I have essentially 2 questions regarding high-tension power lines near residential dwelling
Scenario: There are high-tension power lines close to the property. Please note the power lines are NOT passing over the property or it’s backyard. But they are pretty close to the backyard.
Is there any negative impact to health from living close to high-tension power lines? Any research that points to this? The strong EM field may affect human body but then again we are already relentlessly bombarded by EM waves (home wifi, cellular reception etc etc) so is power line EM field adding any significant issue to already present doses?
Perception: Even if answer to #1 above is NO, is the scenario above seen as incurable negative for RE similar to say a busy street?
I think it is bad. Perception is reality. Nobody wants to get cancer. If I had to choose between power lines and busy street, I would choose the busy street.
I once asked people on this forum the question, “At what voltage do power lines become dangerous”? Nobody could answer me. I believe that no one knows if they are dangerous and what voltage is required to make them dangerous. But wuqijun is right, perception is reality. Make sure you get a discount if you choose to move in.
I love high voltage lines…Great opportunity. I own a small piece of a self storage facility in Ventura. .It is under SoCal Edison power lines…They own the land, we developed 140,000sf of storage on the 9 acre property…We pay them $200k annual rent but we get $1600k gross rent per year…10% cash on cash net return on the $3m our group invested…a fully depreciating asset with a 65 year lease…cost $9m, worth $14m…but no motivation to sell…Great cash cow with no rent control…one partner controls 90%…she will probably never sell because with depreciation the gain will be 100% taxable…meanwhile rents go up.
Attached - typical EMF readings of home appliances
Attached - EMF readings from Irven project
This lot is very close to a substation where buzzing can be clearly heard from the lot. You couldn’t pay me to live there, but if anyone was interested in EMF related details --essentially you can avoid EMF by staying 2+ feet away from home appliances, but being on this lot means you will be subjected to .7 to 1.5 mG at all times if outside the house. Not sure how much a structure can decrease exposure while inside.
So now we need to know how much EMF exposure will give you cancer. But I don’t think it’s worth it due to the constant buzzing noise and the effect this has on your psyche.
Yes, there could be issues. I know someone who sold her house located near substation lines after doing a lot of research because she found out that the EM fields were very high in her house. Her husband and a neighbor’s kids had autoimmune diseases. Another neighbor died of leukemia… This is part of her letter:
“we are moving because we found out our home is under a subtransmission powerline . emf levels in our home were taken and our house is from 5 to 8 milligauss, associated with doublt to triple leukemia and autoimmune disorders among other crappy things … i have spent hundreds of hours researching this since august and i can tell you that no one who reviewed these studies would live in my house .”
you have to pretty close for it to be stronger then fields you already see in the house… Realize the perception is bad so price is affected, but I seriously doubt any place in the bay area is going to have a field that is stronger then the background fields already in place
Whether it can be a dangerous ordeal it’s up to debate. What’s for debate is the dishonesty of some landlords whom won’t blink to buy these properties and guess what? Rent them! That’s how concerned they are.
Here in San Jose, I can see a power line crossing so many areas. One crosses Capitol Express, and goes South crossing so many vast areas you think there are not many smart people living there.
When we were looking for a house years ago, we saw this house, corner with San Antonio/Capitol, by Hwy 680, I forget the name of the street, starts with Mass…something like that. The power lines were on the back but disregarding that fact it sold, and was resold later I believe.
There is no scientific proof of danger or disease caused by high voltage wires…There is however an epidemic of miss information, hysteria, hypochondria, psychological illness and downright stupidity…So believe whatever you want. .live whevere you want…no one is forcing people to live near high tension wires…
