Buying a house near a freeway
Happyladi
15 years ago
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Carol_from_ny
15 years agoharriethomeowner
15 years agoRelated Discussions
Death to the squirrel freeway
Comments (65)Just wanted to post a follow up photo to show you what we ended up doing. You all were very helpful in your feedback so thank you. We ended up nixing the window seats, too clunky and limiting. Hole in the wall is for a wood box. Funky old green pantry will go on right wall. Yes, the windows are small but we really didn't want any more big windows in this room. The wall behind the fireplace will get four carved tiles I am making to fill the gaps. No elephants or squirrels, DH, Jethro vetoed them. Back down in the desert now and letting the pros do the finish work and reupholstery. Yea!!...See MoreWould you buy a house near a cemetery?
Comments (107)My daughter's house backs up to a national cemetery - a VERY small national cemetery, in which a long-ago KY native President is buried. The entire neighborhood was once part of his family farm, Springfield. The family home (now privately owned) is around the corner from DD's house. The cemetery is surrounded on three sides by houses, and on the 4th by a busy road. On all sides, there is a beautiful old stone wall that is about 4 1/2 ft tall and 2 ft thick. What a gift! A wall like that would cost a fortune today! In a national cemetery, all the headstones are the same simple marble markers. To see rows and rows of these, is very lovely and very moving. My grandsons have always played in the cemetery, climbing over the wall. When they were little, my daughter had Easter egg hunts there. She asked me if I thought it was disrespectful, and I said if I were buried there, I could think of nothing lovelier than happy children, gleefully hunting eggs on Easter. None of the houses surrounding this small cemetery have ever been hard to sell. Most people adore the stone wall, and like the quiet as well. Kind of nice to not have noisy neighbors behind one!...See MoreBuying home near train tracks?
Comments (47)Here in Pugetopolis train tracks run along Puget Sound for miles, between residences, businesses etc. and the shore. In my town quite small, old properties on or near the downtown commercial strip (Main Street), just up from the tracks are being put on the market for nearly a million dollars. Houses immediately off of a popular parking and cruising drag, with the tracks just below, are being replaced by fancy new ones - including a double or more lot that had a big, 2-story Hollywood mansion style one built on the back half. Just north of where this street turns abruptly inland is where southbound trains sit and wait for oncoming northbound ones to pass. The topography puts the near-waterfront houses up there right at the level of the engine stacks; the fumes also waft down to where the busy section is. I am sure because of the saltwater views, close proximity of the shore many of these properties are now assessed at a million something, or otherwise considered very valuable - prime real estate despite the trains. Meanwhile the already very frequent passing through of freight and passenger trains is expected to increase significantly in future years. There is concern* about toxic materials coming off of passing coal trains, which use open topped cars, and conflicts with all the other activities that take place in the same corridor here - this past summer a pedestrian was creamed by a train right in front of the ferry terminal. *Involved public officials are attempting to make some changes...See MoreWould you buy a home near a lot of pot dispensaries
Comments (22)Having been through a house hunting phase that lasted, on and off, for 4 years and intensively for 2, I can only say that you need to be very clear about your objectives. It has to be more than just getting away from where you are: it has to be about what what you are moving towards. In our case we were very clear that, as we hit the senior years, we needed to move somewhere that had better health and social services than the beautiful but remote little village we were living in. We also wanted to be close to supermarkets and shops because we knew we wouldn't be driving forever. We looked at housing in 8 or 10 towns, getting a "feel" for each, over about a two year period. We finally made the decision to focus on one particular area, a strip of small towns about an hour from a major city. Add a further two years of househunting in that area until we found a property that ticked all our major boxes - single story, walking distance to everything we would need for daily living, close to doctors, dentists, physios, etc. Perfect? No. There were properties a bit further out that were more attractive, but we never lost sight of the proximity objective. The point here is that you and your spouse need to be on the same page about what you intend to achieve with this move. Better opportunities for your son should be top of the list. Presumably, employment possibilities for yourself and your husband would be right up there as well. If the place can't deliver those (poor schools, no jobs) eliminate it. Don't get distracted by pretty houses or low prices if neither will achieve your primary goals....See Morencrealestateguy
15 years agoelle481
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