{"id":8244,"date":"2018-04-27T13:20:17","date_gmt":"2018-04-27T19:20:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.virtuance.com\/?p=8244"},"modified":"2018-04-27T13:20:17","modified_gmt":"2018-04-27T19:20:17","slug":"noise-pollution-affect-property-values","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.virtuance.com\/member\/blog\/noise-pollution-affect-property-values\/","title":{"rendered":"What Is Noise Pollution and How Does It Affect Property Values?"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Kimberly Dawn Neumann | Source Realtor.com<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Noise<\/a>
Photo by Virtuance<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

When it comes to\u00a0a\u00a0home’s value<\/a>\u00a0(and your sanity), noise pollution can be a major downer. But what is noise pollution exactly? Most people have different definitions of what noise pollution actually is\u2014anything from sirens to a barking dog, or the noise of traffic on the street outside.<\/p>\n

While outside noise isn’t totally escapable (even the prairie has ambient noise),\u00a0home buyers<\/a>\u00a0will want to be on the lookout for excessive noise pollution, because it could affect a property’s value. After all, you don’t want to live in (or have to eventually unload) a place that requires a lifetime supply of earplugs.<\/p>\n

First, let’s define what noise pollution actually means.<\/p>\n

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 <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

What is noise pollution?<\/h2>\n

In defining noise pollution, there are several variables in the mix.<\/p>\n

“Noise pollution is basically any noise that you don\u2019t like, but I guess we would define it as noise that most people generally don\u2019t like,” says Brooklyn Law School Professor\u00a0David Reiss<\/strong>,\u00a0research director for the\u00a0Center for Urban Business Entrepreneurship<\/a>. “When governments regulate noise, however, it is usually based on how loud a noise is.”
\nFor example, Reiss explains that according to\u00a0A Guide to New York City’s Noise Code<\/a>, in that city, “Noise that exceeds the ambient sound level by more than 10 decibels (dB) as measured from 15 feet from the source as measured from inside any property or on a public street is prohibited.”<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

Of course, the ambient sound level in NYC is considerably louder\u00a0than in a rural area.<\/p>\n

\"Noise<\/a>
Photo by Virtuance<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

How to measure noise pollution near a home<\/h2>\n

Although decibels are used to measure the intensity of a sound, there are more accurate ways to identify noise pollution around a particular house. When it comes to getting ballpark figures for typical noise levels,\u00a0Tom Davies<\/span><\/strong>, Co-Founder and Manager of the property buying company Accelerate Homes, suggests that most buyers figure out the day-night average sound level (Ldn) or the day-evening-night average sound level (Lden), which are measurements\u00a0that can help\u00a0assess the impact that road, rail, air, and general industry has on the local population. Either of these measurements give a potential buyer a much more accurate assessment of overall noise pollution near their home. To measure these levels, get a regular decibel meter, take hourly readings, and plug those numbers into this online\u00a0noise calculator.<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

You can also check this\u00a0interactive national transportation map<\/span><\/a>\u00a0created by the U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics to get a general idea of noise pollution levels created primarily by interstate highways and\u00a0airports in your area. Just type in your address (or the address of any home you’re considering) and get a general reading. Red means loud\u2014think vacuum cleaner (like 60dB-80 dB), and purple means even louder, like the constant sound of a garbage disposal (80 dB and up).<\/p>\n

Identifying noise pollution culprits<\/h2>\n

It’s not always easy to figure out what’s making all the noise, but it is possible.<\/p>\n

“While some of the main factors could be easily spotted\u2014like the\u00a0proximity of highways, stadiums, airports, train, and bus stations\u2014other factors\u00a0like specialized traffic (regular truck deliveries or rubbish removal), or the presence of neighbors with loud dogs, are far less likely to be spotted at first sight,” says Davies. The only way to get to the bottom of it is to talk to\u00a0the neighbors.<\/p>\n

Reiss also suggests taking it a step further.<\/p>\n

“Visit at different times of the day. For example, if there is a bar across the street, drive by on a Saturday night,” he says. “Also, ask local government officials, like community board district managers, about noise complaints.” Basically, it’s up to you to do\u00a0your due diligence on sound.<\/p>\n

How noise pollution affects property prices<\/h2>\n

High noise levels don’t automatically correlate with lower prices, Reiss says. Some of the most expensive homes in New York City are located in midtown Manhattan, a\u00a0busy area that’s home to the theater district, the tourist magnet Times Square, and many major corporate offices.<\/p>\n

“But within a certain market, there will be those who value quietness and those who value being in the middle of the action,” he says.<\/p>\n

To get a true reading on how noise pollution will affect the value of a property, “you would need to distinguish short-term noise\u2014like a neighboring construction site\u2014from permanent noise\u2014like from a neighboring firehouse,” says Reiss.<\/p>\n

That being said, quieter areas are\u00a0generally deemed more desirable, and real estate prices tend to reflect that. “The presence of an airport could cause properties in near proximity to sell up to 20% lower than the average of homes in the next concentric circle,” says Davies. According to a\u00a0realtor.com study<\/a>, sellers of homes within a 2-mile radius of an airport will discount prices 13.2% from the going rate of other homes in the same ZIP code; sellers will also offer discounts for close proximity to railway tracks (12.3%) and highways (11.3%).<\/p>\n

A study appearing in the\u00a0Road Management & Engineering Journal<\/a>\u00a0also found that when considering the proximity to a highway, the home density in an area, and the types of vehicles that would pass by,\u00a0the noise damage cost for a property near a busy roadway was found to be $34.61 per decibel per housing unit. If you’re curious how a higher or lower day-night (Ldn) sound level might affect a home’s value,\u00a0check out this site<\/a>, which allows you to plug in home value and decibel variations to find the noise pollution ramifications on real estate in your area.<\/p>\n

“Truth is, most buyers have no idea they should, or even could, look into levels of noise pollution in terms of real numbers,” says Davies. But listen up, because what you don’t hear at first could hurt you.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Kimberly Dawn Neumann | Source Realtor.com When it comes to\u00a0a\u00a0home’s value\u00a0(and your sanity), noise pollution can be a major downer. But what is noise pollution exactly? Most people have different definitions of what noise pollution actually is\u2014anything from sirens to a barking dog, or the noise of traffic on the street outside. While outside […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14503,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4,47],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.virtuance.com\/member\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8244"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.virtuance.com\/member\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.virtuance.com\/member\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.virtuance.com\/member\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14503"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.virtuance.com\/member\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8244"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/staging.virtuance.com\/member\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8244\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8248,"href":"https:\/\/staging.virtuance.com\/member\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8244\/revisions\/8248"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.virtuance.com\/member\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8244"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.virtuance.com\/member\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8244"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.virtuance.com\/member\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8244"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}