Neighboring commercial construction-- how much of a hit?

11 years ago

Hi, all!-- I frequented the forum when we were selling and building in 2006. We have been living happily in our new house since then, with the background drama of the evolving zoning and contract on the empty acreage behind us. The nursing home was approved and the 60,000 square foot building is about half built. Our back windows are about 120 feet from one house-sized wing of the (thank God) one story structure. There is to be a line of evergreen separating us and them. It's horrible, of course, but I have done all I can to influence the process and our task now is to live with it.

The problem is-- everyone feels sorry for me. Everyone. The mulch guy volunteered how awful it was. The UPS guy asked me what I thought about what they were doing. ("I love it, thanks! I hated those bluebirds anyway!") My neighbors comment how it will be years until we have any privacy, it's so awful, poor you, etc. The comments have been overwhelmingly negative though a few people point out that the landscaping will be well kept, the neighbors quiet, better than townhouses, etc etc. The developer assures me that really it's going to be okay, though not as nice as an empty meadow. I am planning to get a new appraisal to get an idea of loss of value. But I am getting kind of shredded by all this pity. Anybody with experience selling or buying such a house? How much of a hit am I really looking at? At the moment I feel like I couldn't give the house away-- although in the past I have gotten many positive comments from people who've said they love my house. I don't have immediate plans to move, by the way. We love the house and the location, commercial construction aside, is great for us.

I would attach a picture but I can't take any more pity at the moment!

This post was edited by demeron on Fri, Apr 26, 13 at 16:04

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Comments (11)

liriodendron
11 years ago
Well, the people commenting now are looking at the property on the cusp of a noticeable change.

Since you're not on the market now (or near future), the alteration will be fait accompli when you decide to sell. Give the evergreeens time to grow and blend in.

By then few people will even notice, and prospective buyers will never know what was. If the former owners of the adjacent field were determined to sell as non-residential property, and the zoning change was inevitable, you should be happy it wasn't a McDonald's, or something worse.

The end result which will undoubtedly be well-kept, quiet etc., probably won't affect your value too much, if at all.

Now your feelings about it, well, that's another story.

Set some correctly-placed bluebird boxes up (or get the developer to do so). You'll find the birds adapt quite easily to the latest iteration of stupid-human alterations to their world. It may put the change in perspective for you.

if you don't mind gallows humor: think of it this way, if you (or one of your relatives) ever need nursing home care, you can probably get it in the facility and practically not even leave home. Makes visiting, easy-peasy.

L.
demeron
Original Author
11 years ago
L-- bless you. I needed that.

I do think the change has startled everyone. A McDonald's was under contemplation at one time and for a number of years we were threatened with three stories.

My well-loved dad has already hinted that this might be his ultimate home :)

We overbuilt for the neighborhood a little, but I wanted my hardwood floors and pretty trim and good windows. At least they help shield some of the unbelievable construction noise.

Now if I can just get passers-by to stop feeling sorry for me. While kindly meant, it is not helping!

I will read up on bluebird boxes. Awesome idea.
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richcenter
11 years ago
I would much, MUCH rather have a home bordered by a nursing home than one bordered by, you know... neighbors. Neighbors come attached to kids and dogs and motorcycles and pools and parties. Old people come attached to quiet.

If you ever sell, I would highlight the old folks home as a unique selling point.
Fori
11 years ago
I wouldn't buy next to an empty lot (like you did) because I'd be afraid of what was going to end up there. You dodged a big bullet getting nice quiet neighbors with the occasional ambulance.

Nobody should feel sorry for you. You're just lucky that you lived by a meadow for a while and now you're getting the ideal neighbor. Perhaps you deserve a little sympathy for living next to a construction site, but I'm sure you knew it was likely to happen!

I think Countrybtom is right. It's a good thing, once it's done at least. :)
jmc01
11 years ago
Except for living next to a cemetery, you couldn't have asked for quieter neighbors!
brickeyee
11 years ago
Landscaping in the form of fast growing evergreens (think Leyland Cypress) is your friend.

If you need faster blocking plant larger trees closer together and leave it for the next owner to cull them out.
LuAnn_in_PA
11 years ago
"I would much, MUCH rather have a home bordered by a nursing home than one bordered by, you know... neighbors. Neighbors come attached to kids and dogs and motorcycles and pools and parties. Old people come attached to quiet.

If you ever sell, I would highlight the old folks home as a unique selling point."

Pretty much what I thought!

The OP really lucked out. That empty lot could have evolved into something much much worse!
egbar
11 years ago
not a hit at all, just a change of circumstances. People have reasons to buy near a nursing home sometimes too!
The pool of buyers when you eventually sell will have changed a bit and need a different market strategy, but other changes may have occurred by then anyways. A home immediately next door to a local nursing home here just sold in 3 months. We live across the street from another nursing home and it was never even a consideration (no if, ands or yeah- buts worries)when we bought this place. best wishes
dreamgarden
11 years ago
"you should be happy it wasn't a McDonald's, or something worse."

Oh boy and how! I knew a woman who rented a house next door to a McDonalds. The owner had tried to sell the house before the restaurant was built with no luck.

The noise from the drive thru was awful. She only stayed a year before giving up and moving to a quieter place.

I think you are much better off with a nursing home behind you than pretty much anything else (except a meadow!). The noise won't last forever.

Another bonus is that your father might have a chance to meet some of the residents and make a couple of friends. At the very least he will be able to ask them how they like it before he makes any decisions about how/where he wants to spend his twilight years.

Good that they will be planting evergreens, but I'd want to start planting my own privacy foliage now, just in case. You don't want to wake up one morning and find them planting trees 3 ft inside your property line.

Do you have a survey for your property? You might want to check where the markers are before they start breaking ground.
kellyeng
11 years ago
Our last house was on a third acre city lot and there was a church with 20 acres behind us. The church sold the property around it and a KB Home subdivision was built. We shared a fence with three homes! And worse, they were really inexpensive homes in a college town so can you guess who lived in those homes?

So yeah, it could be way, way worse.
southerncanuck
11 years ago
I could relate to you horror stories of beautiful homes backing onto more beautiful wood lots with strict zoning turn into beautiful homes backing onto loading docks for strip malls with auto body repair shops, a new Walmart, I could go on.

But to answer your question which was;

'
" Anybody with experience selling or buying such a house? How much of a hit am I really looking at? At the moment I feel like I couldn't give the house away-- although in the past I have gotten many positive comments from people who've said they love my house. I don't have immediate plans to move, by the way. We love the house and the location, commercial construction aside, is great for us"

One can only deal with realities, you ask a question that can only be answered in time. Do not, I repeat do not stress yourself over the maybes in life. 7 years ago the Ontario government announced 150 industrial windmills were to be built in our county along our Lake Erie shoreline by 2013. I have a neighbour that has been on antidepressants since that announcement. No one that lives here other than the farmers getting up to 25K a year to lease the land to Samsung is happy with it. Individuals were convinced the end was near and sold below market value because they believed everything they read about abandoned homes where not even the land was worth a penny. It is the paniced that create a panic, if values drop it because sellers allow them to.

50 windmills are up and running, property values are recovering from the recession, no one is abandoning homes. But our neighbour is still freaking out.

Relax and consider yourself lucky, how about a county jail instead of a nursing home?

Neighboring commercial construction-- how much of a hit?

Comments (11)

liriodendron

demeron
Original Author

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richcenter

Fori

jmc01

brickeyee

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egbar

dreamgarden

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southerncanuck

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Neighboring commercial construction-- how much of a hit?

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demeronOriginal Author

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demeron
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