Sally Redux

We have started looking to buy a house (even though no mortgage sorted), and rather liked one we saw today. The only drawback is that its back garden is not that deep and directly behind that is a railway line. From living nearby in the past, I know that goods trains do go by at night and they are noisy. about 3 passenger trains went by while we were there and that seemed fine

Anyway, early days but just wondered if people have any thoughts. The pluses are that it's very close to the station and town centre.

Tirytory

I note you're in Edgebaston, we lived there for a bit! Isn't there some big train line development going on in middle England which is looking to increase trains going down to London? Not sure where....

I wouldn't buy personally as I would think about resale value.

robin1234

One concern would be the cutting or embankment and other land between your boundary and the actual tracks. Trees are prone to grow quickly and maybe shade your garden etc. Also, rats and other vermin can proliferate in those corridors. Those are both problems my sister has in a similar situation.

As for the trains themselves, I like the sound of a fast, frequent, relatively quiet UK train service .... as opposed to the infrequent but REALLY slow, lengthy, noisy US trains we have going past our house.

Jerseygirl

Location, location, location. How easy is it going to be to sell?

cyrian

The proposed high-speed line is called HS2.
Check flood risk areas here: Environment Agency - What's in your backyard?

Sally Redux

Sorry to clarify, we're renting in Edgbaston but the house is in Solihull. Good point about the high-speed link though, will check. It has languished on the market for a while so resale is definitely a concern.

dunroving

Solihull - nice; train - not so nice. I'd take the "languishing" as a sign that it's not a good buy and that if for any reason you want to move on, you'll be stuck trying to sell it for a long time.

Then again, it's probably less expensive than if it were not next to a train line so if you can stand hearing trains, you'll have a nicer house than you could otherwise afford.

Bahtatboy

Yep. However: first house I ever bought was in Southend. My partner at the time was an estate agent--she obviously had access to a huge amount of available properties, but I was searching myself. I found the property, and explained it to her over the phone: end of an un-made road, backs onto the railway, on the flight path of Southend airport. She said I had to be mad, but came and saw it anyway. We bought it (I didn't make any effort to persuade her, she was the expert--and she subsequently became the youngest-ever partner at a national chain of estate agents, so she knew what she was doing). Despite the ostensible reasons against it, it worked: the train service stopped around 11pm and wasn't particularly noisy anyway, Southend airport wasn't particularly busy then, and even the unmade road was manageable. So, don't let one factor alone decide it for you. And if you look on Zoopla you should be able to see its price over the years, which will give you an indication of whether its currently over or under priced.

theOAP

If the line is running from Solihull station, it's Chiltern Railways which is one of the mainlines from Birmingham/London. It's very busy during the day and does have goods trains at night (how soundly do you sleep?).

Our Route - Chiltern Railways - Train tickets

I assume you're not speaking of the line at the NEC/Birmingham Airport which is the Virgin mainline to London. This is the station which will be used for the High Speed Rail (HS2).

Sally Redux

Yes it's the Chiltern one.

Thanks everyone for your thoughts, all really useful.

I wasn't intending to rush into anything but got quite into the idea yesterday.

Jerseygirl

My first thoughts about a property is resale. No matter how nice or how much of a bargain it may seem...I wouldn't touch it with a barge pole if I thought resale would be a problem...but that's just me.

Moses2013

Then again it depends how much it costs and trains will make less noise in 20 years time.

Sally Redux

Yes I think you're right. I sleepwalked into the last house purchase and swore I wouldn't do it again.

Moses2013

Yes resale is important but it seems that people have forgotten why they buy a home. At the end of the day you have to feel happy. You can buy in the best area now and next year you'll have a brothel next door. Not a city person myself, but can imagine that with high quality German windows you wouldn't hear a thing.

Sally Redux

Yes I keep changing my mind.

I want to be close to amenities so there will be a compromise of some sort involved.