Airplane noise concerns overblown?

[Anonymous]

We live in glen echo and it’s not a big deal. We entertain and host a lot inside and outside and you forget about it/ get used to it after a while. I am good friends with some neighbors and it’s never a topic of conversation- although we do talk about other neighborhood concerns.

However, if you don’t think you would eventually learn to tune the sounds out, you would be miserable here. It starts at 6:15 am and continues until pretty late.

The helicopters are actually much louder and more annoying, although not as regular as the airplanes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why do people live right near airports, under flight paths, and expect zero airport noise?

Have people become this lazy?

They just have nothing better to do besides complain about something that’s not a bit deal.

Move to Olney..

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We live in glen echo and it’s not a big deal. We entertain and host a lot inside and outside and you forget about it/ get used to it after a while. I am good friends with some neighbors and it’s never a topic of conversation- although we do talk about other neighborhood concerns.

However, if you don’t think you would eventually learn to tune the sounds out, you would be miserable here. It starts at 6:15 am and continues until pretty late.

The helicopters are actually much louder and more annoying, although not as regular as the airplanes.

What are these other neighborhood concerns?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why do people live right near airports, under flight paths, and expect zero airport noise?

Have people become this lazy?

They just have nothing better to do besides complain about something that’s not a bit deal.

Move to Olney..

Or, for the same money, just a few miles East to the Observatory Circle areas, Cleveland Park, Woodley Park, ChCh DC. That’s the purest real estate issue there ever was: what do I get for my $ and how sound is my investment?

[Anonymous]

Ditto, most of the DC neighborhoods cost the same or less and don’t have the egregious plane noise and pollution problem, and all the future of my real estate questions that come with it. Some have quality K-5 schools too like the Palisades and Foxhall. Why would I buy somewhere with such an intractable problem in the first place (unless I didn’t know, which is why a mandatory seller disclosure is warranted) or without a significant discount compared to the surrounding areas that don’t have that problem?!

[Anonymous]

I’m sorry that I don’t but it’s not a big deal. The comments below are from the pandemic period and directly from the homeowners. The stance is very different if they are on the news/community meeting or on the dcum/talking to a buyer.

“in the Sangamore neighborhood of Bethesda who say depending on the day, the aircraft noise goes from morning to night and for them, it's a quality of life issue.”

"It gets loud," one resident remarked. "I’ve been in people's yards of their houses and stuff, and it can be pretty intense and there’s a lot of it, it comes in waves."

"Every morning at 5:30 or 5:50 I’m awakened by the airplanes and whenever I go on vacation it’s a relief to not be awakened by them," another resident said.

"There’s a lot, there’s a lot, there’s a lot of planes coming through," one resident said. "I’ve got friends in DC too on the flight path, and it’s a lot!"

[Anonymous]

I don’t “buy” that it’s not a big deal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They were bad, then then they became terrible in 2018, # of flights went down in the pandemic, and now it’s back to the new normal.

The new normal, if you’re honest, is unbearable. According to the empirical DB measures and FAA cut offs, the Palisades and Foxhall is possibly no longer compatible with residential use.

If you can't handle the noise, your best option is to move elsewhere. If you look at the map you can see nothing is going to change because the path has to thread between the restricted airspace on the Mall and the tall buildings in Rosslyn. That sends planes right up over the reservoir. As you go further north you can try to push the planes towards VA, but the people who live there are just as rich and also have better local and state representation. The planes aren't going to go away, but you can move.

[Anonymous]

Fair, but should this be a merely self-serving action? I would support mandatory disclosures. If DC has to buy the properties under the flight path, instead of the next tricked buyer, things will change fast.

[Anonymous]

Developers selling some pretty steeply priced houses right in the middle of the flight path. Who is the pool of buyers for these?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Developers selling some pretty steeply priced houses right in the middle of the flight path. Who is the pool of buyers for these?

Same people who live near all the other 1000s of airports in the world and urban areas.

[Anonymous]

I grew up under a flight path and specifically looked for a home that was near a flight path. It's nostalgic and comforting to hear that low rumble, though a lot of the time it goes unnoticed because it's practically like white noise to me.

[Anonymous]

Statistically those areas are at about -10-12% discount; not the same or more as similar areas without that issue. In DC that’s not the case; the houses cost the same or more in the Palisades and Foxhall. Are the buyers not informed?

I know that when we looked at a couple of open houses, you really couldn’t tell on Sunday afternoons, particularly if a leaf blower or a lawnmower was also going. Come Monday am, it was a very rude awakening for sure. We couldn’t imagine living like that so bought outside the flight path, but I have learnt that some people don’t care. I don’t understand that, but each to their own, as long as both sides are informed properly.

I keep wondering though how many people simply didn’t know or didn’t appreciate it for what it us? I know that the agent at one open house was aggressively calling us hypersensitive and essentially gaslighting us saying no one else thinks that, have a drink, it’s unusually bad at this moment of time, it doesn’t happen, and making us feel like we should be ashamed for asking any questions about the flight path. It was a bad experience and I’ve seen it at a couple of open houses. In the end we are grateful for that because it left a bad taste and we moved on, which we didn’t regret.

We really were tempted because it’s a green and nice neighborhood with a great K-5 for our children, but just couldn’t possibly live with it day to day ourselves. So we bought elsewhere but I really think many people simply don’t know.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They were bad, then then they became terrible in 2018, # of flights went down in the pandemic, and now it’s back to the new normal.

The new normal, if you’re honest, is unbearable. According to the empirical DB measures and FAA cut offs, the Palisades and Foxhall is possibly no longer compatible with residential use.

If you can't handle the noise, your best option is to move elsewhere. If you look at the map you can see nothing is going to change because the path has to thread between the restricted airspace on the Mall and the tall buildings in Rosslyn. That sends planes right up over the reservoir. As you go further north you can try to push the planes towards VA, but the people who live there are just as rich and also have better local and state representation. The planes aren't going to go away, but you can move.

Sad, but true

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Statistically those areas are at about -10-12% discount; not the same or more as similar areas without that issue. In DC that’s not the case; the houses cost the same or more in the Palisades and Foxhall. Are the buyers not informed?

I know that when we looked at a couple of open houses, you really couldn’t tell on Sunday afternoons, particularly if a leaf blower or a lawnmower was also going. Come Monday am, it was a very rude awakening for sure. We couldn’t imagine living like that so bought outside the flight path, but I have learnt that some people don’t care. I don’t understand that, but each to their own, as long as both sides are informed properly.

I keep wondering though how many people simply didn’t know or didn’t appreciate it for what it us? I know that the agent at one open house was aggressively calling us hypersensitive and essentially gaslighting us saying no one else thinks that, have a drink, it’s unusually bad at this moment of time, it doesn’t happen, and making us feel like we should be ashamed for asking any questions about the flight path. It was a bad experience and I’ve seen it at a couple of open houses. In the end we are grateful for that because it left a bad taste and we moved on, which we didn’t regret.

We really were tempted because it’s a green and nice neighborhood with a great K-5 for our children, but just couldn’t possibly live with it day to day ourselves. So we bought elsewhere but I really think many people simply don’t know.

Not informing the buyer is a thing in DMV. VA is a no disclosure/buyer beware state, and DC forgot that there were toxic weapons in the Spring Valley (conveniently renamed by a developer from Death Valley) for well over 70 years or so.