Selling my house on a noisy road

What’s a noisy road, and how does it affect selling my home?

Noisy roads are typically main thoroughfares in busy cities, towns, and other locations. They tend to generate a lot of traffic whether it’s lot of pedestrians, plenty of vehicles, or both. And people and cars in turn produce noise, so sometimes the combined effect can be overwhelming for residents who live on such roads and have to deal with the noise invading their homes.

If you want to sell your house or flat but you are located on a noisy road, you might find it somewhat more difficult to sell compared to living in a quiet and remote area.

Even if your home has double glazing and thick walls and doors, there’s still the potential that traffic noise can carry across into the home. This can make for an unpleasant living experience, and could potentially deter some buyers. If you, an estate agent, or other representative overseeing the sale of the home arranges a viewing for a possible buyer, they might decide against buying if they hear a lot of street noise while they’re at your property.

Nearby train stations and railway lines can also generate noise, so some people might consider your house to be on a noisy road if they are located near a station or heavily used train tracks.

Another concern that potential buyers could have is that – even if they like your house and are interested in purchasing it despite the noise level – they might struggle to sell it in the future. If they are looking at your property as an investment and intend to relocate sometime in the coming years, the noisy road could be a factor that deters them from deciding to buy. Highways England maintains a database of major road projects that you should look at carefully when considering a home move.

For similar reasons, some homeowners worry that if their home is underneath a flight path that it might discourage buyers from being interested in their property. For example, people that own houses near an airport might worry that buyers will be deterred by the sounds of aircraft passing close overhead when they take off and land. Yet they have options for selling, and so do you, even if you happen to live on a street that produces a lot of noise.

Why your home’s location on a noisy road could appeal to some buyers

There are many potential buyers that will be discouraged from making an offer on your house or flat for the reasons outlined in the previous section of this guide. But there are scenarios where your home’s location could make a buyer more likely to give you an offer, as Bowfin says.

For example, if the buyer travels a lot for work and won’t be at the property often, they will likely place a priority on finding a home that has easy and plentiful road and rail connections. If your property’s road is noisy because of its proximity to a train station, a city centre, main roads or other similar connections then this type of buyer could see the location as an advantage.

Other buyers might consider a home located on a busy and noisy street to be safer than properties in more remote locations, simply because of the greater number of people and vehicles passing by. These buyers could think that this increased traffic may make your house or flat less attractive to burglars, and that may be a reason for making an offer.

And even if you do not have the funds, interest or time available to invest in soundproofing at the property before selling, a prospective buyer might be willing to pursue such work as the home’s next owner, thinking that this will resolve any noise concerns that they could have.

Another important fact to consider is that a quick home buyer like LDN Properties will not see your home’s location on a noisy road to be a negative factor that would cause them to lose interest in making a competitive and speedy offer on the property. The next section of this guide explains more about the process of selling to a quick buyer and other ways to sell.

Steps you can take to help sell your house when it’s on a noisy road

Even if your house or flat is situated on a noisy road, there’s no reason why it shouldn’t be able to attract many buyers. There are a number of simple steps that you can take to help reduce the effect of the noise and make your property more enticing for a possible sale.

Close your windows and doors during a property viewing

This is a simple tip but can be very effective – by closing the doors and windows at your home you will naturally reduce the amount of noise that comes in from outside. If you or your estate agent are holding viewings at your house, having the windows and doors closed can make the effect of the noise seem much less of a factor.

Install double glazing to help cut the level of noise from outside

Many buyers generally tend to like homes that have double glazing, so installing it regardless of noise levels outside can be beneficial. But in a situation where your house is on a noisy road it can be even more helpful to selling, because double glazing helps to further reduce the impact that a noisy road can have on sound levels inside your home.

Install trees, fences, and walls that can help dampen exterior noise

Another option for reducing noise from the road is to install trees, fences, and walls that can help to absorb some of the external sounds. Although this step will require some time and money, the end result is that it’ll likely help to minimise the noise from the road and therefore make your home more attractive to an interested buyer.

What are my options to find a buyer for a home on a noisy road?

An important decision that you will have to make when selling your property on a noisy road is which of four usual strategies you want to use to seek a buyer. Typically, you can select from selling to a quick buyer, selling at an auction, selling with an estate agent or selling solo.

As you’ll see from the details about the four methods below, they each have their owns advantages and disadvantages in terms of their potential cost, the time taken and more. By way of example, it might take more than a year to sell when you do so on your own or via an estate agent, whereas it may only take a few weeks when you contact a quick buyer.

One helpful step can be to make a note of your top goals with selling, which can include how long you’re willing to wait to secure a buyer, your ideal selling price, whether or not you are open to paying commission, and more. Then contrast these aims against the information about the choices below and this should help with showing the one that best matches your situation.

Selling to a quick home buyer

LDN Properties and other quick buyers are companies that have the funds available to buy homes upfront, with no waiting weeks or months to first get authorised for a mortgage to fund the purchase. This cuts the typical timeline for selling down to just a handful of weeks, and this includes the vital last steps of exchanging contracts and paying you the sale proceeds.

For houses or flats on a noisy road, a quick buyer can also be an excellent choice because these businesses are renowned for making fast and fair offers to buy almost any home, whether it’s leasehold or freehold, has structural damage, legal issues or other problems, and regardless of the property’s age, condition, location, shape, size or type, or any other factors.

As well as homes on a noisy road, LDN Properties’ long list of purchases and offers made throughout the UK includes houses with a single skin wall, flats with a leak in the roof, homes once owned by a smoker, properties situated near to mobile phone telephone masts, houses of multiple occupancy, converted flats, properties that have a heat pump, dilapidated homes, vandalised flats and more.

Yet another benefit of selling to an honest quick buyer is that they will not charge you any commission when purchasing your property, so you can count on receiving the full sale proceeds. That contrasts with selling at an auction or with an estate agent, as they will both charge you commission if they find a buyer, and this will be taken out of the sale proceeds, which is far from ideal for those homeowners that want to cut their costs when selling.

For your extra reassurance with selling this way, you can ask a quick buyer if they are a member of an independent entity called The Property Ombudsman (TPO), which publishes rules to guard homeowners from scams in the quick buying industry. All true TPO members, like LDN Properties, must follow these policies, providing you peace of mind when selling to them.

It’s fast, free and simple to check the membership status of any quick buyer just by visiting TPO’s website, clicking on the "Find a Member" tab on the left side of the welcome page, and then when prompted typing in the name of a company. If they are truly registered with TPO, such as LDN Properties, you will be shown their full details, whereas you will get zero results if the business is not a true member, which increases the risk that they may try to scam you.

Selling at an auction

Or you could attempt to sell your home on a noisy road through an auction, where people will have the chance to place bids of ever-increasing value on the property, with the highest price bid at the time the auction ends being deemed the winner and person buying it.

Auctions can take quite a long time, and there’s a long wait of weeks or months after you decide to sell this way until the auction occurs. If your property sells at the auction, the buyer usually has roughly a month to finish their required tasks to complete the purchase, such as signing the mandatory legal documents, and this will add even more time to the selling schedule.

You will also need to pay the auctioneer commission for the effort that they will put in to selling your home. This begins with producing a listing that describes your home and includes photographs of the inside and outside, and then advertising this to generate interest from buyers ahead of the auction. They will host the auction and also oversee a successful sale.

Expect many auctioneers to charge this commission at around 2.5 percent of your house or flat’s sale price, and this fee will increase your costs because it will be immediately subtracted from the final sale proceeds. If you want to avoid having to pay commission when selling, consider selling to a no-fee quick buyer like LDN Properties or selling on your own.

It might be worth asking individual auctioneers if they are open to either having the buyer pay a share of your fees, or to reduce the rate of commission that they will charge you, because this can be a solution for lowering your costs. Just note that auctioneers are not required to agree to either of these steps, and some might charge much higher than a fee of 2.5 percent.

Selling with an estate agent

Another strategy for selling a home on a noisy road that doesn’t require much effort from you would be getting in touch with an estate agent. They will handle almost all of the important tasks, including creating a listing, advertising it, organising viewings for potential buyers to tour the property, hearing offers and hopefully getting one through to exchanging contracts.

You will need to pay the estate agent commission if they manage to sell your home, as the website Property Division explains. This is often between a range of 1.15 percent to 1.40 percent of the home’s sale price, but the exact fee could be below or above this. And the commission will increase your total selling costs because the estate agent will subtract it immediately from the final sale proceeds.

Also, this is far from the swiftest selection for selling a property, as it might take a number of months or even more than an entire year before you manage to find a buyer. Even then, the person making the offer might change their mind and rescind it, which they can do without facing any penalties so long as you have not yet exchanged contracts. You would then need to start again with trying to find a buyer, adding much more time to your selling schedule.

It’s also possible that some estate agents might never have sold a home on a noisy road before, which suggests that they could struggle to generate interest form buyers in your property. It’s worth asking individual estate agents if they have previously had success in finding buyers for a house or flat like yours, and avoiding using the services of anyone without this experience.

Selling without any assistance

Finally, you could think about selling on your own, which would put the burden on you to take care of every step to find a buyer. You would first produce a listing, then advertise it, followed by organising viewings, fielding offers and trying to get one to the exchange of contracts.

This can be a very stressful way to sell a home and it is not a task that you can do only in your spare time. That’s why selling without any help from an auctioneer or an estate agent is best for those people who have previous experience with selling a property on a noisy road, or if you know a suitably qualified family member or friend that can help with the sale at no charge.

Regardless of your level of experience with selling a property, this can be one of the slowest options to find a buyer and it might take more than a year. And someone could make an offer to buy your home but then later cancel it, which they are able to do without the risk of penalty so long as you have not yet exchanged contracts. You would then have to begin again with the process of looking for a buyer, which will inevitably delay the sale of your home further.

The most prominent advantage of selling a flat or house on your own is that you will avoid having to pay potentially expensive commission to an auctioneer or an estate agent, so this will lower your total selling costs. But you might discover that the saving you make on not having to pay any fees is eliminated by the funds that you will have to spend on various parts of the selling process, for example the money needed to advertise your home’s listing.

As an alternative option, consider selling to a zero-commission quick buyer, because you would achieve the same goal of not having to pay any fees on the sale of your property, but with the added benefit of being able to sell much faster. The typical timeline for selling to a quick buyer, including the final exchange of contracts and paying you the sale proceeds, is just a few weeks.