HawthorneVillager.com

Hi All!.. great forum, its my first post and I am looking into buying a new home in Milton.

Mattamy has a real good incentive for 2 locations relatively close to eachother.

1. Village townhomes with 10k off the price, or 10k in upgrades, probably because there is a CN train railroad adjacent to this block of homes. I called CN and they told me approximately 27 freight trains pass by daily, 9 of which are at night, and No GO-trains or VIA at all.
I like the BRENTRIDGE END

2. Main St. townhomes with 10k off the price, or 10k in upgrades, probably because there is a commercial/retail area projected to be right across the street to this block of homes. The street in between the home and the plaza will be one of the entrances into the subdivision from Derry Rd. The railroad is about 1/4 to 2/3 of a km away, which is fine b/c over time there will be more homes seperating this home and the railroad..thus much more noise blockers.
I like the Rothmill.

Anyways, these options caught my eye because of the price and incentives, obviously Mattamy never gives out incentives unless there is a negative lying around somewhere.

Has somebody bought a house in these blocks?, or is somebody living next to a railroad?? What would you advise?, please share your experiences... THANKS!!!

We have bought a Rothmill on Cargill Path. It is not built yet...Feb/07. I am very excited about moving into this house, it has the right layout for our family! There is someone else on the board moving into one in September. What are the prices they are asking now? I sure could have used 10K in free upgrades!

I would think long-term if I were you - yes it's 10K saved now; but will the house appreciate as much as others b/c of it's location; will you get that savings back out of it when you want to sell - what if it takes 3 times as long to sell b/c there are lots of other houses for sale in Milton that don't have those drawbacks....some things to think about.

There are some people on this forum who are real estate agents...if they read this they could maybe advise you on the risks as far as the value of your house appreciating or resale potential.

Have you seen those trains, if not you will hear them in the night - they are five minutes long.
If you are sleeping like a log it will not affect you in person.
According 10K off. Mattamy is charging 5K plus for every possible house in phase 15 if it is not on busy street. Even if it is the second one from Thompson road.
Take Georgetown as an example. They damped houses almost on it. Every time I'm checking G-town for houses I will easily distinguish them. They are deeply bellow average price for Georgetown area.

I had to delurk and comment on this one! I'm not a Hawthorne Villager (ducks flying tomatoes ), but I like to lurk here for the Milton related discussion.

I've lived next to two of the rail lines in town. For several years I was in one of the apartments overlooking the tracks that run through town (CP and the GO trains), and currently I'm in a house that is about 100 metres from the CN line that runs north past the hospital on the west side of town, which I believe are the tracks next to which Mattamy is building.

You've got two issues to consider when living near tracks. The first is your quality of life, the second is the value of your house. I won't say anything about house value because that's fairly obvious.

On quality of life, though, you should think about it carefully. Frieght trains are LOUD. When we moved into our apartment, we couldn't believe the noise. After two or three months, I stopped waking up at night every time a train went by (although my husband, a much lighter sleeper, never fully adjusted), and we got used to having the crank up the volume on the TV every time we heard a train approaching. However, we usually had the windows open (no A/C), which meant we got the full noise of the trains. With the windows closed it was OK. If you're going to live next to the tracks, you're a light sleeper, and your bedroom faces the tracks, you MUST have A/C so you can keep the windows closed at night while you are trying to sleep. In our current house, we have central air, we're farther from the tracks, we have extremely high quality windows, and there's a row of townhouses between us and the tracks, so we don't hear the trains at all.

One good thing is that the trains don't blow their whistles in town as they approach crossings unless there are people on the tracks. Which does happen (idiots), and the whistle is incredibly loud when it's blown right outside your window!

Another thing about the CN track I've noticed is the trains move a lot more slowly than the trains on the CP line did. I think it's because as the tracks reach the north part of town they curve quite a bit, so the trains slow down as they come towards Milton. I'm not sure if that makes the noise better or worse, though! It doesn't seem as loud, but it does mean the trains take longer to get past.

I think you would want to consider carefully how close the houses actually are to the tracks, and whether anything will put in between your house and the tracks (a noise barrier). I'd also want to make sure I had very good windows. Frankly, I'm not sure $10,000 is enough of a discount given how active the freight lines are around here.

-E

Excuse my ignorance but where is the railway you are referring to? The only one I can think of is at Derry west of Bronte and I live closer to that one now and have no trouble with noise. I am looking forward to getting away from the fire station, they can be loud!

Hi fetajr

You might want to take a picnic and a book and sit where your house is supposed to be located and check out the trains for yourself. I live on Main St. W. a kilometre away from the tracks and can feel trains going by in my basement.

CN may have 27 scheduled trains a day on that track but it has a number of unscheduled trains often up to 135 cars long which when going north have to climb a steep incline to get around town. On average there is about 2-3 trains an hour through the day. ps. it was 26 trains a day in 1986 when 6 teenagers were killed at the Derry Road crossing. The Region is not planning an underpass until 2021.

Mattamy and other builders have to build a small burm and fence along the rail line similar to the CP line south of Thompson Arena but just to let you know CN bought over a 1000 acres in 2001 (check Champion for details) south of Britannia Road for an intermodal terminal. They only need federal Transport Authority approval to got ahead and no municipal or regional approvals for a terminal which may have over 1000 transport trucks a day ferrying containers in and out.

Check out what is being planning around your property with the Town planning department before you sign the deal.

OK, I'm a dope! I didn't think of the railway up Thompson Road. I guess I consider it too far away to make a difference...

I experienced the opposite... I used to live really close the the same track that Mattamy is building on/near.. and to be honest.. when I moved over to Hawthorne Villiage I had a really difficult time getting used to not having the train noise around me anymore. I guess spending pretty much my whole life living with the trains going in the background was more of a change that I wasnt expecting.
once you are there and settled.. you get used to the sound of them.. its not like they blow their horns the whole way through

It is true that you get used to tracks nearby (I grew up near the ones in Campbellville) but. . .

If this is not going to be your house forever, you will likely have a hard time selling it because there are so many other similare Mattamy properties without the drawback of railway noise.

Most people won't want to 'get used to it' if they have other options. I agree with those who say that your house would not appreciate as much as others around town.

I would disagree about the value... there are many houses all over town that are not close to trains.. and the values of the houses closer to the tracks then what Mattamy has planned have not been effected .. the market moves with or without trains.

Not to mention that the Villiage homes come with A/C... most often you will have your air on to drown any noise anyways.

Jen,

You may be right. . .I am certainly no real estate expert. I was just thinking about what I would do if I were looking for a resale home. I would take the one further away from the tracks.
If you take a look at the lots for the village homes on the escarpment, they are much closer to tracks than the older section of town on bronte.

Before I bought with Mattamy, I was looking at some of the homes in Main St. Village and the builder on Maple Ave. (forget their name??) had homes that were built and ready to close ASAP that were not selling because they backed onto the tracks that run near loblaws.

They were at least 1600 square feet and a really nice layout. Cheaper than similar Mattamy models by at least $10,000. I just assumed that the lack of sales had to do with the tracks there.

thanks again for all your feedback, beleive me, i've asked everyone about this. My wife and I want a starter house, thats basically it. We don't want a big mortgage either. The further west Mattamy develops from that CN railroad, the better the houses get (semi's and detacted), and more $$... it looks like they strategically placed the towns/starters closer to the track because there will always be people who can afford less, yet put up with derry Rd. and RailRoad noise. At the end of the day there will always be young couples starting out looking for a deal , as long as I can profit from the resale then I'll be happy.

obviously the one away from the tracks, but would the price difference be very large? I still can't find any type of statistical percentage that measures this scenario to some degree.

I really like the Brentridge End A (Village townhome) away from the tracks, but i was a year n something too late for the ones near Yates (Shortreed Crescent).... so the only Village homes in the forseeable future are the ones that I'm looking at near the tracks

The Towns on Dawson Crescent (off bronte street) look to be at comparable distance from Mattamy is building and the market there seems to move fairly well and quickly...
its like anything else... I may not want to by a house close to a school due to noise, traffic or garbage, whereas others may see it as a selling feature.