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Land w overhead High power lines

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its_that_guy@yahoo.c
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2005-02-18          106395

My wife and i found about 7 acres of land in the country that we both love. Nice and level home site, beutiful mountain views, and the developer needs to sell some lots because he is going to be closing on a large farm next month, so he said "make me an offer'.

BUT thru one corner of the land there runs a large electric overhead transfer lines. The developer gave this lot extra large frontage so you could build and not be under these lines (where we are thinking the house would go would be about 600 ft from the lines)..

What are the dangers of living near (but not directly under) these lines? Or are there any dangers?

The developer says when it rains/high humidity you can hear the lines hum at times.

Question on pricing - since i got you here reading
We have a price sheet for this that a realtor put out. The developer has an agreement that he can sell the lots directly to us, so there would be no commission.

The developer said "make me an offer" - We are thinking we could atleast knock 6% of the listed price (the commission not being paid)...Any ideas on what would be a reasonable percent off to offer that would still be fair?

thanks for any input

brian



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StephenR
Join Date: Feb 2002
Posts: 230 New Tripoli, Pa.
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2005-02-18          106399

They also crackle under high power consumption, i.e. hot summer A.C. use. ....

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Murf
Join Date: Dec 1999
Posts: 7249 Toronto Area, Ontario, Canada
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2005-02-18          106402

Electro Magnetic Fields (EMF) is the big concern these days.

It's one of those things that is best left to a persons own judgement as to what they do, or do not, feel comfortable with. HAve a little read on the subject at the link below.

Best of luck. ....


Link:   EMF Info.

 
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Chief
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 4297 Southwest MiddleTennessee
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2005-02-18          106413

If I were you, I would go to the county court house and pull the deed to this piece of property if it is on file yet and find out exactly what the dimensions of the power line easement are and if they are likely to be upgraded in the future and the easement widened. If this is investment property; these powerlines are a HUGE party pooper for appreciation value. Murf already mention EMF. Depends on how much voltage is running through them. I have stood under some 675 Kvolt lines in our families farm in VA that will make the hair on your arm stand up during the hot parts of the summer. Probably not a good thing. What restrictions on your use of the property will this power line easement cause you? If these are the run of the mill residential power lines. Totally different story. Check the deed to this property will tell you what the developer paid for it and you can request to look at some deeds to ajoining properties to determine sale price. Also pay close attention to any other right of ways, easements, or restrictions on the property you are interested in as these can be party poopers in the future as well. If I were you, I think I would start my offer at whatever the developer paid for the property and add 5% per year standard real estate appreciation value. He will probably scoff at it but then hopefully he will come back with a counter offer or you can suggest this. Hopefully, you can haggle a competitive price. In VA, property values are flat out going berzerk so the price is not likely to go down with time. Especially if you are looking in the Shenandoah Valley area. ....

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denwood
Join Date: Jul 2004
Posts: 542 Quarryville PA
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2005-02-18          106430

In our area, overhead line properties are dog turds. They are the ones always for sale, stay for sale longest and bring the least. when we were looking for empty property to build on, all there was with acreage was this stuff. We ended up buying with a house already there. There are some really big high lines next to my garden center and we have a string of lights strung about 15' high parrallel with them. The steel cable that supports the lights picks up enough voltage to be uncomfortable to hold. I am talking about lights not connected to anything and on wood poles. Some farmers have problems with stray voltage and their cows and I have seen some farmers move because of it. I saw a special and I believe they were talking about leukemia and a possible link with power lines and the em field. ....

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earthwrks
Join Date: Dec 2003
Posts: 3853 Home Office in Flat Rock, Michigan
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2005-02-19          106446

I agree with the psots about utility easements. I had one realtor try to sell me 170 acres of "prime building land"---we walked it and found that nearly 70 a. was easements. I spoke to the power company and they said that there was actually another parallel easement for future power lines that wasn't indicated on the land (we were looking at the area that had been cleared of trees). Also he said we couldn't build within the "tower fall lines" which is beyond the easement---250' each way. And EMF was a concern---in another part of the state where the power lines were somehwere around 14,000v and relatively close to ground a dump truck raising its bed got 4' from the lines and exploded! So EMF does have an effect if it can jump 4'. ....

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brokenarrow
Join Date: Jan 2004
Posts: 1288 Wisconsin
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2005-03-02          107131

So after reading these posts, you have to ask yourself, will it be worth more money later on or increase in value as other lands?/ NO If it was a stock would you buy it? probably not. IMO RUN away. emf concerns have been around for many years all it would take is one yahoo to come up with real hard evidence and your sunk for future resale. I would buy less land that will definately increase in value and not stay stagnant. Or make an offer so rediculously low that if they took it you would be money ahead in a worse case scenario
my .02 ....

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DennisCTB
Join Date: Nov 1998
Posts: 2707 NorthWest NJ
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2005-03-02          107134

Some farmers in my area grow all their tomatoes and other vegetables directly under the high tension lines year after year, a friend of ours used to live under high tension lines in a brand new house and had a vegetable garden under it (place looked like the Belluci film "Neighbors"), he gave us the the biggest zucchini I have ever seen, it was over 30 pounds.

I figure the lines make things grow bigger, faster, and god knows whatever other ways, for my money I like to steer clear of that stuff.

PS. the friend of ours though thin and athletic and in his early 40's developed a heart condition that required a pace maker. He moved to another house in town away from the lines, he was unable to sell the house for years and had to rent it out. He eventually sold it at a big loss.
....

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JD855inWI
Join Date: Aug 2004
Posts: 38 Mid East Wisconsin
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2005-03-02          107141

Personally I would not do it. I had a farmer friend who had HI-powered utility feeders running to a distribution substation crossing his property. He had an 8” HO fluorescent lamp mounted parallel underneath the power lines and on damp nights that lamp would flash on and off. Damn scary. The power company came out and put filter circuits and grounds on every other post of his electric fences, because he could unplug the fencer and it kept on flashing from induced voltage. I wouldn’t want to expose my family to that, not knowing the long term effect. ....

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BillBass
Join Date: Feb 2002
Posts: 190 North Texas
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2005-03-02          107148

You can do a google search for the words power line health and get an endless number of sites for information. Out of curiosity I looked at several. All stated how the health question had been overblown. There are apparently no legitimate studies that have shown a direct link to power lines and health problems.
My only concern would be the land value. Both the visual aspects and the perceived health aspects would greatly diminish the future sale value. If you plan on living there for a very long time and don't mind looking at the wires, then go for it. If you plan on a relative short stay, I would not do it. ....


Link:   Power Lines and Health - One site

 
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grinder
Join Date: Oct 2003
Posts: 677 central Maine
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2005-03-02          107151

I'll throw my three cents in on this one, I have an avtive Bokers lic. and have listed and sold Real Estate since 1984.
I just listed a piece of lakefront today for 1.5 mil.
I am with a Century 21 office. Have worked for several
others and have owned my own. Now, run don't walk away.
This is and always will be a negative property no matter
how much you spend. Remember, Location,Location,Location!
That has not changed since Jesus was a boy.
This last house I built, I had to spend twice our budgeted amount for the lot, I wanted the location. Since we built
it has more than doubled in value in 5 yrs.
Here in Maine the Broker would have certain obligations
to tell you all the negatives,is that why he doesn't want the broker in volved. If you are determined, offer him half,
and walk away. I bet you get it. ....

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chipuren
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 193 Arkansas
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2005-03-12          107866

I am an ex broker, (and ex c-21 owner also) I'll add my 1.5cents worth (inflation you know). The cost to build, improve this property will be the same as a choice lot, the negative value adjustment of the nearby hi wires will apply to the whole property when it is appraise din the future. on the other hand, 600 ft is a pretty good distance and may be OK if they are local distribution lines and not cross country lines carring thousands of volts. ....

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kyvette
Join Date: Feb 2004
Posts: 194 Central Kentucky
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2005-03-31          109163

This response maybe too late to help you on making your decision, but maybe it will help some else at a later time.

First I would check with the engineering department of the utility company which crosses the property. Determine the width of easement(if they have one) and the type and voltage of the power line. If the line is only a distribution line which is normally < 25KV ( could be as high as 35KV) nothing to worry about. If its a transmission line and no larger than 69KV, here again, I wouldn't be concerned.

The larger the voltage line the larger the easement and the larger the supporting structures. I would not want to see a large transmission line from my house.

As to EMF, electromagnetic fields, the jury is still out. There have been a lot of studies, but none with conclusive evidence that EMF causes cancer. There was a study done in Switzerland involving sewing machine operators and the study showed a slight increase in the possibility of leukemia. This is low voltage 120/240 single phase and the operators use their machines 8 - 10 hours per day.

EMF is caused by the electric current traveling through the conductor which sets up a magnetic field around the conductor. This field will alternatively build and collapse at the rate of 60 times per second. If the field is strong enough it can induce current into a conductor placed in its field. However, the field strength decreases rapidly with distance.

Hopes this helps, Dave ....

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kyvette
Join Date: Feb 2004
Posts: 194 Central Kentucky
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2005-04-01          109264

A correction to my previous post. The EMF study involving seamstresses, tailors, and dress makers was a Finnish study and showed an increase in risk for cancer. A Swedish study did indicate a slight increase in risk for leukemia in children.

A good publication on EMF is "EMF in the Workplace" and can be acquired by calling 800-363-2383. This is a September 1996 publication. Another good publication is "Electric and Magnetic Fields from 60 Hertz Electric Power: What do we know about possible health risks?". This is published by Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pa. ....

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