What Do You Consider A Busy Street?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I live in CCDC, and the streets I would definitely avoid for SFHs (not for condos) are: Connecticut, Military, and Nebraska (especially south of Military). Busy streets, but not necessarily deal-breakers, would be the cut-through streets like McKinley and Rittenhouse.
The reason you want to avoid those streets are 1) noise; 2) exhaust pollution; 3) dust; 4) inconvenience, especially if you have to back out of a driveway onto a busy street; 5) harder to sell.
I understand why people buy these houses, though. They are generally less expensive and get you into the neighborhood schools (Lafayette, Much, Deal, Wilson).

I live right near there, and a sizable number of houses on Nebraska south of Military have gone on the market during the pandemic. I would say that 90 percent went for above asking, and 95 percent were off the market in less than a week. So yes, there are plenty of people who do not consider a busy road a dealbreaker, despite what the Double-Yellow Brigade on this board thinks.

Of course. People obviously buy homes on busy streets like Nebraska. But turnover on busy streets is also higher than on streets that are quieter. People will buy at that busy intersection because they want to get into the neighborhood, so they compromise. Given how tight the market has been, I'm not surprised. Even that house on Military right at that super busy intersection eventually sold.

Source?

[Anonymous]

For me, a SFH on Connecticut Avenue and Bradley Blvd (between Connecticut Avenue and River Road) would be a no-go for me. People drive like lunatics and there are a lot of stop lights where cars idle and I don't want to breathe those fumes constantly. As someone said above, there are some gorgeous homes on these roads but I just couldn't make a peace with it.

While I'd always prefer a quieter street, if it's a road that has a lot of thru traffic but cars are not stopping regularly in front of my home, the house is set pretty far back from the road and there is ample parking in the driveway (for my family and anyone visiting us), then I could probably buy a house I absolutely love on a "busier" road.

[Anonymous]

And in responsive to the intense PP above, of course you have to at least give a fleeting thought to re-sale value. Life can turn on a dime despite the best laid plans and you need to at least feel reasonably sure you can recoup on the biggest investment you will likely ever make....

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We live on a 2-lane busy street (it's on a bus route) in Arlington. There are pros/cons:

Pros:
We're plowed immediately after every snowstorm and rarely lose power
I'm less nervous about crime -- why break into our house when you can go to a quiet street one block over?
With good windows you can't really tell it's busy

Cons:
It can take a minute to back out of the driveway waiting for other care/pedestrians
I won't let kids cross the at the intersection because cars often don't stop at the crosswalk
There are lots of people walking by, which made me nervous about letting kids play on the sidewalk by themselves
I think it lowers the value of the house (vs being on a cul de sac)

Can you tell me what your windows are? I live on a street that isn't particularly busy, but is used as a cut through. This isn't an issue typically, but there are occasional issues with the loud modified cars, and also occasional loud drunk people walking down the street in the wee hours of the weekend morning. I can hear normal conversations through our windows, and I really don't think I should, so I'm looking into replacing at least the bedroom windows but not sure what to look for.

I don't remember the name but they are billed as noise-reducing, double-pane windows. I wouldn't say they're 100 percent soundproof (and they've expensive so we placed them selectively) but they do help.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:And in responsive to the intense PP above, of course you have to at least give a fleeting thought to re-sale value. Life can turn on a dime despite the best laid plans and you need to at least feel reasonably sure you can recoup on the biggest investment you will likely ever make....

No, only idiots do this. Don't live life trying to please other people. Sheesh.

A home isn't an "investment." It is a durable good. A place to live.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:And in responsive to the intense PP above, of course you have to at least give a fleeting thought to re-sale value. Life can turn on a dime despite the best laid plans and you need to at least feel reasonably sure you can recoup on the biggest investment you will likely ever make....

No, only idiots do this. Don't live life trying to please other people. Sheesh.

A home isn't an "investment." It is a durable good. A place to live.

No house is perfect and some people aren’t looking for a forever home. Resale is a reasonable item to consider on the long list of items people review when buying a home. Nowhere did OP say it was determinative (and even if it was, why would you care?)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We live on a 2-lane busy street (it's on a bus route) in Arlington. There are pros/cons:

Pros:
We're plowed immediately after every snowstorm and rarely lose power
I'm less nervous about crime -- why break into our house when you can go to a quiet street one block over?
With good windows you can't really tell it's busy

Cons:
It can take a minute to back out of the driveway waiting for other care/pedestrians
I won't let kids cross the at the intersection because cars often don't stop at the crosswalk
There are lots of people walking by, which made me nervous about letting kids play on the sidewalk by themselves
I think it lowers the value of the house (vs being on a cul de sac)

Can you tell me what your windows are? I live on a street that isn't particularly busy, but is used as a cut through. This isn't an issue typically, but there are occasional issues with the loud modified cars, and also occasional loud drunk people walking down the street in the wee hours of the weekend morning. I can hear normal conversations through our windows, and I really don't think I should, so I'm looking into replacing at least the bedroom windows but not sure what to look for.

I don't remember the name but they are billed as noise-reducing, double-pane windows. I wouldn't say they're 100 percent soundproof (and they've expensive so we placed them selectively) but they do help.

Thanks, that's helpful.