Big house on busy street or small house on quiet street?

[Anonymous]

quiet street 100% of the time.

[Anonymous]

We went with a larger house on a busy street and don't regret it for a second. My friends all envy our main level play room, and now we can have guests stay for extended periods of time in their own room. We finally have storage space for everything and we have plenty of room to entertain, which we love doing.

When I think back to the smaller houses we looked at on quieter streets, I'm really glad we didn't get them.

I grew up in a city, however, so I don't mind noise on the street. In fact, I get creeped out on quiet, deserted streets.

[Anonymous]

really depends on how busy. We live on a stree that is a cut through between two major roads. So it is more busy than the streets next to us, but it is not as busy as the main roads. So yes, there is traffic but nothing that bothrs me.

I don't care how big homes are I would never buy a home on a real busy street like say lee highway or rt 50.

[Anonymous]

16:00 here again, and I'd agree it depends on how busy of a street you are talking about. Just a well-trafficked street or a 4+ lane avenue?

I also will add that I have a fenced in back/side yard so that makes a difference to me as well, since my kids can run around back there and I don't worry about them going out to the main road.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:16:00 here again, and I'd agree it depends on how busy of a street you are talking about. Just a well-trafficked street or a 4+ lane avenue?

I also will add that I have a fenced in back/side yard so that makes a difference to me as well, since my kids can run around back there and I don't worry about them going out to the main road.

We live up past the golf course on N. Glebe Road near Old Glebe. Four lanes, but really only busy for about two hours a day. Surprisingly quiet most of the time, especially at night. So, question really is "busy constantly" or just at rush hour?

[Anonymous]

We live on a busy street. After a while you no longer notice it. We wouldn't swap it for a smaller house in a quieter street - love having the extra space for in-laws etc.

[Anonymous]

Small house on quiet street. You can never change the location, but you can always figure out ways to reduce clutter and organize better. PPs have mentioned noise, which adds to stress, but for me, I'd worry about the pollution from hundreds of passing cars on a daily basis. Over the years, that pollution adds up.

[Anonymous]

Used to live in a busy street but after having too many cars one way to close for comfort, we moved to a quiet street. I'm much more relaxed when DC is outside playing or even just walking to the car. Every time we'd step foot out at the old house, we had a death grip on DC. Now we are still careful and always with DC, but without the feeling of stress/fear . I guess it depends how busy the street is...our old street was pretty busy during rush hour. As far as noise, we actually got used to it and didn't pay much notice...and we had a combination of constant ambulance, airplane and car noise.

[Anonymous]

Keep looking.

[Anonymous]

I echo those who say keep looking. These probably aren't the only two houses that could work for you.

If I *had* to choose one of them, I'd choose the one on the quiet street. I hate feeling cramped, but I hate noise more than just about anything in the world.

[Anonymous]

It really depends.. HOW busy is the street? HOW small is the house?

But my impulse is- small house on quiet street. That is sort of what I have, anyways.

I'd hate to live on a busy road, for the exhaust, traffic when pulling out of the driveway, inconvenience with the dog, and just overall STRESS.

As for what "tradeoffs" to make in an expensive housing market like this one -- I wouldn't compromise on location, commute, schools, quiet street, walkable to amenities. (Those are all the really expensive ones, right..)

However our house had some compromises- old, small, and in a less-scenic part of a highly desirable location. It was in dire need of renovations and we've done those over the years.

I would also compromise on "level lot" -- as long as it isn't a terrible hill to mow, I don't really mind.

Not a fan of living under a cell tower, but that would probably be better than a busy road for me.

If I could get a great deal on it and it worked otherwise-- I'd definitely be willing to live in a house next to a cemetary, or where a murder had taken place.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We live on a busy street. After a while you no longer notice it. We wouldn't swap it for a smaller house in a quieter street - love having the extra space for in-laws etc.

We are about to buy on a busy street. Love the extra space, as we have MIL moving down to live with us. We've been on a relatively busy street for the past 6 years, and I grew up in the city, on a busy street, and I actually really like being out on the porch, saying hello to neighbors as they walk by, etc., so it suits what I'm used to and also my personality, I suppose. I can see how it would bother others, though, so you have to go what's right for you based on what you need/love most.

[Anonymous]

I think it depends on the set-up of the house. We used to live on a very busy street but we used the backyard and the side door for the most part so we didn't spend a lot of time in the front of the house. When we were home, I didn't even notice the fact that we were on a busy street. I grew up in a similar house so busy streets don't tend to bother me.

Now we live in a quieter area and it is nice to not have any nice from cars at night. But our old house was SO convenient to the Beltway and now it takes us forever to get anywhere that requires the use of 495. I do miss that part.