Buying your Home and the Commute to Work

When you find your ideal house in the suburbs on a quiet street, with a white picket fence, you need to consider what you’re giving up in terms of convenience: your favorite store may not be just down the street, you may need to drive the family or spouse on weekends for nights out in the city, and the daily commute to work will be longer.

The commute is the worst part by far, a daily affair that is often overlooked, not only in time spent on the road, but the expenses to get to and from work. MSN released an article today about the most expensive cities to commute in, which are Houston, Cleveland and Detroit. The claim the average commuter in Houston, for example, spends 20.9% of annual household costs. Many Tampa, Kansas City, and Cincinnati citizens also spend more than a fifth of household costs on their commute.

The cost of commuting, according to the MSN article, can be an even greater cost than shelter. The article also reports, however, that cities with large railway systems rank lowest on the commuting cost list. The downside to these cheap transit cities are that two of the lowest in commuting costs - New York and San Francisco - are highest in terms of price in real estate.

In an MSNBC article called “Inside the Lives of Extreme Commuters”, they bash the uselessness of extreme commuting, which is essentially commuting more than 1.5 hours to work - one way. The article claims over 3.4 million take the 90+ minute commute, but this often leads to a downfall in parent activities in so-called “bedroom communities” claiming the PTA is crumbling, little league teams are in need of coaches and community service is low.

People enjoy the American dream enough to commute between 3 and 6 hours a day: the big house, big yard and safe neighborhood for their kids. Yet, the difference between freeway exits is often tens of thousands of dollars in housing costs; however, for every ten minutes you commute, is ten percent less time you’ll spend dedicated to family and the community, the MSNBC article states.

OmniNerd figured out how to beat traffic a little bit, mathematically. With a detailed explanation that shaves off 30 hours a year (it doesnt seem like a lot, but to the man who wrote the OmniNerd report, that’s a 38% boost to his vacation time). Interestingly enough, he figured out that the majority of the fluxes in traffic woes are due to school related traffic. Read his report - you may figure out a way to beat a little bit of your traffic, too.

Posted By Jacqueline