BiggerPockets

At the house I am interested in, there is a brick wall near the house and then the railroad tracks are about 100 feet outside the brick wall. Is this an automatic "no" for a potential rental? (I haven't been there when the train was actually passing by)

You should do some research on rents and property values and determine the effect of the tracks. There almost certainly is an effect on both. But if its still a deal after accounting for those effects, proceed.

Even if they are not in use currently base your decision on if they are in use. Just because they are not in use now does not mean they will not be in use in the near or far future.

Frequency of use needs to be considered. In my area, being a major rail terminal, there are homes in all price ranges "near" tracks. From an appriasal view, the tracks are only considered as an external obsolessence within that neighborhood and often it is not something that can be factored due to the lack of comparables. The amount of train traffic is something to inquire about with the RR people who use or own the tracks. A train going by once a week for ten minutes in the afternoon is hardly a problem. In fact, it could be a plus as nothing can be built close to the tracks. I have been in many homes where you can't really see the RR tracks that might be 500 feet away and it appears to be a wide open space which would be a plus. While I would stay away from a high traffic area, the fact that RR tracks are near by would not keep from investing in a property, but again, depends on traffic.

Looking at the tracks will give you a pretty good idea. If the tracks are very shiny on the top, are welded (i.e., the individual sections of track are welded into on long continuous piece), and the ballast (gravel) is neat and weed free, they probably see a lot of use. If they are jointed rails (individual sections of track bolted together with plates on the sides), uneven, and the ballast has weeds, probably not.

Some tracks are seasonal. We have a number of tracks around here that only get used during harvests.

There are quite a few tracks that don't get used any more, but the ones that are used are used very heavily. Rail traffic has dropped off with the economy, but is trending back up. I've seen construction of new lines occurring here in some busy areas.

I owned a 6 unit building right next to not only a busy track, but a road crossing. And by right next to, I mean the tracks were no more than 30 feet from one of the entrances. The train traffic was at least one an hour during the day, slightly less frequently at night. This building was in a MAJOR train hub in southern Indiana, so residents tended to be used to trains, and also less than 2 blocks from a college campus. With those two factors, it made it very easy to keep rented.

The residents told me that after about a week they didn't even notice the trains anymore. I've heard this from several people who have lived near tracks. If your tracks aren't super busy, or you aren't super close to a street crossing, I don't think I'd worry too much. Like everyone else says though, make sure you comp it against properties that are equa-distant to the track.

According to my experience, it is the horn that a train makes when approaching a cross that intolerable.

Bienes, I would have to disagree with much that has been said thus far. I think you did the right thing speaking to neighbors. Due to the info u received from them on the crimes, I would pass just on that basis alone. As for railroad tracks, you shouldtreat homes lije that similar to those on major streets, which in my experience, bring values down by an average of 10%. U would factor in a 15% reduction for railroads.

One of the key factors to flipping is getting oyt quickly and negative factors affecting a home cause difficulties in finding buyers. That said, u must factor exit values lower to stay profitable.

I used to live next to train tracks and it was a nightmare. These weren't passenger trains, but industrial (20 or so carts) trains. The whole house would literally shake and at all hours of the day. The train would also blast their horn, which was even worse. People would actually come over and say, "God, how can you live here?" Well, the reason was the rent was about 30% cheaper than everywhere else and I was in college.

Now I live about a quarter mile from a train track and don't even notice it. That's because these trains are light passenger trains (Amtrak). The don't honk their horns either.

So like with everything else, the answer is: "it depends".