Would it bother you to live next to a high voltage tower? I snapped these photos recently while in a neighborhood in the Sacramento area. You can see these towers are very close to the houses (within 100 feet easily in some cases). While someone selling the property might be tempted to say the house “backs to open space”, the view is clearly obstructed and dominated by the presence of the tower, so any “open space” premium is likely watered-down a bit, right? In appraisal terminology, we’re dealing with external obsolescence, which is a reduction in value caused by an undesirable factor outside the property.
How have you seen buyers respond to a location near a power tower? What do you think is the main turn-off in the minds of buyers? Visual pollution or a potential for health risks due to electromagnetic fields?
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