To buy a house on a main road?

[SaltandVinegar567]

My DH and I are looking to upsize. We have 1 DC but would like another. We’ve sold our house and been looking for 3.5 months. A lovely house has just come up that ticks all of our must haves (min 3 bed, decent size flat garden, driveway, bit of character e.g 1930’s-1960s house, not a Reno, walking distance to parks and high street, semi detached or detached). It also has lots of nice to have extras including an office (we both work from home), utility room, family room (in addition to living room) and playroom. However, it’s on a main road and there are 4 steps up to the front door. We would never be able to afford this much house on a quieter road.

It’s a very wide main road and fairly set back, with a big drive way. It’s a 30mph A road but it’s not a rat run so is never really busy, but a steady slow stream of cars. The house is doubled glazed but I could still hear a buzz of cars go past with the windows shut. I don’t know how busy it is at night but I am a light sleeper.

It also has 4 big steps up to the front door. My DC is 2 and we use the pram often but he could get out and walk up the steps whilst I carry the pram in but I would like another baby.

Schools are great and proximity to all the things I want to be close to is great.

Would I be crazy to go for it, considering we’d never out grow it and we would never be able to afford a house this big without being on a main road? I’m really stuck for what to do.

Get triple glazing in the front bedrooms.

I’ve just moved from a house on a busy road, that became much busier in the 10 years we lived there. A few things to consider are how easy it will be to sell it when the time comes to move, how easy it is to get in and out of the driveway, and whether you could have the windows open at the front. Definitely visit at different times, ours was awful on a Sunday with lots of people going to church/ the park etc. I have to say I’d never live next to a busy road again, and ours was a 20mph B road, but what you’ll live with is very personal. I also had friends who complained about steps up to houses or flats with a pram. Basically, if they went out and the baby fell asleep, they couldn’t then go home and leave the pram in the hall while they sat with a coffee.

I have friends who have coped just fine in this situation. If you love it, go for it.

Is there a bus stop /likely that a bus stop would be placed on that road at some point? If so I’d swerve but otherwise I think it’s probably fine. Cars will be going electric so getting quieter. By the time you want to move again in older years the traffic will be a lot different.

It sounds like a great house. There's always got to be compromises. Use the back door to take your pram in?

I had a friend who bought a fabulous house on a main road, it was beautiful. Until you sat in the garden, lorries came down a slight incline and were braking outside her house. The sound of brakes and low level rumbling made sitting outside an ordeal.

Not on an A road if I’m a light sleeper no way. Not unless bedrooms could be at the back. Imagine in summer when you need the window open!

I live on a village high st and acoustic glazed the bay window in the living room but can still hear cars. Luckily at night it’s not very busy and our bedroom is at the back. Dd is at the front though and as a child the road noise bothered her.

We did this. Fabulous house but resale was slow. You need to sell it one day to a buyer with the outlook you have now.

I think it will be fine so long as no bus stops anywhere nearby. Is the drive big enough to turn in? I wouldn’t want to reversé in or out.

Bedrooms at the back would be my must have - sometimes you will want the windows open

is it quiet if you sit in the garden?

Our dream house was on a main road.

The noise was a concern but could have been lived with what I couldn’t was the pollution report I pulled off the councils website. I really didn’t want my children living in that. People always think of noise as it’s obvious.

I would never buy a house on a main road personally so even if you don’t mind, the main road will affect resale.

However, we all make compromises when choosing a property so maybe this is a compromise you can accept? Everyone’s different 🤷🏼‍♀️ I would rather compromise on something else.

I think the noise would be fine, I've lived on busy roads and you get used to it.

My biggest concern would be the pollution, think about what you/your kids are breathing in. When I lived on a busy road we were wiping black grit off of the inside windowsills.

The steps would drive me mad, but you can put a slope in/use the back door/find a way round it.

I lived in a big house set back from a main road for 27 years, we moved 2 years ago.
My family weren’t aware of the road really in all those years, all of the rooms we lived in were at the back of the house. Our bedroom was at the front, there was much less traffic at night but you could put air con units in the front bedrooms.
You will have to work around the steps until any new child is old enough to climb them themselves but I’m pretty sure that’s doable.
Is this a forever home or do you plan to move at some point? I ask because that road that hadn’t really bothered us for years became the bain of our lives when we went to sell. We had loads of viewings and nearly everyone said they loved the house but couldn’t live by the main road. I did wonder if that was how they felt why they came to view it but there you are. We did sell it in the end but for quite a bit less than we’d hoped for. We became very aware of the hum of the traffic in our old house once it had been repeatedly brought to our attention and we really enjoy the very peaceful situation we have now.
Your house sounds lovely, nothing is ever perfect. ☺️

Do it! It sounds perfect.

You can get a big-wheeled buggy like an Out and About and bump the buggy up and down 4 stairs.

30mph isn’t very busy.

@Icanthinkformyselfthanks It may or may not be a forever home. No plans to move again but also you can never know how situations change so I’d never rule it out. So it would be a very long term house at least for sure.

In terms of pollution, I did a check against our current house which is on a narrow Victorian terraced road and very quiet - pollution levels were worse! And even the quieter cul-de-sacs in the areas we like, pollution is still fairly high but I live in city suburbs so I feel it may just be unavoidable.

As someone who works from home with small children, I think the family room, play room, utility room and office make it well worth it.

I live in a main road but it's set far back from the road with a decent sized drive with gates on the end. We've lived here 20 years never hear much noise but we have good windows

Walk on the footpath around the house - to the corner shop, to the bus stop, walking the dog etc
Also drive around. Go at different times of the day.
Park up and watch the traffic - cars are different from lorries - what do you see.

Check pollution levels, PM10 can cause dementia

There are bus stops nearby but not directly opposite. Close to bus routes is also a positive for me as I get the bus to work.

And yes the drive is big enough to turn in so no need to reverse onto main road.

We live on a busy road, but set back from it with a driveway and it's really not an issue most of the time. There are times when the road is really busy, but we live on the outskirts of a small city and rush hour is quite brief here. The busiest times are Saturday morning with kids clubs and the market on in town, rush hour for about 20 mins, and any time there's been an accident on one of the roads nearby. As for the noise, I honestly don't hear it any more. Our bedrooms are at the back of the house, but a fan or white noise machine + double or triple glazing make a huge difference. Given that the house ticks all your boxes apart from the busy road, I'd go for it. That's what we did and we've never regretted it.

I dread to think how much pollution there is where I live both my houses are under a flight path. The planes are fairly high when they go over but still, if we want to live around here, and we do that’s part of the package.

No pollution will be awful. Even with EVs you've got brake dust and tyre dust.

Lorries won't go EV for a long time yet.

As large vehicles go past your house will probably rattle and vibrate horribly. With consequences for the sturctural integrity.

Not too far off the main road though and the pollution will drop rapidly.

Do you have any elderly relatives who need to visit regularly? The steps would be more of an issue for me than the road.