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Is a great house worth an extra 25-30 drive to work each day?
Right now we live in a condo and we're bursting at the seems. We have figured out that if we move 25 miles away the houses are really new,SUPER cheap and it's a nice little town that is just growing. We always wanted to live in a small town and be away from the city (and relatives, haha). Besides, the houses being less than half of what they are here, it's beautiful there.
We would rent out our condo for less than our mortgage is and easily make up the difference since our new mortgage would be so much lower. We would end up paying the same amt of $ but have a lot more room, and a lot longer drive. We both have new cars that are reliable and we don't care how many miles get put on them.
Most of the time I only drive to work 1-2x's a week so not a big deal for me but DH drives to work 4x's per week. Also we are going to be starting nursing school in January. We won't know until November if it will be part time or full time. If it's part time we'll be driving REALLY far every weekend (about an hour from here, 1 1/2 hours from the new house) for school & possibly clinicals. If it's full time then we'll be closer to our school than where we live now (only 10-15 minutes) & DH won't be working at his current job anymore so no far drive.
We have looked and looked but every area that is good around here & other areas that would reduce our drive have more expenisve houses and we wouldn't be able to afford both mortgages (we're too upside down to be able to sell the condo). We have NO interest in a fixer upper either besides minor stuff like painting. .
Would you do it, drive an extra hour a day to live in a nice house? Or stay put in our little condo?
Re: Is a great house worth an extra 25-30 drive to work each day?
| Olowalu, Maui ~ August 6, 2008 |
| Family of 4 ~ April 2, 2011 |
| Family of 5 - October 24, 2012 |
meh. not sure. I drive 1 hour each day but there is never any traffic (country roads). DH use to have to commute 30miles in the opposite direction and sometimes it could take almost 2 hours each way! That was horrible.
Do you plan to stay there for a while? If I had no plans to move for many (5-7ish+ years) I would consider it. If not, I would probably just try to rent out the condo and then find another place to rent if you do really need to move. Have you did all the financial work to include taxes and insurance and all that? Sometimes it is better to rent if you are not planning to say for a long time (also think about the re-sell possibility of the home you are looking at, I just heard a story on NPR about how hard it is to sell new-ish homes in outskirt areas because they just keep putting in more new homes...). I'm sure you have considered all that, but just making sure.
I know traffic in the phx area can get pretty bad - I lived in N. Scottsdale and drove down to Tempe. I only lasted up there for 6mo before moving to S. Scottsdale just because the traffic was bad and people were dangerous drivers.
Oh yeah, one other thing... living far from work causes a little more thought for daycare. We ended up picking a place close to our home but far from my work just because if I'm out of town we can't be driving way out of our way to go to daycare.
Oh wow, I didn't realize you both lived in AZ before! Since your familliar... We live in Chandler & the houses we want are in Queen Creek. DH works in N Scottsdale.Part time nursing school would be in Glendale, full time right by Williams-Gateway airport in Mesa/Queen Creek.
I wish you guys still lived here!
I grew up in Chandler (Ray & Rural area) and used to live on Pecos & Alma School when I met MH. I miss AZ, but I don't miss the heat
My aunt lives in the Queen Creek area sort of by the airport, it's a drive for sure especially if your taking the 60 (not familiar with all the new freeways since I left). I don't know, I don't mind driving - it was always my alone time and gave me a chance to unwind from work so driving doesn't bother me. 
| Olowalu, Maui ~ August 6, 2008 |
| Family of 4 ~ April 2, 2011 |
| Family of 5 - October 24, 2012 |
same. I don't mind driving, wish I didn't have to but it's not the end of the world. BUT, I absolutely hate traffic. DH is such a happier person since not having to commute in traffic.
I would love not having a commute, but at this point I'm just happy my commute isn't longer!
I went to grad school at ASU so I only lived there for about 2.5 years. That is where I met DH
Sometimes I wish I still lived there (especially if we could GTG!) but WA is "home" for me so I couldn't wait to move back. We are thinking about going to a wedding down there in Oct., I'll let you know if we do make it.
Alyson & Phil | Planning Bio | Married Bio!
Dates & Quinces Blog
Ditto! It's a personal choice....I would say it's worth it.
My Planning Bio
I think it depends on you.
There are trade-offs - not just the longer commute, but extra time away from your family, extra gas, more wear and tear on the car, etc. It absolutely can be worth it - but it really does depend on your feelings about that kind of stuff.
This might sound nutty, but why don't you try it for a week or two? Leave home 30 min early and arrive home 30 min late - and spend that extra time driving. Do a loop on the freeway, side streets, whatever. You'll figure out pretty fast whether you wouldn't be able to stand it lol!
I love Hawaii!
Tara & Ian . 4/24/2008 . The Kahala Planning . Married
That's a tough question.
I lived 35 miles from work for about 8 years, my commute was 90 min in the morning and sometimes over 2 hrs in the evening. I HATED it! I was depressed and really stressed. Especially if something came up for my son at school and I knew it would take me 45 min or so (during day, no traffic) to get to him. Once I moved close to work 3 yrs ago, my quality of life has drastically improved. I would NEVER move any further from work just for a house again. My sanity is worth way more than a bigger living space and backyard - especially when I would be too emotionally and physically exhausted to enjoy it ,even on my days off.
You guys have a difficult life changing decision to make, I hope you weigh all the pros and cons and don't rush into committing until you are absolutely sure.
I agree with a lot of pp, it is a really personal decision & I think each commute is really different.
When we lived in LA, I lived in 3 different places. Two of the places took me an hour to get to work (even though it was 11 miles!) One of the places took me through a beautiful, lush canyon. The other was through stop & go traffic. I hated the 2nd commute. It was just so awful, but the other commute that took the same time seemed to fly by just b/c it was so much more of a pleasant drive. For me, I could have done the commute through the canyon for a house, but not the more city/traffic commute.
And with all that said, my last apartment was only 4 miles from work & I got to drive through the Beverly Hills neighborhood & it was just lovely...still a 30 minute commute, but definitely my happiest!
Good luck making a decision!
Totally a case by case situation...
We had a GREAT condo in the city, downtown, steps from everything, restaurants, yoga, starbucks, whole foods. My commute was 15-30 minutes. Put it this way, I could walk to work if I wanted. Usually, I took the bus and most of my commute was waiting for the bus. It was AWESOME!
We stayed there as long as we could. But when I got KU we knew we needed more room. We could have gotten a cheaper house, not to mention a newer and bigger house if we had gone farther away. But we wanted to be as close to the city as we could while also being outside the city so we'd be in a good school district.
I was just saying to DH the other day how much I LOVE OUR HOUSE and our new location. We are on a quiet neighborhood street where our kids can play with the neighbor kids. We can still walk to restaurants and the metro. But our commute to work is now 45-60 minutes each way.
IMO, the added commute is totally worth it. We love our house and our new neighborhood. I still miss the old hood, but I am much happier about our move than I thought I would be. :-) HTH!
(For those who know DC, we moved from Logan Circle to Bethesda)
Malia & Dave & Alexa
Happily married since 2-17-08! Three since 9-9-09!
Baby Blog
OMG- 30 minutes for 4 miles!?!! What if you rode your bike? That might shave off some of that time, lol!
i think everyone had made valid points...i think it depends on if it's your forever home, if you plan on moving again in a few years, etc.
this is really big for me. time spent commuting = time away from family. my work is variable from week to week but in general i will not accept a job if my commute will be more than 30 minutes.... as it is, i barely get home in time to spend about 30 minutes with miss A before she goes to bed. i basically get home, and go straight to doing her bedtime routine w/her. i wish i had more time to spend w/her but luckily i work part time so it's only 2-3 days a week that i am working. if i worked any farther away (or on the nights when i am stuck at work later than usual), DH has to put her to bed and when i come home she is already asleep
that totally sucks and i could not see myself doing that all the time.
so, depending on your schedules, commute, etc. it may or may not be worth it.
Jaime & Brent
Oahu, Hawaii | Sept. 9, 2005
My Food Blog - Good Eats 'n Sweet Treats