Bought a house on a semi busy street in Tacoma (Pacific: short sales, real estate)

[Tac-Sea]

And am really starting to regrett it. I'm off of E Portland Ave and E64Th St, and while it's only one lane each way, and NOT a main road, has no stop lights, no stop signs, no sidewalks or bus lines, it's surprisingly busy during the day, and sometimes even at night.

During the day we're talking about a car every 30 seconds or so. At night it's a bit less traffic.

My house is close to the street and I spend most of my time in the living room and man it's driving me nuts! Especially when the boom cars and beater cars drive by.

Does anyone else think this is a busy street? I'm going to sell and move as soon as I have the chance to make some money on the house. Never again so close to the street....let a lone a busy one.

[Sandy Nelson]

Is this an older home? Maybe insulation and new windows will help?

[Tac-Sea]

Yes it is, but that alone will not help. The house is very close to the street (10 yards) and the cars speed up and down the road, many of them beater cars.

[pro_steel_header]

umm... forgive my bluntness, but, why did you purchase this property in the first place?

[Jake840]

64th from Portland Ave. to Sheridan Ave. is considered and Arterial street. "Minor" east of Pacific Ave. & Collector west of Pacific Ave. In Tacoma you are going to have an arterial street east/west about every 10 blocks with principal arterial street being every 20 blocks. If your street has a line down the middle it is most likely and arterial of some sort. They do have a neighborhood review clause in real estate transactions and if possible it should be used, though if you bought from a bank that probably wasn't an option but you would have time to determine the street conditions.

[Hemlock140]

Hopefully you got it at a great price, traffic is a definite factor in the value of a home. Unfortunately it also means harder for you to sell later. You might consider some mitigation work. Things like good blow-in or expanding foam wall insulation, triple pain windows, landscaping.

[Dendrite]

Originally Posted by Tac-Sea

I'm going to sell and move as soon as I have the chance to make some money on the house.

Unless you purchased the home for significantly less than true current market value, that "chance to make some money on the house" might be several years off given existing western WA real estate trends-

What about a low cedar fence in the front yard or a row of mid-height hedge shrubs? That might deflect some of the street noise-

On the bright side, one of my brothers lives in an apartment suite on the upper east side of Manhattan in NYC. When I visit him, the noise from the cars honking, emergency vehicle sirens, airplanes etc. drive me crazy, especially at night when I'm trying to sleep. I finally reverted to wearing soft ear plugs to sleep when I'm there. My brother OTOH, having lived there for several years now, tells me that he doesn't even notice the background noise. So I suppose you may be able to adapt as well-

The only other option would be to sell the home for whatever you could manage to get out of it now, even if at a significant loss and move to a different location. I don't see many other choices for you...

[Tac-Sea]

So I've lived here for just over a year now and it's been tough adjusting. I have a white noise machine going in the background and music as well. It drowns out the noise of most cars, except for beater cars or boom cars. It's not as bad as before. I'm surprised I made it a year here, when I first moved in I thought for sure I would sell and leave before a year. Yes, I got it at a great price, paid in full. Nice not having a mortgage or rent, but yeah the noise sucks. I spent the night at a friends house in a normal development one time and it was so nice to have peace and quiet. The house has gone up in value quite a bit since I've bought. I might sell after another year and buy something very secluded.

[Tac-Sea]

Well, it's officially been 2 years and 2 months now in this house. I've had a few real estate deals fall through in the last year (short sales) so looks like I'll be here a bit longer. Never would have thought I would last this long here. As the weather starts to get nice the boom cars and beater cars and motorcycles will be coming out again. It's already kind of picked up on the motorcycles with a few sunny, dry days...

[mkarch]

Have you looked at those cast concrete fences? It might not be that attractive, but they can function like the sound walls next to the freeway. Cover it with bushes or ivy.

In your situation, I'd put in a high block/ concrete wall about 5 feet back from the property line and plant in front of it. Sure, it will reduce your yard but the sound will drop a lot. Plenty of people maintain small attractive yards with some decent landscaping.

Quiet is one of the reasons I bought on a dead end street in north beach. The only thing we hear are neighbors remodeling.