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Original poster

Stunning house but near junction on a busy road

57 replies

silversixpence · 21/10/2015 20:35

We have found a beautiful house but are hesitating as it is just before a busy junction near a train station. There are often queues to turn right at peak times and as the house is so near the junction we could end up waiting to pull into the drive. Also when pulling out it is very difficult to see right as the neighbours fence is in the way, so the current owner usually turns left and then turns the car around further up the main road. The other niggle is that the garden is smaller than I wante (I love gardening and have an allotment and no real garden at the moment)..

The house is a Victorian double fronted semi with high ceilings, fireplaces in rooms, stained glass windows and a wooden veranda at the back. It is unlikely something like this will come up again as I haven't seen any other similar houses in the area and the price reflects the location so it is within our budget. Other properties are mostly 1930s semis but have much bigger gardens.

Would you buy the house? We have 3 dc aged 7 to 4 months and expect our next home to be our forever home.

OP posts:
Tarrarra · 21/10/2015 20:38

I wouldn't without some serious consideration. Can you do several drive bys at busy times to see how bad it is? I think that the traffic isn't going to get any better and if you did then decide to sell, it will put off buyers.

I think if you are looking for your forever home, and you have reservations already then you have your answer!

stargirl04 · 21/10/2015 20:41

It all depends on whether you can tolerate the noise and traffic.

Personally, I wouldn't want to - but I remember an estate agent telling me once that "people adapt to their environment".

I've lived on busy roads too, and you do adapt, but I'd rather not have to IYSWIM.

There is also the safety aspect to bear in mind with young DCs and a busy road.

Original poster
silversixpence · 21/10/2015 20:47

My husband saw it today at peak time and thought it was fairly busy, I went at 11am so it wasn't too bad but still got beeped as I went to pull in.

its this house but nicer in real life.

OP posts:
Hunterschicken · 21/10/2015 20:54

We are buying a house on a busy road. The house is amazing and we couldn't afford anything like it on a quieter road. You can't hear the noise in the house and even in the garden it's not too bad as the house is tall and buffers the noise. It also has a smaller garden than we wanted, but we think we can make it lovely for us and our dc. And we are walking distance to a lovely town with lots of green space, and amenities. If we were in London we would be raving about how big the garden is so close to town!

It is a compromise but we wanted a big characterful property and this is how we can afford it. What helped us make the decision is that my dhs parents live in a beautiful house on a busy road, and my dh grew up in the house. He has never even really noticed the road or noise until we started looking at houses and paying more attention to things like road noise! The whole family just love the house.

So it's all about what you are willing to compromise on. We bought a sensible house that we didn't love, and are now moving to a less sensible house that I am so excited about.

ThroughThickAndThin01 · 21/10/2015 20:59

I would if it wasn't destined to be the forever house (MN hated expression).

I would enjoy it and love it for the lovely house it is, and if the location is too difficult, sell it when the time was right.

JeffsanArsehole · 21/10/2015 21:00

Lovely house, garden not too bad (maybe 80 feet?) . You can always get your name down for an allotment in that area - I only looked at the lewisham allotment list yesterday and loads of them only have 12-18 months wait (not the one I want, had an 8 years wait!)

If you're in the right hand lane no one should be beeping at you (twats) and at least you're very close to the station. A goods size front garden too, you're not directly on the road

Lovely big house Smile

ThroughThickAndThin01 · 21/10/2015 21:02

And I don't think resale is a problem.

You buy it cheaper because it's on a busy road therefore you sell it cheaper because it's on a busy road.

It may take a little longer to sell, but it always will, because you get a lovely house at a cheaper price.

Sleepybeanbump · 21/10/2015 21:06

Personally , I wouldn't buy it in a million years, but I loathe traffic. DH and I rented on a horrible rat run near traffic lights once and since then have refused to live on anything but no- through-roads. We turned down possibly the most lovely house we'd ever be able to buy earlier this year as it was near the junction of two A roads. We still didn't hesitate. I knew I'd hate it every day.

Lolimax · 21/10/2015 21:06

It's a beautiful house. Can you imagine living by such a busy road though? I took a sharp intake of breath when I saw the price but I live in the south valleys (and you could buy my street for that price!) but it is a lovely house.

anotherdayanothersquabble · 21/10/2015 21:06

Based on the description, I would buy it.

I would consider all the alternatives, try to fall in love with a few with bigger gardens, in better locations but I would fail.

I would agonise over, try to write pros and cons list and in the end, go for it! (I have just followed my script again for our latest house purchase and will be adapting to my environment!!).

I think you have to know what the compromises are as they won't go away and they have to be outweighed by the love you feel for the stained glass, the fireplaces and the high ceilings.

dontcallmelen · 21/10/2015 21:10

Op how funny every time I pass this house, I say to Dh how much I like the house( the frontage is so pretty)you are right about the busy road, but it's not so bad outside of rush hour, very handy for station/schools/etc.
I am biased as I have always admired the house, go for it.

spanky2 · 21/10/2015 21:14

Looks quite set back from the road. I wouldn't buy it as I have cats. However, I agree that you should go there at morning and evening rush hour. You would probably only hear the hum of traffic outside. It looks big, and fab garden. Pretty from the front too.

cece · 21/10/2015 21:29

I think I would prefer a quieter location myself and a less fancy house.

fuctifino · 21/10/2015 21:37

We're moving out of our house that is in a similar position on Friday.
Dh bought the house just before we got together, I wouldn't even have considered it.
I can sit on my drive in the morning to come out and car after car will drive bumper to bumper to stop me getting out. If I'm turning away from the junction, people happily let me out.
At the back of the house, you can't hear the traffic at all but we have 2 front bedrooms. I am frequently woken by taxis taking a cut through, or cars sat in the queue with their music thumping.

The house sold within 2 weeks of going on the market, so people aren't put off, and at a good price.

So back to your question, no, I wouldn't entertain it, however lovely the house may be.

wickedwaterwitch · 21/10/2015 21:39

I really wouldn't buy it - you can't change the busy road

Original poster
silversixpence · 21/10/2015 21:59

Dontcallmelen what a coincidence! Glad someone knows the house to be able to understand the predicament though. It is pretty isn't it.

Throughthickandthin I dislike the expression forever house too but it does express what I wanted to say quite succinctly!

lolimax- Id love to sell up and move to a less expensive part of the country but it's not happening any time soon so have to take the London housing market as it is unfortunately!

Lots to think about, we haven't found anything we like as much yet as there's a shortage in this price bracket and nothing else seems worth the money!

OP posts:
RaphaellaTheSpanishWaterDog · 21/10/2015 22:49

It's a lovely, characterful house. We have a veranda too so I'm biased Grin

Regarding the road - we've previously bought two houses in very different locations on busy roads.

The first (city location in the South but not London) was a detached Victorian, one house in from a busy junction on a B road with a bus stop and double yellows outside. The house - whilst lovely - was bought in the rebound as we were gazumped day before exchange on the dream house. We rented a garage opposite as there was no ORP either. The road noise was awful, but we were closer to the road - fairly shallow front garden - and objected to changing the windows to DG as we knew from day one we wouldn't stay......and that was meant to be the forever house. In the end we stayed five years and sold reasonably quickly - couple of months iirc - but I was so miserable there, the road issues just ate away at me till I hated the house.

Fast forward to 2011 and we fell in love - or rather DH did - with a thatched wreck project house on a rural A road. Huge third acre garden that was pretty quiet, but the road noise was bad and the house would shake when an hgv went by. We fitted DG with acoustic glazing to no avail - I now know triple glazing or secondary would have been better. Sold up last year and no more busy roads for us!

However, London and its environs are a different animal and to get the house I wanted there I think I may make an exception......and it does seem a good price - because of the road issues, no doubt. You just need to consider if the noise/issues getting onto/off your drive would really bother you.

TheWildRumpyPumpus · 21/10/2015 23:00

That junction is crazy at rush hour. It can be bad at other times too because there are so many lights and roads meeting. I couldn't live there although the house is lovely.

What's the train line noise like also?

Frazzled2207 · 21/10/2015 23:01

Our house is on a busy road but the price we paid for it reflected that.
Our lounge, bedroom and kitchen are at the back of the house and the noise is a non-issue there. It is bothersome (to me) in the kids' rooms but not to them. The noise bothers me in the garden sadly.
Like this house you are looking at it we can't easily turn right so we always go left and turn around further up- that's not a major issue at all once we get used to it.
We're staying put for now but it's not a forever house because of its location but we're ok with that. There will always be a niggle with me though about the road, especially since we had the kids. We wouldn't have as nice a house as we do though, if it wasn't where it was.

Frazzled2207 · 21/10/2015 23:07

Ooh meant to add the thing that really bothers me that didn't occur to me at the time (cos we didn't have them!) is that our kids will never be able to "play out", well not outside our house anyway, in the way kids living in cul de sacs might. That said there are plenty of kids living nearby who seem happy enough.

antimatter · 21/10/2015 23:09

You know you may not be able to open the windows of bedrooms overlooking the road due to the traffic noise. Can you put up with it?
Also if anynof your kids are asthmatic yhen the polution may worsen it.

Devora · 21/10/2015 23:42

I live on a busy road and am quite happy with that. I don't notice the traffic noise (mind, I have lived all my life on busy London roads) and it meant we could afford to buy a reasonably sized house in a nice area. So it completely depends whether you can tolerate it - lots of people hate noise. It will of course affect the resale but there will always be people willing to make this compromise.

mysteryfairy · 22/10/2015 07:38

Looking at the street view on the listing it's got quite a lot of garden as a buffer for the road. I'd pictured it opening straight onto the road or with a tiny front strip so it's better than I expected.

I also think front and back garden adds up to a decent amount of garden that you could make really pretty. I can vouch for the fact that a lot of land can be a bit of a nightmare with three small children as it does take a lot of work and time is an issue so I think it could easily turn out to be enough.

I'd think about how often you'll need to drive out in rush hour. Would you be commuting from the station or by car? Will schools and childcare/clubs etc be in walking distance? If you're going to be in and out at rush hour it's going to be more of a pain. Also is there a way you can always approach so you turn left into the drive? I used to do a slightly circuitous route to a previous house just so I could approach from the right direction. It was rural though so didn't have to queue for traffic or lights to loop round.

I think it's a lovely house but isn't done in a wow way. The kitchen looks cheap, louvred door wardrobes, no bathroom picture etc so there would be some money to be spent cosmetically. It looks totally liveable though so I don't think that it would be urgent. It is a good house for the money - I think I would go for it.

namechangedtoday15 · 22/10/2015 09:23

I wouldn't - I think the location would drive me nuts, you wouldn't be able to enjoy the garden, it would always be busy. But the house is beautiful, just not for me.

LaFlottes · 22/10/2015 09:37

I would buy it and so would DH - but we have a habit of compromising on things like traffic and parking to get the house we want. That's just us, we adapt and we put the house itself first. We've lived in houses that we simply couldn't have had if they were not in that location with the compromise, as we wouldn't have been able to afford them.

When selling we say "why did we do that?" if buyer after buyer is put off, but them the house sells eventually, to someone with the same viewpoint as us!!

So yes, I would, it's beautiful!!

Good luck with it all.