https://boards.hellobee.com/ Pregnancy, Baby and Parenting blog, by Hellobee en Sat, 04 Apr 2026 16:11:37 +0000 https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/weighing-commute-vs-price-of-home/page/2#post-2747864 Thu, 15 Jun 2017 11:43:57 +0000 oliviaoblivia 2747864@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I'm a big fan of not commuting.<br /> We have a small house with a small yard in a fabulous location very close to downtown.<br /> I avoid buckling three kids into the car like the plague so I cannot imagine living in the burbs. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/weighing-commute-vs-price-of-home/page/2#post-2747772 Thu, 15 Jun 2017 09:49:18 +0000 mediagirl 2747772@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I've been there. I had a 1.5 hour commute from MD to DC and it was bad. I wasn't even married at the time and it was draining. Honestly, we moved out of the area so we wouldn't have those awful commutes anymore. </p> <p>At this stage in life I'd take a smaller house with a smaller yard with a shorter commute. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/weighing-commute-vs-price-of-home/page/2#post-2747757 Thu, 15 Jun 2017 09:09:40 +0000 Modern Daisy 2747757@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Yeah it really all depends on what exactly you are getting with the shorter commute. Like I would need to live in a family friendly neighborhood with a yard in a great school district so as long as you're getting all that might as well go for shorter commute!</p> <p>We moved farther out but it wasn't exactly planned since I got my job in the city after we bought our house. I dream of moving closer one day but we live in an awesome affordable area with great schools and my husband has a short commute.. so I'm outnumbered lol! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/weighing-commute-vs-price-of-home/page/2#post-2747740 Thu, 15 Jun 2017 08:39:11 +0000 T.H.O.U. 2747740@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@shabang: I think it also maybe depends on the house differences. Are we talking a 2 bedroom condo versus a large house on an acre? What lifestyle do you want? </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/weighing-commute-vs-price-of-home#post-2747739 Thu, 15 Jun 2017 08:37:06 +0000 shabang 2747739@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Thanks for all the thoughtful perspectives! </p> <p>It's hard when everything is a trade-off. Unfortunately, neither one of us has too much flexibility in working from home. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/weighing-commute-vs-price-of-home#post-2747728 Thu, 15 Jun 2017 08:16:27 +0000 TemperanceBrennan 2747728@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>It all comes down to personal priorities. I don't like driving/commuting, but others enjoy the alone time and don't mind a big commute. I don't like spending time maintaining a large yard/house (mowing, weeding repairs, cleaning, accumulating a bunch of stuff) and don't want to pay for someone else to do that stuff for me, but others think of it as a hobby, or very much value kids having a lot of room on their own property.<br /> For me, it would be smaller house, less commute, closer to the city - no question. A close friend has the complete opposite perspective and commutes a hr everyday and has a large house with a lot of land in the country. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/weighing-commute-vs-price-of-home#post-2747708 Thu, 15 Jun 2017 07:33:38 +0000 babypugs 2747708@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We went for the house in the 'burbs, although my "long" commute is 30 minutes (45 with heavy traffic) so not quite as bad as what you're talking about. I love the space and LOVE LOVE LOVE having a huge yard, but even that commute can be draining when I'm desperate to get home and see my babies. Our daycare is near our house, which also means that they spend a lot longer in daycare than is ideal. It's definitely a trade-off and a super personal decision. Overall I'm happy but I do have days that I dream of moving back downtown. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/weighing-commute-vs-price-of-home#post-2747696 Thu, 15 Jun 2017 06:30:08 +0000 hilary 2747696@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I picked smaller house/shorter commute, but when we made this decision we made a list of what our lifestyle ideally would look like (not just the house). Then we ranked in importance those items to come up with our choice. Thinking about a house can give you tunnel vision so try to think of all of the implications...access to parks and other fun things to do. Is running errands convenient or a half day outing? </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/weighing-commute-vs-price-of-home#post-2747681 Thu, 15 Jun 2017 01:58:12 +0000 lamariniere 2747681@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Shorter commute, all the way. Time is money. We rent, but we could have rented a large house with a yard further out in the city, but we opted to pay more to be in the city center. I WAH, so it doesn't matter, but my DH can take transit or ride his bike and be at work in 20 minutes. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/weighing-commute-vs-price-of-home#post-2747614 Wed, 14 Jun 2017 19:49:45 +0000 winter_wonder 2747614@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Longer commute! I drive 1 hr each way, so I think an hour commute on public transportation sounds amazing. You could read, listen to podcasts, etc! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/weighing-commute-vs-price-of-home#post-2747594 Wed, 14 Jun 2017 18:52:51 +0000 Foodnerd81 2747594@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We moved from the city to the suburbs last year. It's a little different for us, though, because I stay at home, which means we only have to factor in DH's commute, and I am actually in the house with the kids a lot more. We knew we wanted to leave the city eventually and our condo just got way too small when we had our second kid. As we looked at the suburbs, the closest in ones with decent schools were way too expensive- we could get a "house" smaller than our condo and his commute would still be longer. So we just kept looking further out to get a sweet spot between house and commute. We are definitely further than I expected we would end up, but DH doesn't mind the extra ten- fifteen minutes on the train if the trade off is a house we live in a town we really like with a nice community and good schools. Honestly we questioned the decision many many times this winter but I think t was the right move. He also works from home at least once a week and his company is very lenient with working from home on bad weather days. </p> <p>Like others mentioned it really depends on the city and suburb. Here we just couldn't have gotten a decent house that felt like enough space with any yard at all if we wanted a super short commute. And we didn't want to live in a condo anymore. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/weighing-commute-vs-price-of-home#post-2747580 Wed, 14 Jun 2017 18:11:56 +0000 petitenoisette 2747580@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Well we had to buy a small house with a commute to afford our first home. I have about a 40 min commute each way which I don't love but I'm a teacher so it's only 10 months a year and my LO commutes with me which has its own challenges but at leAst I'm not sitting in traffic anxiously waiting to get back to her. </p> <p>I think it really depends on what city you're talking about and the difference in size. Like if you'd be able to still buy a house with a small amount of outdoor space but have a shorter commute that sounds fine. But if you're comparing apartment living to a big house in the burbs I'd prob go for the house. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/weighing-commute-vs-price-of-home#post-2747572 Wed, 14 Jun 2017 17:35:29 +0000 Eko 2747572@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We had this choice too when we bought our house. We chose to live outside the city and have a longer commute. We had DS in our apartment in the city and didn't move until he was 1.5 years. Here was my take:</p> <p>Living in the apartment I relied on public transit. Sometimes it was quick (30 minutes). Sometimes it took an hour. Our apartment had a terrible layout and it was really difficult to live in the 1k sq ft space we had. We didn't have usable outdoor space so we had to go to the park to play, which was close about a 8 min walk. DS loves the outdoors so it did become a chore to go as frequently as we did. The traffic congestion was terrible and it was overall expensive. We pay the same to own a house as we did to rent. We could not do that if we owned in the city </p> <p>Living in our home is amazing despite the commute. For me when I go home I want to relax and I couldn't do that in my apt. We easily play and eat outside. We all eat dinner on our deck at night and then DS plays in the yard for an hour before bedtime. Our community is amazing and people really watch out for each other. I do not consider us having a huge house (1600 sq ft) and it is plenty for us. I also have the ability to work from home a couple days a week. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/weighing-commute-vs-price-of-home#post-2747570 Wed, 14 Jun 2017 17:29:43 +0000 JCCovi 2747570@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We recently were commuting 3 hours a day (combined, average of 1.5 hours per day per person) and when we moved cutting down on the commute was our number 1 priority. Now I no longer work and my husband commutes 20 minutes by bike each way.</p> <p>We love it!!! Honestly it's everything we imagined back when we were making long commutes. We have more family time, Chris can work later without feeling guilty, biking means he enjoys his commute more and is getting healthy, and we're saving money! Win-win-win-win!</p> <p>I swear I'll never go back! We cut our squarefootage in half and completely gave up our yard to make it happen. No big deal, we have parks down the street! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/weighing-commute-vs-price-of-home#post-2747554 Wed, 14 Jun 2017 16:40:26 +0000 travellingbee 2747554@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>It depends on where you are. In NYC where I'd have to choose between a small apartment vs. a hous in suburbs I'd choose burbs. In our city, we chose to live in the city but we still have a small yard, a sizable house and decent schools. Could we get more in the suburbs? Absolutely! We could get a freakin mansion with a pool for the value of our inner city house. But I don't want the commute. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/weighing-commute-vs-price-of-home#post-2747551 Wed, 14 Jun 2017 16:35:40 +0000 littlejoy 2747551@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I work from home, but my husband's commute is a HUGE consideration when thinking about where we live. </p> <p>We're in a very expensive city, and choose to live close to the heart of the city ($$$) in order to save commute time. Our house is small, but we don't mind. I'd much rather have time as a family (I work full-time from home). Having my partner around to co-parent is on the top of my list of priorities when it comes to housing decisions. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/weighing-commute-vs-price-of-home#post-2747538 Wed, 14 Jun 2017 16:22:20 +0000 kiddosc 2747538@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I did a long commute for 6 years. My husband owned his house before I met him and the type of work I did was really only going to be found in larger city. It was about a 1.5 hour commute each way... and it was SOUL CRUSHING. It got much much harder after kids when that extra time in the car meant extra time away from my son. I only kept it up because I knew it was temporary as we were planning a cross country move. I would never willingly place myself in that position again. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/weighing-commute-vs-price-of-home#post-2747536 Wed, 14 Jun 2017 16:19:10 +0000 looch 2747536@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Depending upon the nature of your jobs, is it possible to work remote a few days a week? That's what I do, given the fact that the office where I work is about a 2 hour commute on public transportation. The compromise is I work 3 days from a satellite office and go to the main office 2 days (sometimes less, but never more). I prefer not to work at home, but that's also something to consider.</p> <p>I have found that when you're really close, the expectation is that you're the one to cover all the time. My husband's office, for example is less than 10 miles from our home and there are mornings when it's assumed that he'll be at his desk at 6:30 am just because he's so close. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/weighing-commute-vs-price-of-home#post-2747533 Wed, 14 Jun 2017 16:11:25 +0000 Madison43 2747533@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Shorter commute for sure. Something else to consider is that if you both work in the city and there is an emergency with your children, how fast can you get back home? Public transportation takes 45 mins but I can catch an uber and be home (non rush hour) in 25 mins. Also make sure you are factoring in that public transportation can be delayed. My 45 min train ride often takes an hour or more. So if you are starting with an hour commute and are delayed, that's a long ride for both of you. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/weighing-commute-vs-price-of-home#post-2747518 Wed, 14 Jun 2017 15:50:03 +0000 lawbee11 2747518@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Normally I would choose the shorter commute (as long as the schools are comparable) cause I don't need a huge house, but little to no yard would be a deal-breaker for me. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/weighing-commute-vs-price-of-home#post-2747515 Wed, 14 Jun 2017 15:45:56 +0000 muffinsmuffins 2747515@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>For us we thought we would stay in the burbs and commute for the savings but as soon as we both started working full time and having to do daycare pick ups and drop offs, we lasted about 6 months before moving closer to work. Our quality of life has drastically improved and is worth the increased price. We are all home by 4:30 now and it was a game changer for sure. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/weighing-commute-vs-price-of-home#post-2747513 Wed, 14 Jun 2017 15:44:09 +0000 Mommy Finger 2747513@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Once we moved to the suburbs with both of us commuting to the city, I had to find a job closer to home. I couldn't handle the commute by train and not seeing DS1 for much more than an hour a day. My commute when from 1 hr to 20 minutes and I'm much happier. I miss the city with all of my soul but this was the right move. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/weighing-commute-vs-price-of-home#post-2747512 Wed, 14 Jun 2017 15:40:55 +0000 Meowkers 2747512@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Shorter commute! What good is the house if you're not actually home to spend time with your kids? </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/weighing-commute-vs-price-of-home#post-2747507 Wed, 14 Jun 2017 15:29:24 +0000 Mrs D 2747507@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I would vote lesser commute.</p> <p>When we purchased our first home we went with a suburb next to the fancy suburb closest to the major downtown. It was a compromise so we could be within a 30 min range of downtown but also get some house with some yard. The extra 30 mins a day with my kids is worth the sacrifice of a brand new huge home out in the sticks. :)</p> <p>DH and I have both been lucky - I moved jobs and he moved offices - however we decided to stay in the area we are in and simply spend a little more to get more. We both have 2 mile commutes to work - although mine ends up being about 10 miles with DC drop offs and its incredible. I can leave work at 5 and be home with the girls at 530/540.</p> <p>I would search for a community that can offer some of the compromises. And dont forget to prioritize the things you cant change about a house! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/weighing-commute-vs-price-of-home#post-2747502 Wed, 14 Jun 2017 15:17:08 +0000 shabang 2747502@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@honeybear: It's about an hour now. Live in the city/work in the city. (I know, ridiculous!) </p> <p>My preference is shorter commute less house, but my husband prioritizes the house. So it's really interesting to read all the feedback. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/weighing-commute-vs-price-of-home#post-2747490 Wed, 14 Jun 2017 15:05:39 +0000 youboots 2747490@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We have the best of both- but I voted shorter commute. Fortunately DH has a home office but the days he does commute he's 30 min further than our old house was most of the time so he's fighting traffic. But our quality of life in our house and walkable downtown is a country city has been a perfect match for us. It does not feel like a suburb. Our old house was only 15 minutes from downtown but was a commuter city lacking a community feel and did not have a downtown- just strip malls. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/weighing-commute-vs-price-of-home#post-2747486 Wed, 14 Jun 2017 14:56:50 +0000 bushelandapeck 2747486@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We made this decision pre-kids and moved to the suburbs. We both still work in the city but I only work 2 days/week so I feel like the commute is manageable (DH takes public transportation and I drive). If I had to work full time I think I would be looking hard for a job closer to home. For us, the decision was easy because we wanted more space, a yard, and better schools. We have two kids now and are happy with our choice. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/weighing-commute-vs-price-of-home#post-2747484 Wed, 14 Jun 2017 14:54:29 +0000 skinnycow 2747484@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We faced this same decision about 2 years ago and chose to get a nicer house. DH's commute was reasonable (30 mins) but mine was 1 hr+. I think we made the wrong decision but thankfully it ended up working out in the end when I switched to a job about 10 minutes from our house.</p> <p>I was completely miserable commuting for a year. Sitting in traffic was horrible for my mood and every second I spent in the car I was thinking about getting home to DD. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/weighing-commute-vs-price-of-home#post-2747483 Wed, 14 Jun 2017 14:53:02 +0000 yoursilverlining 2747483@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Shorter commute all the way. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/weighing-commute-vs-price-of-home#post-2747481 Wed, 14 Jun 2017 14:50:11 +0000 Smurfette 2747481@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We have no desire to have a huge house, less to clean the better. Shorter commute all the way. </p>