A Second Look at Location, Location, Location
Real estate experts say that when you are shopping for a house, the three most important things to consider before buying is location, location, location. We discussed this some time ago abut I wanted to readdress it. How far are you living from where you (and your spouse) work at? What the limit you would be willing to travel on a daily basis? What is your cutoff for traffic?
Let us first define what we are talking about: location can mean a few different things to many different people. Some would say, it is the type of neighborhood you are potentially going to live in that matters, which is very true. On a grander scale, location also means how far away from work you are, which could either extend or contract your commute time, ergo your travel cost. I live near Washington DC, where there is an almost scientific inverse ratio relating the distance from DC and the cost of the average home. Naturally, the further we get from the nations capitol, the more affordable the homes are and the longer the commute.
Let’s first address the mass transit aspect. Its great for me and it doesn’t really matter where I go, the commute time will be insignificantly different. My girlfriend on the other hand, only has the option to drive and this is where the complications start to arise. We need to figure out if its cost effective to buy a home further out and tack more time onto our commute versus getting to and from work faster and paying for a smaller, but yet more expensive home.
So what is the difference? Further out, its about $100k - $150k cheaper, and 30-45 minutes (each way) more in commuting time. The homes have more land and are quieter and safer. But how much time would a person be missing out on? It would be safe to say about 2 hours a day. But the amount of money saved that could go either into the stock market, a Roth IRA, a money market, the house itself (to pay it off faster), the car (again, to pay it off faster; its losing value!) and just savings in general. It would be the epitome of living below our means. And it would be a wicked commute. What do you think? $
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Comments
These are some good points and we have discussed them at length. My commute now is pretty close to 90 minutes and I would be adding about another 10 or 15. But thats about average and its the variables that I don’t know about that give me pause about it. As far as our relationship goes, I think it can handle the extra time. Especially since we are both committed and can see a much larger pay off in the bigger picture.
That is a hard one. I have a cousin that drives about 45 minutes to work each day - she doesn’t mind at all, and that is in Michigan winters! But, I personally don’t like to be more than 20 minutes away. Will the longer commute hurt your relationship since you’ll have less time together or help because you can tackle some financial goals?