Newly Purchased House is unbearably noisy, How do I protect my investment?

Question

I recently bought my first home in Thousand Oaks, CA—a huge milestone for me. I’ve lived here my whole life and worked hard to buy a house in my parents' neighborhood, which is the most sought-after area in the city. Having lived nearby for years, I thought I knew the area well.

The house itself is stunning, and the property is beautifully landscaped—truly a dream home in many ways. However, there’s one major issue I overlooked: noise. The house sits near a freeway junction and a busy street, and while my previous rental was also close to the freeway, something about this home's elevation makes the noise unbearablyintrusive. It’s subtle but constant, and I can’t seem to tune it out.

I’m exploring every possible way to mitigate the sound, but the reality is that I can’t change the home’s proximity or line of sight to the roads. I’ve heard from many (non-experts) that I’d need to stay for at least 5-7 years to avoid taking a significant financial hit, but that feels like a waking nightmare given how much this issue affects me.

Financially, renting it out isn’t an easy solution either. My interest rate and purchase price wouldn’t allow for positive cash flow unless I charged an unreasonable rent—or put about $500K toward the principal, which isn't ideal.

I’m a high earner, so I’m weighing my options:

• Take the loss ($60K-$100K), buy another house, and chalk this up to a hard lesson learned.
• Refinance, put more money into it, and rent it out long-term—even if it’s not immediately profitable.
• Invest my money elsewhere and try to make peace with staying here for several years or just move.

Would love to hear thoughts from anyone with experience in real estate, financial strategy, or noise mitigation. Is there a smarter way to approach this? I do not know the best category to put this, so please point me in the right direction

Drew Sygit · Answer

@Martin Zitzelberger couple thoughts:

Not sure how long you've lived there, but most humans adapt to the environments very well. We learn to tune out/ignore certain sounds over time. - May or may not work for you.

Trees can block a lot of noise. Can you you plant tall arborvitae in a double/staggered rows to filter the noise? Planting them on top the tallest berm the city will allow may also help.

What about building a sound barrier wall? The exterior suface can be "tuned" to absorb the loudest noise frequencies.

Lastly, what about Active Noise Cancellation systems? They are expensive, but may be cheaper than the $60-100k loss you're projecting.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Active_noise_control

Denise Supplee · Answer

I live on a very busy street as well. I can deal with the cars, but we have huge semi's that make horrid noises. The back of my house is completely wooded. I have gotten used to the noise. It took several months. I keep either music on inside my home or the TV. And I will go outside, and when I hear the noise, I will look at the home itself and start listing the things I love about it. I know that sounds crazy, but it helped me. Now I laugh at the loud bumps and weird noises of the tractor trucks. I hope that it works out for you. I know how difficult it can be!

Abdul Malik · Answer

Personally, I had a similar situation when I bought my first home.  It was right off of a busy street.  We talked to several contractors to fix the noise issue.  We could've spent the money but no guarantee that the problem would be fixed.  Luckily, we were living in the house when properties were appreciating like crazy and interest rates were low.  After a couple of years, we got out and made ~$40k.  The next house we bought, we definitely made sure not live off of a busy street lol.

My suggestion, talk with a property management company.  Most can provide a rental report to see how much properties are renting for in your area and how long properties are staying on the market.  If you can cover your mortgage with rental income, it may be worth keeping it as it may appreciate over time.

Martin Zitzelberger · Answer

Do you have any recommendations?

Martin Zitzelberger · Answer

if it weren't for the noise it's effectively my dream home. To be honest, I'm not exactly sure how much money I would lose, purchasing a home is a very emotional thing for my, my wife and I find it really hard to get honest answers or comparisons from family or colleagues about how much money it would set us back, so I am only assuming the worst and hoping someone here can advise. I have looked into the windows and currently have a contractor quoting it out, however it is extremely expensive and there are no promises that it will improve the noise.

Taylor Dasch · Answer

If it werent for the noise would you be okay with sticking it out in the house for a while? I would assume that there are sound proofing updates that you would be able to do such as windows, walls, etc. But am not sure / havent looked it up. I would start there and think of anything that I could do to stay in the house for a while as it sounds like you would be losing a bit of money with the other options.