Don't really need advice so much as I'm curious what people would do with this decision. We looked at a house today (well, a model since it'd be a new build). It is PERFECT. Love the style and layout, the size (master closet is literally as big or bigger than my college dorm room, but it's overall not just overwhelmingly huge- the space is all well-utilized), the neighborhood (lots of young families with kids, nice playground and pool with play area, walking trails, creeks, etc), excellent school zone (if we don't homeschool the full time, which is what DH wants so she can play sports), even the price is within our budget (albeit on the high end). It hits every one of our must haves *and* wants, and is just so freaking perfect. But it's so far out. DH currently drives (according to map directions on my phone) 14 minutes to work. This would be 36. Which isn't a crazy long drive, but it's a big increase, and he already works longer hours than we'd really like so adding about an extra hour total with traffic would suck. My mom's drive to come over (which she does fairly frequently) would increase. According to maps only by about 6 minutes, but I think traffic would be a bigger factor on the new route than the current one. It's so frustrating! I know that that's how it is. You can have a great house, a great price, or a great location- pick two. But I don't want to! I want it all. Can't they build us this house about 20 minutes closer to town? Pretty please?
-
I would if DH were 100% on board with a longer commute.
Funny thing you mention it- today we were looking at real estate 20-25 minutes further out- his idea.
-
We compromised on being further from the city to be to spend a little less. It's just how it goes!
-
I mean, they do build that house 20 minutes closer... but it's probably 20% more costly
I would do it only if there was more than one way in/out of the neighborhood from work/your mom's. There's an area east of Orange County that many people live, that's "only" 10-15 minutes additional drive from parts of OC, but you can basically only get in/out from one freeway. Traffic is HORRENDOUS and the tolls are costly if you opt for that route. If it's in the outskirts of town, but with multiple, easy to access routes, I'd go for it.
-
I voted no way!
I wouldn't want to be car dependent, and commuting is a nightmare. I'm surprised by the votes!
-
@Greentea: I don't even know what it would mean to not be car dependent. We don't live in a city with good public transportation!
-
@Greentea: I'm with you.
It really depends on what you value. DH and I are not fans of long commutes, and we never considered any houses outside of our preferred neighbourhoods. We live in a small city as well, so an additional 15 minute drive would be awful.
-
@HabesBabe: There's a ton of ways for DH to get to work, and at least a couple for my my mom to go. I know what you're talking about though. We didn't even consider anything in the area just east of my mom because it's down in a peninsula (sort of, is it a peninsula really when it's a bend in a river, not sticking out in a body of water? That's what everyone calls it anyway) and traffic getting out is awful!
@Freckles: So you're the people who get all dead set on their specific neighborhood on shows like Love It or List It! DH and I have never understood that. We've moved 5 times in the 6 years we've been married, and changing neighborhoods has never mattered to us!
-
I don't think I would do it, personally. My husband has a long commute right now. It's not permanent, as he's a tradesman, and this project will only last a year. But his commute, about 35 minutes without traffic, usually over an hour to get home, is stressful.
-
This is the debate we have on a regular basis. Our once small town is getting so crowded and to get everything we want we have to add a commute for DH. I voted maybe because we are in a similar situation.
-
This sound like nothing to me, but me and my DH each commute an hour + each way every day. If this is the only issue I woul go for it.
-
@Torchwood: lol no, usually those people don't want to leave their neighbourhood. We have moved twice in the last 6 years but they have all been in neighbourhoods that are centrally located. When we first looked for a place, we specifically told our realtor we didn't want to go south of x street bc that's when you could no longer bike/walk or have easy access to public transportation. We just hate driving haha
It sounds like you have fallen in love with the place and that the additional commute won't seem like a big deal!
-
I wouldn't, but that's because my DH works long hours as it is and barely makes it home in time to see LO for literally 10 minutes before bedtime, so if he'd be coming home even later due to a longer commute, then that'd be a deal breaker for me.
-
Those are still short commutes - Id go for it!
-
Have you looked into the public transportation options? I know it sounds crazy, and I wouldn't have ever considered it before we moved into our house. We live about 30 minutes from the largest town (where we both commute to everyday). After we moved in, we discovered a direct express bus that drops DH right in front of his work (only available at certain times each day). It's faster than driving to work and he can sleep on his way there. It's definitely worth looking into.
-
Those commutes are shorter than dh's current commute so that still sounds great to me! That being said, long commutes can be frustrating (for both partners) so be prepared for how you will both feel with the change and what you value (i.e. The thing that drives me crazy about dh's commute is 1. He has to work "off" hours to miss the high traffic time and 2. He is almost never home for family dinner during the week).
-
For us our commute is about 20-30 minutes accounting for traffic. It's doable. Any more than that I'd be frustrated. But we also both work so it's not like one of us could be home starting dinner. It's important for us both to be home by 5:30-5:45 so we can have dinner by 6:15.
-
36 minutes is really not that long of a commute. What I would suggest is that a couple times your husband should leave work at his normal time and drive to the new house. See how long it takes during rush hour. If it's still truly 35-40 minutes I wouldn't hesitate to pull the trigger. If it gets up near/over an hour, I would reconsider
-
We only have one car right now so being close to work is a must. I've never understood choosing long commutes but I think it's cause I grew up in a small town. I also know times and jobs are changing so it seems like it is more common. But it is something we will hopefully never do.
-
While it's not a long commute, an hour extra gone every day is a deal breaker for us!
-
No, I wouldn't. Commuting via car is soul-destroying in my opinion, and I wouldn't sign myself or my family up for more driving if less was an option.
-
This is what we are looking at when we move. We live in a big city now and DH's commute is about half an hour on the train or slightly longer if he walks in the nice weather. But city living means high prices for small spaces. We will probably move to a house in the burbs soon and we are constantly weighing how far out to move for how big and how expensive of a house. Exactly what you say- you can have 2 of the 3!
-
I grew up in the country where everything was at least 30 minutes away, including my high school, so 36 minutes would be no biggy to me. My commute now is 35-45 minutes, depending on traffic. I'd go for it!
-
We probably would. The housing market is so tough here though. We house hunted for a long time, and more than once I thought, "It's the perfect house! We must buy!" There will be other good finds, promise. Sounds like you don't really care about the neighborhood where you live, which opens things up for you.
Commuting is a personal thing. My husband drives all over the place every day, but his hours are flexible. We lived a little further out of town, and those extra 15 minutes were a hassle, not just for commuting. We were glad to be central in town again.
-
I voted maybe. Regardless of whether 36 minutes is a long commute or not. I look at it at more than doubling DH's commute time. My husband hates driving especially during rush hour traffic. And we live in Upstate NY where 36 minutes during the winter during snow can easily become an hour. During a snowstorm much longer than that. Which means we are increasing our chances of it being hard for DH to get home.
Obviously if you're going to SAH permanently and homeschool then the kids and drop off/pick up aren't a concern. For us that would be a huge factor as well. -
Have you looked around to what other employment options are in the radius of a comfortable commute? If there is nothing else, then no, I wouldn't consider the house. But if there are, I'd be open to it.
Plus, the future is here...cars drive themselves. And no, I am not living in some weird science fiction alternate reality...Tesla has cars on the road that literally drive on autopilot.
-
If you're already dependent on a car anyway, I don't think half an hour of driving is a big deals.
But you can pry my walkable neighborhood from my cold, dead hands!
A 36-minute from the burbs to the city is super short where I live (NYC metro area).
-
Where I live, 1 hour + commutes are normal unless you have a fortune to spend on housing, so this doesn't seem too bad!
-
Given my husband's normal commute of 90-120 minutes, 36 minutes seems ideal. Based on that factor alone we would buy that house.
For a week could he leave earlier and drive around a bit to mimic the future commute just for you both to get a feel for it then decide?
-
Where I live, everyone commutes at least 30+ mins (either by public transport or car). If you want to get out of the city to where the good schools, neighborhood, and big houses are, most people commute closer to an hour. I think it's a question of what are your options.... do they MAKE houses like that within a shorter commute? In my area, the answer is no. 36 mins is like, close to town for the kind of home you are describing.
-
I totally would. A 30 minute commute is totally normal where I am from. It's the norm for living in the suburbs but working in the city. I have a 35 minute commute and DH has a 45 min one right now.
-
it takes me 15-20 minutes just to get from one side of our suburb town to the other because we're in a high congestion area with lots of traffic lights/school zones, etc. I currently do 45 min + 15 min with daycare drop off/pick up. Hubs and I work on opposite sides of a large city (I'm north of it and he's south of it) we either both would an ok commute or one of us gets stuck driving almost 2 hours
-
What does Google Map say when you plug in the route and pick rush hour? That should give you a more realistic idea of how much longer the commute is.
IF it's really just be ~10 min for your mom, and ~30 min for DH, I'd go for it.
-
I had two thoughts when reading this:
1) as its a new build are you sure the "final" price will be within budget? We looked at a new build 2 years ago and the starting price was well within budget...then adding the big things (lot premium, exterior elevation, additional bathroom) that we knew we wanted we were still within budget. However, when we got the price list and saw all the "little" things and what they added up to it quickly became very high on our budget range. Still within budget - but much more comparable to the houses closer in...
2) With regard to commute. I think you have to try it out to make a decision. For us - the new build was only 10 miles North of where we are...however there is just NO north/south road that is a good option. Plus - when you go from a hassle free 14 min commute to a stressful/annoying 35-45 minute commute it can change your whole day/attitude. If you drove it and have good options to avoid a rush hour type feeling commute I would be more inclined to go for it. But if you are going from an easy 14 minute commute to an annoying/frustrating PLUS longer 35-45 minute commute I'd have to think twice.
-
@Torchwood: If the difference is around 15 minutes, give or take with traffic, absolutely yes I would.
If it was an hour... maybe, maybe not. -
Ha, this sounds EXACTLY like the position we were in a couple years ago before we bought our home – even down to the bit about the walk-in closets. We did buy, and I don’t regret it….although I admit that I still wish our home was closer to the city in which we both work. So, I would and did buy because at the end of the day if the only thing giving me pause was adding 20 minutes to my commute I figured that was pretty small potatoes.
-
I would buy it. But 36 minutes is an extremely short commute where I live. We actually live in the city to shorten our commute, and mine is still about 30 min and DH's is more like 45-60.
That being said, I would only do it if it was actually going to be 36 minutes each way (i.e. that is counting traffic). Where we are, commute time pretty much quadruples during rush hour vs not.
-
@SugarplumsMom: There are pretty much no good public transportation options here. When we first got married we didn't even have a car, because we lived in downtown Denver where that's an option, but it doesn't work here.
@looch: Other employment isn't a factor at all. DH would have to take a minimum 40% pay cut to go with any other company, which we aren't open to. He's gotten two promotions in the last year, so we aren't worried about him losing his job. (His company is getting contracts faster than they can hire employees to work them, so they aren't firing even crappy employees right now, much less good ones.)
@Mrs D: With every single upgrade and lot premium, it's at the very top end of what we could afford. But just looking over the options list there are a lot of things we won't do ($4,000 to have a full bath downstairs, where there's no bedroom, not needed!), so my saying it's on the high end but not too high is based on that.
Thank you for all the responses! It helped clarify what we need to take into consideration. I'll talk to DH about driving it one day after work to see. And it was interesting to see such different perspectives on commuting!
-
Totally! We moved to the 'burbs for our dream home and got 2x our previous space for about the same price. It's worth the commute to come home to a home I love. My commute is a bit longer than what your husband's would be and I don't mind it a bit. I did make the drive a few times during rush hour to make sure I could handle it.
-
We just did! The extra commute sucks (for him mainly) but the other benefits far outweigh that. And with a little more organisation we could make it work.
- Google Plus
- Stumbleupon
- Twitter
- Facebook
- Pinterest
- Favorite0
67 comments