Maybe city folk would..I live in Alaska, and like my space and my blissfully quiet 2 acres...

Now, if I had to choose between: loud dogs and traffic, I'd choose traffic. Well, except cars with bass drive me insane.

I don't know, really. We just bought a house and did most of our looking online. The houses we liked we would then map them using mapquest or google earth. We decided not to look at a few ot them just because they did back up to a busy highway.

In your position I would make sure the photos I put on the internet were really, really great - enough to make me want to see the house regardless of the location. I would include in the written description some of the advantages you've noted - well-insulated, easy access to downtown, etc.

And I would think about this - what made *you* buy the house 7 years ago even though it was close to the freeway? Something about the house drew you in - and so you should market that same *something* to your potential buyers.

minet's given excellent advice, mmelko. There'll be a lot of people ready to discount your house immediately due to its location, as you've seen here. You want to show them why you've loved your home, despite the interstate in the back yard. Don't count on their falling in love at a showing -- you need to charm them into considering the showing, and get them to the house in the first place.

Would you be willing to post photos? I'm sure there are plenty of people here who would like to help you put the prettiest face on your place!

My brother, who is a dr. and my SIL who is a nurse (so no problem with income here), wanted to purchase a house this past year. They wanted a house that was already built. they kept being outbid by Ten's of thousands in the area they were looking. Finally they found a nearly finished new build that they could afford in a brand new neighborhood.

All the houses back up to a freeway.

So, I just tell you this because many people may want a certain house, in a certain area and will go with the house that they can afford, which may be by a freeway.

My house is near a freeway overpass. I can hear it mainly in the morning. The houses across the street from me that back to the freeway are stinkin HUGE. One we call the "italion villa" so these people spent alot of money and don't seem to mind their backyard is by the freeway. We bought our house because we had very specific house wants and the house we found was it! Sure, I wish it was on 10 acres so I don't have to hear or see anyone but I sure love it so that makes up for it. Also my backyard is totally fenced in and private which is perfect for us. We don't spend much time in our front yard.

So, basically I guess I am saying, be patient someone will show up. Personally, I would prefer to live closer to a freeway and drive 5 min. to work than out in the country and drive 60 min to work. I can always get a nice weekend home in the country with the money I saved buying my "cheaper" home. :)

My son and his wife recently purchased a home in a Cleveland suburb, we went up to visit them and it was a gorgeous house, gorgeous neighborhood, all newer construction, huge sprawling yards, we wondered how they could afford such a lovely home. They paid 75% of it's appraisal price for it. As we were sitting down to dinner I heard this most atrocious noise, I jumped out of my seat to ask what was that -- they said oh, it's the train. TRAIN??? The house right across the street has train tracks running basically through it's backyard. All night long we heard trains on this very busy track making an incredible racket. We then understood why they paid so little for such a beautiful house. I'm afraid that with expressways so close that's what you're going to get, people wanting very nice homes for significanlty less than what they'd pay for a home like it in a neighborhood that doesn't back up to an expressway. So you're asking what would make people change their mind about living so close to an expressway and my answer would be a great deal on the price of the house. Probably not what you wanted to hear.

You could be taking the wrong approach.

You need to price the house more because of the shorter commute. Close-in houses demand a premium here in Atlanta no matter how noisy or congested. There's some really beautiful houses up on a hill overlooking one of the busiest parts of I-85.

As for the noise, if someone cares about that, like I care big time about noise, then you move way out, an hour from downtown.

Not only that, people pay big bucks for condos in places like Miami and NYC. My parents live in a high rise and have all kinds of noise from traffic, ambulance and even trains which you can hear inside.

Price it right, then start getting feedback from people that look at the house. I'd be willing to bet a lot of people are not paying attention to the noise in the 20 minutes or so they have to look at the house. You can always try to plant trees to block a view but that might draw attention to it.

I think you need some professional advice. You should ask some realtors to do a CMA - even if you decide not to use them, you can at least get some idea about what your pricing parameters should be. I wouldn't put it on the market until I was sure of the price to market it at. There is not only the freeway issue to consider but also the market issue with the possibility of declining values in your particular area.

As QQ pointed out, it is a mistake to underprice your home as much as it is a mistake to overprice it. And for your particular home, correct pricing is key to a quick sale.

I would strategically locate a pond with a fairly loud burbling flowing sound in the backyard (perhaps with a nice waterfall or fountain feature), water noise is much more pleasant than traffic noise. (some people might not like it, but i think most people would...on the other hand, my mom says the sound of my pond makes her want to pee, but she's kind of weird anyhow!)

:) jiggreen

I, along with the neighbors, always thought there was a 5-10% penalty for being on a busy street and this may have been the case five years ago (based on what the houses got when they sold). Last year, maybe in 2005, an interior townhouse on our street was gutted and remodeled with builder grade material. Then it was put on the market for what I thought was an outrageous price ($350K, when many of us paid less than $150K 7+ years previously). It was the highest price ever asked for a townhouse in the neighborhood. All the neighbors said it would never sell - definitely overpriced. Well,it sold in 10 days at the asking price. End of the busy street penalty myth.

When we put our townhouse on the market, we realized the market was softening. So we asked $343K for an end unit, knowing that our townhouse actually faced the busy street (the others backed to the busy street). We got $340K, so we got a bit less than the interior unit but I'm not sure if that was the result of the softening market, the busy street, or the fact that the other two end units (in the quiet section) also sold for $340K in 2006. If a busy road penalty really existed then I think we would have only gotten $315-$325K.

As the others recommend, get a CMA done by at least 3 realtors. You may find, as mentioned above, that you're underpriced and the low price is raising suspicions about the house itself not the location.

Be aware there are different types of noise. I'd rather be on a busy street or highway than by a train station or Metro/MARTA station (subway trains squeak when they stop) or worst of all, within range of an airport runway.

I like the marketing twist of having a shorter commute :)

LoL...jiggreen. I am the same way. Friends of mine gave me a serenity water fall (little indoor) for relaxation. Everytime I turn it on, I am in the bathroom. I had to get rid of it.

As far as the home, I agree with some of the other posters. If you priced your home too low, people are wondering what is wrong with your home. Also, you may be missing other people's price ranges. I would definitely consider either going to your county/city to get recent sales data or have some real estate agents give you a CMA. If you go the agent route, ask if any of them will do a PTA too.

After a while, you get used to noise like freeways and trains. Even ambulances. Now car alarms--that's a different story. Especially those ones that change the noise every 10 seconds. They make me want to do violence, especially at 2am.

I'd definitely play up the quick commute. That would be worth its weight in gold to a lot of people, especially now that gas isn't cheap.

I like the pond idea LOL or just get some reallllly biiiggg noisy windchimes!

We recently sold a place that had too much traffic simply because we could never open the windows and doors in decent weather and still hear the TV. It wasn't even an interstate highway, just a locally busy street and our family room faced that direction.

Wow. Thanks for the comments. I have been listed with an agent - i interviewed 5 agents and we did tons of comps over the last 6 months. The house originally listed at $335,000 which was right in line with the comps. I had a couple of agents want to list it at $299,900 and I told them yeah, quick sale, I'll do it myself for that. The last sale in my neighborhood sold for $329,900. You can see the interstate from their front yard. It was FSBO by the way.

I reduced the price to $324,900. Now my agent whose listing expires in 7 days wants to reup and lower the price to $314,900.

There are two other houses for sale in my neighborhood - the next one up is $398,000 and the other is $458,000. The $398K backs up to a busy road too, but not an interstate.

I did have a landscaper plant some very nice screen cedar trees along the back privacy fence. But now it is winter and the leaves are gone and during rush hour you can really hear and sometimes see a truck go by.

The main complaint according to the realtors (all six who have shown it since itlisted in May has been the traffic noise. We can't keep flyers in the box out front - I think people collect them - but we never get calls from them.

One lady said the house was too big and another said they were afraid of the cedar siding (thought it would take a lot of work and get termites).

So here is the link to the MLS listing with what I refer to as the world's longest virtual tour. http://www.alamls.com/(yzgfjr552fqswkau3fygb245)/propertyDetails.aspx?mls=234551

Why we bought this house? For all the reasons you see in the ad and by the way - the commute was a factor because my husband and I both worked downtown. Otherwise it would take us 20 minutes or more to get to the interstate. Here is is literally 4 minutes on a busy morning. And we go to Atlanta a lot and we are 30 minutes closer than where we lived before.

My agent held two open houses when I was out of town and he said all of the people loved the house, hated that the interstate exit ramp was out back.

Perhaps he needs to spend the last 7 days marketing it for the fast commute - because we live in a military town and recently got a huge auto plant near by along with the companies that supply the plant, the interstate is the main way to get anywhere and being close to it is a big advantage. He doesn't talk to me anymore - I send him emails but never hear back and I figure he's mad because I want to try 60 days of FSBO.

They say if the house is not showing - its the price - so you lower it till something happens - All I can do is guess its the price - except we need to clear a certain amount to pay down on a house in Maine and unless I want to be homeless, I have to get a minimum amount and the price with the agent's fees and the closing costs is netting me right at or a little less than what we need for the DP on a house that is by the way less than this house. See we have to pay closing costs here and then again in Maine. That hurts.

I'll send him an email with your suggestions.

Thanks. More than you will know. I was very depressed to see all the other comments of 'no way' - I feel a tiny bit better now.

Here is a link that might be useful: MLS Listing

i can't get the link to work

mmelko wrote: Here is a link that might be useful: MLS Listing

I'm getting this:
"404 - Not Found
The page your requested could not be found on this server"
for both the MLS link and the virtual tour WEB address.

Just wanted to say that I feel for you because I have a "nuisance" kind of problem with my house that's (soon to be) for sale (again) too--not a busy street but neighbors from h***. It's frustrating when you know that you have a GREAT house for a great price and that there is little (nothing?) that you can do about a major hindrance to selling.

Good Luck, it only takes one buyer...
(I keep telling myself that too!)

Try this one.

Here is a link that might be useful: Visual Tour

nice home!!! Your kitchen is very nice,as nice as mine and i paid about 3x what your asking ;(

When i go to Google earth, the home plots on the opposite side of street from homes that butt up to freeway..Is your this correct, or is your backyard smack up against the freeway? i see many pools on that side of raod, do you have a pool?

Today people move out from a noisy city and often don't even *think* about highway noise. I think you should price your house in line with the others in the neighborhood. If and when someone makes an offer and cites the highway noise as a problem, deal with it then! I'd guess some buyers aren't looking at your house at all because they think there must be something wrong with it at that lower price. (It shows beautifully on the visual tour, although I would clear out half the closet and remove the laundry basket, then re-take those photos.)

Now, if the higher priced homes aren't moving because they are overpirced, or because your market has changed from a seller's to a buyer's market and they haven't figured that out, that's a whole other thing.

I would never buy a house located as your is. Been there. Moved when the noise (and traffic) became greater every year. But...the couple who bought our "noisy house" tore it down and built the biggest, most expensive home in the neighborhood. (Go figure.)

As I type people in Chicago are buying condos overlooking the sanitary canal or the el tracks, and paying big bucks for them BECAUSE they can get to work in minutes. They will never open their windows and THEY DON'T CARE.

It's a beautiful home, love the kitchen. I also did an aerial view of the home and the killer for me would be that expressway, hopefully someone will come along that buys the whole idea of a quick commute. Good luck!

The traffic noise problem!

I lived in a house next to a 4-lane highway for 6 years. I swore I would never, ever buy a house next to a busy street again. Not because the highway bothered me but because of the "incurable defect" and the impact on a future sale of the house.

Inside the house the noise was only audible when every appliance in the house was off and nobody was talking. And then it was a very, very low volume noise. Really no big deal. I sold the house with average DOM and a 7% "road noise" discount.

Last summer, I found another house on a quarter acre, heavily wooded lot with creek, inner city location for a good price. Next to a SIX lane highway. There went my resolution never to buy next to a busy road :)

Moral of my story: If you find the right buyer who loves your house, the interstate won't be a huge problem.

> "But now it is winter and the leaves are gone"

Um, hope it's not the leaves on the Cedars! They're evergreen.... or they're dead & time to call landscaper.

If it's no surprise about the highway then marketing it for the short commute is a good approach in my opinion. Unless someone is sensitive to noises like this or lived near a highway before they probably won't obsess over it.

I'm one of the 'no way' people but only because I'm ultra sensitive to the noises and can hear a train going by 5 miles away from inside the house. If those gorgeous homes with an arguably nice view that back up to 85 were in the same price range, I'd have bought one anyway even though I don't commute! Surely you can find someone to pay a fair price.

Thanks. I have had my house listed with two different agents two different real estate companies. Both said it was priced right. The first agent was nice but did very little advertising other than the MLS. The other is a nice guy who advertises the hell out of it - as you can see by the lengthy MLS listing accessible only through the www.alamls.com site. He has a website but nothing to drive people there and he advertised he was real internet savvy and his email is constantly "down" I know an agent with his company has the house listed in Yahoo but only one picture.

People are always driving into this neighborhood because it is considered very exclusive for the area. There is a discount agency up the street that has open houses every other week and I usually get a lot of traffic and flyer takers on those weekends. I try to make sure the box is full for those weekends and the yard is nice.

But in 8 months to the day - I have had only seven people look at the house. Most of those were in May and oddly two during the holdiays. Otherwise no one in between May and December. We only asked the second agent to increase traffic - no requirement to sell. Other than the open houses - there were those two that showed up while I had a house full of family last week.

This is a very good area for real estate sales. And there are other houses in some of the other planned developments that seem to be languishing on the market too. Maybe it's the season.

I told my DH while he was here last week that you would think that someone drives into this neighborhood, and gets out of their car to get a flyer they would realize where they are and duh, not complain about the interstate.

Oh, I failed to mention there are a lot of hardwoods behind the house as you can see on Google. Those leaves are gone. The expensive cedars are fine and seem happy.

We just figured that your chance of selling would go up with the number of people looking at the property. And we thought that a larger real estate company like Century 21 would have more agents who would show the house or at least the chance that one of those agents would accidentally show the house would go up. But niether my own agent or anyone from his agency have shown the house and that angers my husband beyond words.

So I thought I would drop the price and pay to have it listed in the MLS with a fee to a buyer's agent. As I said the last three houses sold in the neighbor were FSBOs.

I would have killed to get in this neighborhood - we were thrilled to get the house and yes we got a small discount for the interstate. Geez this is a city not the country - there aren't that many places where you don't get traffic noise. The town keeps moving further and further east - but they still have to come downtown to work if you are a professional like us. During the 7 years we have lived here several homes on our side of the street have sold relatively quickly - despite the interstate - so we still have hope and maybe the drop in price w/MLS listing will entice people who find it on realtor.com to come into the house. It really is a lovely house inside with large bedrooms and completely updated. One heck of a buy for this neighborhood.

At one time people moved to a town north of Montgomery for cheaper housing prices but the traffic commute is simply awful and the housing is now as expensive. I've noticed a lot of builders are now listing on various FSBO sites. So I guess everyone is feeling some kind of pinch.

I wish my agent would talk to me - I might even consider re-upping with the really hot season coming on now - but not talking to your client is not very good.

Time to dust off old St. Joe again. ;-P

When I mapped your house I saw it was very close to the university. My brother in Atlanta is a professor at a univ there and bought a house that's also quite close to a highway, because it's just a couple of miles to work. He doesn't spend a lot of time out in the backyard so it doesn't bother him.

So if I were you I would try to get the house advertised over at the university there, where the faculty or staff would see the ad, not the students.

Nice home! You probably won't have much trouble selling it, I would think. Makes me cringe to see prices in your area, however - I just sold a small tract house in SoCal not nearly as nice as yours and it was well over $500/sq ft. I could have bought a mansion in your town for that.

mmelko -- your home shows so well at least according to the virtual tour. People drive into your neighborhood, they know there's an expressway there, they get out, take a brochure and then don't schedule an appointment. I know many times we would look in a neighborhood thinking we could afford it, get out of the car take a brochure, see how much the home was and drive onto a different neighborhood. Because your home is so close to an expressway, it brings in traffic from people just looking, they don't know if they can afford the homes in that neighborhood until they take your brochure. So I don't think they're seeing anything wrong with the house as much as I think you're just getting lots of looky loos that are looking in a neighborhood they can't afford. Housing in our area was going gang busters in the spring and summer, homes were on the market 2 weeks max and gone. Fall came and now homes are languising for months. I think some people are just scared by the media hype about a housing "bubble" bursting. Hopefully it will pick up for you soon.

Thanks for all your kind comments. All we can do is hope and pray to St. Joseph I guess. I can't wait for the listing to expire next week. I've already started setting up the listings at several FSBO sites and as soon as I can I will pay for the MLS package.

I can't do any worse than the agents I have had. Now we will have to see if the upswing in the market with the beginning of the selling season brings any interest.

The house is very lovely, and I can really see someone wanting it despite the traffic. I hope my comment didn't depress you..
I agree about the housing prices, too. While it's not as bad as California here in Fairbanks, AK, housing has gone up considerably. I paid $320,000 for my 2200 sq ft home, that is not nearly as upgraded inside as yours. In time it will be, in time...

gets out of their car to get a flyer they would realize where they are and duh, not complain about the interstate.

Buyers are too much! We just sold a home in August. They know stuff about the house but still complain! We had very detailed pictures on the web. Anyway, we said we did not have a fireplace. Then when it came time to comment about the house they complained we did not have a fireplace! DUH! LOL I think some of it may be the agent's fault because they were not listening to what the buyer wanted.

Anyway, as far as the flyers some people are not interested but just want to be nosy! I noticed people that lived in other parts of the neighborhood grabbing our flyers too. I mean I'm curious about prices when I go into a new neighborhood too. I get out of the van and look at the price but if it is out of my range (or I'm just curious) I don't take the flyer with me.

You have a wonderful house - way nicer than our old townhouse and it was in the same price range (actually, you may try to increase your sales price a bit). I see (on Google maps) that you have the least amount of tree coverage - is that true? If so, you may need to plant more trees to create a larger buffer.

I would develop a more aggressive marketing plan. Our agent networked with other realty companies (brokers' open house), neighbors, and even made us do some work (she nprinted up business cards with our house info for us to distribute). Like you said, the more people who know and see the house, the more likely you will sell. Using the internet is a "sexy" tool but it's not necessarily the most effective tool in marketing houses.

While the virtual tour on the internet was nice, like I said, it can't be the ONLY tool in the box. And if it is the main tool, then the tour is too long. I would edit the piece so that there is fewer ceiling-floor pans and cut (out?) some minor details (e.g., kitchen desk is nice but does it really deserve the same time as the entire kitchen?)

Good luck!

Actually, I have a ton of trees all around and behind my house. We lost two large pines to a tornado a couple of months ago so I got my veterinarian who has a landscaping biz to plant these things called "thuja green giant" trees. They are really very lovely (and expensive) but post virtual tour. The couple who looked on Tuesday said the house was "dated" By the way no comments about the interstate and it was rush hour when they were here.

Agent has done a ton of marketing to other agents, I too have business cards, laminated with a picture of my house and he even laminated the multi color flyers which remind me of a sales flyer for a World Wide Wrestling match - very coloful, only slightly tacky with colorful boxes and pictures oh yeah, and folks can pick up their very own CD with the visual tour on it when they come in the house.
I don't understand "dated" - that one always mystifies me. I am usually much more specific to my agent. Like there is no off street parking and it's in Maine for gosh sakes! The snow plow will cover up my husband's Mini he'll never find it until the snow melts.

Of course you should see the fixer upper - and I use that term very loosely - that I was smitten with in Maine. Now it's my husband's turn to compromise. Oh, and it's not near an interstate.

I didn't think your house looked dated. Maybe it's someone that can't appreciate all the natural woodwork in the home. Some people actually prefer painted woodwork to natural, not me however. I love your home. If your home is dated, then I better start working on mine because it's just as dated.

I've seen plenty of relatively new construction around here and was stunned with how their bathrooms didn't look any newer than mine. And the kitchens were all white laminate stuff and formica counters.

One person actually did say the house had too much wood. I think it's regional too. Here we have vast inventories of spec housing - cheap spec housing. All are brick, fake wood siding or dryvit. The cedar siding has been an issue because neither my agent nor any other agents understand that cedar siding is actually a superior siding to dryvit. Anything is superior to dryvit.

Maybe I'll start a thread to see what people's definition of "dated" is.

Our home is also in a subdivision not far from a highway. At certain times of the day the traffic is loud! We built a pool with a grotto waterfall and now we never hear ANY traffic. Obviously, building a pool is out of the question, but what about some kind of fountain out by your deck or one of your beautiful flower beds. One you could see from your breakfast room would be nice - it doesn't have to be an expensive one.

I do have a fountain out by the deck. We ran electricity out there so I could have a fountain. Makes one of my friends want to pee. All that gurgling.

I found one great advantage living closer to the interestate - the university is on the other side of the interstate and there is a tornado siren there. When you live in tornado country - you want to hear a tornado siren. We had one pass by a couple of months ago. Jumped the interstate, took down one of my big pines, and demolished a skating rink and daycare (no one injured) tore the roof off of my Vets clinic and the second floor of the apartment building behind the clinic. There are days when you are glad for some noise. Woke me up Thursday morning. Maybe that's a selling point? ;P

I'm not able to see the photos or online info because out of the 8 computers in my posession, not a single one of them has the crappy flash spam and ad player installed. Have an alternate link for people who don't tolerate annoying animated high bandwidth media.

You could try to go to the MLS website. There are still photos. www.alamls.com/qkkhpv24jxgcyj55r3qy1455)/propertyDetails.aspx?mls=234551l

Or www.alamls.com put in the MLS number: 2345511 in the search box.

You've mentioned several times that this is a desirable neighborhood and your house is priced lower than others.

A quick thought--do your flyers have the price listed? Sometimes I don't put the price on flyers because I want people to call me--it's the nature of the RE business. In your case the price SHOULD be on the flyers. Maybe some of those people taking flyers have gone to the open houses, know the prices in the neighborhood, and figure it's too much for them. It's worth a shot.