wearymicrobe wrote:

HappyAndy wrote: In reply to wearymicrobe: is there a guest house? Will you rent it to me?

Seriously you could live under the house in the guest bedrooms, and I would never see you.

So, $750/ mo for me, SWMBO, and the kid?

BTW, I grew up in a civil war era house that was 40 yards from a busy street, and 1/2 mile from 2 interstates. That house is not A worthy comparison of living close to a busy road.....First world problems indeed.

The kind of dough that that house is worth could buy a Dupont-esque estate in the outer suburbs of Philly.

I live on one right now- I don't notice the noise at all.

when i lived "in town" i got pretty accustomed to the street noise. there were train crossings maybe a mile away and i was in a 4th floor apartment about a block away from a main road in the area. Mind you this was not a highway per se, but I got used to the sounds of the traffic and the train horns.

That was years ago but now I actually miss hearing the train horns with the windows open at night. Not that I dont like the sounds of nature and insects now.

is the cliff likely to fall into the ocean?

PHeller wrote: is the cliff likely to fall into the ocean?

Not a chance but if global warming happens and the water level rises ~2 foot I would have a ocean front property.

If anything were to happen the city would eminently domain the home to expand the freeway in 20 years.

Datsun1500 wrote: I think it depends the area. In your market there are a lot of houses near the highway so I think it's not too much of an issue. Around here, that location would be un sellable. Like others have said, you get used to the sounds in no time, so if the question is will it bug you, the answer is probably not. And that's a steal at that price.

I have been looking into active noise cancellation stuff as well the house has speakers in every room. With the windows closed though I would not need it.

Tons of stuff even closer to the freeway and they sell very fast so not a terrible issue if I hate it or need to move in say 10 years for work.

Outside of major city the house would be unsellable.

That garage is seriously bigger than my townhouse.

I've lived by active military runways, across the street from a major cargo rail line and near freeways. You really do get used to the noise. It takes a little while but it will become less and less noticable. Us humans adapt to our surroundings pretty quickly.

stanger_missle wrote: That garage is seriously bigger than my townhouse. I've lived by active military runways, across the street from a major cargo rail line and near freeways. You really do get used to the noise. It takes a little while but it will become less and less noticable. Us humans adapt to our surroundings pretty quickly.

Its actually got another 3/4 bay behind the photographer, plus a cubby for a full toolbox. Its "gigantic", plus heated and cooled and thick enough to put a lift or two in. I am getting antsy.

Thought I would ask the collective wisdom of the board what they thought before I sign the offer letter and put 200K into escrow.

I guess my sarcasm comes across less easy than my East Eurp[ean accents..

One of my sailboat racing buddies is in the commercial/residential soundproofing business out of Oceanside. John Granahan, owner of Granahan Construction

Tell him Sailboat John from Ohio sent you.

In reply to wearymicrobe:

Hell, I'd be sold just from the garage itself. That's where your going to spend most of your time right?