Chip

iTrader: (3)

We're currently looking at buying a house, IMHO its a particuarly nice property, nicely laid out and plenty of room for me to build a decent workshop on it etc, BUT its right next to a power substation, which is basically potentially putting me off.

I just wondered if anyone knows the health implications and impact it might have on the opinions of future buyers?

Gut feeling is to walk away, but I do REALLY like the actual house itself and its exactly right for the conversion we have in mind for it.


This is the property:










But its literally, 50 yards or so from the fence of a large substation.

None of the high voltage lines pass particuarly close to the property or anything like that.

Alps Pacino

When you say sub station do you mean the type that is like a big garage all bricked in etc, or the open type which the pylons run to

Paul Eggleton

I think you will be fine with the substation Chip. OH power lines have put us off in the past but I'd be fine with the substation. I've worked in energy for the last 5 years and have never heard anything other than scaremongering and this relates to the OH lines.

You're likely to be bombarded with more electromagnetic radiation by standing in front of the microwave!

The house looks lovely and I wouldn't let the substation put me off it.

Chip

iTrader: (3)

Paul, thanks for the advice.

Alps, its the open type that the OH lines go into, it must be 100 yards across I should think, its not just a little box at the side of the road.

Stavros

that place looks awesome!

id live in that even if it was next to chenobyl

Alps Pacino

Chip-3Door

If it was right next to the house i would be bothered, if it was at the other end of a field i wouldnt be bothered tbh

Chip

iTrader: (3)

lmao @ stavros, the thing that interests me most about it is that it has a fair amount of land, would be easy to get planning permission on, has an additional garage building already as well as the one you can see in the picture and had a couple of smaller outbuildings already (just used as a shed and summer house and greenhouse at the moment) that could potentially be converted for car storage etc, and the main double garage would make a pretty cool annexe potentially.

So its more a case of what it could be with a bit of work than just what it is no thats interesting, but I do agree that even now its a very pretty place, and the views in 3 directions are great, just not the fouth way, LOL

Chip

iTrader: (3)

The power stataion is basically next door mate.

The nearest transformer is less than 50 yards away from the dwelling, its VERY close.

foreigneRS

you will die of something one day - it may as well be after you've lived a good life in a good house that you've enjoyed and if it is harmful in some way then so be it. if something else gets you then the gamble will have paid off

Turbocabbie

One of my mates had a nice place near a substation however the scaremongering and concerns regarding the health effects of being near a substation did effect the price and desirability, he had to drop the price substantially to sell it and make it a bargain bigger than the concern displayed.
Many people came to view the place but was put off by the substation, it was on the market for 3 years

Very nice house though chip, it personally would not bother me being near a power station but I would not buy near such a location if the object was resale after development because of the concerns people have regrding such things which ultimately can effect the value.

Alps Pacino

Ye it would put me off and i'd imagine it would devalue the house. They crackle like fuck as well and if they do explode(which is very very unlikely) it would be like a big bomb going off next to your house

Paul Eggleton

You can get meters to measure the EMF. The Region Electricity Company (REC) might even have reading from the site itself. Just looking at some stuff on the web and it lists levels which are safe so you could try and hire a meter and check the levels yourself - you may even be able to get it done as part of the survey if the surveyor has access to the right equipment.

SapphyMike

wish i had your cash to afford this place mate! lol

Chip

iTrader: (3)

Not looking to develop it for resale particuarly, looking at it as somewhere to live long term, but ultimately ANY house is an investment, and a sizeable one at that, so I would be wary if I thought it would be a major problem to sell later on.

I believe the price that its up for already reflects the markets opinion of its location to a certain extent, so I guess from a losing money point of view its not that relevant as if we both buy it cheaper cause of it and sell it cheaper cause of it then I wont have lost anything from my half of the investment!

Chip

iTrader: (3)

Fantastic advice mate, thanks very much

If it checks out ok then I would make a point of making sure that if we do come to sell it later on that the estate agent actually had that info to hand I think unlike the current sellers, so potentially buyers could have their mind put at rest straight away.

Chip

iTrader: (3)

I will be borrowing most of my share of the money against another property I own mate, so I also wish I just had the cash lieing around to afford it too, but I dont!

Paul Eggleton

No worries, shout if you get stuck as I have contacts in most of the major Energy Companies.

gingeRS

never mind the surroundings mate that house looks wicked

can i rent the whole building on the right of the picture, always wanted a flat with a double garage below

Chip

iTrader: (3)

Lol, that building will be the first to get made over TBH mate, its perfect for turning into an annexe, which is one of the main reasons we are interested in the property.

Chip

iTrader: (3)

Thanks.


Ive update the pictures now and you can see on one of the gardens where the lines go over head, thats as close as they get though.

saff_cossie

LOL! Rather than the nice pics of the house, how about pics of the sub station!

House looks nice but to answer your question, the sub station pics might help

Chip

iTrader: (3)

I dont actually have any pics of that, as ive not been to the property myself yet. I will get some at the weekend when I go to view it myself.

SapphyMike

ah right - i meant mainly to do with earning potential.

good luck with it mate!

Phil

iTrader: (1)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZNHdW3ZOEWA

Don't let that put you off

Chip

iTrader: (3)

This image shows the house and its location relative to the substation lower in the picture:

Chip

iTrader: (3)

That wouldnt be a problem at all if it did happen TBH mate, the house isnt close enough for that to be a problem.

S2martin

Looks a fantastic property Chip


Where is it mate?


Couldn't you plum a line from the station to your workshop

Chip

iTrader: (3)

Its near J23 of the M5 mate.

Our current workshop actually is so big that it has a substation INSIDE it, lol

Renton was moaning that he could feel the hairs on his neck standing up when we showed him around it, lol

RichardPON

How long has the house been on the market for already?

What sort of money? That'd be about 2 million round here!

Chip

iTrader: (3)

Mate, its well under half a million round here, I reckon they will take 400K on the nose for it.
Its only been on the market a couple of weeks so far.

Houses here are so cheap they come free with a box of conrflakes, one of the properties we own at the moment is a really nice 3 bed detached house, good size, on a really nice new build estate, by a good school, and its worth LESS than 200k

When I drive up from somerset where its actually nice to be, to london which is a fucking shithole for work every week I swear the house prices increase in the wrong direction, fuck knows why anyone pays so much to live in such a shitty place, just purely down to where the jobs are I guess!

Deleted by Request

..as Pon says thats a 2 mil property in a good area..TBH if you dont plan on breeding i dont see a problem.

S2martin

Exactly the reason i'm moving to Devon

I've taken a 20k a year pay cut to do it too

S2martin

that big is it??

Have to have a butchers at some point

Chip

iTrader: (3)

S2 martin.

This is our current workshop mate:

(the big white building)



You can easily fit 2000 cars in there, and a standard M5 can get from 0-62-0mph inside of it without a problem


Its an old disused piston factory, used to employ about 1200 people back in the day!

Sadly though, its only on a short term lease.

All I want to build really is something suitable for 3-4 cars to work on, and with parking for another half a dozen, so this new house would be ideal for that.

Stavros

The substation at chips current place is SCARY

Dangerous too.

If you hit a switch, you WILL die, simple as.

Im shocked nobody has tried it yet

S2martin

Fucking hell Chip why the hell have you got a workshop the size of Dagenham Ford????


Thats a shame it's short term mate is the rent a killer or something?


Yeah be good to have your own workshop at home so to speak as you don't have to worry about the land owner selling it from under your feet lol

Chip

iTrader: (3)

Yeah there are plenty of levers in the current place that if you switch them on they will live a 10,000 volt 600A cable right next to you thats been chopped off and has the live end sticking out (2 inch in diameter)

That substation is definately not a good place for conducting (no pun intended) drinking games

S2martin

Chip

iTrader: (3)

Mate, its 50 quid a week for the house next to it (which used to be the old human resources block and is now converted for living in)

We have it cause basically we act as security to keep all the drug addict squatters out, and in exchange we get to use it, the rent is literally just enough to cover the eletric and water we use, and for it to be a formal agreement on paper making it our residential address which in terms means its impossible for someone else to claim squatters rights there.
Thats ALL the owners really care about, keeping out squatters as then they can knock it down!


The reason its short term is it will be getting knocked down to build houses, as its now owned by barratt, so we are just there till that happens.

Chip

iTrader: (3)

S2martin, this is the easiest way to see the size of it:

http://nitrous-advice.com/chip/VIDEO_002.mp4
http://nitrous-advice.com/chip/VIDEO_004.mp4
http://nitrous-advice.com/chip/VIDEO_003.mp4