Is your wallet stuffed with frequent-flyer cards? Are you flying more than ever? Do your travel habits tempt you to buy a home near an airport?
Then select the right spot and you can enjoy both the convenience of airport proximity plus the comfort of knowing that your housing investment is sound, according to some experts who have examined the issue.
“People who live near an airport and still have the isolation they’re looking for are in the ideal situation,” says Dick Marchi, senior vice president for the Airports Council International of North America.
Several factors are combining to make proximity to an airport a better housing choice, says Marchi, whose group represents airports and airport-related businesses.
For one thing, Marchi notes, the federal government has mandated the phase-out of older, noisier planes by the year 2000. The new jets are much quieter.
A second factor is that many airports are expanding and creating more jobs not only for pilots and flight attendants, but also for magazine vendors, airport kitchen workers and other support personnel. Why? Because the number of U.S. air passengers has steadily increased by about 4.5 percent per year since the early 1990s, Marchi says.
Furthermore, airport areas are now magnets for all sorts of non-airport jobs. Given the expanding global economy, more companies want to be located where their executives can easily fly in and out.
While there’s no sudden surge in buyers seeking homes close to an airport these days, there’s now less danger of making a costly mistake in buying an airport-area home, says Joan McLellan Tayler, the author of several real estate books.
“With more traffic problems, there’s now tremendous anxiety about getting to the airport on time, especially if you have a big business deal pending,” Tayler says.
Still, if you’re a person who is sensitive to noise or who wants to spend a great deal of time outdoors, living in the vicinity of an airport could be a poor idea unless you choose your site with unusual care.
It’s always important to find an agent who listens attentively to your feelings about living near an airport or any other part of your housing decision, says Tayler, author of “How Real Estate Agents Earn Big!” (Mansion Press).
Big earners in the realty business are more sensitive to the nuances of buyer preferences, Tayler says. An insightful agent who observes that her client is a serenity seeker will guide him further from an airport, even though he travels constantly.
Here are four pointers for those considering an airport-area home:
– Investigate the flight paths for the airport.
What the industry knows as “flyovers” are arrival and departure paths. Noise experts know that anyone living underneath a flight path (within 3.5 miles on either side) will get the brunt of jet noise, notes Marchi.
If you can accept a moderate degree of noise, but don’t want to be bludgeoned by it, you could consider living 3.5 miles from an airport–so long as you’re not under a flyover path, Marchi says. If you want more tranquillity yet proximity to an airport, he suggests you select a site 7 to 8 miles from an airport (again, not under a flight path).
It’s easy to get objective data from airport authorities on current and planned flight patterns, Marchi says. Call the airport’s main office and ask for its “noise abatement department,” he suggests. There you’ll find noise experts who should be willing to answer your questions.
Most airport officials are sensitive to public concerns because they want community residents to support their operations, says Tayler. “The airport doesn’t want people lying on the runway protesting the noise or anything else.”
– Before buying a home near an airport, visit it several times at various times of day. Noise levels can vary by the day and hour.
Tayler suggests you stay long enough to see whether passing jets rattle the windows of a home. That’s a telling test of the noise level, she says.
– Query the shopkeepers in the area.
Before purchasing a home, it’s always prudent to walk around the neighborhood and, in a friendly manner, poll residents on the pros and cons of living there. They’ll usually “tell all” about living conditions.
In the case of noise problems, however, you’re better off speaking to those who work in local retail establishments. Why? Because they’re less likely to have become so accustomed to the noise that they no longer notice it.
Humans are remarkably adaptable. Tayler, who formerly owned her own realty company, recalls one client, an investment broker, who moved from another state. He and his wife selected a home close to the airport to make his business travel more convenient.
The night they moved in, the man was so tormented by the noise that he couldn’t sleep at all. His wife immediately ordered expensive, noise-numbing draperies. “But within days –before the drapes arrived–he was sleeping like a baby,” Tayler recalls.
– Bargain for a discount when you buy and expect to pass it on when you sell. There are many factors that influence the price of a home, including its size, the quality of its community and the ratings of local schools.
Distance to the airport is just one element, along with other factors affecting its future value.
All other things being equal, a home you buy within a 3.5-mile radius of an airport should sell for 2 to 5 percent less than a like home 7 to 8 miles from the airport, says David H. Blewett, a broker-associate for the RE/MAX chain. It’s likely your home near the airport will appreciate at the same rate as like homes farther out. However, you’ll start from a slightly lower base, Blewett notes.
