Annoyed by That Jackhammer Outside Your Home? There May be Upside
*By Christian Smith*
Few people want to live right next to a noisy highway, or under the flight path of a bustling airport. That means property values take a significant hit in areas with noise pollution. However, some types of noise can actually be a good thing for home owners.
"An example where noise can be good for property values is construction noise," said Judy Dutton, contributing editor at Realtor.com, in an interview on Cheddar Friday. "Ultimately, construction is good for property values depending on what's going up."
Construction noise is also temporary, Dutton added. It is generally a sign of investment and growth in the area, which can have a positive return on investment for buyers willing to push through the headaches.
Noise pollution's effect on property value also varies by market. Noise has less of an impact on the price of a home in the heart of New York City, where it is expected, than it does in suburban and rural areas.
Not all noisemakers are made equal. A [realtor.com study](https://www.realtor.com/news/trends/noise-discounts/) found that home prices within a 2-mile radius of an airport are discounted 13.2 percent from the going rate of other homes in the same ZIP code. The same study found homes near railway tracks are discounted 12.3 percent; and highways, 11.3 percent.
If you're willing to pay more, and want to make sure you don't end up in a noisy area, Dutton recommends visiting the property at multiple times throughout the day. This allows you to get a more complete picture of possible noise pollution in the area.
For the full interview, [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/how-noise-pollution-impacts-property-value).
Joe Cecela, Dream Exchange CEO, explains how they are aiming to form the first minority-controlled company to operate an exchange in U.S. history. Watch!
A Michigan judge is putting sponges in the hands of shoplifters and ordering them to wash cars in a Walmart parking lot when spring weather arrives. Genesee County Judge Jeffrey Clothier hopes the unusual form of community service discourages people from stealing from Walmart. The judge also wants to reward shoppers with free car washes. Clothier says he began ordering “Walmart wash” sentences this week for shoplifting at the store in Grand Blanc Township. He believes 75 to 100 people eventually will be ordered to wash cars this spring. Clothier says he will be washing cars alongside them when the time comes.
The State Department had been in talks with Elon Musk’s Tesla company to buy armored electric vehicles, but the plans have been put on hold by the Trump administration after reports emerged about a potential $400 million purchase. A State Department spokesperson said the electric car company owned by Musk was the only one that expressed interest back in May 2024. The deal with Tesla was only in its planning phases but it was forecast to be the largest contract of the year. It shows how some of his wealth has come and was still expected to come from taxpayers.
At 100 years old, the Goodyear Blimp is an ageless star in the sky. The 246-foot-long airship will be in the background of the Daytona 500 — flying roughly 1,500 feet above Daytona International Speedway, actually — to celebrate its greatest anniversary tour. Even though remote camera technologies are improving regularly and changing the landscape of aerial footage, the blimp continues to carve out a niche. At Daytona, with the usual 40-car field racing around a 2½-mile superspeedway, views from the blimp aptly provide the scope of the event.
You'll just have to wait for interest rates (and prices) to go down. Plus, this deal's a steel, the big carmaker wedding is off, and bribery is back, baby!
