Red House Plantation Maint. Corp.

The Value of Noise Free Neighborhood

Introduction

The following item describes why, from a financial standpoint, Red House Plantation is a good place to live because it is quiet. It also describes why it is a good thing (financially)to do your part to keep it a quiet neighborhood.

NOISE FACT SHEET

NOISE AND HOME VALUES

Most people, at one time or another, have been disturbed in their
homes by
excessive noise - sometimes a noisy neighbor or a boom car going by.
Sometimes by a nearby business with outdoor loudspeakers. If it
happens
occasionally, we just live with it. If it happens repeatedly, we
complain
about it and try to get the noise stopped.

Mayor Rudolph Guiliani, in New York, set up a quality of life hotline
for
people to report various problems in their neighborhoods. The January
15,
2002 edition of the New York Times reported, "Last year, more than 80
percent of the calls to the (Mayor's) quality-of-life hotline were
about
noise, while fewer than 2 percent were about the problems monitored in
Operation Clean Sweep: public drinking and drug use, squeegee
operations,
public urination, aggressive panhandling, prostitution, disorderly
conduct
by homeless people, illegal peddling."

What many people plagued by noise pollution don't realize is that it's
not
just affecting their quality of life, it impacting on the value of
their
home. Research has shown that homes subject to new sources of
excessive
noise pollution can be devalued by up to forty percent.

An article by Randall Bell, MAI, that was published in the July, 2001
Appraisal Journal indicates that appraisers include what they term
"Diminution if Value" that factors in devaluation of property that is
subject to excessive noise from sources located off of the property.
An
example sited was expansion of the Baltimore/Washington International
airport where some moderately priced homes in the area incurred a
$60, 873 loss in value due to increased aircraft noise.

An article in the February/March 1993 issue of The Neighborhood Works
assigned a specific dollar value to loss incurred by each decibel
increase
in noise above a quiet threshold that was caused by traffic noise. A
California study assigned a percentage relating noise to value and
found,
"an average 18.6 percent higher property value in the quiet
neighborhood,
or
1.33 percent per decibel of additional quiet."

In a "paired sales analysis" whereby paired sets of data were examined
on
the sale of comparable single family homes in the Los Angeles area, the
impact of noise pollution decreased home values in a range from 15% to
over
42%, with the average being 27.4%.

For people who have purchased property in a quiet setting that, because
of
development or other factors, is subjected to new sources of noise
pollution, they can find that their property has been devalued to the
point
that they could not get even their equity out of the property were they
to
attempt to sell it.

If the ambient nighttime sound level in a neighborhood was at the EPA
and
World Health Organization recommended level of 45 decibels and, because
of
new noise sources entering the neighborhood, that ambient level became
60
decibels, based on the above studies, homes could depreciate between 7%
for
a moderately priced home to 20% for a higher priced home.

Noise pollution caused by aircraft noise and traffic are the two
sources
that impact on the largest number of people, so they have been the most
heavily studied and reported on. Some (but not all) of the data
cited
here is based on those studies. Even when that was the source, the
reports
contained other facts applicable to all forms of noise pollution. An
example is the findings of the Orange County Health Department that
indicated people in urban, residential settings would tolerate no
higher
than 45 to 55 decibel neighborhood noise levels during the day without
complaint. At night, those outdoor levels are 35 to 45 decibels. When
those levels rose by 5 decibels, sporadic complaints were reported
while,
when they rose 10 decibels, the department reported "widespread
complaint."

It's not unreasonable to assume that noise from other sources such as
amplified sound from nearby businesses or even noisy neighbors that is
ongoing for long periods can have an impact not all that different from
other noise sources. One local example CQE is aware of is a home that
was
sold at a loss by a CQE supporter to get away from boom box noise at
the
TVI
facility in Northeast Albuquerque. Another is a condominium listed
twice
at
a lower price than was paid for it after noisy neighbors moved into the
complex. Neither listing was successful in selling the property.

To protect not only their health, but their investment in their homes,
it
is
critical that people listen when they're advised,

"Please...........don't keep quiet about noise!"

by Stephen O. Frazier - 24 February, 2002