Brandon Nelson
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Bring the Noise
Every buyer has their own tolerance level for noise. Once, a buyer from Las Vegas said to me, as we listened to the busy road outside a house I had listed in lower Barkley, “If there’s not a helicopter overhead, it’s not noisy!”
That buyer was in the minority, in my experience. Most Bellingham buyers want a relatively quiet setting, away from busy roads, railroad tracks, flight paths near the airport, firing ranges and quarries. There are homes for sale right now by each of those things, and in almost every case, they won’t fetch the kind of price that a home in a quieter setting will.
Freeway noise is a common one in Bellingham, with the I-5 corridor running right through the center of it all. That being said, there are some absolutely gorgeous properties backing up to or overlooking the freeway, such as on 34th St. above Happy Valley , and on Old Samish Way between Lake Samish and Arroyo Park.
Inside these homes, if they have quality windows and insulation, it can be as if the noise source isn’t even there. Outside, if that’s where you spend a lot of your time, you’ll be joined by the relatively constant stream of background noise from the traffic.
The good news is, all other things being equal, you’ll likely pay about 10-20% less for one of these homes, compared to the same thing in a quieter setting. Keep that in mind, though, if you plan to re-sell in the future. Man-made noise has been affecting real estate for many, many decades, and it’s not going away anytime soon.
