Do speed bumps lower property values

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Jags4186Posts: 7234Joined: Wed Jun 18, 2014 7:12 pm

Speed bump in front of your house — affect on home value

Post by Jags4186 » Thu Jul 30, 2020 4:32 pm

I received in the mail a notice saying that based on a traffic study, to help reduce speeding my street would have 4 speed bumps installed roughly 375 feet apart. One of these speed bumps will be directly in front of my house.

Our house is on a nice wide street, no yellow lines, but is used as a cut through and people frequently speed (speed limit 25, people fly through at 35+). Residents on our street were invited to speak with the mayor tonight to address any concerns.

My thoughts are...what concerns should I have? I obviously would prefer there not being a bump directly in front of my house, but I also realise I likely will not be able to change that. Personally, I’d rather just have a cop sit halfway down the road and just give tickets for a month until people change their route, but that also is unlikely to happen.

tibbitts Posts: 18241Joined: Tue Feb 27, 2007 6:50 pm

Re: Speed bump in front of your house — affect on home value

Post by tibbitts » Thu Jul 30, 2020 4:36 pm

rob wrote: ↑Thu Jul 30, 2020 4:34 pm I would not want it in the driveway but otherwise depends how it looks... They will paint it hi vis white/yellow I assume.

I have never seen a speed bump put where a driveway exists - not one that basically runs into the driveway. That would be odd but maybe exists somewhere.

tibbittsPosts: 18241Joined: Tue Feb 27, 2007 6:50 pm

Re: Speed bump in front of your house — affect on home value

Post by tibbitts » Thu Jul 30, 2020 4:38 pm

Jags4186 wrote: ↑Thu Jul 30, 2020 4:32 pm I received in the mail a notice saying that based on a traffic study, to help reduce speeding my street would have 4 speed bumps installed roughly 375 feet apart. One of these speed bumps will be directly in front of my house.

Our house is on a nice wide street, no yellow lines, but is used as a cut through and people frequently speed (speed limit 25, people fly through at 35+). Residents on our street were invited to speak with the mayor tonight to address any concerns.

My thoughts are...what concerns should I have? I obviously would prefer there not being a bump directly in front of my house, but I also realise I likely will not be able to change that. Personally, I’d rather just have a cop sit halfway down the road and just give tickets for a month until people change their route, but that also is unlikely to happen.

I'm not an expert but will guess the bump will increase your house value, but the sign that they'll put directly in front of your house will decrease it.

Re: Speed bump in front of your house — affect on home value

Post by vineviz » Thu Jul 30, 2020 4:39 pm

My initial reaction is that the resulting increase in property value would be welcomed but probably small.

It’ll be a selling point if you sell your house to a family with small children.

"Far more money has been lost by investors preparing for corrections than has been lost in corrections themselves." ~~ Peter Lynch

Topic Author

Re: Speed bump in front of your house — affect on home value

Post by Jags4186 » Thu Jul 30, 2020 4:48 pm

tibbitts wrote: ↑Thu Jul 30, 2020 4:38 pm

Jags4186 wrote: ↑Thu Jul 30, 2020 4:32 pm I received in the mail a notice saying that based on a traffic study, to help reduce speeding my street would have 4 speed bumps installed roughly 375 feet apart. One of these speed bumps will be directly in front of my house.

Our house is on a nice wide street, no yellow lines, but is used as a cut through and people frequently speed (speed limit 25, people fly through at 35+). Residents on our street were invited to speak with the mayor tonight to address any concerns.

My thoughts are...what concerns should I have? I obviously would prefer there not being a bump directly in front of my house, but I also realise I likely will not be able to change that. Personally, I’d rather just have a cop sit halfway down the road and just give tickets for a month until people change their route, but that also is unlikely to happen.

I'm not an expert but will guess the bump will increase your house value, but the sign that they'll put directly in front of your house will decrease it.

Thank you for pointing that out. I actually have two signs on my property already about 2 feet in on the property line on each side (we have 100 ft front wide lot so you don’t see them when looking out the front windows) — a 25mph speed limit and a “hidden driveway” sign. I do not want a 3rd.

TravelforFunPosts: 2445Joined: Tue Dec 04, 2012 11:05 pm

Re: Speed bump in front of your house — affect on home value

Post by TravelforFun » Thu Jul 30, 2020 4:57 pm

Jags4186 wrote: ↑Thu Jul 30, 2020 4:32 pm I received in the mail a notice saying that based on a traffic study, to help reduce speeding my street would have 4 speed bumps installed roughly 375 feet apart. One of these speed bumps will be directly in front of my house.

Our house is on a nice wide street, no yellow lines, but is used as a cut through and people frequently speed (speed limit 25, people fly through at 35+). Residents on our street were invited to speak with the mayor tonight to address any concerns.

My thoughts are...what concerns should I have? I obviously would prefer there not being a bump directly in front of my house, but I also realise I likely will not be able to change that. Personally, I’d rather just have a cop sit halfway down the road and just give tickets for a month until people change their route, but that also is unlikely to happen.

Police and fire departments (and delivery drivers) hate speed bumps and the only reason cities install them is because homeowners request them. They're effective and shouldn't affect home values. I would not walk away from a house I like just because a speed bump is in front of the house.

TravelforFun

Re: Speed bump in front of your house — affect on home value

Post by Kenkat » Thu Jul 30, 2020 5:01 pm

People will drive through your yard to avoid the speed bump. I have seen this first hand in a neighborhood very near me where they installed speed bumps (you could see the tire tracks). If there are no obvious obstacles such as landscaping or signs, people in this neighborhood then put up additional obstacles - landscaping, metal poles, rocks, etc. to prevent this.

I used to live on a street that was a cut through with speeding, etc. We didn’t have speed bumps but people would still occasionally drive through yards just for fun I guess. I didn’t miss the “lawn jobs” when we moved to our new house on a cul de sac.

Last edited by Kenkat on Thu Jul 30, 2020 5:05 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Topic Author

Re: Speed bump in front of your house — affect on home value

Post by Jags4186 » Thu Jul 30, 2020 5:04 pm

Kenkat wrote: ↑Thu Jul 30, 2020 5:01 pm People will drive through your yard to avoid the speed bump. I have seen this first hand in a neighborhood very near me where they installed speed bumps (you could see the tire tracks). If there are no obvious obstacles such as landscaping or signs, people in this neighborhood then put up additional obstacles - landscaping, metal poles, rocks, etc. to prevent this.

I used to live on a street that was a cut through with speeding, etc. We didn’t have speed bumps but people would still occasionally drive through yards just for fun I guess. I didn’t miss the “lawn jobs” when we moved to our new house in a cul de sac.

Fortunately, the curb on our street is comprised of 6” high Belgian blocks so I doubt people will be hopping the curb to avoid a speed bump.

barnaclebobPosts: 4812Joined: Thu Aug 09, 2012 10:54 am

Re: Speed bump in front of your house — affect on home value

Post by barnaclebob » Thu Jul 30, 2020 5:06 pm

Kenkat wrote: ↑Thu Jul 30, 2020 5:01 pm People will drive through your yard to avoid the speed bump. I have seen this first hand in a neighborhood very near me where they installed speed bumps (you could see the tire tracks). If there are no obvious obstacles such as landscaping or signs, people in this neighborhood then put up additional obstacles - landscaping, metal poles, rocks, etc. to prevent this.

I used to live on a street that was a cut through with speeding, etc. We didn’t have speed bumps but people would still occasionally drive through yards just for fun I guess. I didn’t miss the “lawn jobs” when we moved to our new house on a cul de sac.

I have never seen a speedbump where cutting though a yard is faster than slowing down to go over the bump, your observation must be a very rare situation.

Re: Speed bump in front of your house — affect on home value

Post by Kenkat » Thu Jul 30, 2020 5:10 pm

Jags4186 wrote: ↑Thu Jul 30, 2020 5:04 pm

Kenkat wrote: ↑Thu Jul 30, 2020 5:01 pm People will drive through your yard to avoid the speed bump. I have seen this first hand in a neighborhood very near me where they installed speed bumps (you could see the tire tracks). If there are no obvious obstacles such as landscaping or signs, people in this neighborhood then put up additional obstacles - landscaping, metal poles, rocks, etc. to prevent this.

I used to live on a street that was a cut through with speeding, etc. We didn’t have speed bumps but people would still occasionally drive through yards just for fun I guess. I didn’t miss the “lawn jobs” when we moved to our new house in a cul de sac.

Fortunately, the curb on our street is comprised of 6” high Belgian blocks so I doubt people will be hopping the curb to avoid a speed bump.

Awesome, problem solved! (hopefully - there’s some real idiots out there)

Re: Speed bump in front of your house — affect on home value

Post by Kenkat » Thu Jul 30, 2020 5:13 pm

barnaclebob wrote: ↑Thu Jul 30, 2020 5:06 pm

Kenkat wrote: ↑Thu Jul 30, 2020 5:01 pm People will drive through your yard to avoid the speed bump. I have seen this first hand in a neighborhood very near me where they installed speed bumps (you could see the tire tracks). If there are no obvious obstacles such as landscaping or signs, people in this neighborhood then put up additional obstacles - landscaping, metal poles, rocks, etc. to prevent this.

I used to live on a street that was a cut through with speeding, etc. We didn’t have speed bumps but people would still occasionally drive through yards just for fun I guess. I didn’t miss the “lawn jobs” when we moved to our new house on a cul de sac.

I have never seen a speedbump where cutting though a yard is faster than slowing down to go over the bump, your observation must be a very rare situation.

I don’t think it’s a matter of faster, I think it’s a matter of people not liking the speed bumps and making “their point” at the “injustice“. Or drunks, rowdies, etc. I would have never believed it if I hadn’t seen the tire tracks and the subsequent obstacles installed around each speed bump. There are four or five speed bumps on this street and there are obstacles that people put up around every one to deter this. And this is a nice area.

At my old house. I had people drive through my yard, run over my trash cans once, etc. Unbelievable and not that uncommon. Once or twice a year in my experience.

Skeeter1Posts: 329Joined: Sat Jul 06, 2019 1:50 pm

Re: Speed bump in front of your house — affect on home value

Post by Skeeter1 » Thu Jul 30, 2020 5:39 pm

So, they put a rubberized speed bump in front of my house, or worse...parallel to our bedroom window

For some unexplained reason, someone would remove, actually two bumps, one on each side!!

They replaced the bump and that same mystery someone would remove them.

After 3 replacements, they gave up.
I hope that you have the same sucess.

LalamimiPosts: 983Joined: Mon Jun 24, 2019 4:22 pmLocation: Texas

Re: Speed bump in front of your house — affect on home value

Post by Lalamimi » Thu Jul 30, 2020 7:17 pm

Surprised cities still install. We live on a 35 mph in the city limits, would love a speed bump. The Motors come and give out tickets, but it does not help. Chief of police says the city actually only gets $2 revenue off a ticket. There is one on a street by my daughter's million dollar home. it looks fine.

Re: Speed bump in front of your house — affect on home value

Post by Sandtrap » Thu Jul 30, 2020 7:22 pm

sport wrote: ↑Thu Jul 30, 2020 4:48 pm There may be some additional noise associated with vehicles going over the bump. It would be better to put it in front of empty lots if possible.

+1
Old Buick Station Wagons creak and bottom out over speed bumps.
Lowered dark cars with tinted windows and gold and silver low profile tires also scrape bottom and make noise.
Skateboarders will have fun as well.

j

Re: Speed bump in front of your house — affect on home value

Post by Sandtrap » Thu Jul 30, 2020 8:21 pm

Skeeter1 wrote: ↑Thu Jul 30, 2020 5:39 pm So, they put a rubberized speed bump in front of my house, or worse...parallel to our bedroom window

!!! The constant thump thump, thump thump all day and especially while trying to sleep, did not work for me.

For some unexplained reason, someone would remove, actually two bumps, one on each side!!

during the middle of the night. (couldn't sleep anyhow)

They replaced the bump and that same mystery someone would remove them.

After 3 replacements, they gave up.
I hope that you have the same sucess.

Awesome!!!!!
j

CarsonPosts: 809Joined: Fri May 09, 2014 3:26 pm

Re: Speed bump in front of your house — affect on home value

Post by Carson » Thu Jul 30, 2020 9:05 pm

We live in a major urban city and our neighborhood street was used as a cut through for locals who wanted to avoid a traffic light on a parallel street. There was a also a weird jog in the street which made it that non-locals came down as well. People routinely went 45+ on it

We put in the request for speed bumps, and after getting the approvals they came. They are asphalt and I asked the guys to make them bumpy but not too extreme (I was the only one on the street outside that day and they asked ) It’s been fantastic. We get so much less traffic because locals don’t use it and others slow down for the bumps.

Every so often we will get a hothead or a truck that makes a rumble. But overall it is so much better.

40-yo grateful to be learning here

Re: Speed bump in front of your house — affect on home value

Post by ResearchMed » Thu Jul 30, 2020 9:42 pm

These are very interesting, especially for emergency vehicles, etc.

I was going to suggest what our towns have been doing, but I don't know the name.
They look a bit like the "speed cushion" in that they are about 3 feet long (the traffic direction, not side-to-side). Because of their size, one can't "time the bump" such that one goes right over it and the car's suspension works right with the bump, etc.
And there doesn't seem to be the same type of thudding noise, given that cars really do slow down.

We've been hoping to have some added to our street, but at least they've decided to put a traffic light a the cross-street intersection at one end of our block. It will also allow children to cross safely (school nearby) when there isn't a traffic cop on duty for limited hours.

A few months ago, police knocked on our door early, to tell us that there was a car in our front yard, and it had plowed through our fence and nice landscaping, including a row of small evergreens along the fence. Too bad there wasn't some sort of speed deterrent already.

At least, no one was hurt.
Safety first.

RM

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mega317Posts: 5257Joined: Tue Apr 19, 2016 10:55 am

Re: Speed bump in front of your house — affect on home value

Post by mega317 » Thu Jul 30, 2020 10:26 pm

I lived not in front of a speed bump but a section of road that had a quick elevation change. My wife and I would spend all night rating how awesome the whack sound was. After it happened once we decided a 10 rating was if a piece of the car broke off and could be heard rolling down the street.

I live on a busy cut through street with 2 little kids and wouldn’t want one.

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mega317Posts: 5257Joined: Tue Apr 19, 2016 10:55 am

Re: Speed bump in front of your house — affect on home value

Post by mega317 » Thu Jul 30, 2020 10:28 pm

Jags4186 wrote: ↑Thu Jul 30, 2020 4:32 pm Personally, I’d rather just have a cop sit halfway down the road and just give tickets for a month until people change their route, but that also is unlikely to happen.

I’ve considered buying an old cop car at auction and parking it a hundred yards from my house for show. Would probably have to move it around every few days.

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2pedalsPosts: 1699Joined: Wed Dec 31, 2014 12:31 pm

Re: Speed bump in front of your house — affect on home value

Post by 2pedals » Thu Jul 30, 2020 10:36 pm

Whenever a set of speed bumps are placed in my neighborhood the traffic pattern changes. We are on a side street but the traffic flows has increased since the other nearby street now has speed bumps. I am not too pleased about it. Having said that I wouldn't want a speed bump in front of my house either since after passing a bump some drivers tend to speed and peel out after passing the bump compensate for lost time.

camdenPosts: 369Joined: Sun Sep 27, 2009 12:22 pm

Re: Speed bump in front of your house — affect on home value

Post by camden » Fri Jul 31, 2020 7:56 am

whodidntante wrote: ↑Thu Jul 30, 2020 10:15 pm Two words: thump thump
Sometimes preceded by the high pitched shriek of brakes, and/or followed by an engine at full scream. In the vary worst case, rolling coal.

Absolutely not.

Completely agree. Word to the wise, keep them out of your neighborhood if at all possible. Sounds so good...to reduce speeding and make things safer. Then you find out that they are annoying as the devil to negotiate every day for those who live in the area, noisy, and stunningly ineffective at actually reducing speeders; the same jerks who are speeding down the street now will continue to do so, either employing the race, brake, bump, race technique or just blowing over the things. Say no if you still can.

NowizardPosts: 4242Joined: Tue Oct 23, 2007 5:33 pm

Re: Speed bump in front of your house — affect on home value

Post by Nowizard » Fri Jul 31, 2020 8:02 am

To some extent, it would depend on the situation and whether they are placed due to cut-through traffic that moves at high speeds or primarily due to a neighborhood person's effort more directed to wanting slow traffic for safety of children. The former is of greater concern. We lived in a neighborhood where there was no cut through traffic but many children (HOA's often deal with this issue, even if traffic speed is relatively slow). We had a speed bump installed directly in front of our house. The one item that we did try to change is that speed bumps also have signs posted near them to indicate their presence. A sign was in our yard, and we wanted it moved. It was not.

Tim

WS1Posts: 479Joined: Wed Jan 07, 2015 3:45 pm

Re: Speed bump in front of your house — affect on home value

Post by WS1 » Fri Jul 31, 2020 10:51 am

Are you sure they are doing parking lot style speed bumps and not speed tables? You want the cars to slow not stop. The thump thump followed by accelerating away will drive you nuts.

OR

People speed because your street is too wide. Some variation of road diet or chicanes would probably be better for speed control.

ScubaHoggPosts: 1697Joined: Sun Nov 06, 2011 3:02 pm

Re: Speed bump in front of your house — affect on home value

Post by ScubaHogg » Fri Jul 31, 2020 11:10 am

We had one in front of our last house. Wouldn’t have had it any other way. It was a tiny residential street but folks would use it as a cut through (it was a big university town). I guarantee without that people would have been doing 50 in a 25. This nonsense about hindering emergency response or cyclists is just a strawman.

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KagordPosts: 1237Joined: Fri Nov 23, 2018 1:28 pm

Re: Speed bump in front of your house — affect on home value

Post by Kagord » Fri Jul 31, 2020 11:16 am

I had them on a street we used to live on, they were fairly steep, not the wider ones, every few days or so, you'd have someone purposefully peel out after each one. I guess you get used to the screeching sound of tires, so it's not really an issue, but the tire burn out marks are a little unsightly.

GoldenFinchPosts: 2669Joined: Mon Nov 10, 2014 11:34 pm

Re: Speed bump in front of your house — affect on home value

Post by GoldenFinch » Fri Jul 31, 2020 11:21 am

onthecusp wrote: ↑Thu Jul 30, 2020 5:27 pm I would pass on a house on a street with speed bumps, all else being equal.

The city next door to mine had an ongoing battle about putting speed bumps on one long street that has an elementary school at the end. Neighbors fought for a year and they ended up with the speed bumps. The speed bumps did slow people down, but they weren’t especially good for properly values. They were good for the kids walking to school.

GoldenFinchPosts: 2669Joined: Mon Nov 10, 2014 11:34 pm

Re: Speed bump in front of your house — affect on home value

Post by GoldenFinch » Fri Jul 31, 2020 11:23 am

WS1 wrote: ↑Fri Jul 31, 2020 10:51 am Are you sure they are doing parking lot style speed bumps and not speed tables? You want the cars to slow not stop. The thump thump followed by accelerating away will drive you nuts.

OR

People speed because your street is too wide. Some variation of road diet or chicanes would probably be better for speed control.

“Road diet”....hmmmmm. I had to look that up.

Re: Speed bump in front of your house — affect on home value

Post by BolderBoy » Fri Jul 31, 2020 12:47 pm

Rather than speed bumps, my city uses completely unmarked, photo radar vans that roam around speeding hotspots, post a temporary "photo radar ahead" notices on the speed limit sign, park the van a block or two down the road, then proceed to rake in the cash which they don't have to share with third party companies. Speeding tickets in my city are quite expensive.

Very effective.

"Never underestimate one's capacity to overestimate one's abilities" - The Dunning-Kruger Effect

quantAndHoldPosts: 7899Joined: Thu Sep 17, 2015 10:39 pm

Re: Speed bump in front of your house — affect on home value

Post by quantAndHold » Fri Jul 31, 2020 12:51 pm

Slower traffic is a good thing, whether you have kids or not.

Our neighborhood has been trying to get speed humps (not bumps) on the next street over. The city won’t place them if they affect ambulance or fire routes. Speed humps are better than bumps, because they can still be driven over at about 25 MPH, without the whump whump, and bikers and skaters don’t have trouble with them.

There are several streets in our neighborhood that have humps. They’re some of the most desirable streets. And no, people don’t drive on lawns to avoid them. That’s ridiculous.

Yes, I’m really that pedantic.

Juice3Posts: 377Joined: Sun Nov 05, 2017 7:40 am

Re: Speed bump in front of your house — affect on home value

Post by Juice3 » Fri Jul 31, 2020 1:05 pm

BolderBoy wrote: ↑Fri Jul 31, 2020 12:47 pm Rather than speed bumps, my city uses completely unmarked, photo radar vans that roam around speeding hotspots, post a temporary "photo radar ahead" notices on the speed limit sign, park the van a block or two down the road, then proceed to rake in the cash which they don't have to share with third party companies. Speeding tickets in my city are quite expensive.

Not sure where you live, some states disallow revenue production through automated traffic law enforcement.

Generally speaking in my understanding, manned enforcement is a net cost to the enforcing agency.

Re: Speed bump in front of your house — affect on home value

Post by BolderBoy » Fri Jul 31, 2020 1:07 pm

Juice3 wrote: ↑Fri Jul 31, 2020 1:05 pm

BolderBoy wrote: ↑Fri Jul 31, 2020 12:47 pm Rather than speed bumps, my city uses completely unmarked, photo radar vans that roam around speeding hotspots, post a temporary "photo radar ahead" notices on the speed limit sign, park the van a block or two down the road, then proceed to rake in the cash which they don't have to share with third party companies. Speeding tickets in my city are quite expensive.

Not sure where you live, some states disallow revenue production through automated traffic law enforcement.

Generally speaking in my understanding, manned enforcement is a net cost to the enforcing agency.

These are manned and pay for themselves many times over, each day.

"Never underestimate one's capacity to overestimate one's abilities" - The Dunning-Kruger Effect

Juice3Posts: 377Joined: Sun Nov 05, 2017 7:40 am

Re: Speed bump in front of your house — affect on home value

Post by Juice3 » Fri Jul 31, 2020 1:16 pm

BolderBoy wrote: ↑Fri Jul 31, 2020 1:07 pm

Juice3 wrote: ↑Fri Jul 31, 2020 1:05 pm

BolderBoy wrote: ↑Fri Jul 31, 2020 12:47 pm Rather than speed bumps, my city uses completely unmarked, photo radar vans that roam around speeding hotspots, post a temporary "photo radar ahead" notices on the speed limit sign, park the van a block or two down the road, then proceed to rake in the cash which they don't have to share with third party companies. Speeding tickets in my city are quite expensive.

Not sure where you live, some states disallow revenue production through automated traffic law enforcement.

Generally speaking in my understanding, manned enforcement is a net cost to the enforcing agency.

These are manned and pay for themselves many times over, each day.

Sounds like a place to avoid if you are driver and place to relish if you are resident.

jucorPosts: 379Joined: Tue Jun 02, 2015 8:35 am

Re: Speed bump in front of your house — affect on home value

Post by jucor » Fri Jul 31, 2020 1:44 pm

I live on a brick street that's old and poorly maintained. There are several severe dips and bumps that cars will bottom out on if traveling over 20 mph (the posted limit on our street). I'm occasionally filled with joy when some fool bypassing the busy main artery two blocks away and zipping down our street at 40 mph hits those unmarked hazards and their car makes loud scraping noises.

Topic Author

Re: Speed bump in front of your house — affect on home value

Post by Jags4186 » Sun Aug 02, 2020 8:17 am

So I went to the meeting and here are some of the updates:

1) won’t happen until 2021 due to budget issues
2) original plan was for 5 speed bumps approximately 400 feet apart. These are asphalt humps.
3) 90% of the street residents want them
4) myself and a few neighbors right around me didn’t want one in front of our house (we are at the end of the road)
5) mayor said they could start with 4 further up the street and not put them in front of our house

I do want the speed bumps. I just wasn’t happy that each speed bump would include 4 street signs — warning sign and then at the bump for each direction.

The hope is this will cause people to just take the main road around instead of cutting through. Mayor acknowledged that 40% of the speed bumps they put in our town have been removed within 6 months, so if it doesn’t work out I think we’ll be able to get them removed.

What is the point of a speed bump?

Do speed bumps make noise?

What happens when you go over a speed bump?

How do you get over big speed bumps?