For the folks out there arguing the cell tower vs wind turbine argument.....some actual facts for you. The Appraisal Institute, the largest global professional membership organization for appraisers with 91 chapters throughout the world, spotlighted the issue of cell towers and the value of a hime and educated its members that a cell tower should, in fact, cause a decrease in home value. The work on this subject was done by Dr. Sandy Bond, who concluded that the percentage decreases range from 2 to 20% with the percentage moving toward the higher range the closer to the property the tower is. The Bond and Hue study conducted in 2004 involved the analysis of 9,514 residential home sales in 10 suburbs. The study reflected that close proximity to a Cell Tower reduced prices by 15% on average. The Bond and Wang study involved the analysis of 4,283 residential home sales in 4 suburbs between 1984 and 2002. The study reflected that close proximity to a Cell Tower reduced price approximately 21%. United States Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit upheld a denial of a Cell Tower application based upon testimony of residents and real estate brokers, that the Tower would reduce the values of property which were in close proximity to the Tower. In Windsor Hills, CA: residents who were fighting off a T-Mobile tower in their neighborhood received letters from real estate companies, homeowner associations and resident organizations in their community confirming that real estate values would decrease with a cell phone tower in their neighborhood. There is a full report on this case, and.... On page 295 of the report there is an August 31, 2008 Letter from Donna Bohanna, President of Solstice International Realty and resident of Baldwin Hills to the Los Angeles Board of Supervisors explaining the negative effect of cell towers on values of surrounding properties. “As a realtor, I must disclose to potential buyers where there are any cell towers nearby. I have found in my own experience that there is a very real stigma and cellular facilities near homes are perceived as undesirable.” On page 296 of the report there is a March 26, 2008 Letter from real estate professional Beverly Clark, “Those who would otherwise purchase a home, now considered desirable, can be deterred by a facility like the one proposed and this significantly reduces sales prices and does so immediately…I believe a facility such as the one proposed will diminish the buyer pool, significantly reduce homes sales prices, alter the character of the surrounding area and impair the use of the residential properties for their primary uses.” On Page 298 of the report we find The Appraiser Squad Comment Addendum, about the reduced value of a home of a resident directly behind the proposed installation, after the city had approved the tower for a wireless facility there: “The property owner has listed the property…and has had a potential buyer back out of the deal once this particular information of the tower was announced….there has been a canceled potential sale therefore it is relevant and determined that this new planning decision can have some negative effect on the subject property.” Ow to wind turbines... A new Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory study using data from 2012 shows that this strategy might not bear fruit: Across 50,000 home sales in 27 counties in nine states, researchers found zero evidence that average home prices were affected by wind turbines nearby. The 2013 study collected more data than the previous two, looking at homes within 10 miles of the 67 turbine facilities and examining 1,198 sales within a mile of them. Noting that wind production capacity is expected to grow by some 2,750 turbines a year, likely in New York, New England, the Mid-Atlantic, and Midwest, researchers wondered if turbines might create similar problems for home values as living near a new power line or landfill has demonstrated in the past. This particular study looked at what the effects on property values were after construction of the wind farm. While the authors identified numerous studies that seemed to suggest that there was little to no effect on property values, a more definitive answer required a larger data set. In this study, the data set included more than 50,000 home sales in 27 counties, all of which were within ten miles of 67 different wind projects and almost 1,200 were within one mile of a turbine. Further, the researchers factored differences in home size, parcel size, age of the home, and other factors to control for those impacts not related to wind power development. The researchers sought to answer four questions (1) Did homes that were located within a half mile of a turbine and sold two-years prior to the announcement of a wind project sell at a lower price than homes further away? (2) Did homes that sold after the announcement of a wind project, but before construction, and were within a half mile of a turbine sell at a lower price than homes further away? (3) Did homes that sold after construction, and were within a half mile of a turbine sell at a lower price than homes further away? (4) If the answer to question number three was that there were no identifiable effects, what is the likely maximum effect given the margin of error? In the pre-announcement period, the researchers found a 75 percent variable between homes within one mile of the future project when compared with those outside three miles, which was explained by the differences in the homes, the local market, the neighborhood and other factors (i.e., homes closer to the future site tended to be more rural, older and smaller than those located in areas further away). In both the post-announcement/pre-construction and post-construction scenarios, the researchers found statistically insignificant differences between sales that occurred in those time periods and the pre-announcement sales: Across all model specifications, we find no statistical evidence that home prices near wind turbines were affected in either the post-construction or post-announcement/pre-construction periods. Therefore, if effects do exist, either the average impacts are relatively small (within the margin of error in the models) and/or sporadic (impacting only a small subset of homes). Missy Breen Ruettiger, please feel free to use this info as you choose when dealing with the blind followers over there.
Posted on: Wed, 05 Mar 2014 02:21:05 +0000