Is the Oceanside Quiet Zone Still Too Loud? Sell Your House on the Tracks for Peace & Quiet

If you’re a local to the coast of San Diego, specifically Oceanside, then you’re likely no stranger to the shrieking, drawn-out sound of the horns up and down the coast’s train tracks. For some, it might be a familiar sound that now feels like “home.” For other residents and businesses, it is one of the few consequences of choosing to live west of the I-5 freeway. The conductors sound their horns at every crossing, so if your home happens to sit anywhere near one- you hear that lovely sound throughout the day and night (and at ALL hours of the night). Work officially started in October to create a “quiet zone” along Oceanside’s rail corridor from Camp Pendleton down to Carlsbad.

Currently, Downtown San Diego is the only other area to have successfully created a “quiet zone,” and other cities like Solana Beach have battled with the sound via deep trenches through which the trail runs. But, Oceanside has one of the busiest stations in the county and definitely sees a lot of traffic day in and day out. Some of the improvements being made to tracks include pedestrian drop-down gates and barriers to keep people back from the tracks at major crossings. These additional safety measures will mean that conductors will no longer be required to sound the horns at every crossing.

But, for some of us, waiting a year for the horns to subside after improvements have been made may feel like an eternity. Plus, if your home sits directly adjacent to the tracks, you’ll still hear the roar of them whizzing by. We recently worked with a seller of a home in South Oceanside, who had a nice single-family home with a decent-sized yard, which is hard to find this close to the ocean. The only caveat to her location on Cassidy Street is that she lived RIGHT on the train tracks. While she loved being close to the ocean, the constant noise and disturbance were no longer tolerated…especially when she and her husband brought their first little one home. As you can imagine, they were ready for a place truly in a “quiet zone.”

Homeowner Drawbacks to Owning a Home Near Train Tracks

• Home Values– High-traffic rail lines can slow the appreciation rate of nearby properties.
• Noise– The most obvious drawback is, of course, the blaring of horns and rumbling noise as trains pass by.
• Foundation- Constant vibrations and shaking can ultimately affect foundations in a negative way over a long period of time.
• Dangers– Living near trains can be dangerous if you aren’t careful, especially when it comes to little ones and pets. While accidents may be rare, there are incidents of derailed trains and spills that can be harmful to you and your home.
• Health– There are also studies that show health can be impacted due to poor air quality as a result of train emissions.

Sell Your Home on the Tracks and Relocate to a “True Quiet Zone”

If you’re not sold on Oceanside’s proposed plan to create “quiet zones” along the tracks near the coast and you’re ready for a quiet haven to move to, you have options. Depending on how fast you’d like to sell, and what your personal situation is, you have three options:

• Hire a local real estate agent who will list your home on the market.
• Sell the home directly to a reputable cash buyer.
• List and market the home yourself, or FSBO.

All options for selling have their pros and cons, and not every solution will necessarily be a good fit for you. If you’re curious about what selling directly to a buyer entails, we have home buying specialists who’d love to provide you with a risk-free offer and walk you through the simple process.