It's good that you are doing your homework on this subject now rather than after you buy. Some people at the end of our street bought a house that is on the corner of Odell and our street. They were in it for only a couple of months before putting it on the market to be sold - they couldn't tolerate the road noise.
As you can tell, the road noise does not bother some people and for others it is a deal breaker. I think the strategy that Russ Boston used is a good one - rent in various locations until you find the right trade-off of cost versus location. It seems that the pecking order of costs ranges from lots on championship golf courses down to executive courses to lots that back up to streets to interior lots, with a lot of options in between these broad categories.
The amazing thing to us was the huge variance that exists between some lots that are virtually identical. For example, our next door neighbor's lot has essentially the same view of a golf course as ours and is only marginally larger (perhaps 2 feet wider). Yet, their lot premium was $50K more than ours. To this day I can't figure out why this was the case. The moral of the story is that there are some unexplained bargains out there so when you get ready to buy, find an agent who is patient and willing to help you find them.
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