Should I go view this house?

[Brooomhilda]

There is a house we really love on Zoopla. We keep looking at it. But we drove around the neighbourhood to see if we'd like it and it's about 20m from a major road and about 40m from a busy, London bound train line. We drove near the house and wound down the car window and the train and car noise was more than we'd like.

I keep thinking "maybe we should just have a viewing". Is this stupid? I'm worried about wasting the home owners time. Can you love a house enough to ignore things about the environment that aren't ideal?

Would you enjoy sitting in the garden?

what is it like with the windows open at night?

if any doubt don’t do it

You have done your research by going to the location! If I were you, I would consider viewing would be a waste of time for everybody - you, estate agent, the vendor. You can change how a house looks inside, but not the location.

I know that road well. The trains wouldn’t bother me at all but absolutely no way would I want to be that close to the road. It’s one of the main routes into Didcot (perhaps THE main route, given it’s the A34 side) and always busy, with queueing traffic often. The pollution alone will be significant, let alone the noise.

You do get used to external noise. I grew up on the housing estate on the lower left of the attached Google maps image. The large building on the middle right was aircraft works (soon to be a concert arena) and the concrete line is the runway that was used to for take offs and landings for aircraft including Concorde and the Red Arrows. There's also a railway.

Oops forgot!

I wouldn't. But then I bought a flat next a busyish road and its my one regret. Only you can know how much it would bother you.

It's a very nice house but I like quiet!

One of my DC's as a student in Leeds lived in a great flat that seemed to be on a main ambulance route and it drove me nuts! They got used to it!

OP I live near a trainline and an airport. When we are inside the house we don't hear them at all. We can hear the train when in garden but we've got used to it and barely notice and luckily it's only two trains an hour, and they whizz so fast it's not like the sound goes on for ages. With the planes we enjoy seeing which ones they are :) i will say that house you've shared is so gorgeous, go view it during peak traffic time and see how it sounds.

It wouldn’t be one I would consider. That road is a main road, cars 24x7. Street view shows it’s an HGVs route as well. The railway has 4 tracks, 2 will be sidings so in use at night also.
Windows won’t help in the summer, nor in the garden.

I see it's a new ish house - my SIL lives in a 5 year old house and when you're inside it you can't hear any traffic noise (they're very close to a motorway) as the windows are excellent. I've never spent time in their garden though so if you spend a lot of time outdoors it might bother you I guess.

Budget 20k plus for soundproof windows and take a db app in the phone

It's a gorgeous house. I would love to live in something like that. In my area that would be upwards of £800k 😭
I say view it, you will know then. Let us know how you get on x

That's one of THE main roads into Didders. I wouldn't even look at living so close to it.

Additionally that's also a mainline train route, have a look at the timetables for first and last trains, and at weekends...

Didcot has got some really nice areas with far less road/rail noise, still within walking distance of town.

I wouldn't view it.

In the last photo you can actually see the A4130 road - I think there would be constant traffic noise. (Let alone the main train line, Milton Road and the A34 beyond.)
I find road noise travels a very long way from a busy road - it's a constant 'roar' in the background.

Sit on that path that runs down the side of the house at about 3.30.

My house is very similar, and people chatting on the pavement sound like they are in my bedroom.

Are you sure those are current pictures? They look like a show house set up, at a quick glance. The shelf in the bathroom seems to be dressed rather than in use.

Nope. I take it back. Definitely in use.

Immaculate house but it feels very public with the footpaths running right next to it and the low hedges.

The noise (especially in the rain) will be horrendous from the road. And the pollution .

Train lines don't bother me as much and they do usually have a bit of greener around them to help buffer the noise & pollution.

What surprises me about this house is the complete absence of any plants/trees in the back garden. Even if you don't garden you would think a few things in pots would have been procured at some point?

It feels like a house that's been rented out to people who barely live there. Not sure it's a great house (with its proximity to the road) to buy and properly live there. But I'm a home body and I WFH & I'm very sensitive to noise/pollution so it's more important to me. If you were out all day at work and mostly out at the weekend and some evenings it looks a great house, really easy to maintain, lots of space, good layout.

Is it leasehold? I noticed a £200 pa management charge?
We live a mile from the M6 as the crow flies and mostly don’t notice the noise but depending on wind/weather some days can be loud! IMO a constant hum of traffic can fade into the background but you’d be able to hear music etc from cars at that distance, particularly in the summer which would be more disruptive. It is a lovely house but it sounds like you know it’s not the right one

When I moved house three years ago I didn't view one house because it was on a main road - ironically I have become friends with a person who lives a couple of doors away - you don't hear the road when inside and I wasn't aware of it when in the garden either. I would view it and try to make sure it was at a busy time for the road.

It would have been a MUCH nicer house than the one I did get, but I have to admit my location is better, so swings and roundabouts really.

Oh - and I grew up with a train line at the end of the street - I never noticed it.

Wouldn't bother me as I've lived my whole life in and around London including stints next to Heathrow, under the flight path in Richmond, along the New Cross Road, Croydon and Mitcham. I now live outside London in a medium sized town and the quiet drives me bananas sometimes, so horses for courses.

Love the Dan Hillier prints in the office. He was a great artist.

@Ineedanewsofa no, it's on a managed and maintained estate so the charge relates to the upkeep of the estate - definitely freehold.

@HellsBalls yes, you're right about the HGV, I hadn't considered that. We don't live in Didcot, we live about half an hour away but do know the area reasonably well as DH used to work there. I do remember that route being chokka with HGV all the time.

Are you in didcot at the moment? I'm pretty sure I know where this house is and I don't think you'd hear the railway but the road is quite close. There are trees planted in between the houses and road but they have not matured yet.

I think go and see it!

Just go and see it or you'll never know. I think the noise inside will probably be ok but I'd try and view during afternoon rush hour, open some windows and see what the noise will be like inside in the summer.

@Newgirls the window at night thing is a very relevant question. At the moment we live ON a main road and we cannot have the windows open. Our home is only 10 years old so it's very well insulated meaning in the summer upstairs is unbearable. Not being able to have the windows open is even worse.