The sky’s the limit
In today’s hot real estate market, with bungalows and single-family starter homes selling for half a million dollars or more, many buyers are willing to settle for less than their dream house, even one under an airport flight path.
Yet with homes throughout the Southland appreciating steadily and supply tight, studies by DataQuick Information Systems show that buying a home near an airport or underneath a flight path does not guarantee a deal or necessarily affect value.
“The presence or absence of noise, like from an airport or a freeway, has almost no effect on the market,” said John Karevoll, an analyst at the La Jolla-based research firm, which tracks home sales.
Instead, according to Karevoll, such natural occurrences as earthquakes, hurricanes or floods are events more likely to influence real estate prices, at least for the short term. Also, a significant change in an area’s economy, such as the closing of a military base or the introduction of a new industry, can affect prices.
Some real estate professionals still believe, however, that there are discounts to be had for those willing to put up with jets flying overhead. And, at the very least, potential buyers should encounter less competition in those neighborhoods.
“It does impact property values,” said Scott Gibson, who heads Los Angeles-area operations for Coldwell Banker. Compare a home in Playa del Rey near the airport to similar homes in Santa Monica or Manhattan Beach, he said. “If the airport wasn’t there, you have to think that house would be worth more.”
Around Los Angeles International, Gibson estimated, homes south of Manchester Boulevard in the flight path would cost a minimum of 5% to 10% less than those north of Manchester Boulevard, farther from the airport.
“But,” he conceded, “it’s very hard to quantify.”
Although the difference airport noise makes in terms of dollars is the subject of debate, the trade-offs are clearer. According to Lois Becker, a Realtor with Coldwell Banker in Westchester who frequently sells homes in Inglewood near LAX, “You can get a good price there, but you get a lot of noise. You are right under the flight path.”
For buyers, there’s not just LAX to consider. Other busy airports in the region -- Burbank, Long Beach, Santa Monica, Palmdale Regional, Ontario International, Orange County’s John Wayne and Torrance’s Zamperini Field -- affect their neighborhoods, some more than others.
Phil Simon, owner of Brighton Street Properties in Burbank, sold his 1,000-square-foot two-bedroom, one-bath home, which sits directly under a Burbank Airport flight path, more than a year ago for $235,000. He estimated that a comparable home would be priced 15% higher outside the flight path.
Yet in highly desirable neighborhoods, such as the Sunset Park area near the Santa Monica Airport, noise appears to have had no effect on prices, according to Ryan Flegal of Century 21 Better Homes in Santa Monica. Homes in the area list for $600,000 to $1.5 million.
Although the issue of airport noise does inevitably come up, Flegal said, it almost never prevents the sale. Instead, it just narrows the pool of buyers.
Sunset Park is desirable “even with the airport noise,” he said. “People are looking for an opportunity to move here.”
The draws of close proximity to the beach, great hillside views and a good school system outweigh airport concerns.
Studio City resident Tony Lucente likes his neighborhood despite the nearby airport. “It’s something you learn to live with,” he said. “You take the good with the bad.”
In exchange for Studio City’s tree-lined streets and small-town feel, Lucente said, he can put up with frequent noise from Burbank Airport.
Lucente is the president of the Studio City Residents Assn., which for 10 years has been pushing a “Share the Noise” initiative to the Burbank Airport Authority and local elected officials. The initiative calls for the airport to “share” airplane noise with nearby cities, including Glendale and Pasadena, by occasionally rerouting flight patterns.
“We aren’t anti-airport,” Lucente said. “We just think it’s a question of fairness and balance.... We bear the brunt of over 90% of the flights departing from Burbank Airport.”
Although California law requires that neighborhood noise problems be disclosed during escrow by the seller, airport-generated sound is not directly addressed in the Transfer Disclosure Statement, leaving room for interpretation. Volume levels that might not be troublesome to a seller could be horrendous to a buyer.
If you are significantly affected by airport noise, said Ken Kaplan, managing senior counsel with the California Assn. of Realtors, “you probably need to disclose,” especially to safeguard against liability.
Airport noise levels can change with wind shifts and the passage of time, even in faraway communities.
That has been the case in Rancho Palos Verdes; 15 miles from LAX, it is known for its school system, breathtaking city views and proximity to the coast. Although residents insist there are more low-flying turboprop planes overhead since the mid-1990s -- often run by commuter airlines -- the FAA disagrees.
“Turboprops are flying over the peninsula,” said FAA spokesman Donn Walker. “That hasn’t changed. They are just larger.... The bigger the plane, the lower people think it is.”
Whatever the change, some residents are unhappy.
“People that moved in here in 1990, for example, found this a serene and quiet place to live,” said John McTaggart, a 20-year Rancho Palos Verdes city councilman and area resident since 1963. “Now it’s not.”
Although the FAA cannot confirm the daily number of turboprop planes flying over the area, McTaggart estimated about 100 each day. To ease the noise at his residence, he installed dual-pane windows and put extra-thick sheeting under his tile roof.
Jet noise is also a problem in the area when winds come in from the east during Santa Anas and most nights between 11 p.m. and 3 a.m., when cargo flights depart for Asia. During both conditions, LAX reverses its usual over-the-ocean flight departure to instead have pilots take off to the east into the wind, making a U-turn over the peninsula.
“At 2 a.m. when your dishes are rattling,” McTaggart said, “you know something is going on.”
Another longtime resident of Rancho Palos Verdes, Beverly Ackerson, 70, said the problem is amplified at her house because she and husband Ben, 78, live in a canyon where the sound gets trapped and reverberates. “The noise ... becomes unbearable.”
Ackerson has developed asthma in the last two years and said she is concerned about aircraft pollution. There is also a black substance that sticks to her patio. The more aircraft flying over, “the more of it we have,” she said. “It’s kind of gummy like oil.”
Consequently, Ackerson said she has considered selling the house where she and Ben lived and raised four children in the last 44 years. But she stops short. “I worry about the resale.”
Another community affected by airplane noise is Monterey Park, about 25 miles from LAX.
“Most people that move out here don’t expect to be dealing with airport noise,” said Monterey Park City Manager Chris Jeffers. “It’s a constant irritant.”
During days with poor visibility, such as foggy or rainy days, planes approaching LAX from the north make a turn over Monterey Park to get into position for landing, a flight pattern that occurs about 30% of the time, according to the FAA.
“That has been going on for eons,” said Walker, with the FAA. “Traffic at LAX has increased, and that has increased traffic over that piece of Los Angeles. That is the reality.... Some people are going to have planes flying over them. That’s a fact of life.”
But for Monterey Park residents, it is hard to accept.
“We are suffering here like we are right at the airport,” said homeowner Nick Ragus, 47. “We’ve become a community of shut-ins.”
For the last 10 years, Ragus and his wife, Mary Ann, 38, and children Adam, 13, and Catherine, 10, have lived in their 4,000-square-foot Monterey Park home with views of the San Gabriel Mountains and, on clear days, of Santa Catalina Island. Ragus, who works for Boeing Co., said he wouldn’t move to the neighborhood now, knowing what he does about the airplane noise.
Ragus disputed the FAA’s statement that the stacking of planes over Monterey Park occurs only during poor weather. Instead, he said, the number of planes flying overhead has dramatically increased since the mid-1990s, especially during holidays. He worries that home values are suffering.
“When you see little old ladies in the neighborhood cupping their ears with planes going overhead,” he said, “what else are you supposed to think?”
Allison B. Cohen can be reached at a.cohen@ix.netcom.com
